‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Recap – ‘Good vs Evil’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There are a great many elements that go into making a television show with an ensemble cast, a success. First and foremost, the characters must be both compelling and dynamic, so that the audience identifies with several of them and are eager to see what kind of journey they go upon. Speaking of that journey, that too is paramount to success because if there is little growth or few challenges for them to partake in, the audience will get bored. But above all else, the most important aspect to making a show in this vein a success, is that every single character receives the proper amount of screen time. Because none of those other elements work without them getting their day in the sun and it just so happens, that the next episode of Power Book II: Ghost, takes the time to thrust some of the show’s secondary characters into the spotlight.
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A feat that ‘Good vs Evil’ accomplishes by putting Tariq St. Patrick and his struggles on the back burner for a little bit and that surprisingly makes for quite the compelling tale. Since it helps for us to learn a lot about Brayden and his spoiled brother Trace, alongside a great deal about the Tejada kids and well… this exploration was made possible, by way of a loose cannon moment for Cane. For he felt disrespected by Monet’s decision to teach Dru and Diana more about the business and in the midst of his frustrations, Cane swung by Stansfield to pick up the weekly cash drop and instead ran into Brayden and his idiot brother Trace. And that encounter informed Cane that Tariq had warned Brayden about Cane and that uncomfortable revelation, motivated him to have a little fun with the Weston boys.

The kind that involved having them deal drugs on the corner to exert a little power and that almost ended in disaster since Trace got jumped and Ramirez had to step in get Cane to quit with this little power trip and that only infuriated him more, since he eventually struck his own mother. An action that led to a beatdown from his father and really, in the end, all this storyline taught us… is that Cane isn’t in the right state of mind and is trouble for sure and it will be interesting to see what becomes of him in episodes to come, now that he’s been badly disrespected by his family. In his mind. And oddly enough, his story served as the perfect counterbalance to his siblings. Since Dru and Diana enjoyed a more low-key journey in this tale. One that let us know that Dru really has no stomach for this business since he’s a lover and an artist through and through. But his sister… well she has the chops, since she got straight answers out of Tariq and exposed his scheme to Monet. 

But while it was fascinating to learn about the Tejada family and discover that Brayden also has the chops to genuinely handle himself in this business, we would be remiss to not talk about Riley’s journey in this story. Because we also came to learn that being empowered to help out her uncle, regardless of her shady actions… has given her a new perspective on life and a renewed focus. One that has her hellbent on taking down and/or exposing Tariq. Which is why she dedicated her time in this tale to stalking him in his own dorm room, in the hopes of garnering more evidence that her uncle can use and she appears to have been successful in her mission. Since she got a picture of a text message on his burner phone and well, this too informs us of where Riley is at right now and how much of a thrill, she’s getting out of a dangerous game she doesn’t understand.

In the end however, this really was quite the engaging episode. One that really did do a wonderful job of properly showcasing this incredible cast while giving them a chance to grow and partake in new experiences, both good and bad. Plus, it still found a way to advance the plot since Cooper and Davis MacLean initiated their plan to bring Tariq down in the smoothest of fashion and what’s truly incredible, is that everything that happened here, will likely carry over into future episodes. Since there has to be consequences for Cane and Riley’s actions and of course, Tariq needs to be ready to fight hard against whatever Saxe and MacLean has planned for him and well, once again… all this episode does is compel us to continue a powerful journey that is clearly heating up and leading toward something big. Until next time.  

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