It was a rough couple of days for the characters of Power in Season 5 Episode 2 as everyone dealt with the consequences of their actions from the past.
Keisha is looking at the St. Patricks sideways because no one seems to be willing to fill her in on the circumstances surrounding Raina’s murder, even though it’s painfully obvious that they know what happened. Ghost and Tasha are having a rough time dealing with their daughter’s death, and it’s clear that they both feel responsible. That little life of crime Tariq was living last season may be coming back to bite him in the azz pretty hard, and I honestly can’t wait to see it happen.
Tommy is feeling the wrath of all of the different organizations he’s connected to—the Serbians and the Italians—over his various f*** ups. Dre has hired a couple of morons to help him run his organization, and it’s starting to backfire. Without even realizing it, Tommy is pretty much GIVING his new organization away to Kanan, who is working on backdoor deals to secure his own bag.
Angela is out here taking big risks with her career as an AUSA by helping cover up Tariq’s involvement in Raina’s murder and the subsequent revenge killing of Officer Raymond Jones (aka Ray Ray). Thanks to Mak, Proctor’s law license is on the line after helping his criminal clients get off scot-free on various crimes. And the AUSA team is hot on Ghost’s tail because of that one lady (Maria Suarez) who heard his voice when he killed her husband.
Now, let’s get into this recap, shall we?
Power Season 5 Episode 2, titled “Damage Control,” opens up with the Jimenez Cartel throwing a wrench into Jason’s L.A. port deal by offing a couple of the Serbians, which pisses Jason off, obviously. He later rolls up on Tommy, Ghost, and Kanan, blaming Tommy for the deal going south, and threatens to kill all three of them. But Tommy saves the day by offering to kill the Jimenez and agreeing to pay him the $2 million he lost from the failed port deal.
Lucky for Tommy though, he’ll have the help of Ghost and Kanan, because Jason pretty much required it. This is also a chance for the Three Amigos to kill two birds with one stone, because now that Dre is rolling with the Jimenez, they can off them all at the same time.
But those plans are immediately put on hold when Tommy is approached by Sammy, who forces him to take a ride with him to go visit a very badly wounded Carmine, thanks to Tommy’s botched hit on Dre (because Tariq wanted to be captain save-a-hoe).
When Carmine suggests that they tell Vincent what happened, Tommy pulls out his burner to put Carmine out of his misery, but Sammy quickly lets him know “that’s now how we do things” because Carmine is “Vincent’s godson” for Christ’s sake. Tommy puts his gun away and tells Sammy that he “just needs to talk to Teresi.” Sammy and Tommy then leave to get Carmine some “fresh bandages,” as if that’s going to help him. THIS MAN NEEDS A HOSPITAL, NOT BAND-AIDS.
Later, Tommy goes to visit his very pissed off daddy in jail. Because they’re communicating behind prison walls, Teresi has to be very covert in the way he reprimands Tommy for making him look bad in front of the Italians.
“I heard you threw a party, and a couple of guests didn’t show up,” Teresi tells Tommy. “The problem is, you didn’t invite the guest of honor. And you’re gonna tell him you threw that party. He’s gonna be pissed, and you’re gonna apologize like a man, and you’re gonna take whatever punishment he hands you, you understand me?”
In other words, man the hell up, tell Vincent you screwed up, and DON’T MESS UP LIKE THAT AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME?!
Tommy nods his head in agreement. “You should have come to me first,” Teresi tells him before giving him an angry look of disappointment and cutting their visit short. Tommy grew up without a father in his life, and it’s kind of funny seeing him get in trouble with his dad as a grown, 30-something-year-old man.
Things for Tommy get a little more complicated when he and Sammy return to Carmine and find him dead, and Vincent wants answers. Tommy finally confesses, but lies by telling Vincent he “took care” of whoever killed Carmine and Marco, and Sammy vouches for him. Vincent lets Tommy know that he appreciates the transparency, but he’s not getting off the hook that easily.
Vincent makes Tommy take a 50 percent loss on the weight they discussed in the previous episode, and Tommy promises to make restitution to the dead hitters’ families.
