Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Need

It’s not Power without a copious amount of lies, betrayal, and blackmailing!

And right now, it’s all working, which means as the season unfolds, we should be in for a lot of fireworks when someone inevitably gets in over their heads.

Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 Episode 2 was a fantastic comedown from the premiere, setting a lot of moving parts into motion, injecting some new storylines into the mix, and putting us on the right path for a hell of a season.

When Lauren appeared alive at the end of Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 Episode 1, it was totally unclear what happened to her and how she ended up with Jenny Sullivan.

But we got the explanation here, and it wasn’t exactly what some people were guessing.

I wondered whether or not Effie went through with killing Lauren because we never saw anything beyond her knocking her out. But the explanation that she actually did try to kill her does make sense and falls in line with her behavior.

I can admit when I’m dead wrong, and I was very wrong here about Effie being a rat. She really does think she killed Lauren and that the problem is solved.

But let me say, I do think the idea of Effie being a double agent after everything would have been a wild twist. I stand by and own up to my bad predictions!

You can tell Lauren is going out of her mind pretending to be dead and not remembering anything, but there’s also not much she can do. She pops back up, and anyone in New York finds out she is dead, dead. And this time, no one will mess it up.

Jenny’s case hinges on so many different things, and the fact that her CI is Saxe is so ridiculous.

I knew Saxe had vowed to work with Jenny, but calling him a CI feels like a stretch. Saxe has literally one connection, Davis, and extremely limited access. Davis keeps him on a very tight leash, and it felt like a stroke of luck that he seemingly slipped up in leaving that burner phone in his drawer.

Sometimes you forget that everyone on this show doesn’t have the same information because so many things are happening at a given time, and it can be confusing. Like, in my mind, I thought Saxe already knew that Davis and Monet were in contact, but that is clearly not the case if the expression on his face is anything to go by when she picks up that phone.

His finding any kind of thread between Davis and Monet strengthens Jenny’s case, as so much hinges on her being able to prove there is this much larger criminal enterprise.

Jenny was getting wins left and right during this hour, mainly from Whitman, who isn’t as bad at his job as most of the authorities have been throughout the Power universe. While he is purely motivated by shame over how he treated Carrie, he’s at least trying to do the right thing in bringing her killer to justice.

Getting Jenny, Whitman, and Blanca in a room means finally being able to connect some dots and figure out how certain people are connected. But it’s interesting that after their little impromptu meeting, the target switches from Tariq to Monet.

What will that mean moving forward?

What’s so intriguing and funny is that a case is built upon connecting all these people working together as if they’re some well-oiled drug machine. The secrets and lies between them are so abundant, and practically none of these people trust one another. Nor are they on the same page.

Cane, Tariq, Brayden, and Effie have teamed up to move Noma’s product, and considering they all have different specialties and connections, it worked for them to split things and push what they could.

Brayden would not let up on moving through Weston Holdings, and while it made sense on paper because those creeps over there were just swimming in cocaine, Tariq was right to push back because the consequences for Brayden and Tariq would never be the same.

Brayden got in a courtroom and admitted on the stand that he was a drug dealer, and how has his life changed since then? He got kicked out of college, which doesn’t even matter when he landed at his family’s multi-million dollar company.

It’s the power of privilege, and it’s not as if Brayden is unaware of his. He acknowledges it somewhat. But beyond a pithy ‘damn, that sucks’ attitude, he doesn’t really seem to truly GET IT. Because, in the end, he’s willing to put Tariq in a potentially harmful situation to get what he wants.

Sure, you can argue that he’s looking out for Tariq in some ass-backward way because they have to move the product, or they’ll all die, and he knows that they can make a killing pushing through the office. But still, he should be considering Tariq’s genuine reservations, too.

And look, I like Brayden overall. He’s come a very long way from the punk teenager we once knew, and he’s shown pretty good business acumen and an ability to think quickly on his feet. And even though he’s lying to Tariq currently, he’s had his back probably more than anyone else over the years.

But there’s something extra slimy about him repeatedly hearing and understanding Tariq’s objections yet still pushing his agenda through nefarious means.

If things go wrong, who’s going to get blamed? Tariq St. Patrick or the kid whose name is on the letterhead?

Considering this is Power, I should not have been as surprised as I was when I saw Brayden meeting with Tate. If there is money involved, Tate will do just about anything. But Brayden goes from wanting to spill his guts about Lauren to Tariq one second to betraying him with Tate the next.

Talk about whiplash.

Brayden can live with some things, but others are apparently eating him alive.

