In an unexpected twist, this installment was even better than Power Book II Season 1 Episode 1.

Often after a phenomenal debut, subsequent will feel like a letdown as the story starts moving, and the promises from the start aren’t tackled immediately.

That didn’t happen with Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 Episode 2, further proving that this show was a worthy follow-up to the original series.

One of the criticisms of Power Season 6 was that Ghost didn't get a proper sendoff. He was shot and killed midway through the season, and no one ever got a real chance to say goodbye.

Until now.

Tariq found himself in a situation where he could help his Mom in the short term, or potentially help his family in the long run. Considering he’s the one who pulled the trigger, it seemed like the decision should be easy. But it ends up being much more complicated for him.

Because the truth is that the relationship between Tariq and Ghost was never black and white. It was fraught with misunderstandings, power dynamics, and involved two stubborn, strong-willed men who always believed they knew what was best.

Tariq had a vision of his father that manifested over time as a man who put his own needs before everyone else. He chose Angela over his family, and he ignored Tariq’s wishes at every turn, instead of trying to turn him into the man he wanted to be regardless of what Tariq wanted.

Those resentments and that pain are just a piece of what led Tariq to kill his father, but as time fades and he begins to reflect on what kind of man Ghost was, it may be slowly coming into focus that he may have gotten some things wrong.

Davis: Hey, we need you to deliver his eulogy tomorrow. And blow his ass up.
Tariq: With him right there in the ground?
Davis: It's his legacy or your Mom's life, kid? Get some balls.

Permalink: It's his legacy or your Mom's life, kid? Get some balls.

It would have been easy for him to get up there and give a literal PowerPoint presentation on all of the terrible things Ghost did. It also would have been easy to spin the tale of a man who put in the work to get to the penthouse and the governor’s office.

And maybe that’s what he should have said, a mixture of the good and the bad. But choosing to speak from the heart was a much better alternative, and Michael Rainey Jr. crushed the scene, his face going through every conflicting emotion he has for the man so many people compare him to.

It ended up being a fitting goodbye to the original Ghost.

Tariq was running around like a maniac all hour, skipping from meeting to meeting, with classes in between. He had to be running on fumes by the time the funeral was over.

His relationship with the Tejada’s started to heat up, as he seemed to want to make himself useful to the family, but that also put in on Monet’s radar.

It feels like we need a whole episode dedicated to the Tejada’s, whose story would probably be a worthwhile series in itself. There’s still a lot of mystery, with the only thing we can really glean being the fact that Monet is the queen, but she finds herself in a precarious situation.

It almost feels like she’s afraid she could lose everything in the blink of an eye. She appears to wield a lot of power, but she doesn’t seem wholly confident.

What remains to be seen is whether Monet will see Tariq as someone who can help her, or as a threat. Tariq isn’t very subtle, and he has a hard time disguising his intelligence. His conversation with Cane was a prime example of two men who couldn’t be more opposite.

Tariq caught on to Uncle Frank within seconds of meeting him because he’s been trained to pick up on things like that. But will Monet see that as an asset? Or will that be something that ultimately scares her?

Tariq has his hands in so many pots, though, which may not be the kind of attention Monet is looking for.

On the Tasha front, she was still behind bars, and Davis and Paula were trying to figure out how the most prominent case in the city happened to land in their lap.

Tasha’s pretty much out of options at this point. She’s lied so often; she has to stick with the story that she had Tommy help her kill James. She’s backed herself into this corner, and there’s no way to get out of it.

But aside from that, Saxe and company don’t have a leg to stand on. There isn’t evidence to prove that Tasha was the queen of the operation, but on the other hand, Davis will be hard-pressed to prove the other side of that.

Saxe is trying to cover his butt, a fact that Tariq knows but can’t divulge because he basically outs himself as being involved in the murder. And that can be frustrating at times to watch people bend over backward and jump through hoops to create these scenarios that simply don’t exist.

But the battle between Davis and Saxe is shaping up to be a good one. Saxe has zero friends, and he’s always battling someone, but this may be the most interesting one yet.

Remember how Ghost always used to say there's only two ways that drug dealers end up? Dead or in jail? Well, I think I found another way.
Tariq [to Tasha]

Permalink: Remember how Ghost always used to say there's only two ways that drug dealers end up? Dead or...

It almost feels like easy breezy for Tariq at this point, which is not the Power way. Things have swung his way for the most part, but expect some turbulence as the season continues.

Can’t wait to see if Tariq’s new way finds his path ending differently than his father’s.

Everything Else You Need To Know

Monet’s relationship with the cop has disaster written all over it. It’s going to blow up one way or the other.

Tate is back! And the forever beef between her and Tasha is hilarious.

Carrie’s storyline just isn’t clicking yet. And I think it’s because she, and by extension, Jabari, feels super disjointed from the rest of the action. If anything, the main thing that’s standing out is she has some kind of minor obsession (?) with Tariq.

Brayden is a mess, but he’s one of the few people that has always seemed to have Tariq’s back. And Tariq will be using their relationship, and his families connections to the school, to his benefit.

Uncle Gabe should drop in now and then with some sage advice for his great-nephew. Tariq could use it.

Has Simon Stern become more palatable or I’m crazy?

Blanca is back and ready to bring down Saxe, which sounds good in theory, but I’ve lost all faith in anyone ever connected to the Attorney’s Office.

This was a solid second effort for the freshman series and says a lot about the quality writing and the acting behind the series. It’s a great ride so far, and we’d love to hear what you guys think about how things are progressing.