“Power” Recap: A Rat Is Only A Rat If He Snitches On Someone He’s Loyal To

Last week on Power, Kanan started planting his seeds of dysfunction, Tasha finally decides to close the book on her troubled marriage, Tony is tightening his grip on Tommy, Angela’s bedroom behavior got her played, and Ghost’s road to being a legit businessman is looking rockier than ever. Those issues get even worse in season five’s fifth episode and its forcing those who were once bitter enemies to work with each other in this season’s recurring theme of the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

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Tommy Is Officially Radioactive To The Italians

Kanan —and to some extent Ghost’s— plan to get the Italians to wipe their hands clean of Tommy worked out well. The staged drive-by that was meant to only scare Tommy and his new friends got dangerously real when Kanan’s hired goons switch the blanks with live ammunition. Kanan seized the opportunity to advance his plan of becoming a drug kingpin again and played it off like he was there to save the day. He revealed to Vincent in a sitdown that whoever shot at them was a direct result of Tommy’s failed attempt to take out Dre. Tommy told Vincent he handled that situation but Kanan saying otherwise raises the Italian mob boss’ eyebrows.

Kanan’s bombshell revelation convinced Vincent that the shootout was indeed fishy and he needed to get to the bottom of it. The episode opens up with Tommy and Sammy waiting at the mobs gathering spot. Vincent, Tony Teresi, and the goons show up finally, but it’s not all peaches and cream. Vincent wastes no time in questioning the both of them about the shooting and addressing his suspicions. Tommy immediately opens up about it and reveals he once again lied to the young mafia boss which means Sammy lied as well. Not happy about what he just heard, Vincent decides someones gotta die and he elects that Tony should be the one to pull the trigger.

Tony takes the gun and tries to use his ‘I did a bid for you in prison’ card, but Vincent isn’t having it. Teresi has to take out one of them or Vincent will kill them all. In the super tense moment, Tony takes the gun and decides that Sammy has to go and pulls the trigger only to find out there were blanks in the firearm. We all know why Teresi picked Sammy, and it’s not because Tommy is his son either. Vincent leaves the stunned trio and tells Teresi that they “will always be family” but officially cut ties with Tommy, telling him that “I won’t be needing a re-up.” Sammy feels betrayed and most importantly disgusted that he almost was killed by his best friend for sticking his neck out for his “mutt” son.

Tony wastes no time in repairing the damage caused by electing to kill Sammy over Tommy. Teresi tells his best friend that he “knew the gun was light,” and Sammy for whatever reason believes him. Sammy is more upset that his viable source of income is gone now after Vincent kicked him out of the family. Tony tells him not to worry because they still have Tommy and that he’s working with the feds to help them nail Ghost. Teresi feels Tommy will help because he owes him now more than ever. (Hmmm…. so does this mean Sammy is on board the snitch train as well?) Or will he use this information to help him get back in the organization? This has to come back in a later episode.

It’s Getting Spooky At Work For Angela

Angela is getting no respect even though she is the boss because her underlings just don’t like her ass at all. Angela has no idea her boss is working with her subordinates to help take down Tommy, Ghost and her. Last week, Angela noticed the infamous tracker placed under Tommy’s car was reactivated by Mak and Saxe. She brings it up to Tameika and she promises she’d handle it… she won’t though. Tameika thanks the team for almost bringing down the Jimenez Cartel that we say almost because the drug kingpins were stolen from their clutches by Agent Steve and the DOJ. Tameika thinks it is time to move on, but Angela is still dead focused on bringing down the infamous cartel.

1. Because it takes the heat off herself, Ghost, Tommy, Riq, and Tasha.
2. She also wants revenge for giving up the booty and getting played in the process.

Unfortunately, Tameika doubles down on her decision and tells Angela she made a promise to the Attorney General to back off and she intends to honor that. She dismisses Angela so she can have that “conversation” with Mak, Saxe and insists Jerry stay for the discussion. Tameika points out to them that Angela is aware of their devious behavior and that they better come up with something ASAP or she is shutting down their case. Mak quickly responds and promises they will have something by the end of the day for Tameika to go on.

Mak and Saxe leave, but Tameika stops Jerry to ask him if she is getting this all wrong about Angela? He shares the interesting tidbit that he was instructed by Ms. Valdez to seize evidence from this season’s nuisance, detective Blanca Rodriguez. Knowing this, Tameika decides to stop by Angela’s office to have a one-on-one conversation. Tameika tells her star prosecutor that she, in fact, knew about Mak and Saxe tracking Egan but their investigation hasn’t turned up anything…yet. She assures Angela that she will have the tracker turned off (yeah right), and that should be the end of it. Angela isn’t too happy to learn that her boss willingly went behind her back. Before she leaves, Tameika has one matter to bring up, and that was the evidence seizure. She asks Angela if the move was just about the case and nothing more and Angela reassures Tameika that it was just about the dirty case.

