'Godfather of Harlem' Episode 9 sneak peek: Giancarlo Esposito's Adam Clayton Powell Jr turns heat on Bumpy Johnson
'Godfather of Harlem' may have taken its time in setting up things, but the remaining episodes promise to be a couple of notches higher. In an exclusive sneak-peak of Episode 9: 'Rent Strike Blues' provided to us by EPIX, we see the Giancarlo Esposito's Adam Clayton Powell Jr turning on the heat on Bumpy Johnson (Forest Whitaker).
The clip runs for about a minute and forty seconds and sees Powell asking the cops if there is something they could do when he sees the people being forcefully evicted from their homes. The police express their helplessness explaining the landlords hired their own private muscle for the atrocity. "They must have paid off the precinct," the officer says.
Bumpy, Elise (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) and Malcom X (Nigel Thatch) show up on scene only for Powell to blame Bumpy for the forceful eviction. While Malcolm tries working things out with the charismatic reverend, the man refuses to back down as he reads out the names of the real owners of the apartments — and the names are familiar as he calls out. "Bonano, Gigante, Costello..." and ends with Johnson. When Bumpy argues he has nothing to do with the eviction, Powell challenges him to explain it to the judge. "They'll either get you for this, or they'll get you for tax evasion," he says before leaving.
You can watch the video, courtesy EPIX here:
The official synopsis reads: "Due to slum conditions in Harlem, Adam Clayton Powell Jr leads a rent strike and investigates the owners of the buildings. Ernie Nunzi searches for the hooker who helped set up Zambrano; Bumpy and Mayme experience tension in their marriage."
While the clip deals with the rent strike, the other plot points concern with Mayme (Ilfenesh Hadera) and Ernie (Rafi Gavron). It remains to be seen how this intriguing episode sets up the season finale.