'Power Book II: Ghost' Midseason Finale Review: With Davis selling him out, will Tariq go to jail?
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive. In the midseason 1 finale of 'Power Book II: Ghost', Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr), who had been so smooth with his plans till now, gets caught in his own carefully constructed web. The twists and turns in the latest episode, were rather unforeseeable, paving the way for multiple speculative theories while we wait for the next five episodes of the show---whenever they air, that is.
Tariq finds himself becoming the very man he once despised to kingdom come----his own father, as his mother tells him. And, Tariq becomes a traitor to himself, as he and his mother struggle to protect each other at any cost. The two are fiercely loyal to each other and are determined to let one not take the fall for each other, but what good is that, in a world of conniving and powerful lawyers, desperate to ensure big wins for themselves? Lawyers aren't loyal to their clients and if by chance they realize they have a potential loss, then they carve out a path for themselves, even if it means joining hands with their biggest rival.
Tempers and anxieties are running high and desperation reaches a feverish pitch in the mid-season finale. There were a lot of things happening in this episode, one of them being that Davis McLean, the man Tariq had hired to represent his mother Tasha (Naturie Naughton), is going to sell him out to Cooper Saxe. Davis doesn't care for Tariq anymore and has only one thing on his mind: To get a big win and earn more money. This change of mind and heart takes place after Saxe's niece Riley drugs Tariq, and he stumbles all the way to his father and sister's graves, where he makes the admission that he murdered Ghost. Saxe has proof of his admission of guilt and can get a better crack on the case. The plan as it stands is that Tasha will be released from prison and Tariq will go to jail. The video might not be allowed in court, but Saxe his own dirty ways of getting his hands on solid proof and this shows a big win in the future for the two lawyers. Till now, Davis has been trying to prove that Saxe has plunged his hands into enough filth and get him off the case.
Laced with emotional flashbacks of Tariq's sister, Raina, the episode finally shows a vulnerable and broken side to Tariq, as he stands at his father's grave, cursing him for his crimes. 'Power Book II: Ghost' works best when it deals with Tariq's multi-layered personality and the inner-workings of his focussed mind. However, the show's insistence on showing the love lives of the two professors Jabari and Carrie tends to dilute some of the impact and can get downright annoying at times. How many times do we need to see them having sex with the students?
'Power Book II: Ghost' airs on 'StarZ', Sundays at 8 pm.