I take back everything I said last week. Everything. The first four episodes were a slow build to prepare for the awesomeness that happened this week. Holly had to annoy us to death for four episodes so we would celebrate when Tommy choked her out. (I didn’t cheer the way I did when Joffery was poisoned on GOT, but I didn’t yell, “Tommy, NOOOOO!!!!” either.) Angela had to waiver and flake enough so we were surprised when she came thru with Ruiz and we were actually happy for her (kinda) when she got all giddy over the separation papers, like maybe they do have something real. Tommy had to go batsh-- so we understood that he needs Ghost, and really he and Ghost need each other. They’re better as a team. And Tariq had to do that dumb ish because even though the actor had an unprecedented growth spurt between seasons of filming, he’s still a damn kid and he acts out in bizarre ways when he’s hurt.
Gah!
Let’s get into the details.
Tommy is at home trying to figure out who shot him. He thinks it was Lobos, but he’s not so sure, even if Holly keeps insisting. She’s convinced Lobos is trying to kill Tommy because Tommy didn’t kill Ghost yet, and further, she believes Lobos will come after Tommy—and her—again if he learns Tommy is alive. She says they—“together”- can kill Ghost. She decides they have to stay in the house all day until they figure out how.
Across town, Jamie and Angie are going through the motions of morning sex, but Jamie can feel that she ain’t really into it. Angie says they have too many “obstacles”. She mentions Tarik and Poz, and Tasha, but nothing about Ruiz coming back and putting Ghost’s freedom in jeopardy. Then she bounces saying she has to get to work. But instead, Angie pops up at Greg’s apartment, not so subtly trying to get him to back off having Ruiz give up Jamie. Greg ain’t having it. “Aren’t you tired of lying for him?” he asks.
Mike is having another powwow with Ruiz where Lobos is doing his usual crazy. This time, he threatens to kill Mike and his daughter if Mike doesn’t fix this Ruiz situation.
At a federal courthouse, Turtle is there on business when he gets a call from Jamie who wants him to draw up a separation agreement. Turtle is skeptical. He thinks Tasha might talk. James assures him that Tasha won’t. Suddenly, the building lobby is being cleared out for everyone who isn’t essential personnel. Turtle pulls aside a desk worker to find out what's happening. He says a high profile witness is coming in. Turtle sees Ruiz, and Angela with him.
Angela is about to walk into the meeting with Ruiz when Big Boss stops her at the door to do a walk-and-talk. Angie’s pissed. She wants to know what Ruiz is going to say.
Tarik is at home doing whatever teenage boys do with pens and paper when they’re suspended from school. Tasha walks in to tell him that whatever they were doing for the day has been cancelled and Tarik is going to spend the day with his dad. As Jamie listens in the hallway, Tarik says he doesn’t want to go. “If you’re saying I have to, then I will. It’s not that I want to because I don’t,” Tarik says. Ghost looks confused.
At the office, the Feds are having a meeting about Ruiz. Everyone’s cool with Ruiz flipping to give them Lobos, but Greg’s messy ass asks, “Is this the best we can do?” He suggests that they convince Ruiz to give up the whole Lobos network, including Jamie. Mike looks shook, so does Angie. Angie and Mike try to talk to Greg out of it in front of the Big Boss, but Big Boss is all like, “if we can roll up the whole bunch, why not?”
Back at Tommy’s loft, Holly is stillll trying Tommy to kill Ghost. Lady! Obviously doesn’t want to do it!! Damn!!! Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Kate, Tommy’s mother aka Holly in 20 years. Tommy missed the mortgage payment so Kate popped up so he can run her, her money.
Kate ain’t feeling Holly. She calls her “Hailey”, and is more interested in doing coke with her son and getting her mortgage check than chatting with Tommy’s girlfriend.
It’s take your kid to work day! Jamie takes Tarik to Truth. And surprise! He has tickets to the Knicks game that night... but Tarik gotta work for that ish because he took a gun to school and got suspended. Pause. This kid gets Knicks tickets after getting suspended? This is sooooo not how the Lucas household operated. Jamie assigns Andre, who is so not into Tarik, to manage Tarik while he, James, goes to do grown up stuff.
