‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Recap – ‘Home Sweet Home’

12/2/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Hailey Kilgore and MeKai Curtis as Laverne ‘Jukebox’ Thomas and Kanan Stark in Episode 301 of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ – ‘Home Sweet Home’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Three Premiere of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’. To revisit the Season Two Finale, click here.

Truly, the humanity on display in the Power Universe on STARZ, is what makes this saga so compelling and so engaging. Because unlike other crime shows on television, what happens to Kanan, Tommy, and Tariq and his family… is grounded in emotion, realism, and causality. All elements that we deal with in life and that brings forth some powerful stories. The kind that sees the people of this universe be challenged like never before and make tough choices and feel their feels. Giving rise to an examination of the game that is quite emotional in addition to thrilling, and well, the humanity of this franchise is top of mind today, simply because it was featured heavily in the season three premiere of Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

For ‘Home Sweet Home’ picked up a few hours after the events of the season two finale, or rather, the bloodbath that was the season two finale and well… in any other crime story, dark things would have happened. There would have been discussions of revenge, escalation, and horrors untold. But here… a brush with death gave Raquel hard perspective. The kind that prompted her to work with Detective Malcolm Howard to pin the whole night’s events on Crown Comacho and his illegal dealings, so that they would be free and clear. Which worked and once that was handled, Raquel decided… that was it for her, there would be no more life in the game. She needed to go another route and that decision led to a genuine period of reflection for well… everyone.

Because Lou-Lou had to reconcile the end of everything he held near and dear and that wasn’t easy for him in the slightest. And Marvin (who survived the night via a million-dollar wound) and Laverne had to reconcile the death of someone that was an important part of their lives. Which wasn’t easy for them, either. Because a giant void existed in their lives now, giving rise to the reality for everyone in the family really, that the game was deadly and the game was dangerous, and to stay with it meant serious risk. Yet oddly enough, some were still interested in the game. Primarily Kanan. Because despite his mother having a genuine brush with death, he thought little of this incident. In fact, he saw the collapse of a growing empire as nothing short of a reflection of his mom’s faults and choices.

Omar Epps and Shanley Caswell as Detective Malcolm Howard and Detective Shannon Burke in Episode 301 of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ – ‘Home Sweet Home’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)

Wherein her ego and bombast caused enough damage to end the gravy train. So, Kanan decided to just stay at it with Famous and see how far they could get. Which wasn’t far, because everyone wanted to lay low, primarily since the Feds were now curious about this gangland shootout. Which left Kanan in a strange place as well. Since he was on his own island now, without trust for his mother or his family and he basically drifted in this story. And his journey, and all these other journeys were simply electric. Because they really did explore some very real consequences of the game and its dangers and its ugliness, and it served to remind us, that people in this game aren’t cartoon characters, but people. Who feel fear, who want to live and thrive and cannot stand the idea of failure.

But while that made for some fascinating moments, including that steamy dinner between Raq and Unique, which was quite the surprise, there was still some darkness to be found in this story, which came about via Detective Burke. Because she once again was pushing her knowledge about Howard onto anyone that would listen, and she chose a crap time to do so and was suspended in the process, and saw her world fall apart accordingly. To the point where Kanan correctly pointed out during an impromptu chat with his family… that she was cornered and dangerous and something had to be done since suspended or no… she could talk. Which prompted Malcolm to meet her and cross a line we never expected him to. Since he put Burke down without giving it a second thought, to keep the truth about his family and his own actions secret.

Outside of that however, that was really all we saw from a crime perspective in this premiere. For this one was really all about the human condition and what a brush with our mortality can accomplish and that made… for a brilliant season premiere. For this defied convention and offered up a vastly different type of crime story. One that fit the mold of this universe and made it clear that season three… will take the story in a very unique direction. Wherein there’s a chance the darkness that Kanan harbors in his soul in Power, is finally given the air it needs to thrive. Courtesy of the divide that now exists between him and his mother, and truly… it will be fascinating to see where this new season of storytelling is going to take us… now that the empire has fallen and so many are having second thoughts about the game and the direction of their life. Until next time.

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