‘Power’ Recap: Darth Dre Is Going To Be Harder To Kill Than Everyone Thought

Source: Starz/Power / Starz/Power

Power is back on Starz for the fifth time (season 5)! [Sings] They say this is a big rich town! You know the rest.
Ok, now that that’s out the way, everything is terrible. Raina’s really dead, it wasn’t a dream. Tariq killed Raina’s killer, Ray Ray. Ray Ray was cop—a dirty cop, but still a cop—so you know the boys in blue are not going to sit this out quietly. Tasha plans to take the rap for Tariq. Tommy and Ghost are also taking the rap for Tariq. They told Kanan that they killed Ray Ray and that Tariq was never at the scene, and Kanan told Tommy that Dre doesn’t even know he’s alive, which we know is a lie. Lordt. Everyone is trying to cover for their best interests. #Shady.

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Anyway, Tasha is seeking help from her lawyer boo, that’s where we left off last season with her. Dre definitely doesn’t like his life but he knows who he’s dealing with and that’s why he’s getting in good with the Jimenez crime syndicate, so getting rid of him might be harder than we think. Ghost, Kanan, and Tommy have united in the name of taking Dre down, but there will be a fight ahead. Remember, Dre learned from the masters and now he flipped the game.
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The feds believe that Jamie is responsible for killing Ray Ray as revenge for Raina (even though Ray Ray’s body hasn’t been found so they can’t 100% say that dude is dead) so, they want to take him down as Ghost once and for all. They have a witness who recognized Jamie’s voice on TV as the same man who had her blindfolded and tied up while speaking to her in Spanish right before and after killing her fiance. She never heard Tommy Egan’s name being mentioned so it clicks for the feds that Jamie has been Ghost all along. Problem is, her claim can’t be confirmed since she was blindfolded, a point that John Mak makes. Plus, it would look like a petty vendetta for them if they go after Jamie again. And Angela is their leader now. You know she’s not going to touch another St. Patrick case.
Speaking of Angela, she finds out that CSI pulled a bullet from the wall at Ray Ray’s apt and of course they’re going to match the gun. Angela confronts Tasha because she suspects that Jamie killed Ray Ray and that Tasha tricked her into giving her Ray Ray’s location (which makes Angela an accessory). She threatens to turn them all in and testify against them (even though she’d look silly because this is her second entanglement with them), which forces Tasha to reveal that Tariq is the shooter and that she was trying to find him that night before he did the stupid thing that he did. Angela drops the bomb about the gun. If ballistics traces back to Tasha then they’re all going to jail, including Angela. Remember, she was already investigating Ray Ray because she didn’t trust him but it would look like she was feeding them information. Tasha asks Angela to bury the records because if they never match her gun they’ll never be able to trace it back to anyone.
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Tasha and Jamie get their chance to question Tariq. They want to know why Ray Ray killed Raina in the first place. Tariq is still on his BS, thinking he’s hard and grown and that’s when Jamie channels Ghost and demands to know why Dre failed to protect him. Tariq tells the truth so it really boils down to Kanan, but Ghost still blames Dre.
Anyone else wondering where their baby is though? Anyway…
Then we meet Blanca Rodriguez, the NYPD officer investigating the Ray Ray case. She questions Angela, who obviously downplays her involvement.
Tommy learns of yet another Dre-orchestrated murder (the priest) and he, Ghost, and Kanan set their murder plan in motion. Tommy and Ghost go into Dre’s stashouse, guns blazing, but issa set up. Dre and Cristobal are already waiting and a shootout ensues. Ghost gets shot and just when he’s hobbling around and things look bad for him and Tommy, Kanan pulls up to get them out of there. Ghost’s former attorney Proctor, who lost his license (but there’s a chance he could get it back eventually), hooks them up with a doctor no questions asked.

If you don’t come through for me like Joe Proctor in the clutch then we can’t be friends! #PowerTV #PowerPremiere pic.twitter.com/j2Gf8usfQk

— ESSENCE (@Essence) July 2, 2018

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Tommy, Kanan, and Ghost reconvene over their Dre problem. Tommy convinces Kanan and Ghost to let him try to get the Italians involved since he’s Teresi’s son. Plus, Dre would be expecting black hittas, not white ones. Tommy works his magic and the Italians are interested in doing business. He even offers 60 racks for two goons to bring Dre to him so that he can pull the trigger. It’s going down.
Officer Rodriguez visits the cousin Ray Ray left behind to give her specifics about collecting his pension, etc, in the event that Ray Ray is actually dead (they can’t pronounce him dead yet since there’s no body, but they obviously fear the worst). Then she spots Angela Valdez’s business card on her table and asks the girl if anyone else spoke with her about the case, specifically a woman. The cousin says no, of course, which raises suspicion. So now there’s yet another law enforcement agent who doesn’t trust Angela. Great.
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Now we’re at Raina’s funeral. Tommy, who is sitting behind the St. Patrick Family, gets a message on his phone. He whispers to Ghost, who is sitting next to Tariq, that his goons got eyes on Dre. Tariq obviously hears this based on the face he makes, and we all know he’s going to do something stupid. Because Tariq wouldn’t be Tariq without the asshat impulses.
Tariq goes up to give a eulogy about his sister then pretends that he’s too emotional to finish his speech. He runs out and locks himself in the bathroom so he can send Dre a warning. You read that correctly, which translates to the fact that TARIQ IS THE MOST DISLOYAL PERSON OF THE BUNCH! He’s officially more untrustworthy than Kanan and he still hasn’t learned a thing even after Raina’s death.
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Now we cut to Dre, who is obviously hip to the game, and he’s sprinting like Usain Bolt away from his would-be assailants. These are the black goons used to throw him off. Then the Italian goons catch him by wrapping him in a tablecloth (they were pretending to be cleaners), but Dre manages to get a leg up on them too and shoot both of them just before they restrained him with duct tape.
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Angela finally manages to delete what she needed to get rid of, but it’s probably not going to go away that easily. We know what show this is, after all. Then we see Tasha with her Lawyer boo, Terry. Terry comforts her, but he also tells her that he feels like she’s protecting Jamie. He thinks Jamie asked her to lie about killing Ray Ray to protect him but Terry is not about having the woman he loves going to prison so he vows to protect her instead.
Next, we find Ghost standing over Raina’s grave and apologizing to her. It’s nighttime, the perfect dramatic setting for a confrontation. That’s when Dre shows up wearing a black hoodie looking like Evil Kermit, or Darth Vader, even.
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Yup, he has literally crossed over to the dark side. Even his voice is a lot more ominous as he tells Ghost that he has full Jimenez protection and that if they come for him again he will come for Ghost and his entire family. That’s when we watch Tommy get home to find the signature Jimenez tarot card on his door, the death card. Then Kanan finds one on his car, and then we cut back to Dre handing one to Ghost, saying that if he stays in his lane then he will stay in his.
Ghost rips it up though. Nobody puts Ghost in the corner.
This is going to be good! Let’s reconvene next week!