Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. And just about everyone in this episode has practiced so much deceit that it tangled a mess of a web that’s now beginning to unravel.
In episode 7, “You Lied In My Face,” the web of lies places the St. Patricks at the center of a growing façade made just for TV, at the hands of Simon Stern (Victor Garber) as the puppet master. The new real estate venture between James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) and Stern has he, his wife Tasha (Naturi Naughton) and his three children smiling for the cameras all as a part of a PR stunt that will better their chances of landing a huge real estate deal. The only problem is, it’s all one big lie and their family is everything but perfect.
Ghost is genuinely trying to make amends with Tasha for all of his wrongdoing. Though he tells her when confronted that he didn’t leave his family for AUSA Angela Valdez (Lela Loren) he solely turned his back on her – he now wants to make things right. But, Tasha’s not interested. She has her sights set on Terry Silver (Brandon Victor Dixon), Ghost’s new attorney who got him off and is now getting her off.
The two spent a night out full of karaoke and laughter but their fun didn’t end there. After Tasha drops by Silver’s home to clear up some misconceptions about her marriage to Ghost, one thing leads to another and before you know it, their clothes were off and over there. Since Tasha hasn’t had a “boo-thing” since Shawn (Sinqua Walls) and after the whole Valdez affair, can we really blame her for getting hers?
But then again, maybe instead of carrying on with Silver, and smiling pretty for Stern, someone should have a closer eye on Tariq (Michael Rainey, Jr.) who’s becoming more toxic with each episode. Tariq may be back at home, safe and sound and out from under Kanan (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) and Jukebox (Anika Noni Rose) but he’s still being held captive by all the lies everyone has been telling him. He has questions that he wants answers to and he’s going to ask until he figures out who’s stories are consistent enough to be the truth.
He asks his father, Tommy (Joseph Sikora) and Dre (Rotimi Akinosho) for the truth about what Kanan told him about his father’s past. Did Ghost have anything to do with Kanan going to jail? Did he murder and hurt people back in the day? Despite the vague answers he’s getting, he’s smart enough to put the pieces together but he just can’t handle the truth. He’s self-medicating by drinking way too much “lean” and being obnoxious to his little sister Raina (Donshea Hopkins.)
Viewers can only hope that someone will begin to pay attention and save Tariq, just like Tariq saved Dre’s sneaky behind by lying to Tommy when he asked if Dre knew anything about Kanan being alive.
At this point, Dre has so many lies hanging over his head he should hope his new alliance with the Torros Locos works in his favor. Not to mention, he’s responsible for Julio’s (J.R. Ramirez) death, and had the audacity to call up Tommy saying he hasn’t heard from him but found his car in front of a warehouse.
Once Tommy arrives they find Julio’s body, with his “718” tattoo removed from his neck, Tommy knows that his death is directly connected to the Torros Locos. He meets with them with some demands to rectify Julio’s death. He wants some of the territory back that was given to them by Ghost as a peace treaty for not killing Julio back then when he got out of their gang. But in the end, it’s Dre who gets what he wants – he’s now distro. But there’s a new problem – dang the drug life is stressful – the Jiminez, the bloodthirsty suppliers who are the ones who can approve the Torros Locos division of territory.
The federal prosecution team are still trying to wrap their heads around being suspended. They still don’t know who the mole really is, and if that mole killed Agent Greg Knox (Andy Bean). Mike Sandoval (David Fumero) , who actually did the deed, convinces Agent Saxe (Shane Johnson) that Agent Donovan (Ty Jones) had to have planted the gun at Truth that night, just as Joe Proctor (Jerry Ferrara) pointed out while Donovan was on the stand.
But, Donovan and Valdez have formed their own alliance and have their own theories as to who planted the gun and killed Knox. After watching the surveillance tapes from the search at Truth again, they notice that Sandoval was the only member of their team who went upstairs to the office alone. Finally, they know the truth about Sandoval and will hopefully bring him down before he does something else to wiggle out of this mess.
Jon Mak (Sung Kang) is trying to locate Bailey Markham (Lee Tergesen) who has suddenly disappeared. He knows Proctor has something to do with it. After tracing Markham’s cell phone logs he finds that the last call he made was to Proctor and his cell phone was last tracked to the phone tower in Proctor’s neighborhood – which means he was there. Proctor’s playing the game for now and once Mak shows up at his home with questions, Proctor says he doesn’t know anything about it. Little does he know, while he was having the conversation with Mak, Ghost was standing right across the street paying very close attention. This could be a problem for Proctor.
Of all the lies, Tommy just found out the biggest one that he’s been affected by his entire life. His father is not dead – his father is Tony Teresi (William Sadler) Teresi tells Tommy that it wasn’t his idea to remain absent from his life but, his psycho mother’s. I can’t wait for the conversation he’s soon to have with his mother, or even better – his father.
Oh, and let’s not go forward without acknowledging the first appearance of Councilman Rashad Tate (Larenz Tate) in this episode. Welcome brother Tate!
KILL LIST 1. Dre 2. Joe Proctor 3. Tariq 4. Terry Silver
QUOTABLE: “I didn’t leave our family, I left you.” – Ghost
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Wanda J. Coppage is a full -time Music Director at an Urban AC radio station, journalist and proud Virginia State University alum – Go Trojans! As a music enthusiast who can’t go a day without hearing R&B/Soul or Classic Hip Hop as well as a TV passionista, why not live a life that covers both?
