‘Power Book IV: Force’ Recap – ‘Fire Starter’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Three of ‘Power Book IV: Force’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
Over the course of the past couple of weeks, we’ve talked at length about what goes into starting over in life and there is good reason for that. Because that is precisely what Tommy Egan is looking for in the STARZ series, Power Book IV: Force, now that he’s left New York behind and chosen Chicago as his destination for a fresh start. And well, thus far, he’s followed the process of hitting the reset button to an outright tee. Since he has found a new place to live, he’s made new friends and contacts in the industry, and he has the lay of the land in hand, thanks to the run he made with Diamond during last week’s episode and well… it would seem as though this exploration isn’t going away any time soon.
​
For the next chapter in Tommy’s journey took the time to examine another critical step in starting over in a strange new place, specifically… the fact that we need to get a job. Which of course in this case, means moving drugs and getting that paper and when we catch up with Tommy in ‘Fire Starter’, he has the perfect product to make him that coin. Because it turned out that Liliana was sitting on a gold mine of cocaine, and it was so pure that Tommy decided the past could say in the past and he could make nice with Liliana long enough for the two of them to strike it rich and gain some real power in this town. And once they cut that coke into a street ready product, Tommy laid out his vision for conquering the Windy City, one that involved quite the bold plan for certain.

Because Tommy outright recognized that this city had quite the problem on its hands. In that, everyone was sticking to their territory and working against one another. So, if someone were to unify these warring businessmen and break down the borders, they put up so product could flow all over the city, he could quickly take control of everything and rake in the dough and with product in hand… he wasted little time in getting down to business. Which first involved, talking to the always mysterious and dangerous Walter Flynn to get him to agree to a sit down with CBI. But despite making nice with Walter for disobeying his orders and laying down some logic for diversifying the Flynn Family’s product line, he was sadly… unable to get that meeting. Which instead prompted him to try and get the Flynn family to sell his coke in an effort to engender trust and lay down the foundation for a future partnership and that surprisingly… went over well with Walter, but not in reality.

For when Tommy and Vic set out into the world to unload that coke, things went sideways real quick. For Flynn’s top customer was uh… a person of the lowest caliber. One so gross and outlandish that Tommy basically killed the deal because this guy was incapable of exhibiting basic human decency. In fact, he was such a scumbag that even his own bodyguard… the ultra slim ‘Fat Tony’, was happy to leave him behind so that Tommy and Vic could teach him some manners, the old school Chicago way. A move that infuriated Walter through and through since it was a failure to move product. But as Tommy is wont to do, he used that miss to his advantage and convinced Walter that this failure signaled a need to do things differently, and that finally got the elder Flynn to agree to a meeting with CBI to build the empire Tommy dreamed of. 

---

Which of course brought Tommy back to Jenard and Diamond to make the meeting happen, a decision that also brought about another unfortunate, albeit brief, roadblock in Tommy’s plans. Because in order to get the green light for this meeting, Diamond had to reclaim his seat as the head of CBI from his brother and that led to a brutal battle royale between the two of them. One that saw Jenard use his anger to his advantage until it consumed him fully, allowing for his big brother to use his skill as a boxer and his patience to goad Jenard into making some mistakes. Which in turn brought about the win for Diamond and made him the head of CBI once again. And with Diamond back in charge, the meeting was on and at long last, Tommy’s grand plan was coming to fruition.
​
But alas, it turned out that this was all an elaborate ruse on Walter’s part, to get some ugly things off of his chest and to attempt to teach Tommy a lesson. For when everyone finally came together under one roof, Walter just let loose on Diamond, blasting out hate and racial slurs to sour the deal and remind Diamond of what he thought of him, and that worked to a tee, since Diamond stormed off and basically agreed to never work with Walter again. As for how that was designed to teach Tommy a lesson… well, Walter played him in essence, and led him on from beginning to end. To make him look like a fool and help him to understand that this was his town, and he wasn’t letting anyone else in on a cut of it. But while that would have motivated any other man to back down in defeat and humiliation, let’s be honest… Walter’s actions here will only embolden Tommy further.

Because Tommy doesn’t bend to anyone’s wishes, they bend to his and while he sometimes takes a few lumps in getting to his goals, he always achieves them in the end. So, it is only a matter of time before he regroups and figures out a new path in which to take control of this city, but even then… it won’t be an easy task. For Jenard also made it clear in this tale, that he’s planning to split CBI down the middle and lead his own crew to power and glory and of course… Claudia Flynn has plans of her own. For she and Mai have that incredible new drug on their hands and Claudia is done taking orders and is ready to set out on her own and seize control of the drug trade in Chicago. 

But while we wait to see what comes next for Chi-town and Tommy regarding these twists; we can offer up a round of applause for one amazing episode. Because this one was basically an old school gangster story. One filled to the brim with intense and epic moments that grabbed hold of you and never let go and you simply cannot go wrong with that, nor can you go wrong with watching Tommy learn on the job so to speak. Because he is definitely going to use everything that happened here to his advantage, and it will be quite satisfying to see him take these lessons to heart and come out of the other side stronger and smarter and ready to give what he got… as he continues to work toward building the Egan Empire. Until next time.

---