Holly’s been pulled in for questioning, and by the way her foot’s tapping on the floor, she’s nervous as hell. I’d bet there’s a part of her that wishes she had taken Ghost’s offer of a train ticket and a bunch of cash and skipped town. Angela wants the first crack at interviewing Holly but her boss reminds her that she’s on probation. If she were a man, she would have just been sonned. Greg reminds her that acting out could cost him and her their jobs.
We confirm that this isn’t Holly’s first time at the rodeo. She’s a horrible criminal in that she’s been caught at least five times doing hoodrat ish with her friends. (Contrast that with Ghost, who is well into his thirties and has never been arrested once.) I’m finally convinced that Holly isn’t a fellow Fed, but I still don’t trust this chick. Maybe she’ll surprise me though.
Ghost is doing what he does best: brood. He’s waiting for the clock to hit 7AM, because I guess that’s decent hours for calling home. His (downtown NYC) hotel room is small— I was expecting at least a one bedroom suite— but that view is awesome. Is that the Rivington? Anybody?
Sorry, got distracted. Jamie misses being a full-time dad and leaves a fatherly voice mail message for Tariq. He’s interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s the morning paper— which no hotel knocks at 7 AM to deliver— and Page Six credits Stern, Jamie’s Boss Man, with “breathing new life into Truth.” Jamie’s pissed.
Holly’s cracking me up at questioning. The Fed wants to know the nature of her relationship with Tommy. “We’re f---ing. We f---,” she says. LOL. She denies Tommy’s into any illegal business. “Tommy’s a lot of things, but nothing like what you’re asking about,” Holly says. Great cover, Holly! Oh, hold up, I’m not supposed to be routing for the drug dealers, am I? But it’s TV. So yeah, Go Holly!
Angela’s watching Holly’s interrogation and susses out that Holly is more than a “f—“ She wonders if they’ll get anything from Holly. “When you really love a guy, you stand by him no mater what he’s done,” Angela says. Oh, really? If only she knew just how she is going to have to put that to the test before this season is over.
Jamie shows up to see Stern because his ego is bruised about not being mentioned on Page Six. See me? I wouldn’t bother my boss about something like this. The person on top always gets the glory. The person who did all the grunt work, might get a bonus, a gold watch, or a pat on the head, or not. This is how business works. Jamie seems to have forgotten that he is no longer the person on top, out front, or in charge. Stern appropriately sons him, but invites him to a meeting with some spenders as a pat on the head. I cackled when he asked Jamie if he wanted to take a swing? Stern meant of his golf club Jamie was thinking at Stern’s face. Ha ha!
Pause. I would like to point out that we are 13 minutes into an episode and have not seen Kanan once. This episode is off to a good start.
Tommy stops by Kanan’s prison buddy’s restaurant to ask about Kanan’s whereabouts. Dude is bending over backwards for Tommy. He isn’t trying to end up with his tongue cut out too. Is it me, or dude looks lie Chris Brown? Anyway, they try to give Tommy the package and he’s all “nah, I don’t touch that ish”. Nice detail. Will be harder for the feds to get to him.
Back at Truth, they’ve instituted time cards for the employees. LOL. I once quit a job over that. I emailed my boss, something along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I don’t work at a Ford plant. I’m not punching a time card.” I was already looking before that, but the timecards sealed the deal.
Jamie is going over the books in his office when FBI Greg shows up. He doesn’t miss a beat. Greg’s tougher than I expected. I guess because Jamie “stole” Angela from him, I thought of him as a more beta dude, but he’s got some alpha here. I’m impressed.
Back at Holly’s interrogation, Angela’s chomping at the bit to get at Holly, but Boss Man has her, in her words standing around "like a glorified intern.” She loses it, I guess thinking that’s going to make him cave. Lady, your boss is a class A douche. And he wants to do you. There was a lot not said in that exchange. They got some chem-es-tree! Oh, but he’s married, right? That’s never stopped Angie before.
Because the writers love to torture Jamie, he gets more bad news. His other boss, Jeffe (aka Lobos), is coming in town early and he wants his money earlier too. Jamie is working his jaw hard when he tells him, in his awful Bloombito Spanish, that it’s no problem. Oh, and is Jeffe high? Dude is a weirdo, but his suit is cut beautifully.
Jamie’s solution? Double up the distribution. Something is way up. It is not blessed.
