After a one-week break that felt like FOREVER, we are finally at the end of Power Season 4, and the recap of all of the explosive action in previous episodes only serves to remind us that the apple of Ghost’s eye, Raina, is no more as she was brutally gunned down by dirty cop Ray Ray.
The finale opens with Tariq, who has rightfully earned the title of dumbest child on television, being questioned by the police about his sister’s death. Doing what he does best, he lies when asked if he had any idea who might have pulled the trigger. I know, I know, many of you are loudly wishing, or in my case, mumbling furiously, about how much you wish that it was Tariq instead of sweet, innocent, level-headed Raina that got the “so, we’re killing your character off” speech. But alas, we are stuck with ‘Riq. We already got one big wish coming true, Ghost being vindicated; do you really think that the writers were going to get rid of the maddening TV trope of dumbass teenage son?
Anyways, a devastated Jamie and Tasha beg Detective Leary to let them leave considering that they have been through a horrific experience. But he just wants to do his job and solve this thing. I wonder if he’s thinking, ‘This has got to be the unluckiest family to have ever lived in the Upper East Side?’ He presses Tariq, asking him about a 10.5 shoe size footprint found on the scene of Raina’s killing, and it’s just too much so Tariq—Lord help us—angry-cries as he lies. They get to leave after an officer brings Tasha Raina’s belongings. Listen, Tasha has frustrated me to no end in the last few episodes, but watching her clutch her dead daughter’s personal belongings was ubersad, to say the least. No one deserves this kind of heartbreak.
Tommy is meeting his father’s old crew, and he’s clearly nervous, asking about secret handshakes like a new pledge in a fraternity. But as he and Sammy are about to enter the building to meet the rest of Teresi’s crew, a car pulls up and whaddya know, our favorite kidnapper Kanan jumps out brandishing a gun and demanding that he speak with Tommy. Tommy agrees and the old mobsters go into the club while a riled up Kanan popped his trunk to show Tommy the two bodies of the thugs who tried to kill him in the previous episode.
Kanan thinks it’s Tommy and Ghost’s handiwork; Tommy however, denies this, explaining that he had no idea that Kanan was still in town. Tommy drops a few receipts on Kanan, the most damning being that the tattoos on his would-be assassins meant that they were Tainos from Cristobal’s crew, and that Cristobal and Dre are tight. Dun, dun, dun. You could see the light bulb going off in Kanan’s eyes as soon as that scheming triple agent Dre’s name comes up. Of course, everyone knows that Dre is an untrustworthy snake. (BTW, I was rooting for you Dre!!!) Tommy, who hates Dre, promises to get Kanan some local back-up when a move is made on Dre. He ignores a call coming in and heads inside, but a text from Ghost follows that reads simply, “911. It’s Raina”.
Ghost, Tasha and Tariq arrived home, but before exiting the car, Tasha tries to reason with Tariq begging him to tell them what he saw of his sister’s murder. No surprise here, but he LIES. At this point, I’m making crazy eyes and yelling like Kandi at the Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion part 20, “the LIES, the LIES!!!”
Tasha doesn’t believe a word coming out of her son’s lying lips made of lies, but somehow, Ghost believes him? What now? OK. The couple argues stupidly about whose to blame. Ghost wrongly thinks the Jimenez brothers carried out the hit on Raina. Tasha points the finger at Ghost about going clean. Uhhh, Tasha you brought Simon Stern back into your family’s lives facilitating the deal over the Toros’ territory. None of what they’re saying makes much sense. But I believe that’s the point of this scene though. When parents experience something so heart-shattering as their child’s cruel, untimely death. Nothing is supposed to make sense.
With the reality so fresh and the cut still bleeding, they will do whatever it takes; say whatever they need to say to staunch the flow of this pain. In the end, Tasha and Ghost always shine when their backs are against the wall and they fight a common cause. They are brilliant and they glow with anger. Ghost vows revenge, while Tasha is an enthusiastic supporter in the endeavor. She warns, do what must be done, but stay alive and don’t get caught, they still have two kids to care for. That’s how a crime family rolls.
Back at the penthouse, Tasha reaches for support from Ghost, but he now has a mission. He goes to prep, changing from his tux into the dark casual clothes and gloves that he usually dons when he’s about to kill. A text comes in from Councilman Tate, expressing his condolences and requests to meet Jamie. Really though? You literally just hit the man up for “donations” only a few hours ago. SMH.
Angela addresses her handpicked team as new head of the eastern criminal division; she speaks of letting the past remain in the past. (Okay, girl, whatever.) Saxe is nowhere to be found. But Mak is there and he’s not happy that she’s briefing everyone on a case that he’s been working on for months. She throws her weight around, clearly enjoying her newfound “power” (pun intended). I’m not mad at Angela at all. Yes she’s a humungous hypocrite, but she’s also ambitious and clever, and it’s great to see her turning the tables on the people who tried to railroad her.
