Tariq truly is his father’s son.
Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 Episode 10 was like looking at vintage Ghost, as Tariq continued to outsmart and outwit nearly everyone around him. Even when a vengeful person from days past decided to drop in on the city, Tariq still found a way to walk away unharmed.
Even at his worst, Ghost found a way to survive. And Tariq took a page out of that book and then some.
As usual, this was a busy episode. And for a finale, it was a little quieter than anticipated.
Sure, there was death, sex, an explosion, and a mystery guest, but it lacked a certain sense of urgency that usually comes with the last hour before an extended hiatus.
That’s not to say this episode was boring because it was anything but. It was the true exploration of Tariq St. Patrick, who started the series still figuring out his way and trying to define himself away from the specter of his father.
He’s grappled with who he believes himself to be versus what others believe him to be and what other people want him to be. Is he a monster? Or was he a child forced to grow up too fast?
Can both of these be true?
It always comes down to me, my family, and a gun.
Tariq
At his core, Tariq wants to protect the things he loves. He doesn’t want to hurt the people who care about him, the Brayden’s of the world if you will. But the number one person he will always protect is Tasha, though he does still seem to find a way to protect Tasha while also protecting himself.
Even though he’d vowed to get on the stand and tell the truth, Tariq instead decided to taint the whole trial by throwing Saxe under the bus.
It was a shrewd, calculated play to turn everything into chaos, and it ended with Tasha walking free and Saxe losing his job. That’s a win-win scenario for Tariq and the audience, honestly.
But the one thing no one saw coming was the arrival of Tommy Egan, who was apparently lying in the wind and waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill Tasha.
When the spin-offs were first announced, it was hard to reconcile all the significant characters we grew to know being shipped off to different series. Tommy was a fan-favorite, and the thought of another Power series without him being apart of it felt strange at first.
Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 has been such a force, though, that we’ve all but forgotten about him.
But man, if you didn’t get chills when ‘Many Men’ started playing, and Tommy descended those stairs, are you even human?
By Tommy’s own admission, he came back wanting all the smoke. He’d made a promise to Ghost on his deathbed that he wouldn’t kill Tariq, and to know Tommy is to know that he would stay loyal to that promise.
Tasha is another story.
There is no love lost for Tommy when it comes to Tasha, and he comes to New York ready to risk it all to see her dead.
Tariq’s plan to fool Saxe and the world into thinking Tommy is dead works in that it gets Saxe off Tommy’s back and essentially allows Tommy to ride off into the sunset without having to look over his shoulder.
But Tommy wasn’t about to just let bygones be bygones. And that last scene between him and Tariq was so powerful for several reasons.
Tasha and Tommy have known Tariq all his life, and you could tell that it FINALLY clicked for them just what kind of man he has become. Tariq is a grown man who is making grown man decisions that he will have to live with.
He can’t be protected anymore, not from anyone else and not even from himself.
Tariq St. Patrick is his father’s son, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
With Tasha off now in witness protection and Yasmin being taken care of by Tasha’s mother, Tariq is essentially on his own. Except he’s not because he essentially been adopted into the Tejada household.
And that could work out for him in the interim, especially since he could get Cane to stop actively trying to kill him. But the bigger question moving forward will be how Tariq’s new position in the family jives with Lorenzo.
We haven’t little snippets here and there of Lorenzo, but it’s evident that he still holds a lot not only with the family but outside of it as well. How these two co-exist will hopefully be a major storyline moving into the second season.
Some other plot points to discuss moving forward will be what the show plans to do with Carrie, especially now that half of her storyline is gone with Jabari dead.
Zeke’s relationship has zero substance, and outside of her brief interactions with Monet, there hasn’t been anything overly impressive about the character.
The same can kind of be said for Lauren, but her purpose in Tariq’s life is basically to represent that other side of Tariq that’s not connected to the drug business and death. She’s essentially his Angela BEFORE she became a willing accomplice.
Seeing Tariq try to navigate that relationship would be an intriguing thing to see play out next season.
Saxe and Davis’s work would appear to be over now, at least when it comes to Tariq and the St. Patrick’s but teaming them up as some kind of legal duo is far more amusing than it has any right to be.
Method Man was a great addition to the cast, and while Saxe is always going to Saxe, his best moments were when he and Davis were paired together.
Tariq is who he is, a killer and an opportunist, who’s parlayed his street smarts into a partnership with one of the biggest drug-dealing families in New York City. And watching Tariq’s rise to continued rise to power is must-see television.
Everything Else You Need To Know
- Jabari should have minded his business, and he would still be alive. He let himself be completely blinded by greed and Carrie to an extent, and it ended up getting him killed.
- Tommy checking in on Cash is so in line with who Tommy has always been. He looks out for those he cares about.
- Tariq refusing to stop calling Tommy ‘Uncle’ was like a punch in the gut. He will always see Tommy that way, like family, even though their relationship is irrevocably broken.
- Brayden must be protected at all costs. He and Tariq’s friendship has been up and down, but that kid has Tariq’s back, and he would be smart to remember that.
That’s a wrap on this season, guys! It was a very entertaining ride, and hopefully, more people get a chance to check it out before it eventually comes back for its sophomore effort!
Let me know what you thought about how the trial turned out and Tommy’s return in the comment section!
And until we meet again, please watch Power Book II: Ghost online via TV Fanatic anytime. And we’ll see you next season!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.