In last night’s season finale of Power, the St. Patrick family went scorched earth in an attempt to avenge Raina’s death and settle family business. You Can’t Fix This was emotional, engaging, and the St. Patrick’s will never be the same.
The episode opens in the aftermath of Raina’s murder at the hands of dirty undercover cop Ray Ray. At this point, only Tariq knows who committed the murder and he is consumed by guilt and ultimately vengeance. Tariq has become a master liar and uses his skills when questioned at the police station. The other set of footprints mentioned by the investigator belong to Ray Ray and Tariq needs to settle that score.
Tariq’s evolution as a character has been remarkable this season. In truth it has been happening ever since Shawn was killed but the curve really accelerated this year. For most of the season many of us wanted to see him get clipped for all the lying, disrespect, and overall sucker behavior. But Tariq is a new man now. Gone is the innocent kid from season one. His coming of age marred by tragedy, his parents’ fall from grace, and his indoctrination into “that life.”
Ghost and Tasha are faced with the worst horror imaginable, the death of their child. In the parking garage scene before entering their penthouse, we see a tremendous amount of emotion, and Omari Hardwick and Naturi Naughton acted brilliantly in this scene. Throughout the series’ run, the Hardwick and Lela Loren (Angela) on screen chemistry gets a lot of praise, and rightfully so. But, Hardwick and Naughton really have a special on screen dynamic, and because of who their characters are and what they’ve been through; it has a different level of richness.
Speaking of family bonds, nothing like tragedy to get the gang back together. One of the enduring themes of this series is the power of family. In the end, when everything is at its worse, and you have nowhere to turn family is all you got. For better or worse. This particular family is built on a criminal enterprise, which of course adds its own set of drama.
How dope was it to see Ghost and Tommy back together, dressed in all black everything, gun toting and laying waste to everyone in their path? Ghost’s initial thought that the Jimenez cartel was behind the hit was proven incorrect when he and Tommy used the nail gun to torture Uriel. Imagine getting literally nailed to a chair and then shot in the head?
Part of the problem with acting solely off assumptions and half-truths, particularly if you’re in a state of revenge, is the collateral damage. Uriel has nothing to do with Raina’s death but Ghost does find out he was behind killing Julio at the behest of Dre. Stick a pin in that storyline.