Products You May Like
Is Tariq St. Patrick a monster?
On the surface, the answer seems obvious. He’s done a lot of terrible things over the year, from lying and stealing from the people who love him. Oh, and he murdered his father. But does that make him a monster?
Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 Episode 9 was all about diving a little bit deeper into who Tariq is, and it set the stage for what is sure to be an epic finale.
Tariq has often struggled with what kind of man he wants to be, and it’s something he’ll probably grapple with for the rest of his life. His father surely did.
He doesn’t want to see himself as a bad man, as a “monster” of society. And a lot of the things done have been to protect not only himself but also others. He’s even found a way to justify Ghost’s death as being more about who Ghost was than about himself.
In his final years, Ghost did everything within his power to stop Tariq from becoming like him and living a life where he was indebted to others and always on the precipice of death. And Tariq fought him at every turn, only to end up in an almost worse situation.
Tariq owes money all over the place, and he’s being pushed and pulled in all different directions by people who all have their own agendas. But Tariq finally got a better sense of where he stands amongst all the chaos, and now it’s time to see if he can pull off the ultimate con and get both him and Tasha off the hook.
Now that Tariq finally knows about Saxe and Davis actively working against him (and Tasha, for that matter), the real games can begin regarding the trial.
There is a pretty much negative way that Tariq gets on the stand and admits to killing Ghost. If that were a thing that was ever going to happen, it would have happened already. With Tameka on his side, there’s a path forward for both Tariq and Tasha because she’s the person who can bring Saxe down.
Tameka: Tariq, did you kill your father?
Tariq: Yes. I did. Not because I’m a monster. Because he was a monster.
She knows where all the bodies are buried, and she’s Tariq’s best shot at this point.
It’s crazy how hard all these lawyers are working to help Tariq essentially get away with murder, but I guess that’s ultimately a question for their conscience.
The Saxe and Davis alliance was always on borrowed time, but it’ll be good to see them both drop the façade and try to take one another apart as the trial starts to wind down.
Tasha’s trial hasn’t been at the forefront of Tariq’s mind as of late, and that’s understandable considering he’s got 2-Bit demanding his money and the whole Tejada situation.
The Tejada dynasty has been slowly crumbling all season, with Cane’s latest departure fracturing things even further.
Cane’s decision to take over the streets put a massive target on Monet’s back. Their strength always seemed to come from the fact that they were a unit, even with Lorenzo locked up. They ran their business effectively and presented as a united front. You couldn’t mess with Monet and not then have to answer to Cane.
But that’s no longer the case with Cane off doing his own thing. And it all culminated in a direct hit on Monet that left Dru injured and Cane even more estranged from his family.
It’s hard to see Cane’s path back to the family, especially now that he’s murdered a cop. There’s only so much Monet will be able to do or want to do at this point. She has to sense how much things have fallen apart, and after Dru’s health, her goal will be to get the business back on track.
And what does that mean for Tariq?
It could mean a lot, frankly. But that’s still a ways off, and there are other issues at hand like the police investigating the swimming pool death.
Although this has been a stellar first season, the weakest links by far have been Carrie and Jabari’s storylines. They were often completely separate from all the other plotlines, which is okay if your storyline is fresh and exciting. But theirs was not.
Turning Jabari into a full-blown villain has also been a curious choice, but the show is so strong that I’ve been willing to see how this plays out before passing too much judgment.
With the season winding down, everything is finally starting to mesh, with Jabari on his quest to expose Tariq and Carrie trying to protect Zeke? Their interests are unclear, but they’re at least somewhat involved with the more significant plot points now.
Carrie’s prosecutor instincts push her to get Zeke to come clean, but while she was doing her Tejada homework, she should have realized that going up against Monet was going to be a dangerous endeavor.
Now, she’s faced with either playing by Monet’s rules or doing what she feels is right to help protect Zeke. But she doesn’t understand what harm could come by trying to protect Zeke.
And who even knows what Jabari is doing at this point. He’s still overstepping boundaries, and he’s still laser-focused on Tariq, but what’s the endgame here?
With a literal dead body barely warm, they both know there is some connection between the body and the Tejada’s (and Tariq), and you’d think that would be enough for them to back off.
But where’s the fun is being smart?
Everything Else You Need To Know
- Thank god Tariq didn’t kill Epiphany. She is the gift that keeps on giving, and she didn’t deserve to die at all. She did right by both Tasha and Tariq, and Saxe and Davis played on her desperation. Hopefully, she takes her cash and gets far away from New York.
- Brayden is one of the only people on the planet who truly has Tariq’s back, so it was good to see Tariq be honest about the Riley situation. He deserved the truth.
- Paula was so disgusted with Davis after her talk with Tasha that she went out of her way to try and sabotage the most significant case of his career. Hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned.
- Dru better be okay, and he better do what he wants to do because he almost died over her business decisions, not his own. He deserves better than the crap hand he’s been dealt by the people supposed to love him.
- RIP Danilo. We didn’t know much about you, minus the fact you loved Monet, and you stupidly decided to work with Cane. Rest easy!
We’ve finally reached the end of the road, and there’s no telling what’s to come, but we’re expecting drama, a death or two, and a cliffhanger because this is Power, after all.
Let me know what you want to see in the finale, as well as all your thought about this installment and the season as a whole!
And please do yourself a favor and watch Power Book II: Ghost online right now via TV Fanatic!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.