Tarik is helping Andre put away glasses at the bar. They have man-to-boy talk about Tariq’s suspension and more importantly Shawn’s death. Tarik thinks his dad didn’t care. Andre says Ghost took Shawn’s death “very hard”. I’m surprised that’s all that came out of this conversation. I was waiting for Andre to say something about he and Ghost being in the game together, ‘cause you know, Andre is a loose cannon.
Ruiz and his lawyer are sitting with Feds. He looks at their offer, which is to give up everyone, and throws it back. He’s only going to talk about Lobos, not the network.
At Truth, Turtle pops up with some tea for Jamie. Ruiz is a federal informant and Angie knows about it. Neither Jamie nor Turtle are sure Ruiz is going to be loyal. “Angela didn’t warn you at all?” Turtle asks. “It’s obvious that she doesn’t have your back.” Turtle’s on his way out when he backtracks to drop the separation papers that Jamie asked for earlier.
Holly is at the house checking her phone incessantly, but can’t be on it like that because Kate and Tommy are home, and you know, it’s a loft and there are no rooms. Kate and Tommy do coke lines together, and are offended that Holly doesn’t join in.
There’s another knock at the door. It’s Tasha, who is surprised to see Kate. Kate has no act right. She’s got coke on her nose when she hugs Tasha “hello” and even though Tommy told her that Tasha and Jamie broke up, she asks Tasha about Ghost anyway. Because Tasha’s on it, she tries to get Kate out of the apartment, but now Kate’s hungry.
Holly goes over to commiserate about Kate, and Tasha assures her Kate is on “good behavior”. Tasha says wait ‘til Tommy tells Kate about the baby. Um. Holly ain’t told him yet. Tasha ain’t got time for her white friends and their foolishness. She dips under the guise of being busy.
Back at the federal building, Greg pops in to talk to Ruiz, who is sitting without his lawyer. Ruiz insists he ain’t talking. Greg says that he knows that Ruiz and Tommy put a hit on Nomar. They got in on tape, and because Nomar was a fed informant, Ruiz is facing the death penalty. Ruiz loosens his tie to hear Greg out. Greg wants the identity of Ghost.
Ghost is going over the separation agreement when his head of security comes over with a drink. He apologizes for “losing eyes” on Ghost the night before. Um. He lying. He followed Ghost and saw him shoot the Koreans who were shooting at Tommy. He’s trying to get Jamie to open up to him, but Jamie tells him that he’s good and he doesn’t need a personal detail anymore. What is going on with this security detail? No one is this quiet or this loyal without a cause.
Tarik is in the DJ booth spinning. Jamie is trying to bond with him and shows Tarik his phone. “I joined the Twitter,” he says. Yo. Ghost is usually soooo cool. How is he talking like someone’s gramps? LOL. Jamie takes the opportunity for a heart to heart with his boy. He doesn’t understand why Tarik went in Angie’s purse and took the gun. Tarik says he was angry about how his dad left, moved in with Angie, and never said sh--. “What kind of father does that?” Tarik asks. Welp. Jamie apologizes. He and Tarik hug it out. God. This kid. Jamie tries to let go, but Tarik holds on. That kid "just" needs his dad.
At the office, Mike is in a meeting and brooding over what to do about the Feds being all over Lobos. His ass is on the line. Big Boss walks in to say Ruiz has come to senses and after he gives up the tea, he should be transferred to DC. Mike ain’t never looked happier. What is he up to? Angela dips too.
Angie heads to Jamie’s office to tell him he needs to get a lawyer, but not why. “Were you going to tell me about Ruiz?” he asks. Angie is stunned that he knows. Jamie won’t spill who told him, but reminds Angie that Ruiz is a problem for him because she went thru his daughter to get intel or her case. Jamie says he doesn’t know if he can trust her and that he doesn’t want to take care of this problem, but he will if he has to. He asks Angie to help him. Angie gets a text from her office saying she has to go. Jamie grabs her hand to keep her there, but she pulls away.