Saxe, who I noted earlier was missing from the meeting strolls in and is admonished for being late, but he doesn’t care, he knows the true Angela and is pissed that she was able to play the game better than they could. He is sarcastic and petty as he brings up James St. Patrick and the sad news about Raina. Angela is shocked and stalls for a minute, but regains her composure. And for us viewers wondering how the writers were going to bring Angela back into Jamie’s orbit, well there you go. Saxe wants to use this opportunity to see how Jamie will retaliate and therefore catch him in the act. Angela claims that their office will have nothing to do with James St. Patrick. Yeah, OK.
Ghost and Tasha exchange a nod before he leaves on the elevator. They know what he’s about to do. When he exits the building, Angela is there to express her condolences and offer her help. He doesn’t accept, because her kind of justice means prison if they do catch the killer, while his will be a bullet to the head. She warns him about taking matters into his own hands, saying he will lose everything if he’s caught. But he feels as if he’s already lost everything. Tommy is waiting and whatever disagreement they had the night before is forgotten, because a member of their family is gone, and they need to set things right.
Kanan gets a call from Tariq; he wants to know where Ray Ray is. What’s his plan? It’s now a forgone conclusion that his father is not a mere club owner and his mother is not just a housewife. Tariq basically knows what is parents are capable of; why not tell them what he knows?
Dirty cop and child killer Ray Ray is reading Tariq’s police report. Destiny, the girl that Tariq had hooked up with, and Ray Ray are cousins, and that is why he was able to get Tariq outside at the school dance since she loaned Ray Ray her phone. She wants her phone back, but Ray Ray dropped the bombshell that he had to kill Tariq’s sister. He now wants to leave town because he knows that because Tariq didn’t mention his name in the police report, he will likely have Ghost coming after him. Someone knocks and it’s Angela who’s there to question Ray Ray about why he spoke to Tariq at his school. Ray Ray says that he tried to reason with Tariq because he was found to be in the vicinity of two classmates’ home robberies earlier.
Shots ring out as Ghost and Tommy storm a Toros Locos shop; bodies drop, as Uriel wants to know what’s going on. They shoot him up with a nail gun and Ghost makes him swear that he had nothing to do with killing his daughter. Uriel cops to killing Julio, which he says was orchestrated by Dre. Ghost, realizing he’s telling the truth, kills him anyway. Tommy is pissed; he wanted to know how exactly was Dre involved in Julio’s murder. But Ghost, realizing that they’re back to square one, doesn’t give a flying fuck about infighting within Tommy’s organization. He just wants his daughter’s killer dead.
Silver shows up at the penthouse. I cannot express how inappropriate I find this. How are you going to show your face at the home of the man whose wife you’re having an affair with? He spouts the same spiel like Angela about finding out what happened, investigations, blah blah blah. He passionately declares his love for Tasha. Oh boy. Dude, that’s the last thing an angry, grieving mother wants to hear. He notes Jamie’s absence and warns her that if Jamie is out running around doing criminal things; it won’t end well for them. Tasha is not interested in his declarations of love or his sanctimonious mumbo jumbo; he’s not a parent and he doesn’t understand. She orders him to leave.
Tommy is watching Dre, the great deceiver, as he meets with Ray Ray who demands his money for babysitting Tariq. But Dre is confident now, because he thinks that Kanan is dead and he knows that Jukebox was killed. He tells Ray Ray to take a hike, but Ray Ray hits him back with threats of their criminal dealings on tape. So he agrees to meet him with the money.
Tariq is high on the lean, and all the people who tend to flock to your house when there’s a death in the family are bothering him. Yasmine, the St. Patrick’s youngest child, asks where “Waina” is. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her speak before.
Kanan and his crew are discussing how they’re going to rob Dre. Someone says that Ghost’s daughter was killed. Tommy is in confession with his former primera, Father Callahan. He’s talking about Raina and how he blames himself for her murder. Dre’s name comes up, and Tommy realizes that Dre is the one who has been setting him up the whole time and he intends to kill him if he finds him alone. Tommy gets a call from Kannan with good news, he knows who killed Raina. Kanan mentioned that when he and Tariq were getting to know each other—I guess that’s what he calls turning a child into a thief and getting him hooked on lean—they did licks with dirty cop Raymond Jones. Kanan says that Tariq called him wanting to find out where Ray Ray was. Tommy takes off to find Ray Ray.
While Jamie is sitting alone in church, his cell rings but the Reverend walks up before he can answer and forbids the use of phones. Councilman Tate offers his help, and Ghost is willing to accept it until he realizes that the Reverend and Tate wants to turn his daughter’s funeral service into a press conference gimmick. This is tew murch. If there ever was a time when I wanted to see James lose control, it would have been now. I don’t think anybody would have disagreed if he clocked Tate right in the noggin as he threatened Jamie into agreeing to have the Rev. conduct Raina’s service with Tate standing on the podium by his side. I knew Tate was dirty as they come. No one who grins as widely as he does, knowing your daughter is dead, or bobs his head so vigorously while calling you brother could be on the up and up. Please, please, do not do this Jamie.