After Vincent leaves, but not before warning him not to tarnish Teresi’s good name, Tommy breathes a sigh of relief that he gets to live to see another day and attempts to thank Sammy for covering for him. But not so fast, because Sammy cold clocks Tommy not just once, but TWICE in the face for putting him in such a compromising position.
Sammy says he told Teresi he wouldn’t let Vincent hurt him, but he didn’t say anything about him not punishing him. “I’m not lying for you ever again,” Sammy warns Tommy, who is quickly learning that being a part of an Italian mob family isn’t as glamorous as it looks in the movies.
Back at the AUSA’s office, Angela and Co. tie the gold gun used to kill Uriel last season to the murder of the couple we watched die in their penthouse apartment last season. This, along with the La Araña card found on the Cruz family’s bodies, leads the AUSAs to the conclusion that the Jimenez are the connect for the Toros Locos gang, which is huge, because if they can connect the Jimenez siblings to the killings, it’ll be a major win for the Feds.
Angela has a rather awkward run-in with her colleague D. Gaines—the same guy whose login she used to delete Tasha’s gun from the system—who congratulates her on her promotion and also asks her to check in with IT because his login is all of a sudden not working. Something tells me this isn’t going to end well for at least one of these people.
In a subsequent meeting with the AUSA team, Angela reveals her big break in the Cruz murder case. After reviewing the surveillance footage from the building, she sees Diego Jimenez leaving the building the day of the murder, along with a woman carrying a baby. With the Feds working under the assumption that the other Jimenez is a brother, not a sister, Angela posits that the woman carrying the baby is Diego’s wife, and if so, “I can get her to talk.”
While Angela seems pretty confident in front of her co-workers, she’s not as certain when it comes to the whole Tasha/Tariq mess she’s found herself smack dab in the middle of. Throughout most of the episode, she spends her time trying to figure out if anyone else can link Tariq to Ray Ray, and finds out that the only two people that could—Brains and Big Country, the guys from Kanan’s burglary ring—are dead. She tells Tasha this in one of several private meetings and Tasha is relieved that as long as Tariq doesn’t get linked to the burglaries, he should be OK.
Dre is finding out very quickly that being a boss ain’t easy, and also, Diego Jimenez is a voyeuristic psychopath. Dre walks in on Diego having a threesome in front of huge floor-to-ceiling windows in his apartment, and when Dre tries to leave, Diego insists that he stays because the fact that he has a live audience excites him even more.
After Diego … finishes … he, still completely naked, expresses to Dre how he’s not happy about losing 86 keys of product to the feds because of a raid, which he blames Dre for. The good news, though, is that he was able to seize some product from the Serbians (remember Jason’s failed L.A. port deal at the beginning of the episode?), and he wants Dre to move it quickly to help recoup all of the money they lost due to the raid.
Diego also brings up all of the fighting within the Toros Locos gang now that they don’t have a leader yet, and he wants Dre to swoop in and fix it immediately because neither he nor his sister Alicia “have the time for f**** ups.” Dre ensures Diego that he’ll take care of it as well as secure the nightclub deal he stole from Ghost last season.
Following his meeting with Diego, we catch up with Dre and one of his goons, a reckless opportunistic fellow by the name of 2-Bit. Dre explains to 2-Bit that their first Jimenez shipment is coming in and he wants him to be there to receive it. Of course, 2-Bit jumps at the opportunity because this would essentially make him the next man in charge.
Cristobal walks in, and you can tell he’s not too trusting of Dre’s minion, and asks to talk to Dre alone, but Dre insists that 2-Bit is cool, which he later finds out was a HUGE mistake. Cristobal tells Dre what’s going on with the Toros and suggests that Dre take out the youngest member, which would shift power to Lorenzo. 2-Bit suggests that they take out Lorenzo instead of the younger Toros member because he would be easier to control. Dre agrees with 2-Bit, and he and Cristobal come up with a plan that involves killing the hitmen after they take of Lorenzo so that the hit can’t be traced back to them.
Outside, Ghost and Kanan see Dre and Cristobal leaving the warehouse. Ghost wants to kill Dre right then and there, but Kanan points out that they need Dre to lead them to the Jimenez.
