Warning: this post contains spoilers for Power Book II: Ghostin End of the 1st season. Proceed with caution.
A little bit of the holiday is over, but Tommy’s appearance in Power Book II: GhostThe end of the first season can certainly be classified as “Christmas cancellation”.
After all, Ghost’s best friend who has become the biggest enemy returns to New York for the express purpose of killing Tasha, who named him Ghost’s murderer during his murder trial earlier in the season. (And didn’t we say that Joseph Sikora would probably be back?)
But when Tommy is unsuccessful on his first attempt, Tariq changes things and comes up with a plan that he says will help everyone. So, he designs a car chase in which Tommy appears to be following Tasha, recently released from prison, the feds are actually following Tommy, and it all ends in an explosion that makes it look like Uncle Tommy is dead and gone. (He even throws a few molars in the wreckage to make sure there is DNA proof of his death.)
Although Tommy tells Tariq that he is going to leave New York, he secretly plans to give Tasha another blow before she, Yaz and Tariq escape. But Tariq, knowing that he should not trust his uncle seriously angry, calls a threat to Tasha’s life that causes the feds to take her to Witness Protection earlier than planned. So Tommy is frustrated … and then frustrated again when Monet (!) Stops him from killing Tariq at Ghost’s grave, placing her gun on his head and telling him to go.
“Come on,” Monet says to Tariq after Tommy leaves. “The family is waiting.”
And this is just one of several major developments that take place during the hour. You must be wondering how Tasha is now a free woman? That’s because when Tariq testified at his mother’s trial, he said Saxe was tracking him illegally and hinted that Saxe and MacLean’s unethical alliance would explode. So, with Ott pulling the strings, Tasha appoints Tommy as head of the drug operation in exchange for Witness Protection for her and Yasmine … but not Tariq. (Hence your plan to run with him.)
Another great moment: Tariq kills Jabari, who discovered that ‘Riq was selling drugs and was connected with Dru. Cane overhears the conversation and shoots Jabari, who thinks Tariq is a snitch. Cane is also about to shoot Tariq, but young St. Patrick convinces him to let him fix everything – including the murder of police officer Ramirez. Cane gives him Ramirez’s weapon and Tariq kills Jabari, who planned to write a book about Tariq’s illicit activities. (The money Jabari planned to give ‘Riq, incidentally, conveniently pays Tariq’s debt to Monet.)
TVLine turned to creator / executive producer Courtney Kemp and executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson to show the ending. In separate interviews, they analyzed Tariq’s big moves and Tommy’s explosive return. Read their opinion on “Heart of Darkness”.
TVLINE | Tasha goes to Witness Protection at the end of the episode. What can you tell me about Naturi Naughton’s presence on the screens in Season 2?
KEMP | What I’m just going to visualize is that Tariq did this, he decided to save her life, but he will have no control over where she is or what she is doing. So, when we get to the start of season 2, there is definitely a feeling from Tariq of, “I would like to know where my mom is,” and I think I will leave it at that.
TVLINE | Everyone thinks Tommy is dead. This is a beautiful blank board for someone like him. Going to Power Book IV: Strength, what can you tell us about your future ventures?
KEMP | Well, there were some things that we wanted to do. I wanted to release the character so that he could do whatever he wanted, and I wanted him to be able to move around the country. Remember that old Southwest commercial, “Are you now free to move around the country?” I wanted him to do that. So, that’s part of it. But part of that was also to resolve the issue of Tasha actually having to testify against him. This was something that I wanted to be very clear to the public: this is not going to happen again. The fact that she did testify against Tommy is not going to show up again, and that was part of Tariq’s plan to clean up all of those things.
TVLINE | Monet essentially chooses Tariq over Cane in this episode. It seems that it hurts him in a huge way.
JACKSON | [On Power], I said, “If I play a character, I want to play the worst person they’ve seen on television.” And it’s being arranged now, with Cane. It’s a little bit different in his character, because by default, he’s doing the wrong thing with the innocence attached to it. My character was doing these things with malice because I was trying to get everything back. It was all mine, so to speak. [Laughs] I think it was a mistake to name Cane so close to Kanan. [Laughs]
TVLINE | Let’s talk about Carrie for a minute. Please forgive me, because I can’t remember the beginning of the season: did we know that she was a former prosecutor or is that something we just learned in the last few episodes?
KEMP | It is there very early, but it is not much.
TVLINE | Do you think she is sure she is doing the right thing by protecting Zeke and interfering in the investigation of a murder?
KEMP | It is flying completely through the mouth, and the cover-up is worse than the crime, always. So, what does that mean? You shouldn’t have slept with a student, man! [Laughs] That was a very bad decision …
It is very important to see Carrie, always, as someone who is addicted to great achievements. So, she makes a lot of terrible decisions. I love characters like that. What’s so funny is that the audience was like, we hate these characters, we hate these teachers, and now, they’re starting to see what the purpose of those characters was all along, which was always planned. I think there are a lot of people like Jabari, who want to intervene and help a child, but end up wanting to help themselves. Or a lot of people like Carrie, who from the beginning, you met this soft-hearted person who was trying to help all these kids, but then she helped herself, basically, to a certain extent. Girl! What are you doing? Do you know what I’m saying? [Laughs] It’s very important. Right? By the way, you can print this out. That’s nice.
TVLINE | “D – k,” will be printed, but go there.
KEMP | [Laughs] No. Actually, wait. We can rewrite. How about “She helped Zeke”.
TVLINE | Not! “She helped herself to a little d – k” is a much better quote, and you know it.
KEMP | [Laughs] I know. I know. I know. I am here to help. [Laughs] I really am.
Now it is your turn. Sort the Power Book II: Ghost finale and the season as a whole through the polls below, then send your comments to the comments!