Somewhere in Queens, I suspect. Andre arrives home after a long day at Truth. He’s excited to see his baby girl. But. Oh. Oh no. Kanan is in the house and holding the kid. He told Dre’s girl that he would look after the kid. Who the f--- leaves their kid with Kanan? “You failed me Dre,” Kanan says. “You chose Ghost over me.”
Kanan motions to throw the kid out the window and Kanan, who killed his own son, is just crazy enough to do it. Dre says that he is right where Kanan wants him to be as Ghost trusts him and he just spent the whole day with Tarik. (That theory some of ya’ll had last week about Kanan’s revenge on Ghost being to kill Tarik is starting to look valid.) Kanan is convinced. He puts the kid down and says he’ll be in touch.
Ruiz is still alone at the courthouse when Angela comes in the conference room. Where is his lawyer? Anyway, she tells Ruiz not to give up anyone but Lobos and reminds Ruiz that he is still a part of the Soldado Nation and their rules say that a man who saves your life is your brother for life. Ghost saved Ruiz’s life, i.e., he can’t snitch on Ghost.
Night has fallen, and Kate is still at the house and Holly the broken record is still on Tommy to kill Ghost. Kate notices Tommy is off and says it’s because he and Jamie are fighting. She says Jamie always shows up for him. Tommy has a revelation. Holly, who just got a text from the Jamaicans that they are in position to kill Ghost, snarls because she knows Tommy’s getting sentimental about Ghost. She texts back to the Jamaicans “do it”, ie, kill Ghost.
Have I said yet how much I hate Holly? I hate Holly.
There’’ another knock on the door. It’s our friend Julio. Kate likes what she sees as much as we do. She calls him, “a tall shot of tequila”.
iChoked.
Julio’s got some news. Everything’s good with the rounds, except for with the Koreans. They got shot up in front of some church last night, but there’s no word on who did it. Tommy has an “A-ha Moment”. He walks back to Kate and basically kicks her out. She knows he ain’t playing so she wraps it up, B, gives Holly a fake hug and dips. She tells Tommy to get rid of Holly. Oh, and Ghost is as much her son as Tommy is.
Holly looks on disgusted as Kate and Tommy kiss goodbye and Tommy announces he’s leaving too.
At the courthouse Ruiz has been at all dang day, the team’s all there to get Ruiz’s confessions. He says he met with Lobos, who declined his services, and he doesn’t know Ghost’s real name. The look on Greg’s face is hilarious. The Feds press him about murdering Nomar and having it on tape. They threaten the death penalty. Ruiz’s lawyer reminds them that Nomar had it coming for having sex with Ruiz’s 14 year old daughter. The other Feds look away in disgust. They know that case ain’t getting a conviction. Big Boss says “take Lobos. We’re done here.” Bloop!
Across town, Mike storms into Lobos’s hospital room with a federal agreement where Lobos says he will give up the Jimenez Cartel. Lobos balks. He’s not a rat. Mike says if he signs it, he will get transferred, and implies that he can have someone break him out of custody during the transport.
Holly, who never has anything to do except Tommy, is lying on the bed when Tommy comes home. He’s realized that the Koreans were trying to kill him, and it's Ghost who saved his life. Tommy is soooo happy. His bestie still loves him! Holly being Holly is still on her Holly sh--. She reminds Tommy that Lobos is still after them because Tommy hasn’t killed Jamie. Tommy says he has to go talk to Ghost. Holly begs him not to go. She doesn’t want Tommy to get hurt.
Somewhere in Manhattan, Ghost and Tarik are headed to MSG when someone rear-ends Ghost’s truck. He gets out, leaving Tarik inside. Tarik puts on his headphones. Why? I dunno. The truck has a fine speaker system.
Back at Tommy’s, Holly confesses that she hired the Jamaicans to kill Ghost and it’s “too late” to save him. Tommy flips. He tells Holly she has to leave. He slaps the dog sh—out of her. I ain’t saying it’s right. I’m saying I can’t find the voice to object.
