We waited, and waited and waited, and finally it’s here! The season five premiere of Power has aired! Before we get into how it all went down, here’s a refresher of the end of last season:
Raina (Donshea Hopkins) was shot and killed by that dirty cop Raymond “Ray Ray” Jones (Marcus Callender) after sticking up for her brother Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.). Tariq spiraled out of control all last season, drinking way too much “lean” and it all ended with a BANG – the sound of the gun going off after killing Ray Ray to avenge his sister’s death. Dre (Rotimi) put a hit out on Kanan (Curtis Jackson) that was unsuccessful and now he has a target on his own back. And not just from Kanan, but Tommy (Joseph Sikora) and Ghost (Omari Hardwick) are both gunning for that a– too.
Why do they hate him? Well, he went behind Tommy’s back to link up with the Jiminez and become the new connect. He’s also behind Julio’s death and he knew the whole time what was going on with Tariq and said nothing.
At the crime scene where Ray Ray was shot and killed, Tommy thought he did a nice sweep of the apartment, removing any evidence that was left behind, but he missed a spot – and Angela Valdes (Lela Loren) caught it. A bullet went straight into the wall and after CSI gets their hands on it, they could match it to the shooter.
That’s your quick season 4 recap…cue the theme song – they say this is a big rich town – so we can get into the season 5 premiere.
Even though poor Raina lost her life as a result of the messiness, there doesn’t seem to be much mourning going on for the St. Patricks’, unless you count that publicity stunt/funeral they do for the cameras (we’ll get into that later).
The focus is on handling business. They’ve got to clean up any loose ends that could lead back to Tariq for killing Ray Ray But certain information from that night are only given on a need-to-know basis and poor Keisha (La La Anthony) just don’t need to know.
Tasha (Naturi Naughton) is tight-lipped with Keisha but she wastes no time asking her to provide an alibi should anyone ask.
But she ends up having to tell Angela. Not because they’re cool, or ready to become sister-wives or anything like that. She tells Angela that Tariq shot Ray Ray because Angela thought that her beloved Jamie did it. She starts panicking and convinces herself that Tasha played her in asking her to trace Tariq’s phone.
To get her help, Tasha has to confess that Tariq who shot Ray Ray using her gun. She asks Angela to remove the ballistics information from the NYPD database that can trace that bullet found in the wall of Ray Ray’s apartment back to her or Tariq.
Angela says she’d have to log into the system as someone else, which is obstruction of justice, conspiracy, tampering with evidence…blah, blah, blah. Just know that at the end of the day, she got it done. She logs into the system as whomever, finds the file from the raid they did at the St. Patrick home, and deletes it.
As much as she hates to admit it, Angela is still Team Jamie all day and everybody knows it. Especially her colleagues, Mak (Sung Kang) and Saxe (Cooper Johnson) who both want her gone. There’s also some new trouble heading in Angela’s direction.
Internal Affairs, Blanca Rodriquez (Monique Gabriella Curnen), is on Angela’s heels (or $400 stilettos, as she put it) after showing up at the crime scene of Ray Ray’s apartment) and seeing Valdes, who had absolutely nothing to do with the case, leaving the scene.
She also finds Valdes’ business card at Ray Ray’s little cousin, Destiny’s (Andrea-Rachel Parker) house, and you can see her wheels turning trying to figure out how and why Angela is attached to this case.
Meanwhile, watching Dre (Rotimi) dodge all these literal and figurative bullets has the potential to drive you crazy or make you think of that Kanye West verse, “[he] must got a angel, cause look how death missed his ass…”
The first time is a ambush where he lures Kanan, Ghost and Tommy to a desolate spot so he can he can get them, before he gets got (use your urban dictionary for that one).
The sounds of gunplay fill the warehouse but Ghost, Tommy, Kanan, Dre and Cristobol (Matt Cedeno) remain alive. Can these guys not shoot or what? Well, Ghost is hit but fortunately for him, it’s a surface wound .
The second time Dre cheats death is with the help of a real angel – Raina. Or at least it’s the thought of “What would Raina do” that makes Tariq want to save this dude’s life. overhears Ghost and Tommy plotting at the funeral and warns Dre, just in the nick of time.
Speaking of the funeral – why does it seem like when politics are involved there’s always something shady going on? Brother Rashad Tate (Larenz Tate) uses Raina’s funeral service as a politician’s playground by having the service at a church that the family is not familiar with, and placing the media in the front so they can capture the family mourning. Even Tommy, Raina’s godfather has to take a literal back seat.
Dre is obviously feeling untouchable and rubs it in Ghost’s face when he walks up on him at his daughter’s gravesite to tell him he’s not one to be played with. He has the Jiminez looking out for him and neither Ghost, 50 or Tommy want those types of problems. But they got them regardless as Dre drops the Jiminez calling cards off to each one. The nerve of this guy!
So far, only we know who was really looking out for him and it wasn’t the damn Jiminez. But of course he doesn’t tell anyone that.
Needless to say, Ghost is pissed and it’s on to next week.
QUOTABLE: “…Cause you a member of this family now, and family sticks together no matter what.” -Tommy
KILL LIST: 1.DRE
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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