At the office, Angela is in her feelings after her boss said she acts like a little girl, an insult that she insists you have to be Latin to really understand. Nah. I’m Black. I get it. He verbally cut you to the white meat. But she’s doubling down on her research, and suddenly it dawns on her, but for all the wrong reasons, that Tommy could very well not be Ghost. DING! DING! DING!
Jamie stops by to see Luiz, who is feedings his snakes and we get an important metaphor. It’s not the snakes that Jamie can’t tolerate, it’s the rats. See what the writers did there? But this is a business meeting and today’s business is canceling Christmas on the Serb. Jamie needs the territory. Luiz bristles but agrees if he can get more money. They should have thought this out more, but Jamie gets a text from his son which distracts him and needs to bounce.
Jamie deals with an extraordinary about of BS between Kanan, Tommy, the feds, his affair, his wife, both of his bosses, and all the drug dealers he’s partnered with. He handles most of it with an unreadable expression. Seeing his son sitting in the hotel hallway is the first time we’ve seen him bristle. He’s not sure what Tariq wants, but like us, he’s probably guessing the kid wants an explanation for why Dad isn’t coming home at night. Or maybe, he’s discovered something about his dad’s real job.
Because kids are walking curve balls, we learn that Tariq is there because he has (young) lady trouble. There’s a girl who’s feeling him, but he’s feeling someone else. “Trust me, son, the last thing you want to be is caught between two women,” Jamie advises. Oh, really, Jamie, who is currently kicked out of the house for being caught between two women. But I guess he would know from trial and error, huh? Jamie’s been getting on my nerves lately, but this father-son moment made me friendly with him again. Oh, and Tariq does have a really cute smile.
The feds are still interviewing Holly. This is the longest interrogation ever. Or am I just not familiar with the length of interrogations? I’ve never been interrogated. Angie’s got a master plan to put Holly in a tight spot to see if she covers for Tommy the night she was shot. Whoever in the writer’s room thought of this deserves a pat on the head. Holly avoids falling in the obvious trap, offering a fake alibi for Tommy on the night she was shot. But she does admit the relationship is more than a “f—."
Tommy shows up at Luiz’s after Ghost leaves. He contradicts Ghost’s instruction to Luiz. This man must have never watched the Godfather. You don’t speak against the family in public.
Tommy shows up at Ghost’s hotel room to curse him out.. not knowing Tariq is there. He immediately switches up when he sees the kid. I love how even these two sociopathic mofos respect family above all else, at least the kids. They go in the bathroom to talk.
Ok, remember when I said I didn’t understand why Tommy and Ghost were friends? I get it now. Day-to-day, Tommy is a doof and doesn’t have a lot (or any) social grace. But Ghost can also be too hardcore and doesn’t always operate the best under pressure. He wants things done fast when simmering would probably be a better strategy . Tommy insists they don’t kill the Serb, but create a way for the Serb to need them. Ghost is playing checkers. Tommy is playing chess. Well done, Tommy.
Tommy runs Tariq home to find a none-to-happy Tasha waiting for her boy, who didn’t tell her where he was. She ain’t too happy to see Tommy, who didn’t tell her about Angela, either. “I thought you were my brother,” she says. “I never thought you would do me like this.” She quite politely kicks him out. Before he goes, Tommy asks what I actually never wondered, “you wouldn’t blow up our whole thing over this?” he asks her. Tasha tell him to get the f— out in the Black mama voice. Tasha’s pissed, but everything she owns is funded by Ghost’s money and she’s conspired with him over the years to maintain the operation. She ain’t stupid and she ain’t about to be broke.
See, I thought Jamie was going to prepare for a hit on the Serb’s stash houses. But he’s popping up at Angela’s job on some, “you ain’t answer my calls” like that makes everything okay. Sir, if you don’t call before you come... He’s mad he didn’t get a head’s up about the fed/ Angela’s ex popping up at his job. She assures him the focus is on Tommy and he has nothing to worry about. He says she can trust him, as evidenced by him not telling Tommy what he knows about the feds investigating Tommy. Now that I think about it, it is kinda grimy that Ghost hasn’t said anything to Tommy.
Tariq is being grounded for going to see his Dad. Ugh. I feel like this is an unfair punishment. Yes, the kid should have told you were he was, Mom, but it’s his father. He wasn’t hanging on the block or at some girl’s house. The boy misses his father and went to watch the game with him. Don’t take his iPad and his Play Station, Tasha.
