Recap: Power, Episode 4: The King of Inappropriate

Ghost and his unreadable face. Yeah. So I'm almost two weeks late getting this recap up. Though, is it technically "late" as long as it goes up before the next episode airs? Okay, maybe I'm reaching.

But... part of the reason it's late is because I've been on the road, working, not partying. (Ok, just a little). During one of those parties, I got to hang out with Naturi Naughton aka "Tasha", She says, "hi"

B. x Naturi Naughton at a BET Awards After Party

Anyway...

Fiddy, the King of Inappropriate, opens this week’s episode blowing out the back of his ex, his son’s mother. I didn't catch her name, but whatever it is here, she is and always will be "Tasha" to me because of "Why Did I Get Married?" and she just looks like a Tasha. Back to Power: Tasha is a screamer, and son Sean has the misfortune of being downstairs watching the game and overhearing it all. Awkward. More so than two weeks ago when he walked in on his father getting dome? You decide.

Mom is holding on to Fiddy’s secret stash for the 10 year bid. He breaks her off a chunk for “being loyal.” She warns him to be careful with Sean.

Over in a Manhattan penthouse, Ghost, who used to be the star of the show, is sulking in bed. He looks longingly at his luggage from Miami and I wonder if he’s thinking about doing Angie, or Angie being a fed, or the chick that died in front of him. You never know with Ghost. Tasha, a morning person evidently, is super hype as she catches hubs up on the family life he missed. He tells her that he’s suspicious about who killed the Lady Killer. Oh, hold up. Maybe Ghost was thinking about killing Rolla unnecessarily. Or who financed the Hit Lady. He’s got a lot to worry about.

Greg calls Angie to say Q-Dubs is dead. She’s all, “I wanna come to the crime scene!” despite being reassigned from the case. Maybe it’s the way my care is set up, but if I’m not working a case anymore, and not getting paid extra to care, and that case is a liability for my relationship with a man that I love, I wouldn’t care anymore. But that’s me. Angie’s still trying to pin down Tommy and prove that he’s Ghost.

Tasha is going over the latest bank statements when Sean walks in. He’s decided to stop listening to his father’s advice and push up on Tasha one last time, despite recently tongue-ing down her bestie. She brushes him off again. “Ghost and I are good. You and I are what we are, all we’re ever be,” she says.

Ghost shows up at Angie’s with coffee to catch her coming out of her building. I can’t tell if he actually wanted to see her or he doesn’t want her to be suspicious, or if he’s checking to see what she’s up to. She tells Ghost she regrets telling him about Tommy. He tells her Tommy is clean before she takes a work call and rushes off. Sean, of course, watches all this from the car.

Holly is bored as sh— at home, recovering from the shooting. Tommy is rushing out to meet Ghost and she wants to go with. Um… Ma’am? Tommy says as much. It’s like the only time we will ever hear Tommy tell her “no.” He is entirely sprung over her. I get what he sees in her, but I don’t get what she sees in him, especially when he tells her to get some rest, especially her mouth because “you never know when it’s going to be called into action.” Ugh!

Ghost returns to the bar that he used to own to report to his new boss, Cantos, that he did as he was told in Miami. The bosses have a new party in  the works, a Vibe party that is described as “a dud of an event” and has no budget. Ouch! Who over at Vibe gave this show a bad review?

Jamie has no choice but to be up for the task because he no longer wears the crown at his club. He tries to call him favors with A-list athletes, who don’t want to be associated with his club anymore. Womp.

Tommy pops up at the club with Kanan in tow, which surprises Ghost. And because Tommy is messy, he also implies in front of Kanan that Ghost is cheating on Tasha. Hmm. Is Tommy being messy or intentionally shady? I can’t tell. Ghost is obviously awkward and doesn’t want to talk in front of Kanan. He goes from awkward to pissed when he learns that Q-Dubbs is dead by Kanan’s hand. But how convenient that Kanan’s crew can solve Ghost’s “powder problem.”

And because when it rains it pours, Ghost is also running low on legal cash. I mean, they’re making a ton of it, but they can’t clean it anymore because Ghost isn’t overseeing the club and his people aren’t on the bank runs. There are piles of money in a back room at the laundromat. At home, Tasha has noticed the legit money is looking light. Um… could it also be because you’re skimming it from the account because you don’t trust your husband? But Ghost doesn’t know that, of course.

