‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Recap – ‘What Happens in the Catskills’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 205 of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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There comes a point in every great tragedy story, where the person that is the subject of their own downfall, either begins to encounter the events that will take them to a dark place… or they make the decision to indulge within it on their own. And this… is a non-negotiable in these types of stories. Because one of those two things has to happen in order for the endgame to come into play and well… it is a moment that we’ve been patiently waiting to see happen when it comes to the STARZ series, Power Book III: Raising Kanan. Because to date, Kanan has not reached that point. In fact, he has outright spoken to potentially not joining the family business and going a different route.
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Something we know, never happened in the slightest. For his fate was tied to the St. Patrick drug empire in the OG Power. If anything, it appeared as though, the big decision for Kanan to commit to a dangerous life of slinging drugs and stacking paper would come forth at a later time instead, during the course of this series. Especially when one also takes into consideration that his relationship with his mother is frayed at this point, because of his biological father injecting himself into Kanan’s life. But as it turns out, all of that was designed to make the moment Kanan chose to become that other person special and surprising. To the point where it fell into our laps during last night’s episode, believe it or not. Which made ‘What Happens in the Catskills’ quite the keystone story within the Power Universe.

Because that is a huge moment, one that sets so much in motion. But it really didn’t seem as though it was coming in the slightest in this tale. For this is a story that saw Raq take Kanan camping for a night in the Catskills. Where it appeared, they were going to hammer out the whole matter with Detective Howard. But instead… quiet family time around the campfire, brought about a hard discussion about the empire and how it was his to grab if he wanted, he merely needed to say the word and believe it or not… Kanan said he wanted it after all. He just needed some time to think and find his own way on the matter and seeing how he could move product on the street with ease and getting a taste of the good life with Famous… probably helped in this decision, and once he was settled into it, mom wasted little time in teaching him the ins and out of the family business.

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Since they did have that foul smelling corpse to dispose of and Raq made sure to pack that alongside the camping and S’more gear. Giving rise to a mother and son burial expedition and after that, an opportunity arose to teach Kanan how to handle tough situations. Because Sal Boselli decided that the best way to handle Raq’s lack of respect, financially, was to just off her. So, he sent a couple of his henchmen to the Catskills with them so that such matters could get handled. But thanks to the incompetence of both of them, and the extreme racism from one of them… the matter was handled by Raq, and Kanan was able to learn to be fierce and unrelenting when an enemy approaches and to use every ounce of victory over them to one’s advantage and just like that… Kanan began his journey into darkness.
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However, while that was a huge moment in Power Universe history, there were other big moments present in this tale as well. Since Marvin came to learn that he might be headed to jail if he doesn’t quickly learn how to open up to others, and Lou… well he might be inches away from seeing his business fall apart since he and Crown cannot see eye to eye on anything at this point. Plus, Jukebox came to learn the wonder and value of family time, since she spent a fair chunk of her time in church with her mom, allowing them to bond further. And as for Detective Howard… well his world was beginning to become a touch more stressful. Since Shannon started to dig deeper into his personal affairs and the shooting in question. 

But while all of that was indeed engaging, let’s be honest… it was overshadowed by Kanan’s big decision here. Because that changes the tone and future of this series going forward. For now, Kanan is on his tragic path, and everything from here on out will be dark lessons about a dark industry. One that will eventually consume him in ways he never thought possible and that is both exciting and horrifying all at once. Since it will allow for us to learn exactly how the drug business transforms a man when he enters it so young. But at the same time… it will bring us inches closer to that ugly end to his life, and truly… it will be uncomfortably fascinating to see how this story grows from here. Now that Kanan is all in on his future. Until next time.   

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