‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Recap – ‘Land of Lies’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 306 of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Over the course of our lives, we will endure a great many difficult days. The kind that will put us in some low places emotionally and leave us beside ourselves. For the world is tough, the world is chaos, and we never quite know when it will send hardships our way. But what is amazing, is that most of those natural moments of sorrow are the moments that fade quicker in our memories when they end. Because we expect those dark days to come, since we see others go through them and understand the nature of life. Instead, the ones that we reflect upon and truly hold value for… are the man-made ones. The mistakes we made that brought us to a tough place since we could have done things differently… or the pain that others imparted upon us.
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Specifically, from those we love and call family. Because there is simply something devastating about having those, we care about, that we invited into our hearts… turn their backs upon us for reasons that just don’t make sense. And that… can put us in a supremely dark place. Where sometimes… the damage done cannot be repaired and where our life changes drastically and well, that is top of mind today, simply because Tariq St. Patrick had to deal with that particular experience in the next episode of Power Book II: Ghost on STARZ. For ‘Land of Lies’ is a story that picked up shortly after Tariq met with Lauren for the first time in ages and well… at first… he was struggling to process what he learned and was doing his best to not believe it. Out of the hope that this was all some kind of misunderstanding. 

But it didn’t take long for the truth to sink into his brain and realize that Brayden, a man he considered a brother, and Effie, the woman he loved deeply… had betrayed him. Had lied to him and deeply wounded him in the process. Which led to some dark moments for Tariq. Where he turned on Brayden and beat him hard and of course… turned his fury to Effie. To the point where he took her to the very place where she tried to kill Lauren. Not to bring harm, oh no, this kind of pain was too much to demand a spilling of blood, but to get her to be honest. So that he could hear it from her mouth and know for a fact that she made this choice to betray him, and once he had the truth in hand… that is when revenge came into play.

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Which was a simple act to say the least… since he just… cut them out of the business without giving it a second thought. Which indeed brought forth tough times for the duo. But what mattered more here… is that for the first time in a very long time… we saw a truly wounded and deeply hurt Tariq. For he thought he was finally building a new life with the right people in it and around him, only to have it shatter from greed and lies… and well, the pain that comes with that was expressed here in a powerful manner and it did… seem to open Tariq’s eyes up to the fact that the life, and the game, might not be for him. And that the time had come to step out. Giving rise to a new direction for Tariq, one where he seems ready to go straight and ready… to get out from Noma’s rule in a swift and brutal manner by using her daughter as leverage.
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But while it was fascinating to see Tariq go through it and see Michael Rainey Jr. just slay as an actor in the process… there was more to explore in this tale than the power of betrayal. For this was a story that also saw a family grieve the loss of a father. For the Tejadas were indeed aching from losing Lorenzo, and well… that brought forth a great deal of trouble in this story. Such as how his passing created a power struggle and a powerful gambit on Monet’s part to quietly nudge revenge upon the Russians. For someone had to take the fall for Lorzeno’s death, and who better than a nameless enemy that the family could pour their sorrows into. Which led to a lot of violence and some scary moments, and they are likely only the beginning. Because secrets like this, never stay buried. They always claw their way to the surface, and well… it really is only a matter of time before things fall apart and the children learn of their mother’s choice.

All of which made this episode, a powerful transitional tale. One that is clearly setting the stage for the future of season three. Wherein everyone must decide what their future looks like and who they will have around them when the dust settles from all the ugly drama present here, and that setup was handled in a brilliant manner. Because it let the characters shine and once again used consequences and follow up to build the story and well, this is another episode that truly leaves us hungry for more. Because we simply must know if brothers by choice can ever reconcile and if the Tejada family is destined to a fate filled with internal conflict and fury, and that is going to make the wait for next week’s episode quite painful for certain. For we simply must know what comes next for Tariq and the Tejada family, now that the darkness around them is shattering the foundations of their lives. Until next time.

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