Written by Jihan Dempster
After a three-minute compacted re-run of Season 1, Season 2 of Starz’s drama Power picks up exactly where the previous season left off. We are quickly brought up to speed with where all of Season 1’s most pivotal questions left us hanging.
First and foremost, this episode as the perfect season opener. There was no slow interlude or drawn out scenes to welcome you into the new season. After the redhead assassin’s failed homicide attempt of Ghost (Omari Hardwick) leaves him running after her behind the back doors of Truth nightclub, the episode starts with her fleeing off in to the night. Although she quickly gets away, it seems this scene opens up a whole new web of relationships that will surely drive the plot of the upcoming season.
Daddy’s home, quite literally. Kanan (50 Cent) is back from the pen and solidifying relationships with dead weight AKA his son Shawn (Sinqua Walls). Carefully manipulating his way back into the scheme of things, he isolates Sean and uses him for all the information that he can. His gullible baby boy is quite the loyalist, staying away from Ghost and providing his dad with all the necessary info that he needs to swindle his way back into the drug ring. Quite frankly, Sean is probably excited to be given some more responsibility, as he know has the ammo and the clout with his father back in town.
Continuing with the levels of loyalty in this episode, we see Tasha (Naturi Naughton) set things up by affirming she is the bad ass team player that grew up with both Ghost and Tommy (Joe Sikora). When Tommy goes missing, she quickly steps in the show how she is an asset to the team by showing Ghost how he will be able to push double the amount of weight without his counterpart. This episode brought the street credibility out of Tasha. In exchange for her services, she tells Ghost to nix Angela (xx) with no other option on the table. Her character is no longer seen as the money hungry housewife, but as a force on her own, stabilizing her position in both her marriage and her finances.
For the first time we witness a disconnect between Ghost and Tommy. Prior to this episode, the two were inseparable, but for a majority of this episode Tommy is deliberately absent. In one of the most pivotal, revealing moments in the series to date, Tommy reveals Angela’s (Lela Loren) true identity. The cookie now begins to crumble. In that moment, Ghost’s reveals the demise to every aspect of his empire, yet. Between finding out his club is now owned by his largest competition, his best friend’s girlfriend getting shot in his club, uncertainty about delivering an increased amount of product, being confronted about his transgressions by his wife, and learning that the love of his life holds the key to his life, we can only expect for this script to deliver a method to its madness.
I think this episode really delivered on showing each of the character’s vulnerability. For the first time we see Tommy fold in different into different pieces. First, it’s the forethought betrayal of his bestfriend, next it’s his new love for Holly (Lucy Walters). It also showed what each of the characters are willing to fight for. I think the directors did an excellent job at revealing each piece of the puzzle quite slowly and dropped bombs on viewers placement by placement so that by the end of the episode, they biggest news yet is revealed. The characters are all narcotized by one another. For some it’s love, for others it’s family, but overall every character in their true element is still trying to keep a tight grasp on the Power.
Rating: 9 out of 10.
Power airs Saturday nights on STARZ.
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