Written by John Edward Betancourt Mekai Curtis as Kanan Stark in Episode 401 of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ – ‘Gangstas Don’t Die’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)
Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Four Premiere of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
For the most part, season premieres in crime shows, are as epic as they get. For they are designed to set the dark tone ahead and inform us of what we can expect from this year’s carefully crafted scripts, and one franchise that excels at giving us a big-time premiere is the Power Universe. For year in and year out, its season premieres just get bigger and bigger and leave us hungry for more. That is, minus one exception. Because despite seeing the stakes get higher for Ghost, Tariq and Tommy every single season, Kanan Stark’s journey toward the darkness has been a touch lower key now and again, as evidenced by this year’s season four premiere of Power Book III: Raising Kanan on STARZ. For ‘Gangstas Don’t Die’ should have featured tense conflict. After all, Kanan’s father was gone, Unique was discovered to be alive and well, and Raq was back on top and back in charge. But rather than go full bore into that, this premiere opted to do something so different. In that, it slowed down the story significantly, to remind us of a fact we often lose sight of in these stories. In that, gangsters are human beings too, and they have wants and needs and ups and downs. That doesn’t make what they do right, nor does it make them upstanding citizens. But those needs and wants and ups and downs shape the person we know them to be, and that made for a fascinating tale that explored so much regarding these characters. Since it spent a lot of time, reflecting upon the back half of season three. To fill in some blanks for us across the board. Many of which, involved Unique. Who we learned was in rough, rough shape after his brother tuned him up and dumped him down. For he had massive internal injuries and brain and skull damage and well, since no one could afford the tab, Unique just slipped in and out of a coma basically. Wherein he tried desperately to push himself to return to the fold and retake his business when conscious. But he simply could not and being weakened in this manner and broken mentally over what happened, pushed Unique into a supremely dark headspace, where we need to be worried about what he will do this season.  Joey Bada$$ as Unique in Episode 401 of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ – ‘Gangstas Don’t Die’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)
But there were more holes to fill in the tapestry that is this series. Because this story also took the time to explore more about Jukebox being torn between two worlds. Since service to her country was calling to her, but so was Butta and the opportunities it would afford. Plus, we saw a lot more of what brought Lou-Lou to such a dark point in his life. Since the past simply would not leave him, and that constantly reminded him of the horrible things he had been part of, and that truly connected those dots. Plus, we also saw Marvin dive deeper into the world of the Mob. Since he did a lot of side jobs for Stefano Marchetti in this story, the kind that made him quite the beloved man around the office, and those fascinating moments were brought together by Raquel and Kanan’s unique journey here.
Because in that time frame, they grew further apart. In part because Kanan wanted to really branch out on his own and taste life and learn about his past at his own speed. But also, because Raquel kept secrets from her son and from everyone, really. Since it turned out that her affair with Unique led to an unwanted pregnancy and a termination of that pregnancy promptly. Because she simply did not want the baby, and that was indeed her right and her choice. But clearly, not finding a way to bridge the gap from the pain she was carrying over this and pretending to hide, helped to isolate and push Kanan away further. Adding to the rot we saw in the finale last year, and well… going this route accomplished some serious wonders storytelling wise. Mainly because, it made this a simple and impactful character study, something that is genuinely rare for this genre. But it also helped us to better understand what makes Kanan, the man he will be when Power begins. Because clearly, this family is not unified and pulling in different directions. And they are hurting one another with secrets and lies, and a desire to branch out and taste life away from the game, and divided we fall indeed will apply to that. Because the center cannot hold when there’s nothing to glue it together and with Unique back and angry, we could see the beginning of the end of Kanan’s old life here, and truly, it will be fascinating to see what kinds of stories await us as this bold new season of storytelling continues along. Until next time. Watch ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’
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