Sean shows up at Lala’s apartment on the rebound talking about, “I made a mistake.” She knows she’s a rebound from Tasha, but she thinks he’s hot and she wants to believe him when he says he’s not there because Tasha rejected him. They do it. This is a gratuitous sex scene. That said, Lala’s boobs look great.

Over at Tommy’s, bored Holly is inviting Julio, Tommy and Ghost’s third wheel, ini for a drink while dressed in her panties. Julio knows he should go, but stays. This isn’t going to end well.

Elsewhere, Tommy is hanging out with his new bestie (and star of the show), Fiddy, and Fiddy’s boys. The new guys aren’t really feeling Tommy’s yo-boy vibe, and Fiddy’s not feeling one of the dudes at the table.

Ghost hashes out a plan to clean the money by giving people money to spend at the club. He walks around town like some sort of Starz version of Clay Davis handing out dollars in exchange for patronage.

Tasha has lunch with Lala and tells her that Sean blew her back out. She adds that she knows he has a thing for Tasha and there is an attraction between them. Um. This friendship is officially weird. “If you’re gonna stick it out with Ghost that’s great,” she says. “But you better make sure you’re choosing the right man.”

Tasha heads home to search through Ghost’s ish. She finds the number to Eden Rock hotel where he stayed in Miami. The attendant asks if she enjoyed her massage. Shit’s about to go down.

Tommy buys Holly a puppy. “haven’t you ever seen a movie,” he quips. “Puppies fix everything. I got a bitch for my bitch.” The dog’s name is Belle. Anyway, Tommy notices the glasses on the counter, Holly lies about anyone being in the house, then admits she let his business partner, Julio, come in. Tommy flips because he’s Tommy.

Kanan and his prison buddy take a ride. They discuss the dude that clowned Tommy. Diddy asks if he’s trustworthy. Dude gives a nonchalant “sure”. Fiddy looks up to something.

Jamie returns home to discover that he can’t get into his apartment. Tasha has changed the code. Of course, this doesn’t go over well. “Let me upstairs to my apartment where I pay rent!” Jamie demands to the desk attendant. The attendant tells him they don’t get involved in domestic matters. Jamie blows up Tasha’s phone, then his son’s phone. Finally she answers and tells him she knows about Angie. Jamie flips on Sean, thinking he told Tasha about the trip. He didn’t.

At work, Greg hands over the video footage from the Q-Dubbs shooting to Angie. Of course, she finds out that Tommy was there.  Greg talks to the new boss about Angie’s find. New boss agrees to hear her out in a presentation.

Angie presents her case against Tommy to the team. “We’ve got a big pile of circumstantial nothing,” her colleague points out. Her new boss is more impressed. Greg has been doing research of his own about Tommy’s friends, including the actual Ghost. “If this guy is clean, he’s one unlucky bastard,” new boss says bout Jamie. Oh, and Angela is back on the task force.

Tommy shows up for a meeting between Ghost and Julio and attacks Julio. Ghost breaks it up and points out to Tommy that he doesn’t trust Holly.  When Tommy calms down— pretty quickly because he’s nuts—  Ghost tells him that Tasha kicked him out. Somehow this leads to a conversation by Tommy about how great Kanan is. I don’t think Ghost really cares that Tommy and Fiddy are new besties. He’s just suspicious— with good reason— of Kanan.

Sean goes by the St. Patricks to get some clothes for Ghost. Tasha  confronts Sean about knowing that her husband was still seeing Angela. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to be the one to break your heart”, he says. Tasha is a walking Mary J. Blige album. Like before she got happy. Sean says Lala/Kisha was a mistake. “But I know that this isn’t.” He tongues down Tasha… in the bedroom she shares (shared?) with her husband. Messy. Messy.

Jamie and Angela are tongue humping in the hotel. She says it’s getting harder to “do this”.  As in doing a married man? Oh, no. She means Tommy. She tells Ghost that she will do all she can to keep Tommy’s drama away from him. Jamie’s face flashes with panic, but then he recovers quickly, because that’s what he does. He dangles a carrot in front of Angela: he and Tasha split up and he tells Angie he loves her.

