Emotions run high in episode 6, “New Man,” after James “Ghost” St. Patrick’s (Omari Hardwick) is released from jail. The body count runs even higher though, with the deaths of seven people all packed into this one, hour-long episode. Some of the deaths we saw coming, while others were completely random but all were based around one – if not all three motives – revenge, greed and love.
Ghost is back to wearing million-dollar suits, a huge step up from the orange jumpsuits he was wearing in jail, while trying to reclaim the love he once had with his wife, Tasha (Naturi Naughton) – only she’s far from interested in rekindling what they once shared. For her, it’s about doing what’s best for their children and trying to make ends meet.
That’s why she accepted the help of Simon Stern (Victor Garber,) who offered to provide a little financial cushion for the St. Patrick’s in their time of need. But everything comes at a cost, especially with Stern, who always has money on the brain. There had to be a reason why he was so eager to offer his assistance in the first place. That reason was made clear in this episode.
Stern has a real estate venture in mind that he really needs Ghost in on because he has all the right credentials – he’s Black. He needs St. Patrick on paper as the CEO of a real estate endeavor to access a minority business development loan and a tax break. If Ghost agrees to take him up on his offer he will wipe his debt clean.
Tasha may have other problems – when she and Keisha (La La Anthony) meet up for lunch to discuss reopening the weave shop, Keisha’s got an attitude. Tommy’s not returning her calls and she doesn’t want her shop involved in money laundering. Uh, too late, Tasha tells her. She’s not happy.
Now, not only does Ghost have to deal with Stern, again, but he also has to deal with Kanan (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) and the fact that he’s not dead.
In this episode, Ghost finally discovers that Kanan didn’t burn to death in the fire. If you were expecting him to find out by way of some extravagant news carrier or even Dre (Rotimi Akinosho) to finally step up and show his loyalty, unfortunately, that’s not how the story unfolds. Leave it to Kanan to roll up on Ghost himself and tell him that he and his cousin, Jukebox (Anika Noni Rose) have kidnapped his son and are holding him for ransom.
Ghost doesn’t seem to be too shocked by the news that Kanan is still alive. But maybe it’s because his only concern is getting Tariq (Michael Rainey, Jr.) back safely and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. Kanan is only willing to release Tariq if he comes up with a significant amount of cash that Ghost doesn’t have. But, he does know where to find it.
Ghost devises a plan to rob one of Tommy’s (Joseph Sikora) stash houses, which he more than likely wouldn’t have to do if Tommy were still in town, or able to answer his phone. With him being unreachable, somewhere in Chicago, Ghost and Kanan rob the stash house and one knockout and dead body later, they have the cash in hand and make their way to where Jukebox and Tariq are being held. (Body Count – 1)
Kanan has his first human moment of the series by giving Ghost a gun to defend himself against Jukebox and whatever else that might go down once they get in the house. And boy, did a lot go down once they did.
Everyone in the room had a gun except Tariq, who was just a pawn in this matter of greed and revenge anyway, and was confined to a chair with Jukebox’s gun pointed at the back of his head. With Tariq as a hostage, and Ghost helpless, Jukebox uses that moment to have Kanan confess to everything.
She urged him to tell Tariq about growing up with his father, how they hustled together and did a lot of wrongs, and how he was only getting close to him out of revenge. He even confesses to Shawn’s (Sinqua Walls) death, admitting that he killed his own son because he was soft – and that he’d do it again.
But, in the short time spent building a relationship, whether real or fake, Kanan must’ve formed some type of bond with Tariq that led him to do something unexpected – he shot and killed Jukebox. Yep, too much confessing got the best of Kanan who shot his own flesh and blood for running her mouth too much. (Body Count – 2)
Meanwhile, Tommy’s Chicago trip to meet his Serbian connects results in an opportunity for him to expand his business to the West coast area but under one condition – he must cut all ties with Ghost. That offer comes before Tommy’s life is on the line, of course. After Petar (Aleksanda Popovic) lies to the Chicago Serbs about Milan’s (Callan Mulvey) murder, they want Tommy dead. But since Petar was lying it’s his life that ends with this episode – not Tommy’s. (Body count – 3)
With the Milan misunderstanding now water under the bridge, Tommy hits the road to return back to NYC but decides to take a detour through Cleveland, OH first, to pay a visit to Holly’s (Lucy Walters) uncle, who molested her as a child. It didn’t end well for the uncle. Let’s just say his appearance on the show was a one and done. (Body Count – 4)
Meanwhile, Dre’s manipulative azz is setting up Julio (J.R. Ramirez). When Julio approaches him about seeing him and Kanan together, he does what he does best – he lies. He even comes up with a story as to how people were finding out Cristobal (Matt Cedeno) was getting more quantity than everyone else. He tells Julio that it was Cristobal himself, and that he has a plan to put a stop to all of it.
Dre arranges a meeting with Cristobal and his Todos Locos crew to have Julio murdered, which apparently they wanted to do anyway. According to their “blood in, blood out” rule, Julio should’ve been a goner when he first walked away from their gang. It was Ghost who saved his life (or at least bought him some time) but, with Ghost out of the drug business and with Dre’s conniving, Julio’s time on Power comes to an end.
He didn’t go down without a fight though. In the struggle and chaos he manages to take out two of the Todos Locos crew who were trying to kill him but, in the end he succumbed to his fate and his “718” tattoo was brutally cut off his neck. (RIP Julio! Body Count – 7).
So with four episodes left – who else might be going down before this season is over?
QUOTABLE: “Keep your mouth shut alright. Don’t say nothing else before you say something stupid and I put a bullet in your brain.” – Kanan
KILL LIST 1. Kanan 2. Dre 3. Simon Stern 4. Keisha
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?
