Warning: this message contains spoilers from Power Book II: Ghostsay Season 1 finale. Proceed carefully.
It’s a little past the holidays, but Tommy’s appearance in Power Book II: Ghost‘S final season 1 can definitely fall under the heading “Cancel Christmas”.
After all, Ghost’s best friend, who has become the biggest enemy, returns to New York with the express purpose of killing Tasha, who identified him as Ghost’s killer during the murder trial earlier this season. (And did we not tell you that Joseph Sikora would probably return?)
But when Tommy is unsuccessful in his first attempt, Tariq turns things around and comes up with a plan that he believes will help everyone. So he designs a car chase in which Tommy follows a pass from the Tasha jail, the Feds are actually follows Tommy, and the whole thing ends in an explosion that makes it look like Uncle Tommy is dead and gone. (He even throws a few molars into the wreckage to make sure there is DNA evidence of his death.)
Although Tommy tells Tariq that he’s leaving New York, he secretly plans to take another slap for Tasha before she, Yaz and Tariq run for it. But Tariq, who knows better than to trust his seriously angry uncle, poses a threat in Tasha’s life that causes the Feds to rush her into Witness protection sooner than planned. So Tommy is foiled … and then foiled again when Monet (!) Stops him from killing Tariq on Ghost’s graveyard by putting her gun on his head and telling him to shuffle along.
“Let’s go,” Monet told Tariq after Tommy left. “The family is waiting.”
And this is only one of the many great developments that are happening during the hour. You might be wondering how Tasha is a free woman now? This is because Tariq is taking a stand in his mother’s trial, saying that Saxe was locating him illegally and hinting that he was going to inflate the unethical alliance of Saxe and MacLean. So while Ott pulls the strings, Tasha mentions Tommy as the head of the drug operation in exchange for protecting witnesses for her and Yasmine … but not Tariq. (Hence her plan to run with him.)
Another big moment: Tariq kills Jabari, who finds out that ‘Riq sells drugs and is connected to Dru. Cane overhears the conversation and shoots Jabari, who thinks Tariq is a problem. Cane is also on the verge of shooting Tariq, but the young St. Patrick convinces him to have everything fixed – including his murder of Officer Ramirez. So Cane gives him Ramirez’s gun, and Tariq kills Jabari, who was planning to write a book about Tariq’s illegal activities. (The money Jabari intended to ‘give Riq’ conveniently pays off Tariq’s debt to Monet.)
TVLine turns to series creator / executive producer Courtney Kemp and executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson to take down the finale. In separate interviews, they broke down the big moves of Tariq and Tommy’s explosive return. Read on for their approach to ‘Heart of Darkness’.
TVLINE | Tasha goes into Witness Protection at the end of the episode. What can you tell me about Naturi Naughton’s presence on screen in season 2?
KEMP | What I will just preview a bit is that Tariq did this thing, that he decided to save her life, but he will have no control over where she is or what she does. So when we get to the beginning of season 2, there is definitely a feeling of Tariq: ‘I would like to know where my mother is’, and I think I will leave it at that.
TVLINE | Everyone thinks Tommy is dead. This is a very empty lead for someone like him. Go in Powerbook IV: Power, what can you tell us about his future efforts?
KEMP | There were a few things we wanted to do. I wanted to free the character so he could do what he wanted, and I wanted him to be able to move in the country. Do you remember the old Suidwes advertisement, “You are now free to move through the country?” I wanted him to do it. So that’s part of it. But part of it was also solving the problem that Tasha actually had to testify against him. It was something I really wanted to clear to the audience: it’s not going to come up again. She actually has to testify against Tommy, is not going to come up again, and that was part of Tariq’s plan to clean up all that stuff.
TVLINE | In this episode, Monet essentially chooses Tariq over Cane. It seems to hurt him in a huge way.
JACKSON | [On Power], I said, ‘When I play a character, I want to play the worst person they’ve ever seen on television.’ And that’s closely related to Cane. It’s a little different in his character, because he does the wrong thing by default with innocence attached to it. My character did things with malice because I tried to take everything back. It was pretty much all mine. [Laughs] I think it was a mistake to call Cane so close to Kanan. [Laughs]
TVLINE | Let’s talk about Carrie for a moment. Please forgive me, because I can no longer remember myself at the beginning of the season: Did we know she was a former prosecutor, or is it something we learned in the last few episodes?
KEMP | It’s very early there, but there is not much.
TVLINE | How sure do you think she is that she is doing the right thing by protecting Zeke and interfering in this murder investigation?
KEMP | She flies completely under the seat of her pants, and the cover is always worse than the crime. So, what does this mean? You should not have slept with a student, dude! [Laughs] It was really a bad call …
It is very important to always see Carrie as someone who is a super addicted addict. So, she makes a lot of terrible decisions. I love characters like that. What’s so funny, though, is that the audience was, we hate these characters, we hate these professors, and now they’re starting to see what the purpose of those characters was, which was always planned. I think there are a lot of people like Jabari, who want to step in and help a young child, but then they finally want to help themselves. Or many people like Carrie, who you met from the beginning this bloodthirsty person who tried to help all these children, but then she basically helped herself for a few d – k. Girl! What are you doing? Do you know what I’m saying? [Laughs] This is really important. Right? By the way, you can print it. It is good.
TVLINE | It’s going to be ‘d – k’ pressed, but it’s going in there.
KEMP | [Laughs] No. Wait actually. We can write it again. What about “She helped Zeke.”
TVLINE | No! “She helped herself with a little d – k” is a much better quote, and you know it.
KEMP | [Laughs] I know. I know. I know. I’m here to help. [Laughs] I really am.
Now it’s your turn. Grade both the Power Book II: Ghost finals and the season as a whole via the polls below, and then print the comments with your mind!