Power Season Premiere – “Consequences” Recap. True Identity.

Season 2, Episode 1

Air Date: Saturday, June 6, 2015, 9:00 pm ET/PT on Starz

Rating: ★★★★★

“I don’t need grooming. I don’t need your help, Simon. I will have Truth back open before you can buy your next wife.” – Jamie “Ghost” St. Patrick

Best friends and business partners Tommy and Ghost survey their city.

Best friends and business partners Tommy (L) and Ghost (R) survey their city.

For those who missed the first season of Power on Starz, let me do a quick recap of the season finale, “Best Laid Plans.” When we last saw drug distributor/nightclub owner James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), he was comforting Holly (Lucy Walters) after she was shot inside his nightclub, Truth. Holly’s boyfriend Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora), also Ghost’s best friend and second-in-command, has no idea what happened. Unbeknownst to Ghost, his mentor and long-time friend Kanan (actor and series executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) was behind the shooting from the comfort of his jail cell. Kanan tasked a hit woman known only as Pink Sneakers (Leslie Lopez) to kill Ghost. Holly was never the intended target.

While it is hard to believe Ghost had no clue throughout the entire first season that his girlfriend Angela Valdes (Lela Loren) is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the Lobos task force, Tommy learned who she works for after killing her C.I. (confidential informant) Nomar (Vinicius Machado). Ruiz (Luis Antonio Ramos), the head of the Soldados, wanted Nomar dead because he was sleeping with his underage daughter Isabel (Yainis Ynoa). Conversely, Angela doesn’t know Ghost is heavily involved in the drug business.

Tasha (L) and Keisha (R) discuss Tasha’s marriage to Ghost.

Hoping to leave that part of his life behind and expand his nightclub business to Miami, Ghost finally decided what was most important to him and it’s not his wife Tasha (Natari Naughton). Once Tasha realized her life, as she knows it, was about to end, she withdrew a large sum of Ghost’s ill-gotten drug money to set herself and their kids up for a future without Ghost. She hides this by using Lakeisha’s (La La Anthony) address to set up the account. But once the attempt on Ghost’s life was made, and Angela’s pseudo boyfriend/co-worker Greg Knox (Andy Bean) shuttered Truth to investigate the shooting, Ghost had no choice but to go all in with drug kingpin Felipe Lobos (Enrique Murciano), aka “Jefe,” giving up his dream of starting a legitimate relationship with Angela in Miami. As “Best Laid Plans” ended, Ghost told Jefe he was all in—“I’ll be the biggest goddam drug dealer in New York City.” After a season rife with murder, mayhem, sex, and intrigue, fans, including me, are waiting to find out several things. Does Holly live or die? What will happen when Tommy tells Ghost who Angela is? On the flip side, will Angela discover Ghost’s true identity? Will Tasha continue her relationship with Shawn (Sinqua Walls), Ghost’s driver, whose loyalties really lie with his father Kanan?

The season two premiere, “Consequences,” picks up immediately following the shooting. Not knowing Holly is in the hospital, Tommy leaves her a voice mail message telling her he needs to leave town for a few days. At first, I thought Tommy was lying low because of Nomar’s murder, but that’s not the case. At the same time, Angela is being blamed for Nomar’s death because he was her C.I. But Angela has a bigger problem on her hands than her illicit relationship with Ghost; now she has to worry about losing her job.

Tommy agrees to meet up with Ghost but the meeting never comes to fruition. In a very darkly lit scene, someone hits Tommy with a baseball bat, knocking him out. With Tommy out of commission, Ghost frantically searches for him because Lobos has a shipment ready for distribution. I’d like to take a moment here to thank the powers that be for the shot of Hardwick in only his tight black briefs as Ghost gets dressed to go find Tommy.

Kanan isn't the kind of father Shawn needs him to be.

Kanan uses Shawn to snitch on Ghost. I hope Ghost doesn’t find out.

