‘Power’ Recap: Season 4, Episode 9: The Crooked And Corrupt

If you missed POWER this week, you missed a good one Chile!

Let’s jump right in with the tragic details of this episode, “That Ain’t Me” and begin with R.I.P. baby girl Raina (Donshea Hopkins) Did anyone see this one coming? Out of the 8 previous recaps and KILL LISTS of the season, who would’ve thought to add sweet, innocent little Raina’s name to the list of bodies to drop this season. And to make matters worse, she lost her life trying to stick up for her brother, Tariq (Michael Rainey, Jr.) who has done nothing but treat her as his personal nuisance this entire season.

Her death was the result of an inadequately planned armed robbery involving Tariq, Brains (Jermel Howard) and the unnamed attempted rapist, all without the consent of crooked cop Raymond Ray Ray Jones, (Marcus Callender ) and now, Raina’s murderer.

Apparently, the robbers left some candy behind after killing their robbery victim. It  became a trending topic at the police station that catches the ear of good ole Ray Ray. In an effort to rectify the situation before it gets any worse (for him) he ties up some of the loose ends by killing both Brains and his rapist accomplice. Then Ray Ray sets out to find Tariq.

First, he shows up at Tariq and Raina’s school, dressed in his police uniform, and heads straight to Raina’s classroom, accompanied by the principal, to inquire about Tariq’™s whereabouts. Since he isn’™t there he gets his cousin, the same young lady who’s supposed to be Tariq’s girl since they had sex, and gets her to call Tariq and have him confess to being the robbery and witnessing the shooting. This same young lady arranges to meet Tariq at his school dance to bring him some of that lean he can’™t stop drinking; only it’s a set up. When he gets the text message telling him to meet her outside, he’s met by Ray Ray instead.

Tariq manages to run and hide from Ray Ray but then – enter Raina. She mouths off a little telling him that she knows who he is and how he’s a dirty cop and orders him to leave her brother alone. She then  tells Ray Ray that her father, Ghost, (Omari Hardwick) is going to kill him. Next comes shots fired and – Donshea, it’s been real having you on the show baby girl (job well done.)

Meanwhile, Ghost is still working his black magic as the face and part owner of this new Queens real estate deal. He and Councilman Rashad Tate (Larenz Tate) are still in talks to clean up the streets of Queens, one at a time, starting with this community center they plan to build together under the development partnership between St. Patrick and Simon Stern (Victor Garber).

St. Patrick and Stern’s business relationship is really just in name (and black face) only as an attempt to get a minority business grant. Though a portion of their business contract names St. Patrick as part owner with a 51% stake in the business, another part indicates that Stern will be earning a lot more money off of any deals than St. Patrick will.

James tells Tate about Stern’™s shady dealings hoping he can do something about it before any decisions on the new construction deals are finalized – and he does. But, one corrupt hand will always recognize another, and it seems Tate’s business conduct is not so squeaky clean either. Stern advises James not to trust him.

After handling the situation with Stern at the board meeting, Tate approaches James to introduce him to some random guy that he knows from the neighborhood. The random guy is to be the new community liaison and needs to be “made whole.” That’s probably just some fancy way of saying dude needs to be paid for something he’s been doing or going to be doing that’s likely not legal. He’ll fit right into the rest of the mayhem going on with the other corrupt characters.

Another one that can’t be trusted is Dre (Rotimi Akinosho) and his crooked azz. He’s still working behind Tommy’™s (Joseph Sikora) back to move forward with that side deal he made with the Jiminez. He and Cristobal (Matt Cedeno) have taken their efforts to go rogue to a whole new level whey they decide to set the whole stash-warehouse on fire in an effort to get the other distributors to pull out from Tommy.

It works and all of Tommy’s affiliates walk away from him which leaves the door wide open for Dre to slide right in there. He’s even trying to get rid of Kanan (Curtis 50 Cent Jackson) as a potential threat by arranging to have him killed.

He should know by now that Kanan doesn’t die easily and sadly, for him, that plan doesnâ’™t work out too well. As Kanan is approaching the front door to his apartment, he’s attacked by two men. As it goes, the two men are goners and Kanan will go on as a series regular.

Tommy just may be losing it for real this time. The pressures of dealing with the drug world, the Jiminez and finding out that his father is very much still alive after all these years is taking its toll on him. Much like Tariq, Tommy’s self-medicating  to see what’™s going on with Dre.

His thoughts are consumed by Tony Teresi, (William Sadler) his father, who wants to meet with him in person but, Tommy’s prior convictions won’t allow that to happen. Visitations are only permitted to immediate family and according to Teresi, Tommy’s mother Kate (Patricia Kalembar) has been holding on to some documents that will prove Tommy is indeed his immediate family.

Tommy, being the irrational hothead that he is, goes over to his mom’s place, smashing her porcelain dolls and demanding that she give him the documents. She hands him what looks like an original birth certificate that not only identifies Teresi as his father but reveals that Teresi originally gave Tommy his last name. He was also present at the hospital when Tommy was born.

Kate has her own reasons for concealing the truth. She tells him that Teresi had other plans for his life that didn’t include her. She says he wanted to take Tommy and raise him with his wife, Connie,(Mercedes Ruehl) since she was unable to have children of her own. Tommy  decides to go see Teresi despite advice from Ghost who tells him it’s not a good time with the death of Mike Sandoval (David Fumero) hanging over their head since Teresi executed the hit.

On the Feds side, the department trying to recover from the string of corrupt decisions and misconduct, the hunt is on for Sandoval’s replacement.  Well, John Mak (Sung Kang) seems to think he’s the best fit for the job. He vows to bring Angela Valdez (Lela Loren) back on board once he claims the position but Valdez has been entertaining the thought of joining the state’s defense attorney’s office. But, at the Destroyer of Injustice Gala, where James is named Man Of The Year, Valdez is offered the lead prosecutor position and she accepts.

Tasha has few cares (Naturi Naughton) now that she’s  still toying around with attorney Terry Silver (Brandon Victor Dixon) who has her thinking just as Ghost once wanted her to  she wants to live a straight legal life, out from up under the drug world. Her plan is to divorce James for good to be with Silver but first she wants to hang in there a little while longer to reap the financial benefits of his new real estate endeavor. But little do she and Ghost know by the end of the episode, that everything has changed for the worse.

QUOTE: âThere i™s advantages to being underestimated. Dre

KILL LIST: 1. Dre  2.Cristobal  3. Ray Ray

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Wanda J. Coppage is a full -time Music Director at an Urban AC radio station, journalist and proud Virginia State University alum – Go Trojans! As a music enthusiast who can’t go a day without hearing R&B/Soul or Classic Hip Hop as well as a TV passionista, why not live a life that covers both?