Power Review: The Consequences of Thotting

This is a review of the Season 5 Premiere of “Power”, “Everyone Is Implicated”, and as such will include spoilers from the episode.  You have been warned.

It seems like an eternity has passed since we last saw the gangsta thot, James St. Patrick, and his criminal thotscapades in New York.  I forgot most of how season 4 ended and found myself having to pay attention to the recap that preceded the endlessly excellent opening credits to remember what’s going on (how is it that “Big Rich Town” doesn’t have a Grammy?”).  The main things I held onto throughout the year between seasons 4 and 5 are as follows:

1. Tariq needs his ass whooped.
   
2. There is no way Angela should have yet another job in law enforcement and I can’t stand her silly ass.
3. Dre ain’t s**t, further setting anybody named Dre back 20 years.
4. Ghost, Tommy, and Kanan have formed the Gansta Justice League and…
5. Raina St. Patrick is dead as F**K

Looking back on it, I guess I did remember enough. 

We start the season off looking at Angela’s goofy ass as she is present at a crime scene she shouldn’t even be close to.  She then goes on to call Tasha’s smart ass to find out what the hell is going on, and then CONSPIRES TO DO MORE ILLEGAL S**T THAT WOULD PUT THE JOB SHE JUST GOT IN JEOPARDY IN ADDITON TO HER FREEDOM!!! Boy, I tell you out of all the characters on this show, I only hate one more than Angela.  I think the show missed out on a more compelling narrative when they didn’t allow Tommy to carry out killing her in season 3.  Just imagine the story we would’ve gotten from the show if Tommy and James had to work together despite Tommy taking away the woman Ghost loves.  But, alas, the proverbial “N***a Plot Twist” (NPT for short) strikes again!

Note: A “N***a Plot Twist” is an event that occurs in a story (that usually has a ton of black characters in it) that makes no sense, yet happens simply to keep a character alive or story element going.  This happens quite often on shows like “Empire”, Tyler Perry programs, and soap operas.  As a matter of fact, soaps pretty much started the s**t.

So why is Angela being alive a NPT?  Well there’s no way she should’ve been alive AND free! Someone literally acknowledges that she can’t be trusted on the Ghost case because of past issues, yet this mf is free as Django with no consequences!  And then she has the AUDACITY to get an attitude with Tasha.  HOW DARE YOU YOU HARLOT FROM HELL?!
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You know who else should be dead? Tariq

THEY TOOK THE WRONG TWIN!!!

I remember the moment “Power” decided to inform us that Tariq and Raina were twins.  It was a scene where Ghost and Tasha were talking and the matriarch of this household of thots asked Ghost to think about the baby and the twins.  It was at this point I turned to my wife and asked, “Twins? Tariq and Raina are twins? Was that some s**t we were supposed to know?”  My wife was surprised by the news as well, so I reached out to the creator of NJL, Cherry, and asked her about it and she responded with, “Twins?! B***H WHERE?!”  It was at this precise moment I realized that the writers on this show don’t give a good hot damn about these kids.  Seriously, the baby has been off television so long I asked who tf she was when we got that glimpse of her in this episode.  She might be better off not being at the house because her daddy ain’t s**t and neither is her water-headed brother.

Dawg, Dre is just as responsible as anybody for Raina’s death, but you can’t tell Tariq, who’s DIRECTLY responsible for her death, a got damn thing about responsibility.  I was elated when Ghost flat out blamed him for getting his sister killed and my inner angry black father wanted to see James whoop his ass like buddy from “Fences” but it was not to be so.  However, it looks like James should’ve commenced the execution of the Kunta Kenta Willbreaker because his bobble head ass son took his ass right on and warned Dre that he was about to get that snatch-n-go treatment.

I HATE THIS CHARACTER!!!
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The producers of “Power” promised some big deaths, and Tariq has to be one of them.  I will quit a show if you don’t kill someone I hate.  Ask “The Walking Dead”…
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Baby Ghost is Feeling Himself

Hell nawl I ain’t talking about Tariq’s slaw ass here.  I’m talking about Dre, our clear antagonist for this season.  He has completely swagger-jacked Ghost and it’s hilarious to me.  I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose, but Rotimi Akinosho is channeling his best Omari Hardwick and has started using Ghost’s mannerisms.  He has decided he’s going to pull a “Face-Off” and be a better James St. Patrick than James St. Patrick.  It’s even funnier when you realize Tariq likes Dre more than his dad!

My favorite scene comes at the end when Dre pulls up on Ghost with supreme confidence and threatens him and his N***a Justice League with the wrath of the Jimenez cartel.  We’ve heard about the Jimenez cartel for so long and I hope this is the season where we see why they are so deadly.  Dre has fully embraced his villainous role, but you get a sense that always looking over his shoulder is a heavy burden to him.  He seems like a kid that’s in over his head and it’s a story I’m looking forward to seeing play out over this season.

I know I didn’t get into the why’s and how’s of the quality of the episode.  Maybe I won’t be as angry next week as I was in this one.  The premiere did exactly what it was supposed to do.  Set us up for a LONG season of amazing, savage, hood insanity.

Overall Grade: B+

J2

He's still singing "They say this is a big rich town..."