Angie wants to know “why now?” Finally she’s asking smart questions, even as she does dumb ish. Jamie is actually honest here. He previously told Tasha he was done with Angie and she flipped when she found out he took her to Miami. Angie asks, “I just don’t get it. Why do you need her so badly?” Jamie switches the subject to Tommy before Angie’s  interrupted by the ding of her phone. Her colleague/ex wants her to join him on a stake out of Tommy. Before she leaves, she says to Ghost, “we’re gonna be okay.” I can’t tell if it’s a statement or a question.

When Angie speaks to Greg, he tells her that his ass is on the line if she messes up. She swears she knows what she’s doing. Um.. ma’am, you just got done making out with the  guy that you are trying to capture. You don’t know ‘nan. Then Greg makes his pitch to get Angie back: “Is it at all odd us working together?” Here we go.

Greg sees Holly coming out of Tommy’s building. I totally saw this coming. I’ve been said Holly will be the one to mess up this whole operation.

Kanan and Ghost meet for drinks. Jamie’s finally figured out he’s the enemy. But in a page from the Art of War, he’s keeping his ememies close. I think he’s about to set Fiddy up for the fall with the feds somehow. We’ll see. Jamie offers to buy Fiddy a drink and the waiter asks if Jamie wants to put it on his room. Jamie tells Fiddy that he and Tasha have split. “Shit’ll work it self out, it always does, right?” Diddy says before bouncing.

Jamie shows up to Tariq’s school to confront Tasha, who is dressed in her version of what an Upper West Side mom would dress like, but like, with may more skin. “I think Kanan knows we sent him to jail and he’s coming after us.” Wait, what? They sent Kanan to jail? How?!!! Ghost says he can’t see Kanan’s next move and he’s worried about Tasha and the kids and he should be in the house to protect them. I’m confused. Does he want to stand in the sun and make jam with Angie, or does he want Tasha, or both. What is this man’s end game?

Tasha doesn’t believe his Kanan story and tells Ghost he’s never coming home. He yokes up Tasha like we’ve only seen him do to his enemies before he kills them. Oh, hell no.

Jamie offers to pay Holly to leave the Tommy alone. He gets the same goosebumps about her that every viewer does.  “You’re a liability,” he says to her. “You’ll go one way or the other.” He offers her cash and a train ticket. She declines.

At Truth, the club is popping. They have acrobats and bloggers. Management is impressed.”Leave it to the Black party to put us back in the black,” Jamie says.  He offers to take the profits to the bank. No go. So the coffers are gonna stay light. This should get interesting.

Greg confronts Holly, who surprise, surprise, has found that she has an outstanding warrant in Ohio. He wants to take her in for questioning.

At home, Tasha is crying when the front desk calls to say Kanan is on his way up. He shows up with gifts for the kids and a bottle of wine for her. “I used to think about you sometimes when I was inside,” he tells her. Pause. Fiddy and this shelling coat are killing me. “If you ever need anything, anything you can’t get from Ghost, you can ask me,” he tells Tasha.” Was that a penis offer? I think he offered her penis. Fiddy’s shadiness never fails me. You just gonna try to ruin every aspect of this man’s life, huh?

After Kanan leaves, Tasha takes out her gun. Okay. So she believes Ghost. Does that mean she’ll let him back in the house?

Fiddy and prison homie roll up to an abandoned lot. Fiddy has his messy homeboy in the trunk. He’s cut out his tongue. “the next time I ask if you trust a men ember of your crew, ‘sure’ is not an acceptable answer,” Fiddy says. This man is a sociopath (like Tommy)… and that makes for a never dull episode. Fiddy tells prison homie to kill his friend. Kanan walks off to smoke a cigarette while dude does his bidding. He’s up to something. Always.

 

What did you think of Episode 4 of Power?

Power Ep. 7: Jamie & Angela Have the Best Sex on TV

Jamie + Angela have the best sex on TV. My flight from San Jose landed at 5:15AM yesterday morning. I got home to find out I was locked out. (Long story.) Finally got in at 7AM, laid down to actually sleep (because plane sleep sucks even though I finally bought a plane pillow, which helps immensely). And then when I couldn't sleep though I was bone tired, I watched Saturday night's episode of "Power", then slept til 5PM.  That's how much I like this show... though I realized I hate nearly all of the characters.

