‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Recap – ‘The Devil’s Playground’

9/7/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Michael Rainey Jr. and Gianni Paolo as Tariq St. Patrick and Brayden Weston in Episode 406 of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ – ‘The Devil’s Playground’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 206 of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

Over the course the past four years, the characters that populate the world of Power Book II: Ghost, have never faced a real, and outright terrifying threat. The kind where their lives are truly in jeopardy. Yes, they’ve faced challenges in this STARZ series, since they’ve had people challenge their standing and safety. But each and every one of them have risen to the occasion, and schemed their way out of trouble and made those who challenge them pay and pay dearly. But no one has ever been above them and controlled their lives and left them helpless in the process and been impossible for them to defeat. That is… until last night’s episode of show arrived. For ‘The Devil’s Playground’ changed the dynamic for the St. Patrick and Tejada families.

Because they were no longer the apex predators of the story, they were all… minions of Detective Carter and victims of their own machinations and that brought about a vastly different kind of story. One where Cane Tejada dealt with the latter of those two concepts. Because Zion was struggling with having his pride broken by Cane, and that prompted him to retaliate and try to murder Cane and Noma. An act he failed at, but he did kill Noma’s hopeful new business contact. Putting her money in jeopardy and leaving Cane in a busted place mentally. Because there was no grace, no understanding for this mistake. Something he was accustomed to receiving. Just accountability and the return of Tariq and Brayden to the fold and Cane was clearly lost at the end of this tale because of this new normal.

But his family, suffered far harder. Because Detective Carter was in their lives constantly, and any attempts made to uncover some dirt on him to put an end to this madness, was a waste of time. Simply because he was ten steps ahead and he expected Monet and Dru, to do his bidding at his beck and call and what he wanted from them… was difficult for certain. For he wanted Dru to handle a prison assassination to ensure that this police-sanctioned criminal empire would thrive, and truly… Dru had no choice. For there was no escape, no out, and he did as he was asked and even tried to leverage freedom by offering to handle a rat he discovered, because he could not stand being without control in such matters.

Michael Ealy as Detective Don Carter in Episode 406 of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ – ‘Ego Death’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)

As for Monet, being relegated to being a criminal informant to this disgusting ‘detective’ in title only, left her as listless as Cane, and she truly struggled to reconcile how far she’d fallen and how helpless she was. Plus, even Diana was dragged into their dirty deeds. Since Detective Lewis, tasked her with killing Zion. Because it turned out, that the reach of Detective Carter and his dirty task force was far and wide, and he actually controlled Zion and he wanted Zion dead to keep all of the task force’s illegal work a secret, and he flexed his power hard in this tale. Since his demands of Monet put Effie within an inch of her life, and as evidenced by the shocking moment that took place between, he and Kamaal on a fateful night.

For Detective Tate came to realize that something was amiss about Carter’s unit, and since he was of the belief that Carter was legit, he approached Carter thinking full well their chat would go the right direction. But alas, Carter was quick to kill Kamaal, and his team further flexed, by offering up some cruelty once Zion was dead. For Diana asked Tariq and Brayden to handle her dirty work since they had experience in such matters, and they were fine with helping. But Lewis saw the result, putting Tariq on the NYPD’s radar as well, and Diana was roughed up for disobeying orders. To the point where she might lose the baby. All of which speaks to how cruel Carter and his team are, how far they are willing to go to maintain power, and how much trouble the St. Patrick and Tejada families are in right now. Because how does one escape the supreme resources of the New York Police Department?

All of which brought forth a vastly different type of episode of Power Book II: Ghost. Since truly, we’ve never seen these families struggle so badly to control their own destinies, and of course… we’ve never seen them suffer in this manner. Because they’re in a dark place and there is no going against the police, not without bringing down the full force of the NYPD upon them, and that informs us… that the back half of the final season of the show… will be unique in nature. As these characters scramble to find agency, scramble to find freedom and a way forward, without losing their lives to a corrupt cop that is just drunk with power, and it will be interesting to see if they can be free of him and if this sudden change in their lives will be central to the end of their journeys in a few short weeks. Until next time.

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