Effie is standing firm in her decision to never tell Tariq the truth while continuing to be incredibly shady. Why was she getting so defensive with Tariq about moving the product when she was the one that wanted to be let in on the whole thing in the first place?

Tariq tried to ice her out for her own good, but she wanted in, so now she’s in and still complaining.

Effie is, at her core, a selfish person, and I struggle to see that ever really changing, no matter how deep her feelings for Tariq may be. I maintain these two are far too alike to ever make it because they’ll never be able to push their wants aside for the other.

The thing with Tariq right now is that he’s way too trusting of both Brayden and Effie, but there’s also so little else out there for him. His family is gone, and there are only two people on the planet right now that he feels care about him.

And that’s a major thing for Tariq. He had so much anger built up in him for years towards Ghost, and so much of that anger manifested itself in stupid decision after stupid decision, but now that he’s matured, he’s reigned some of that anger in, and he’s worked hard to make better decisions.

There’s things that are more important than just money and drugs, B. And that’s family. Family’s fucking important.

Tariq

He falters still (RIP Bash), but he’s at a point where he does feel like people truly have his back unconditionally. And man, will it hurt when he finds out they’ve been lying to him.

Someone else he can’t trust is Cane, who has been slowly proving over the last two seasons that he is not someone to take lightly. Considering how people talk to him, you’d think he was an idiot half the time and only good for his pristine shooting skills.

But Cane has shown time and time again that he’s smart, and more than that, he’s observant. He can pick up on small things and knows how to bide his time. Impulsivity will get you nowhere. Just ask Lorenzo.

Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 was all about building up this image of Lorenzo as some brilliant mastermind who was respected and feared by so many. But we haven’t seen his mastermind tendencies since he got out of jail.

He has every right to be pissed off at Cane for the whole trying to kill him thing, but he’s always had a very warped perception of his children. Dru wasn’t and still isn’t ready to be a leader because his heart is not in it.

Anything he ends up doing is because of pressure or anger. Conversely, Cane is all in and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. And he’s good at what he does.

Lorenzo enacts this whole plan to frame a bald-headed GTG member, and Cane figures it all out within a day.

And to be fair, it was a pretty good plan. If Cane hadn’t tracked down the pilot, it’s possible he would have gotten away with everything because the information from the pilot really sealed the deal that it was Lorenzo.

All this time, you thinking I’m not ready for the fucking throne. But you weren’t ready for me. And now that I know the truth, I fucking own you. So, this Noma weight we talked about earlier, you’re gonna move it. See you at the house.

Cane [to Lorenzo]

But before I sing Cane’s praises too much, his exuberance at getting over on his father is probably premature, and if he thinks for a second he’s going to boss Lorenzo around for the foreseeable future, then he is not as bright as I give him credit for.

Perhaps, it works for a bit, and if you’re a betting person, I would advise you to put your money on Cane in the long run, but Lorenzo will not go quietly into the night.

The battle lines are taking shape, and we’re only two episodes into the season. I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified about what’s to come.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• Cane sniffing the apple after Monet told him to shut up. Pure comedy.

• Jenny keeps lying to Saxe left and right, and there is no way that doesn’t eventually come back to haunt her. Saxe is a petty, petty man, and he will not brush that off.

• Brayden and Keke. A match I could get behind.

• What was Effie going to do with Course Correct? In what universe would that help when the second it went live, the school and police would be all over it?

• Now, there was no reason for Diana to be hiding in the closet when she saw Tariq and Effie together. She can not still be hung up on Tariq! Salim is a bit much, but he sees her value more than Tariq ever has, and she needs someone who will put her first and respect her. And that someone is not Tariq.

• I’m afraid I spoke Everett’s dismissal into existence. Honestly, he’s lucky he’s going to OKC at all because the longer he stayed with Dru, the more danger he was going to be in.

• I hope Dru was on the one street in New York without street cameras because if not, there is no way they don’t have his face on candid camera getting ready to push that poor man into oncoming traffic.

• With Monet thinking she’s killed Zeke’s murderer, where does she channel her energy now?

• Lauren seemed a little whimsical when she saw that picture of Tariq. You have to wonder if there’s a scenario where somehow, against all odds, these two find their way back to each other.

• They need to give us an entire episode of Tate trying to court a woman because the comedy that would come from that would be priceless.

This was a great hour from start to finish, and there are many different ways for the story to splinter off from here. So, hit me in the comments and let me know your thoughts about the installment and where things could be headed next.

As always, you can watch Power Book II: Ghost online right now, so you’re all caught up.

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Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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