These are my thoughts on the most recent episode, in no particular order (and you'll only get it if you saw the episode):

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*  *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT* 

I HATE Lala's character (but love Lala). She's like the stereotype of the single friend who hasn't been in a relationship in forever. But she's ride or die for her girl, just like Tasha is ride or die for Ghost, and I respect that.

For some reason, I don't like Angie anymore. Can't put my finger on it. I think I was ok when she didn't know Jamie was married, but now that she knows and keeps the affair up, eh.... It's the "Olivia Pope" problem. At some point she just starts to seem overall stupid for, as MJB called it, "living in a dream." But Jamie be blowing her back out though... Whooo weeee!!!!!

I don't really like Tasha either, but she doesn't deserve to be cheated on even if her husband's outgrown her. And though limited in outlook, she does have  Ghost's best interest at heart. I felt real bad for her when she told her husband, "I won't embarrass you" when they showed up at Stern's house. Oh, and when the white lady asked to touch her hair after dinner, I cringed for her. That was especially weird as Tasha's hair is straight. I thought that only happened with braids and natural hair. Anyway, Tasha's an around-the-way, girl. That scene could have gone a whole lot different. She handled it better than I expected. (I give credit where it's due.) I also felt bad her when she saw Angie. They're worlds apart. She looked defeated in the car, and when she was standing in the mirror evaluating herself like, "why am I not good enough anymore?"

I... feel bad for Ghost. He's torn. Like "Stringer". Too good for one world, not good enough for the other. And struggling and lost. Just can't make a proper decision to save his life and so desperate to be understood and appreciated. If only his mistress could have a "Mary Jane" moment and tell the wife where she needs to step up. Sigh. Tasha would beat the sh-- out of Angie for trying that though. Womp. 

Stern's a muthaf***a. Exhibit A: "how do you get the Blacks and Latinos to show up night after night, and behave?" Ghost was mad that Tasha's stepped in to shut down Stern, and I get why, but she made the right call, even if she was doing it for the wrong reasons. She's obsessed with stunting this man's growth.

Elizabeth Rodriguez, the actress who plays "Poz", Angie's sister, is about to be typecast. She plays the exact same character on Orange is the New Black. Jamie Hector aka "Marlo" is also typecast as a drug dealer. He's so good at it though. Great, great actor.

Rolla's murder wasn't as bad as Wallace or Bodie, but it stung some. I think because the actor reminds me of Wiz Khalifa so much and I like Wiz. That and he makes me laugh, especially when he told ol' girl when she got back with his food, he was "gonna put this long nine on ya". There's some joke I'm missing in that 30 sec later, Ghost says something about 10 inches of snow. Honorable mention to that line about going to Miami to get "a got damn tan" and how he stays calling Tommy "Eminem". Bwahaha. 

I honestly don't care at all about Angela's investigation. I'm only remotely interested because of how this effects Angela and Jamie and what happens when one of them inevitably discovers what the other one really does for work. Somehow I don't see Angie being Tasha's kind of loyal: ride or die. If only this transfer for Detroit would go through. She's trying to keep the case, not knowing she's blocking her blessing. I'm also amazed that the details of what Angie does for a living never came up. I mean, I know she can't discuss the case, but "I'm a federal investigator" never came up?

My thoughts on Tommy haven't changed since the first episode: "Where they get this wild white boy from?" That said, I actually like him. All the man wants to do is his job. He's committed to Ghost and their business, minus the coke habit. He doesn't listen to Biggie: "never get high on your own supply."  I hate his awkward, clepto girlfriend (even before she stole Tasha's earrings).  For some reason, I think she's an undercover agent. Just a feeling.  Sane people run from people like Tommy, unless you grew up with him.

The lady hitta is gorgeous!

Fiddy's ol' devilish, messy self. He's an ass in life and in this role as "Kanan". I can't separate the two. LOL.  I laughed at the big reveal and his smile at the end.

Oh, and the driver? Sean ain't sh***.

I just realized that I strongly dislike or hate all of the characters, but I love this show.

Last thought: the snow throughout the episode was a nice touch. It's either a nod to the characters being in a whirlwind or some sort of "Winter is Coming" nod to GOT aka "the ish is about to hit the fan."

 

What did you think of Episode 7 of Power??