‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Recap – ‘Family First’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It really is quite amazing, how a single innocuous moment, can change so much in our lives. Because one wouldn’t think that a single look or a few glib words could alter our world in ways we never thought possible. But it happens and it happens often in our lives and for the most part, we can use those surprises as a learning experience. Since they teach us to carefully think about our words and our actions, so we don’t repeat that mistake and upend our world in a more dynamic manner. But it does leave one to wonder… what would happen if a singular moment in that vein, put us in outright danger? How would we react to that, and would we be able to stop the response before things got out of hand? Well, those are important questions that the next episode of Power Book II: Ghost, takes the time to explore.
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But it sure doesn’t seem as though that’s going to be the case early on. Since ‘Family First’ opens up with a grand opportunity for Tariq. Because homecoming has arrived at Stansfield and Effie has swung by the campus to support Yale as they prepare to take on Zeke and his team and well, her arrival is fortuitous since 2-Bit has come calling to collect on monies owed. Which is why Tariq quickly joins forces with Effie to make a few (thousand) bucks selling coke. But while Tariq is enjoying the good life and making some money with someone, he cares about deeply… that singular moment of change was brewing behind the scenes. For Tariq’s desire to become close and trusted with Monet, twisted Cane’s mind badly. To the point where believed he was being pushed out of the family and the only way to settle that score… was by killing Tariq.

Of course, he could not do that himself since that would be the end of him. So instead, he sent one of Lil’ Guap’s lieutenants to do so and that ended in disaster. Since 2-Bit and Tariq teamed up to put the assassin down and the resulting fallout from that death only got worse. Since Guap wanted retribution for it and nearly hurt Zeke and Dru to get it. Which meant that Monet was forced to eject Cane from the family, in order to keep it safe and well… that is really is quite the powerful change to come forth out of something as simple as being there for Monet. But alas, it does mean that Cane is on his own going forward (more on that in a moment) and it also means that Tariq is about as clever as they come, since he did indeed spot the danger early on and that undoubtedly saved his life. But while it was fascinating to explore those questions in a wild way, and see Tariq and Monet come to a peaceful understanding, there is still a lot of trouble on the horizon for Tariq.

Because Brayden is beside himself over this selfish betrayal and it would seem he’s ready to walk away from the operation over this. Plus, Professor Reynolds is quickly becoming an obsessive thorn in Tariq’s side. Since he’s been following Tariq to aid in writing his novel and of course, he now knows that Tariq is dealing drugs, potentially through Course Connect. And to top it all off, now Tariq has 2-Bit chomping at the bit for cash. To the tune of fifty large, since he helped out in bringing someone down and all of these problems, will likely bring about great strife for Tariq. Because he needs Brayden’s help to continue to pay off Davis and Reynolds discovering the drug trade would be disastrous for certain and 2-Bit… well who knows how far he is willing to go to get his hands on the ‘inheritance’ that he believes the St. Patrick family owes him.

But while we wait to see how all of these juicy storylines come together in the next couple of episodes, we can bask in the wonder of one intense and fast paced tale. One that really did force Cane to atone for his selfish actions in the darkest way imaginable and well… being banished might lead to more disaster. Since we know that Cane is a loose cannon through and through and sparing Lil’ Guap in order to make him a lieutenant is an equally unsettling prospect. Since they are both birds of a feather. But all of that aside, this really was quite the test for Tariq. One that he passed with flying colors and that’s a good thing. Because he really is about to face a bevy of incredible challenges and having that level of savvy and strength and having someone as powerful as Monet in his corner, could definitely help him get through each and every one of them. Until next time.

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