It seems it is too late. The folks that bumps Ghost’s car? The Jamaicans. Ghost turns to look at Tarik in the passenger seat. Fuggggggg. Ghost is going out like a G. Not all that Stringer Bell talk-his-way-out-of-it ish. He closes his eyes and accepts his fate.
Bullets fly, but not from the Jamaicans. They get lit up like they’re in a Tarantino movie. Ghost’s security detail—the dudes he fired—are still following him and they kill the Jamaicans. Holy shit!!!!!
Ghost is standing there in shock when the head of the detail tells Ghost he has to get out of there. Ghost gets in the car shook as f—k with Tarik who missed all the action listening to his headphones. Does this kid have Beats by Dre? They do cancel noise. Ghost tells Tarik, “I need to take you home.” Tarik is clueless. ”We’re not going to the game because you got rear ended? We can’t take a cab,” he asks. F---in kids. LOL.
Holly don’t know when to shut the f--- up. She tells Tommy he can’t live without Ghost and now that he’s dead, Tommy doesn’t exist and he knows it. Tommy loses it and chokes the sh—out of her. Again. Except he doesn’t stop this time until Holly goes paler, then limp. When he finally lets go, she falls on the floor. As the great Rosalie once described of the slavemaster who tried to rape her: [S]he dead. Tommy tries to wake her up like she’s sleep.
Lobos is in his hospital room, leaving a message for someone that he has a job for them. In short: he wants the person to break him out of Fed custody.
At the office, Angie swings by Mike’s to discover that Lobos is being transported, and is giving up the Jiminez Brothers. Mike notes her disappointment.
Jamie is sitting on the couch, stuck on stupid when Angie walks in. She tells him he doesn’t have to worry about Ruiz or Lobos, who is being transferred. “The Lobos case is over’, she says. Jamie looks at her in wonder and awe, and left over shock. “Has no one ever helped you before?” she asks. “Not like this,” he says. “Not like you.”
Flag on play. Tasha may not have been able to fix his legal problems, but you can’t tell me that chick ain’t helped him. She was ready to take a gun charge for him as his girlfriend, and as a wife, she had to throw a burner away. Let’s not act like that was some necessary help.
Angie takes a seat next to Jamie and rests her head on his shoulder. He skips the most important part of his day: The Jamaicans almost killed me. Instead, he presents Angie with the separation papers he had drawn up to give to Tasha. Angie gets excited like it’s her birthday. Jamie says, “I love you. I mean it”, and Angie tongues him down as an “I love you too”.
Later, they’re laying in the bed, probably after sex since they have it so much any other time. Angie’s sleep. Jamie’s not. He’s trying to figure out who tried to kill him. I’m guessing he thinks it was Tommy because Ghost dresses in black, grabs his gun and heads over to Tommy’s loft. He’s stunned by what he finds: Tommy is in shock sitting on the floor with a dead Holly laying nearby. Tommy got two words: Help me. And he’s done.
Ghost handles the situation like Oliva Pope. He disposes of Holly’s body somewhere near a river while Tommy waits in the car. He remembered to take Tommy’s mother’s ring off of Holly’s finger. That’s what friends are for. The guys have an overdue conversation to bring each other up to speed on what’s happened since their fallout. Ghost admits he shot the Koreans to save Tommy. Tommy says Holly hired the Jamaicans to kill Ghost, and Lobos also hired Tommy to kill Ghost, which Tommy couldn’t do. They make a pact to kill Lobos, “together”.
Whooo, Chiile. This is some Shonda Rhimes level writing and plotting this week. Rememebr when Scandal used to be this good?
Cousin Courtney put her whole damn foot in this episode, then put in the other foot to kick water in our faces – cause she’s petty, like us-- to let us know we shouldn’t ever sleep on her again.
And because women apologize when we’re wrong too: Dear Cousin Courtney, We’re sorry we slept on you last week. Our bad. We good, Fam?