Tommy bursts into Ray Ray’s place only to find Destiny. Look, there is no justification for putting a gun to anyone’s head and threatening them, especially a teenage girl, but I giggled a little when Tommy called her an insect. Anyway, she says Ray Ray left town and it takes all of Tommy’s self control not to pull the trigger and kill her just like how her cousin killed his goddaughter. Tommy convinces her to give up Ray Ray’s location and he promptly calls Tasha with the news.
Tasha wants in on the action, but Tommy wants her to arrange alibis for them all. I know that chills ran up your spine as it did mine when Tasha coldly orders Tommy to “gut ” Ray Ray. Don’t mess with moms y’all. Tasha looks around for Tariq in a need to keep her remaining children safe, but he’s nowhere in the penthouse and when she opens the safe in the office, some of her bullets, her gun, along with her lying ass child, are missing. To make matters worse, Ghost had left his phone at home and took a burner phone when he went off with Tommy. Tasha is on her own.
Tariq confronts Dre at gunpoint at Truth. He wants to know where Ray Ray is, but Dre wants to handle Ray Ray himself. I truly believe that Dre likes and cares about Tariq. For all his scheming and backstabbing, Dre’s one redeeming quality is his love for his daughter and he did try to protect Tariq from Kannan. Tariq doesn’t want to be protected though. He wants to be the one to avenge his twin sister’s murder.
Desperate times calls for desperate measures as Tasha barges into Angela’s office wanting her to do a trace on Tariq’s phone without police involvement. At first, Angela mistakenly believes that Tariq killed Raina, but Tasha quickly squashes that notion. No, she just wants to find out where Tariq is and even though Angela is seasoned enough to know that none of these people are doing anything by the book, she warns Tasha against retaliating against Ray Ray. Tasha keeps her mouth shut even though she’s grateful to Angela for her help.
Jamie is rushing to be at Ray Ray’s location, but Tariq is already on the elevator when Ghost arrives and sees his son on his way to danger. Ghost frantically tries to get into the building by breaking the door, while Tariq uses his school ID to jimmy the lock into ray Ray’s place. Kanan taught him well.
Tommy arrives, as does Tasha shortly after, while Tariq, gun out and all, walks through the apartment looking for Ray Ray who is busy packing stacks of money in a bag, ready to leave town. Tariq gets the drop on Ray Ray, who goads Tariq into pulling the trigger, confident that he won’t. Tariq is nervous and lowers his gun as Ray Ray reaches for his.
The screen cuts away as a gunshot is heard with Ghost, Tommy and a terrified Tasha frantic to get to the apartment to see if Tariq is still alive. He is, and a bleeding Ray Ray is laying dead on the floor. The adults all rush to cover Tariq’s tracks and clean up any evidence left on the scene. They don’t have much time though, because the police are already on their way. (Shots fired equals 911 calls from concerned neighbors.)
Saxe still wants to convict James St. Patrick of whatever crime he can get his hands on. A woman named Maria had watched Ghost’s interview on television and recognized his voice as the man who threatened her back in season 1 after Ghost had killed her boyfriend. She decides to tell the police what she knows and Saxe convinces Angela’s boss to hear her story.
Father Callahan, for some inexplicable reason, meets with Dre alone to tell him that he knows about Julio and he wants out. Dre kills him. Ughhhh, another longtime member of Tommy’s crew that I actually like bites the dust thanks to Dre.
Tasha takes Tariq home and gives him instructions on how to clean up. He tells her he’s not sorry. She says she’s not sorry either.
Dre and his remaining primeras meet with the Jimenez brothers and Alicia warns them of no war. They note that Father Callahan is missing, but Dre brushes it off. The primeras are now in business with the Jimenez brothers.
Angela is at the scene of Ray Ray’s death. She sees a bullet hole in the wall and knows that there’s a bullet left in there. She orders that ballistics be run on it. This is a registered gun that Tasha owns, so there is no way that it won’t be identified as the weapon used to kill Officer Raymond. Tasha seems to know this, so she meets with Silver and sort of admits to accidentally killing the person who killed Raina. Silver is in shock, but Tasha needs a lawyer and he can’t be a lover and a lawyer to her. She hands him a check. (I think she’s going to need a lawyer, more than a lover.) Tasha gave the ultimate sacrifice for her son. She’s going to take the blame for a crime that he committed.
Tommy, Ghost and Kanan watches as Dre parts ways with the Jimenez; they all want Dre’s head on a spike now. But they can’t just yet since they don’t have the manpower. That’s when Tommy offers a suggestion—his father’s mob connections. “Anyone feel like Italian?” And no, it’s not the pasta he’s referring to. Looks like the old crew is back.
And that’s it. The end of Season 4 of Power. Tariq has added another crime to his resume, sweet Raina is gone, Yasmine finally speaks, Tasha protects her child, Tommy is getting involved with the mob, Ghost has another enemy and Angela is still very much a part of their lives.
See y’all next year!
