‘Power’ Recap: Ghost Might Be Free, But He Still Has A Lot More L’s To Hold

 

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Tonight’s episode of Power emphasizes one important fact: Ghost is free in theory, but not in practice. Tariq is kidnapped again (but doesn’t know it) because Jukebox and Kanan have revisited their plan to get ransom money from Ghost. For now, Tasha and Ghost believe that “Tariq is spending the night at his friend’s house,” but we’ll get back there in a sec.

Tommy is in Chicago indefinitely handling business, but no one can get in touch with him. He won’t even answer his phone for Ghost.
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Ghost thanks Tasha for sticking by him and asks her if they can start over. Tasha looks at him like:
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Hopefully Tasha will finally get herself together, financially, independently of Ghost. She could at least sell some of those designer clothes and accessories that she still has with the tags one them. Who’s to say he won’t pull some mess like this again?
Speaking of money, Stern is back in the picture because Ghost owes him big time. Tasha forgot to mention that Stern gave her money to stay afloat when the feds froze their assets. Stern tells Ghost that if he agrees to work with him in a real estate deal then the debt will be forgiven. Basically, Stern wants Ghost to be the face in a deal he made in a “minority” neighborhood” with himself as the silent partner.
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Of course Ghost doesn’t trust it! But at the same time, this is his taste of karma. How many times has he made important decisions without telling Tasha? Tuh!
The next metaphorical pile of bricks that comes crashing down on Ghost is Tony, who calls him demanding to talk to Tommy or else he’s snitching.  
Jukebox has Tariq holed up in Queens, but won’t even tell Kanan where he is until he gets ahold of Ghost. In this moment it’s clear that the trust and fellowship between Jukebox and Kanan is crumbling swiftly. Kanan tells her that he’s working on it and Jukebox is counting down until she kills Tariq for fun. Her exact words.
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Tasha gave Tariq one more day to stay at his friend’s house before she comes to pick him up.
Finally we get to Chicago. Tommy is there meeting up with Jason Micic, a Milan affiliate, to discuss a “small hiccup with distribution” and money owed. Let’s cut to the chase, this is a set up. They take Tommy to what’s supposed to be his grave. Then a Milan affiliate (one of the ones who defected and helped Tommy and Ghost kill Milan) tried to frame Tommy. He told Tommy that Jason gave the okay to kill Milan, which wasn’t true. Now Jason is out to make an example, thinking they willfully defied his order, which of course doesn’t look good when you’re a criminal underworld boss. Tommy starts fast talking and convinces Jason that Milan’s mans n’em are playing both sides and his  life is spared once again. Isn’t this about the billionth time Tommy almost got killed? Geesh, he and Ghost have 1,000 lives. Anyway,  Tommy drives back to NYC, but he stops in Cleveland first to visit Holly’s uncle, who molested her, and beat him to death with a bat.
As if that’s going to bring Holly back.
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Julio confronts Dre about seeing him talking to Kanan despite Tommy specifically telling them not to mess with dude. Unfortunately for Julio, this isn’t the smart way to go. Dre is a smooth talker and talks his way around this, but Julio is marked. He conspires with Cristobol to get Julio killed. Together they get a Toros Locos boss to agree to the job under the condition that he doesn’t make it look like a Toros Locos murder (because that could start a war).
In short, there is no happy ending for Julio, but he does go out like a G. Seriously, he almost took out all three dudes sent to do the job. Almost, but that just isn’t good enough when it comes to survival.
Let’s pour one out for Julio. You were a real one.
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Kanan finally runs up on Ghost and tells him what needs to happen in order to keep Tariq alive. A new problem is that Ghost is low on money since he just got out the joint. That’s not Kanan’s problem so Ghost better act fast. Meanwhile, back in Queens, Tariq thinks he’s about to go home, but Jukebox knocks him out.
The only thing Ghost thinks of for money is robbing Tommy’s stash house. This is super messy, but Ghost is backed into a corner. Kanan gives Ghost an empty gun, but keeps a loaded one for himself and also promises that no one will get hurt.
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You know Kanan killed one of Tommy’s goons, right? Anyway, Ghost calls Tasha to explain that he’s picking up Tariq and that she shouldn’t worry. Then, on the ride to Queens, Kanan reveals that they’re going to see Jukebox and Ghost actually looks scared. As they pull up to the house, Kanan gives Ghost a loaded gun. Ghost looks surprised, but this is when it becomes clear that Kanan is not in control of the situation (in case you didn’t get that memo earlier from Captain Obvious). Kanan says that Jukebox is going to want to kill Tariq the minute she gets the money and he also doesn’t know what she plans to do with him and whether she’s working alone or not. He gives Ghost the option of killing him and going on the rescue mission alone, or they can run up in the spot together to save Tariq.
They roll together. The first thing Ghost sees is Tariq tied up. Jukebox then senses something is off so she points a gun to Tariq head. Ghost, near tears, begs for his son’s life. Then Jukebox starts taunting Tariq by revealing that “Slim” isn’t who he says he is and that Tariq was just a dollar bill to him. Jukebox demands that Kanan tells Tariq who he is or she’ll kill Tariq. Kanan admits he’s a “no good muhphucka” who used to run the streets with his dad. He admits to killing Sean, his own dang son, and says he’d do it again because “Sean was soft and not like Tariq.” Oddly enough, there’s a spark of humanity in Kanan and it seems like he genuinely feels bad for getting Tariq into this situation. Jukebox gets too cocky and shifts her posture just so that Kanan is able to kill her. Ghost frees Tariq, they hug and then Kanaan points the gun at them before changing his mind and saying, “See you around Little N—a,” before bouncing with the money they stole from the stash house.
Tommy is going to be pissed when he finds out about the money, Tariq is probably still in hot water because his rich friends have probably figured out by that he had something to do with their houses getting robbed and this is all just bad. A whole lotta bad.
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Next week things get worse in Ghost’s quest to go legit.