That box of evidence locked away in the cabinet behind Angela will come back to haunt her. Speaking of Blanca, she is still hot the on the case she is not supposed to be investigating. She and the detective on Ray Ray’s case showed up at the St. Patrick residence unannounced with a new lead in the case of Raina’s death and to collect Tasha’s gun as evidence. Tasha reveals to the cops that she reported the gun stolen, they check and verify that, but with the help of Terry who just happened to be there when all of this went down they stave off the detectives attempt at getting some more information.

Hurricane Kanan Is In Full Effect

Kanan is a man on a mission, and he is not stopping till he is back on top and his enemies are groveling at his feet. Kanan has been planting seeds of discourse all season long, and they are beginning to sprout ever so quickly. Last week Kanan sowed doubt about Tommy when speaking with Ghost. This week does the same about Ghost when he and Tommy get a chance to have a one-on-one conversation.

After Tommy spoke about his brush with death and almost having Christmas canceled on him by his dad, he wants Dre dead ASAP. Unfortunately, thanks to Ghost’s business partner and the new weasel on the block, Councilman Tate, bringing Dre onboard the Queens Child Project if they kill him it could immediately implicate the three of them. Tommy isn’t trying to hear it and needs to bring down Dre to make it up to Teresi. The two “brothers” get into another heated exchange in front of Kanan who is just happily soaking all of this chaos he created in. Ghost hands Tommy a check for the money he washed through the club and tells Tommy to act like he doesn’t exist whenever he is around his dad and leaves.

Once Ghost is out the picture, Kanan gets to work again and likens James to Lucy Van Pelt when she continually moves the ball away from Charlie Brown. Kanan suggests the best way to get Dre is to push him out of his own organization. Kanan feels this is the best move being there is trouble brewing with Cristobal and his Tainos. The plan sounds good, but Tommy is reluctant to do so being that they can’t move on Dre without Ghost giving the okay. Kanan uses the moment basically taunts Tommy’s loyalty to Ghost and leaves him with that feeling of being Ghost’s lackey.

Kanan wastes no time in putting his plan into motion without Tommy and Ghost. He does enlist the help of a crackhead named Laces masterfully played by Kendrick Lamar. Crackheads in hood mythology know all the goings-on in the neighborhood and Kanan uses that to his advantage. With the purchased help of Laces, Kanan tracks down and kills Cristobal’s men one by one. In one hilarious scene, in an ode to Friday‘s classic character Deebo rolls up one of the Taino’s on a bicycle he bought from Laces and kills him.

The effects from Kanan’s plan are felt immediately in Dre’s circle. Cristobal thinks it’s an inside job and that Dre instructed his wayward goon 2-Bit to carry out the hits. Dre fights those claims, but the damage has already been done.

Ghost Is Beginning To Crack

James is usually a man with a plan and always has the answers. This season might be the most vulnerable and broken we have ever seen the show’s main character. With his former protegé making things extremely difficult in both the drug and business world for him, Ghost is desperately looking for a win. His business partner Tate isn’t making things any easier especially after choosing his nemesis to be the face of a project dedicated to his murdered daughter.

Ghost tries to be proactive and with the help of another enemy/business partner Simon Stern in hopes to stop Tate from bringing Dre on board. Despite Stern’s best argument that they already have a token black on board, Tate still feels going with Dre over Ghost is the best move to help the Queens Child Project going forward. We do get a flash of the old cunning Ghost when he finds a crafty way to get Dre fired as manager of his nightclub right before the fundraising event.

Ghost brings attention to Dre’s partner Quinn that he signed a non-compete clause when he was working at Truth. The Bassett’s “don’t f*** with non-competes” and the only way Dre could get out the contract is if Ghost rips it up. BUT of course, why would Ghost do that? So starting immediately Dre is terminated, and the event was moved from the club he used to manage to Truth. Finally a win for Ghost or so he thought?

The victory would be short-lived because, despite the event’s venue being switched to Truth where Dre is really not welcomed, Tate invites Dre to come anyway. The sight of Dre at the event causes Ghost to go on a bender at the bar, and he gets drunk. Ghost is uncharacteristically lashing out at people. First, the reverend that sent off his daughter and finally on Tate. We knew Ghost wanted to get his hands on Tate; eventually, the alcohol gave him all the courage to do so, and unfortunately, it was at the wrong place and wrong time. Oh not to mention, Ghost’s drinking spree causes him to miss his son’s birthday dinner. That’s a whole other matter we will be touching on in this recap.

Finally, That Damn Tracker Finally Pays Off

Since it was placed on Tommy’s car last season, fans of the show have been wondering when exactly will it come into play. Tommy has been doing all kinds of crazy sh*t with it still attached to his car, but nothing has happened until now. We touched on earlier how Angela noticed it being used by Mak and Saxe last episode and got some clarity on it from her boss Tameika. Now we break down how it became the glue to forge an unlikely alliance between Tommy, Proctor, and Angela.