Okay, so Jamie was never going to get his hands dirty with the Serb. He’s attending Stern’s party, which is a less over the top Eyes Wide Shut. LOL! Jamie, who always wears a stoic expression, is looking around like, “what did I just walk into?” He encounters Mrs. Stern who is flipping through a magazine with bored indifference as she points Jamie in he direction of the bathroom where her husband is getting his freak on with a guy.
I hate this Stern storyline. Like there’s more than enough drama outside of this. The short version: Jamie wants his club back. Simon tells him to be easy and offers him some women. Jamie declines, Simon is offended, threatens Jamie’s job. Jamie assures him he’s part of the team, but still doesn’t want any women, and Mrs. Stern observes all of this. I’m sure this will come up again.
Hold up. Who got shot during the Serb hit? My screen is mad dark. Was that someone important? Was that Dre?
When the Serbs get a head’s up that they’ve been hit, they think it’s the Albanians. So the plan worked. And the Serb calls Tommy for some drugs. Bada-Bing!
Tasha pops up at Ghost’s hotel room, wanting to know why Tariq came to see him. Tasha doesn’t know what to do about Tariq. “I can’t teach him about how to be a man. The worst part is you can’t either,” she says. Ouch!!!! Ghost wants to reconcile, but she’s not having it. “The next time you see your son, he is going to ask you some tough questions,” she adds. “You should be prepared to answer them.”
No, really, this is a long interrogation. Holly is stillll there. They’re laying out their entire case against Tommy to Holly, which I’m like, “hold up, what happens if she leaves and tell him everything?” But Holly’s not budging. She’ll take her (non existent) warrant back home and 3 years in jail rather than give up Tommy. Who knew Holly was a rider?
Angela, who is actually everything her boss described, goes into the bathroom to have have woman-to-woman talk with Holly. It’s not worth it, she says. Save yourself, she says. And then she tells Holly who it is The Feds really want: Ghost. Holly pauses her bathroom stall breakdown and comes out with a smile. She recognizes Angela. She saw her humping Ghost in his office once (last season). Holly thinks Angela is trying to pin everything about Jamie on Tommy, but quickly realizes, yes, Angela really is this clueless. “You dumb b—h”, she says as Angie’s face cracks. “You’re the one sleeping with Ghost, not me.”
Holly is so gangster. “I want out of this,” she tells Angela. “And I want Tommy out of this. Or I go in there and tell your partners that you’re fucking the real Ghost.” A-ha. Ahahaha. A-hahahahahaha. I knew it was going to come out at some point. But this is epic. EPIC!!!! Angie’s face tho? LMAO. Angela promises to get rid of Holly’s (non-existent) warrant as a show of good faith. Holly promises her the actual Ghost.
I KNEW IT!!!! I KNEW IT!!!!!! Holly still ain’t sh—, but she does love Tommy. And while Ghost deserves every bit of what’s coming, I’m still mad it’s happening to him. He’s so going to lie his way out of this one, and I have a feeling it’s all going to be pinned on Tommy.
Angie says she wants proof that Jamie is actually Ghost. I wonder what she’s going to do with it. Will she give Ghost up?
After Holly leaves, Angela has her own bathroom breakdown, worse than the one Holly just had. She’s in full on ugly cry thinking of all the time she’s shared with Ghost. Look, Angela’s been a stone cold idiot for dealing with a married man, but she didn’t know the betrayal was this deep. I have to add this because I’m a dating coach by trade: when you deal with people who have no issue lying to and deceiving people that they are supposed to care about, understand that the duplicity doesn’t end there and they are capable of some terrifying ish. Exhibit A: James St. Patrick. I still feel bad for Angie, just cause that’s some horrible news to take in, and that was an authentic ugly cry. Been there, boo. (But he wasn’t married.)
Greg caught Angie coming out that bathroom and noticed something was wrong. Because he’s trying to get back in, he stops by her place with wine to check on her. What is with these Ol Pop Up mofos? Ghost is also there, doing his best “I’m a good guy!” impression— notably a role he has never played on any size screen. Angie and Ghost are chatting in the lobby and Greg spots them through the glass window.
Oh, Angie. I don’t know if you in danger, girl, but you are in big trouble. Big, big trouble. And so is Greg who vouched for your reckless self. Chile, this is a mess, i.e., GREAT TV, and there's not Fiddy for the entire episode? Gold watches for all the writers.
What did you think of this episode of Power?