Their conversation quickly pivots to Tariq, who Kanan says reminds him of Ghost when he was that age, only Tariq is even more of a thug than Ghost was. Ghost says he doesn’t want that life for his son, and after they get rid of Dre, he’s out the game for good. Kanan then puts a bug in Ghost’s ear that if Tommy didn’t f*** up the deal with the Italians, Dre would already be dead and Ghost could have already moved on with his life. Is Kanan trying to pit Tommy and Ghost against each other? Because it sure as hell sounds like it.
Later, we find out why Cristobal was giving 2-Bit the side-eye, because this guy is NUTS. While riding around with Spank, they spot Lorenzo and use that as an opportunity to take him out in hopes of impressing Dre and moving up in the ranks. But what those idiots don’t know is that if the Toros finds out that they killed Lorenzo, it could all fall back on Dre, which would be bad news for their organization.
As you can imagine, Dre is pretty pissed when 2-Bit waltzes in bragging about how he killed Lorenzo and calls him by his government name “Francis,” because what’s a better way to express your anger with someone than yelling their corny birth name in their face. “The Jimenez and these clubs really got you thinking you’re better than everybody else?” 2-Bit (aka Francis) yells at his former equal.
Dre reminds 2-Bit that he’s the boss now, and he is to do whatever he tells him to do from this point forward, no ifs and or buts. Dre also lets him know that him and Spanky will no longer be working their corner as punishment for this. Meanwhile, in a car across the street, Kanan—who has been following Dre the whole episode—sees (and hears, due to the shouting) everything. Later, Dre meets up with Arturo, the younger Toros Locos member, and acts like he thinks Arturo is the one who took Lorenzo out. And a hella confused Arturo just goes along with it.
Saxe not only wants to take down Ghost, but he also wants to end Angela’s career, which, she probably deserves at this point. Mak feels like it’s a waste of time for them to parade a blindfolded witness in front of the jury, but Saxe thinks otherwise and is 100% convinced that this is the opportunity take down both Ghost and Angela. Saxe has his way of bringing Ghost and Angela down, and Mak has his.
Mak’s way of ending Ghost is to get his lawyer, Joe Proctor, to flip on him. But little does he know, Joe is the most loyal attorney in the world, especially when it comes to his #1 client, Ghost. Also, he’s probably afraid of what would happen to him if he ever decides to flip on Ghost. Remember last season when Tommy threatened Proctor and basically told him, “you’re in the family now” while holding a knife to his neck? Right after he watched Tommy murder someone? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Joe doesn’t want those types of problems in his life.
Mak pops up on Proctor while he’s enjoying a drink at the bar with his friends, and offers to withdraw his conflict of interest complaint in his upcoming bar committee hearing if Proctor gives him the information he needs on his clients (aka Ghost). Joe immediately shuts Mak down, but as John is leaving, he casually mentions that Joe needs his job to take care of his daughter.
Now that he knows Proctor isn’t going to cooperate, he moves on to Plan B. He ambushes Proctor’s former second council on Ghost’s trial and Tasha’s side piece, Terry Silver, who Mak nows has some issues with Proctor, and his testimony would help put the nail in the coffin that is Proctor’s legal career, but Terry doesn’t want to testify against his former colleague. Unfortunately for Terry, Mak is pretty smart, and slides a subpoena in his jacket, forcing him to appear in court anyway.
At his hearing, Proctor holds his own pretty well because he’s been down this road before. This is the third time, to be exact. The only difference is that Mak is out to get him and he’s forced Terry Silver to testify against him. During the hearing, we find out a little bit of info regarding Proctor’s past, as he explains why he doesn’t use his birth name.
After the death of his father, who was acquitted of attempted murder charges, Joe took his stepfather’s last name when his mother re-married. He said he was happy to change his last name due to his father’s side of the family’s extensive criminal history because that doesn’t represent who he is. “Just because I stand beside criminals in rooms like this, doesn’t mean that I am a criminal,” he says.
Everything seems to be going well for Joe until the judges introduce his former co-council Terry Silver as a witness. Terry admits that he did ask Proctor to recuse himself from James St. Patrick’s murder case due to a conflict of interest between St. Patrick and his other client Thomas Egan.
Terry pointed out that Proctor refused and told James not to take a plea deal that would have also been an admission of guilt for a crime he didn’t commit because he was innocent. Proctor then flips the situation on Terry by asking him if there was ever a time where he compromised himself for a client who he felt was innocent, to which Terry replies no, but we all know that’s a lie.