Newly released from prison, Kanan has no idea of Shawn’s relationship with Tasha. The smile on Kanan’s face while he listens to Shawn’s conversation with Tasha is pure evil, although the smile certainly changes quickly when he finds out Pink Sneakers screwed up the job. Jackson, who is now a series regular, plays Kanan frightfully well not only in this car scene but throughout “Consequences.” Even though Kanan can’t find Pink Sneakers, her true identity will surely be discovered once Julio (J.R. Ramirez), one of Ghost’s minions, sends her picture to his “friends” in Miami. Of course, that’s if Kanan doesn’t find her first.

Angela is a woman on a mission.

The title of the season two premiere refers to the consequences of losing Nomar as the only witness for the Lobos task force. He was the only one who knew what Ghost looks like. Not only is Angela’s boss “kicked upstairs,” the new supervisor of the New York task force and her replacement, Miguel Sandoval (David Fumero), makes Cooper Saxe (Shane Johnson) “the new lead AUSA in the Lobos case.” Worse yet, Sandoval takes Angela off the Lobos case and reassigns her to the white collar criminal division. But Angela won’t be stopped that easily. She’s worked on the case too long to be shuffled aside like yesterday’s news. Angela reaches out to Isabel, thinking she might be able to help finish the partial drawing the sketch artist made of Ghost. The problem — Nomar was mistaken; he thought Tommy was Ghost.

Ghost has a huge problem on his hands; without Tommy to pull off the drug distribution, and no club to launder the money, Ghost’s back is up against the proverbial wall. Who steps in to help? Tasha, of course, with one caveat; Ghost must end his relationship with Angela. I wonder whether Ghost believes what he tells Angela. For that matter, does Tasha believe Ghost when he agrees to call it quits with Angela? Is it me or are the women of Power extremely gullible when it comes to affairs of the heart?

What a shock when we learn Tommy’s mother, Kate (Patricia Kalember), is the one who hit him with the bat and he’s been hiding out at her place all this time. I’m not sure why Tommy doesn’t trust Ghost anymore but he has no plans to show up anytime soon. Plus, Tommy still doesn’t know about Holly, and neither do we at this point of the episode. As an aside, Kate is a real trip and Kalember does well by her character. “If you keep doing all my blow, we’re going to run out.” Now there’s a mother/son relationship to envy…NOT.

As Ghost does everything necessary to get Truth ready to reopen, he must still negotiate his lease with his landlord. Unfortunately, Simon Stern (Victor Garber), Ghost’s nemesis in the club business, buys the building that houses Truth. It looks like Ghost has no choice but to work for Simon. It will be interesting to see how Ghost gets out of this since there’s no way he’s going to exist under Simon’s thumb. These two are like oil and water.

How could Tommy think Ghost would betray him?

Towards the end of “Consequences,” we finally learn why Tommy is hiding from Ghost, and it goes back to Ghost handing over the reins of the drug business to Tommy in “Best Laid Plans.” After all these years of being best friends, Tommy truly thinks Ghost is setting him up to take the fall so he and Angela can run off together after she arrests Tommy. Thankfully, the look on Ghost’s face as Tommy, gun in hand, tells Ghost his theory makes Tommy realize Ghost truly doesn’t know what Angela does for a living. Then, before Tommy can leave to kill Angela, Ghost finally tells him about Holly, who is still lying unconscious in her hospital bed. The scene of Tommy lying next to Holly in the hospital is just pitiful.

As “Consequences” concludes, Ghost pays one last visit to Angela. I can’t imagine what pain he must be in after discovering his girlfriend, who has been in his life since they were children, is the one person who could put him away forever. I wonder what her answer will be when he asks her, “How was work?”

Overall

Although entertaining, “Consequences” does little to further the story lines from season one. The audience spends the entire episode waiting to know whether Holly lives or dies. And it isn’t until the end of the episode that we learn who Kanan’s partner is, the person who really wants Ghost dead. While I enjoyed “Consequences,” it’s not an overly exciting season premiere; I was hoping to be sitting on the edge of my seat but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. What “Consequences” does, however, is set up some exciting story lines for season two. Will Kanan and Dre (Rotimi Akinosho) succeed in killing Ghost? What’s going to happen to Angela? How will Ghost get out from under Simon’s thumb? All I can say is I’m hooked on Power and will definitely be tuning in for the rest of the season.

What did you think of “Consequences?” Hit me up Twitter on @SeasideTV or leave your comments below.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!