Well it’s official – Ghost is a free man! That moment that most viewers (actually several moments we were waiting on) finally happened in episode five, “Don’t Thank Me,” – and it’s about time!
AUSA Angela Valdez (Lela Loren) finally faced the reality that her precious Jamie, James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) is in fact an innocent man. Well, he’s at least innocent of killing Agent Greg Knox (Andy Bean.) After reviewing the surveillance cameras at St. Patrick’s club Truth, on the night of the murder, she finds that Jamie never did hide the gun inside his office, where it was later found during the warranted search.
Though the gun found at the club has already been dismissed from evidence, Valdez still feels compelled to tell someone on her team about the surveillance tapes and how she no longer thinks Jamie is guilty of Knox’s murder. But, she opts to tell the one person who couldn’t care less about his innocence – Mike Sandoval (David Fumero), the agent and inside mole who actually did kill Agent Knox.
Of course, with all of his corrupt ways, Sandoval manages to slither his way out of actually bringing this new found evidence to John Mak (Sung Kang), and helping St. Patrick get off. Instead, he tells Valdez that the gun really doesn’t matter and he believes St. Patrick actually did the crime.
But, finally, Valdez decides to lead with her head, or heart, or maybe even both, and go a step above her fellow prosecutors with the information of St. Patrick’s innocence to Terry Silver (Brandon Victor Dixon.) Yep, she decides to put her own career, and the careers of her counterparts on the line to save St. Patrick from lethal injection – the death penalty. In her call to Silver she informs him of her new findings which leads to her taking the stand to testify on the exculpatory evidence, and everything blows up for the prosecution from here – but, works in St. Patrick’s favor.
Once Valdez throws her team under the bus, Mak takes the opportunity to then throw Valdez under the bus – revealing all of her misconducts that took place during their investigation against St. Patrick and Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora) – all while maintaining an intimate relationship with him.
It’s definitely bad business and a disgrace to the judicial system in the eyes of the judge, who ultimately dismisses all charges against St. Patrick due to the conniving prosecution. With the court’s sincerest apologies, James walks away free from the guilt of THIS murder. But, let’s not get carried away, he is very much guilty of murder.
St. Patrick may not have the blood of Agent Knox on his hands but he definitely has the blood of another officer on his hands, chest, face and prison jumpsuit, after he brutally murders Marshal Williams.
In a scene that was almost too gory to watch, and sadly the final scene played by the late legendary comedian, Charlie Murphy, Marshal Williams faces a gruesome death after having his skull literally bashed by a weight plate when Ghost loses his temper over something Williams said about his family. The bloodshed and sound effects that accompanied this brutal beating reminds viewers of just how cut-throat and vicious Ghost can be. And now, also how believable it is that he and Tony Teresi (William Sandler) now have this newly formed bond and may soon work together as more than just jail mates once he is free. The two are much more connected now after Teresi helps Ghost cover his tracks in the murder of Marshal Williams.
Teresi’s plot for he, and one of his goons to kill Ghost quickly turns into the mother of all cover ups when the two men walk in on the gory murder scene, and Teresi has a change of heart to now help Ghost. Instead of killing him, Teresi strangles his goon that was there to help in Ghost’s murder, and makes it look like he was in fact the one who murdered Marshal Williams, followed by taking his own life. So far, the only thing that Teresi wants in return for helping Ghost conceal the murder is to make sure Tommy comes to see him jail. They apparently have some unfinished business of their own that dates all the way back to Tommy’s birth after finding out he’s Tommy’s biological father (we saw that coming.)
In other Tommy news, he finally opens up to Tasha (Naturi Naughton) about what really happened to Holly (Lucy Walters.) After Tasha confronts him about the discovery of his sexual relationship with LaKeisha Grant, (La La Anthony) and how Keisha’s beginning to feel slighted in the relationship since Tommy doesn’t share the same feelings for her, as she does for him, and could run the risk of becoming a snitch, Tommy tells Tasha that he can never love again after he killed Holly. But for now, Keisha, Holly and even Ghost, are the furthest from Tommy’s mind since Petar (Aleksander Popovic) informs him that the Chicago drug dealers want to meet with him in person. He leaves town in a hurry, with no cell phone or other method of contact, and heads to the windy city.
Meanwhile, Tasha could be developing some new flirtatious, sexual attraction of her own with Terry Silver, who seems to be a little too touchy-feely when he’s in her presence. Let’s see how that storyline develops as the season moves forward. Although Silver may be getting his flirt on with Mrs. St. Patrick, he did advise her to try to find a “floater,” or someone who could loan her some legal money until the situation with Ghost’s frozen assets are resolved.
Ironically, both she and Ghost are paid a visit by Simon Stern (Victor Garber), the arrogant business man who was once gunning for Truth after Ghost made it a success. He generously offers to financially assist the St. Patricks after hearing about St. Patrick’s legal woes. James turns him down but, Tasha decides to take him up on the offer. He could be going after the club again, or after something much bigger since he’s being way too generous and way too nice – which is completely out of his character.
Meanwhile, Tariq (Michael Rainey, Jr.) has fallen back into the kidnapped scandal of Jukebox, (Anika Noni Rose) who learns that Ghost is now a free man and wants to resume the original plan to kidnap Tariq and collect on the ransom money with her cousin Kanan (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson). After this episode, it’s unclear if Kanan is actually down to move forward with the original plan or if he’s cooking up some new plan on his own, after Dre (Rotimi) approaches him with a new scheme to reclaim his spot on the streets as the top kingpin.
Meanwhile, the developing issue between Dre and Julio (J.R. Ramirez) is getting interesting. The members of the drug distribution ring have gotten word that Julio is supplying Cristobal (Matt Cedeno) with more product than everyone else and Julio knows exactly who’s spreading that information – Dre. When he makes a surprise visit to a party that Dre is hosting to confront him, he walks in just in time to get a good look at the face of the man who Dre was currently in a meeting with – Kanan. Hopefully someone will show a picture to Tariq (if he gets out of this kidnapped situation) or Julio so someone, somewhere can finally realize that Kanan is not dead!!!
QUOTABLE: “Don’t thank me Jamie. You didn’t do this one. Maybe you didn’t do this crime but, we both know you’re not innocent.” –Angela Valdez
KILL LIST: 1. Kanan 2. Jukebox 3. Dre 4. Julio
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?
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(Photo: Starz)