Ghost and Tasha are obviously having a hard time dealing with Raina’s death. While Tasha seems to be the most grief-stricken of the pair, Ghost is showing that he’s falling apart in his own way. Tasha spends most of her time crying in Raina’s room, while Ghost spends his avoiding it. “You can’t come in, and I can’t leave,” Tasha says to Ghost.
Tasha brings up the idea of attending a grief counseling group for parents who’ve lost children, and Ghost reluctantly agrees to do it just for her. At the meeting, while listening to stories from the other grief-stricken parents, one particular story sticks out to Ghost about a couple whose son died six months ago at the hands of a drunk driver a week from his 16th birthday, and how the man continues to stop by a liquor store daily, continuing to drink and drive. “It’s only a matter of time before he kills another kid,” the man says before asking, “Is it wrong to want him dead?” Tasha tries to raise her hand to share her story, but Ghost grabs it to keep her from speaking.
Outside their apartment, Tasha expresses to Ghost how she needs to talk to someone, but Ghost tells her that’s a bad idea because “those people don’t understand what we’re going through” and “it’s best to not say anything at all.” After angrily getting out of the car, Tasha drops a truth bomb on Ghost: “Maybe we should ask the Reverend to refer us to a support group for families of murdering drug dealers! They’ll understand us right, Ghost?”
Councilman Tate, slithering around like the snake that he is, is obviously using Raina’s death to help him get elected governor of New York, but he’s disguising his mission as caring about Raina and wanting to help James and Tasha get through their rough time.
In a one-on-one meeting about the community center they’ve been working together on, Tate lets James know that he is bad for business after Raina’s murder, which doesn’t look good in regards to their fundraising efforts. Tate says in order for him to allow James to continue to work with him on this, they’ll need to solve Raina’s murder. James says it’s out of his hands at this point, but Tate suggests that the St. Patricks hold a press conference to offer a reward to help the NYPD solve the case. Ghost is hesitant, but says he’ll speak with Tasha about it.
Without hesitation, Tasha immediately shuts that sh** down with the quickness, considering they already know who Raina’s killer is, and speaking about it so publicly could make matters worse for the family, especially Tariq. James lets Tate know that they won’t be able to speak at the press conference, but they’ll at least attend.
And in an unsurprising move, Tate puts them on the spot when they arrive, and invites them to the podium to talk about Raina. Tasha and James, completely caught off guard by Tate’s sneakiness, speak about their daughter without revealing anything, and afterward, Tasha goes in on Ghost for setting for her up, but Ghost says that it was Tate who set them both up. James then turns his anger to Tate, who couldn’t care less because it’s all about the “QCP numbers” for him. And this is exactly why people don’t trust politicians.
After multiple failed attempts at reaching out to Angela, Ghost is starting to lose it. He even left her a voicemail telling her “he’s not doing so good.” After she ignores his phone call for the second time in a row, Ghost turns to a bottle of liquor to help ease his pain.
Remember the story about the father who stalks his son’s killer outside the liquor store he frequents? Well, Ghost has taken it upon himself to track the man down and follows him to a nearby alley before brutally stabbing him to death. Has Ghost now become a vigilante, Dexter-style? Or was this just his way of lashing out for his daughter’s murder? It’s hard to say, but based on how this show works, I wouldn’t be surprised if this somehow comes back to haunt Ghost down the road.
Extras:
- Mak and Co. find out via the prison’s visitors’ logs that Tommy is Tony Teresi’s son, which can’t be a good thing.
- Tommy looks like he wants that old thing back with Keisha, who may be vulnerable enough at this point to give him some play.
- Kanan is a sneaky motherf***** for going behind Tommy’s back and planning on setting up his own meeting with the Serbians.
- Is it bothering anyone else that Tariq—who took drugs, did hoodrat things with Kanan, was largely responsible for the death of his twin sister, and then killed an undercover cop—isn’t receiving ANY type of punishment from his parents? Maybe they’re too distraught over Raina’s death to focus on their son and his ain’t sh*tness, but if he were my child, I definitely wouldn’t even be considering sending him off to some fancy private school as if he deserves to be rewarded for anything at this point.
