Howard is who now?

That was sure an exciting development to close out Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 1 Episode 5, and if it means we'll now get more Howard in the story, that's not a bad thing at all.

There are a considerable number of secrets floating around right now, and all it's going to take is one truth explosion to blow everything sky high.

We don't get a ton of Howard in general, but that changed tonight, and it's nice when the show incorporates him into the plot more. Having him tail Raq wasn't a crazy idea, but switching his attention to Kanan is when the pieces started to click for him.

Raq commands a lot of respect in the streets, in so much as everyone knows who she is and what she's capable of. And it's a wonder more people don't look at Kanan a bit more closely because Howard was spot on about his assessment of the kid.

Howard: Kanan Stark's the motherfucking prince of the Southside. And sometimes when you wanna get the queen...
Burke: You gotta go through the prince.

• Permalink: You gotta go through the prince.

He's the heir apparent, and that's becoming increasingly more and more clear.

You can tell from the few times Howard and Raq have shared the screen that there's history there. But it was never obvious what that history was.

Now we know it was of the romantic variety and that whatever relationship they had produced Kanan, and Raq never let Howard know that Kanan was his son. Talk about a shock!

There has to be a reason why even back then, Raq didn't want to tell Howard about Kanan, and now she's pretty adamant that she wants him away from Kanan. But will things change when she finds out Howard is dying?

Raq and Kanan's relationship is on thin ice these days, and finding out she lied to him about his father his whole life may be something Kanan cannot forgive. This is much bigger than lying to Raq about being at the stash house or anything Raq has done to Kanan. He's lived his whole life believing something that wasn't true.

One has to believe Kanan is going to find out, and the ripple effects of that are going to be felt throughout the family. And right now, it's a family that's highly strained.

Kanan and Jukebox are on the outs, and Marvin and Lou-Lou are fighting in the street like teenagers. Considering where things started in Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 1 Episode 1, this isn't where I foresaw things going so quickly.

Marvin and Lou-Lou both want to rip each other for doing the same thing, which is being Raq's yes man. Raq is the boss, and they fall in line behind her. BOTH of them.

Hearing either one of them talk about the other as if they aren't cut from the same cloth is comical.

Lou-Lou has more room to rag on Marvin right now because Marvin has been a bit of a walking disaster as of late. And it's not as if he isn't bright because he is. Raq wouldn't trust him with half the stuff she trusted him with if she didn't think so. But his biggest problem seems to be not thinking things all the way through.

There's a reason he's on the outskirts at times because he can't be trusted in all situations. Lou-Lou is more reliable, but he's also steadily getting away from the business in some ways. And putting money into the studio feels like a signal that he will start wanting more for himself.

I'm still completely unsure how the music subplot fits into anything unless it ends up being something that drives a wedge between Lou-Lou and his brother and sister and sets Jukebox up in a new way.

Other than that, what is the purpose of the plot? It's not connected to the drug business outside of Crown being a customer, and right now, it's just a vehicle for Famous to freestyle.

Nothing against Famous, who effortlessly steals every scene he's in, but it's by far the least interesting thing going on right now. And it takes Lou-Lou away from everything else, which sucks because the sibling dynamic is an intriguing part of the series.

It's still early, though, and I have faith that things are going to start to come into brighter focus because the show is too good not to.

The Kanan and Jukebox quarrel kind of came out of left field, but it further proved how devastated Kanan is going to be when he finds out that Davina was indeed the one who almost got him killed.

Of course, he doesn't want to see the worst in her because he's a kid with a crush, but Juke made some solid points. And at the very least, he should have backed off his obsession with Scrap being the traitor, though there were some legitimate reasons to think it could have been him.

Speaking of Scrap, seeing as how we never saw the conversation between him and Raq, all signs would appear to point to him infiltrating Unique's crew per Raq's orders. And that's a clever play, though an extremely dangerous one.

If that's the case, Scrap's loyalty is unmatched because after Kanan rolled up on him, accused him of being a snitch, hit him square in his jaw, and got him arrested, I would probably be out on anything to do with Raq and the business.

Because if push ever came to shove, Kanan wins 11 times out of 10.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• Nicole's parents were as awful as I thought they would turn out to be, and the mom's shame especially was disgusting. Hailey Kilgore was devastating in her movements as she walked the streets in a haze after such a horrible experience.

• And speaking of Jukebox and Hailey Kilgore, please let her sing every week! She's amazing.

• Symphony and Kanan bonding would be sweet if I trusted Symphony. If he ends up being a good guy, I will gladly apologize, but I am far from convinced. Though, it was nice of him to help Kanan and keep his secret.

• Raq took the whole stash thing much better than I thought she would. And there was barely any Unique, so I guess they're both okay with the loss of product and the death? Cool.

• Kanan learning how to make crack right in his own kitchen was a moment. One of the coolest parts of this prequel is seeing all the little moments that you know molded Kanan into the cutthroat savage drug man he would become as a grown man.

• Moving the product to the apartment building is innovative but is it all the way foolproof? There are going to be A LOT more eyes in an apartment building than pretty much anywhere else.

I've been itching for Raq and Unique to go all out and declare war on each other, but we just can't seem to get there. But things continue to escalate, and we'll have to see what comes next with Scrap now in enemy territory.

Drop a comment down below and let me know what you thought about the Howard and Kanan reveal and where you see the back-half of Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 1 headed!

Make sure to watch Power Book III: Raising Kanan online via TV Fanatic so you're all caught up!

Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.