Angela reaches out to Proctor and dangles out the prospect of potentially helping him get his job back. In return, Angela wants him to set up a meeting between herself and Tommy. Proctor comes through sets up the gathering but doesn’t tell Tommy the third party is going to be Angela. Once she arrives Tommy first inclination is to high-tail it out of there but some information she starts sharing intrigues him. Angela reveals that Tommy’s car had the tracker on it and he is pissed.

Angela still wants to bring down the Jimenez, and she knows Tommy is her best shot at doing so. She offers Tommy full immunity if he helps her and at first, he is not down with the idea of working with the woman who he once told her vagina was filled with poison. Angela leaves him with the offer, Proctor gives Tommy his best legal advice and feels Tommy should strongly consider it cause it will help bury Bailey Markham’s murder. Tommy basically leaves Proctor with a warning to keep his mouth shut on the matter or else.

After mulling it, Tommy pays Angela an unwanted visit at her apartment. Angela reluctantly lets him in after securing her firearm from her lockbox. Tommy seems to be down with the idea being that both he and she share a common problem, the Jimenez. Tommy asks Angela to give her the tracker ensuring her he’s going to help her bring down the Jimenez. But is there more to Tommy’s madness though? This seems to good to be true right now.

The St.Patrick Family Is Falling Apart

Ghost is already on a downward spiral and so is his entire family. It’s the twins birthday, and Riq is back in town to celebrate the occasion despite the fact his twin sister is no longer here to celebrate with them. Tasha has since moved out and entirely moved on with Silver, but the death of her daughter is still eating at her. We mentioned that Ghost is too busy killing his liver to attend the celebration plus he was supposed to bring the cake so that just leaves Riq, Tasha, and her mother, Keisha, and Tommy.

They are doing their best to make the most of the situation, but it is still painfully awkward. Tommy decides to lighten the mood by offering to take Riq downstairs to give him his present. Uncle takes nephew out for a ride and allows him to drive his prized muscle car. Uncle Tommy instructs Riq to pull over and here is where things get real interesting. Tommy reveals to Riq he knows it was him that snitched to Dre subsequently making his life a living hell since then. We have never seen Tommy take this dark tone with his nephew before, but you get the sense he is extremely pissed at Riq. After a very intense and revealing conversation the two head back to the apartment.

Silver eventually shows, and he saves the day by bringing the cake, but there is a problem. Instead of it saying happy birthday Riq it reads “Happy Birthday Raina” causing Tasha to lose it. She retreats to the bathroom to shed tears over the moment and is eventually interrupted by Riq. He tries to console his mother and apologizes for the cake mishap. He also tells her he doesn’t want his mother to take the blame for killing Ray Ray and that she should tell Silver he did it. For some reason wants that honor so badly that he doesn’t understand his parents are trying to protect him. Tasha gets fed up with her son when implores her to let him confess and brings up the fact “it’s what Raina would have done.” Tasha dismisses him and tells him the decision is made and if he wants to help “get the f*** out of the way.”

Before he leaves, he asks his mom if she wishes it was him that died instead of Raina?  Tasha doesn’t answer, but her actions might have given the young man all the answers he needs. She leaves the bathroom leaving Riq, and he notices the pills on the counter. Looks like he’s going down that dark path again.

Riq just isn’t having a good day at all; first, his uncle grills him, his mom lashes out at him and now a showdown with his dad. Ghost finally shows up pissy drunk, and his son instantly knows it. Ghost drunkenly hands his son his birthday gift, a pair of Air Jordan 1s he purchased from Flight Club earlier. Riq pushes the sneakers away, and things get spicy between the father and son quickly when Riq says “drug dealing ain’t work” when his father explains he missed the dinner because he was at work.

Ghost tries his best —even though he is ridiculously drunk— to explain to his knucklehead son that everything he did was to give Riq and his sister the life that Ghost didn’t have as a kid in hopes he wouldn’t have to sell drugs like him. Riq responds to his dad’s story by telling him “he didn’t want none this sh*t,” and Ghost loses it. Now if he were sober Riq’s ass would have been grass but Ghost is a mere shadow of himself at the moment, and his son is getting the best of him. The argument is eventually broken up by Tasha right before Ghost can get his hands on his son. Tasha tells Ghost he needs to leave he refuses to at first but winds up grabbing his stuff and a drunken fit goes to Angela’s apartment.

Riq heads back to school, and none other than Kanan is giving him ride back to his new school, and at the same time filling Riq’s head up with all of those bad ideas again. Hell of a way to celebrate your birthday, indeed.

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“Power” Recap: A Rat Is Only A Rat If He Snitches On Someone He’s Loyal To  was originally published on cassiuslife.com