‘Power’ Season 5, Episode 2 Recap: “Out Of Control”

It’s clear that James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) is spiraling out of control and has entered a new dark space, even more sinister than where he’s been for the past four seasons.

Of course we all know he’s going through a lot right now! He just recently buried his daughter Raina. Then his former subordinate, Dre (Rotimi) totally disrespects him at his daughter’s gravesite by walking up on him and indirectly telling him that he’s no longer the boss and running things. And, to make matters worse, he can’t seem to get in touch with his (former) boo, Angela Valdes (Lela Loren), who’s not answering nor returning his calls.

Could all of this be why, by the end of the episode, he decides to turn into the equalizer and takes on the problems of others, since he can’t handle his own?

In episode 2, “Damage Control”, Tasha (Naturi Naughton) and James attend a grief counseling meeting at the church per Tasha’s request. Initially, James is against it and feels that sharing intimate details about their daughter’s death will only do more harm than good. After some convincing, Ghost agrees to go to this meeting with Tasha where they do no talking but a whole lot of listening.

At the meeting, there’s a couple who share their tragic story about the untimely death of their teenage son Luke, who was run down by a drunk driver. Luke’s father reveals to the group many details about the man who killed his son.

His name is Jeff, he buys liquor every day at the same liquor store and he’s still out there drinking and driving despite what happened to his son. And he has repeated thoughts of killing him.

By the end of the episode, Jeff is a goner and Ghost is the one who handles it.

Meanwhile, Dre is trying to keep things under control in his new leadership position. He’s not only calling the shots in his set but, he’s also deciding who should to step up to fill the new head position of the Toros Locos since Diaz is dead.

With two people in line for that spot, he decides that one of them has to go (meaning die) to avoid any further problems down the line. During a meeting with Cristobal (Matt Cedeno) and his boy 2-Bit (Michael J. Ferguson) Dre decides that it’s Lorenzo who should take that fall and orders the hit.

But, in 2-Bit’s desperation to become Dre’s second in command, he ignores the instructions for the hit, and takes matters into his own hands.

While out driving with Spanky (Omar Scroggins), he spots Lorenzo on the street. He pulls up on him, and then pulls out on him – killing him on sight.

Now Dre has to decide how he’s going to handle both 2-Bit and Spanky for not following orders. Cristobal seems to think the answer is death.

Dre needs to also figure out how to handle Diego Jiminez (Maurice Compte) because, ummm…. what in the weirdness is going on with him and his voyeurism fetish?

First, he has Dre stand in the room watching him while he has sex with this woman up against the window. Then, he later rewards Dre by ordering him to have sex with this same woman in the bathroom of the club. While Dre is the middle of doing his thing with her, in walks Diego who says it’s now his turn to watch.

Dre’s uncomfortable with the whole thing so he’s done and out the bathroom ASAP!

Aside from what’s going on in the bathroom, the Jiminez have other issues happening and may want to be careful since they’ve become the new target for Ghost, Kanan (50 Cent) and Tommy (Joseph Sikora).

After Tommy screws up his distributor Jason Micic’s (Mike Dopud) big drug shipment with the Jiminez, Micic orders Tommy to take them out. Since Ghost and Kanan happen to be there when Tommy gets the orders, they’ve both been drafted in the hit too.

Their plan is to use Dre to get close enough to the Jiminez to kill them. Once they’re gone and out the way, back to kiling Dre.

And speaking of killing Dre, the last failed attempt to handle that cost two of Vincent’s (Joe Perrino) boys their lives. It’s a big problem for Tommy since he’s the one who hired them for the hit without following the proper protocol.

Meanwhile, over at the AUSA’s office, Angela and her team are also getting closer to bringing down the Jiminez. Some thorough investigation lands them a photograph of the brother/sister pair, along with some other unidentified people. Further discovery is on the way with this one.

In the meantime, Angela has been seeing more of Tasha than she has of Ghost these days. They’ve been communicating and running damage control on Tariq’s (Michael Rainey Jr.) behalf to make sure nothing will link him to Ray Ray’s murder.

All the while, Angela’s cohorts, Saxe (Shane Johnson) and Mak (Sung Kang) are trying their best to link her to Ghost so she can get fired. And link Ghost to the murder of Maria Suarez’ (Maria Rivera) fiancé, Miguel but poor Angie doesn’t even see it coming.

Mak is also gunning for Joe Proctor (Jerry Ferrara) who’s in the middle of his disbarment hearing. Mak tries to persuade Proctor to give up some dirt on St. Patrick in return for his help in clearing his name and keeping his law license.

The trickery of it all is at the hands of Councilman Tate (Larenz Tate). He’s determined to get what he wants, and what he wants is loads of fundraising money to aid in his Queens Child Project, which is probably just a front for something sneaky anyway.

He needs to look good in front of the media and he needs for Ghost to look good too. He wants Ghost and Tasha to speak to the media about Raina’s death at a press conference, and offer a reward for any information.

When Tasha doesn’t agree to do it, he stages a fraudulent social mixer where he ambushes the St. Patricks’ to make a statement about their daughter’s death.

Just shady.

 QUOTABLE: “We tried to protect her. We tried. But I can’t help but feel responsible. We are all responsible.” – Tasha St. Patrick

 KILL LIST:  Diego Jiminez, Dre

PHOTOS: Starz

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?