Power (Recap) | Damage Control (S5 E2)

by Derek Lawrence | via Entertainment Weekly

Why can’t the Power creative team just let Tommy be happy? I mean, the guy can’t catch a break — anytime something good happens, it’s immediately followed by something terrible. Oh, you’re the new distro, time to kill your girlfriend. Oh, you met your long lost dad, say goodbye to your niece. And the beginning of season 5 has actually been different in the sense that there have been no breaks for Tommy, unless you count being friends with Kanan again as a break, which, considering he’s planning on stealing Tommy’s connect, I’d say it’s not.

And so, it’s not surprising that Tommy finds himself at the bottom of the second installment of our Power power rankings. Actually, on second thought, I do have some good news for him: He’s only second to last, and his life is looking a lot better than the person he’s ahead of.

So strap in and up, because this is where it goes down.

1. Tate
Somehow this local councilman has been able to wrap Ghost right around his finger. Ghost is clearly an intelligent and cunning businessman, but Tate, who is prepping his campaign for governor, is basically pulling the strings in this relationship, whether by planning Raina’s media-filled funeral or ambushing Ghost and Tasha into a live press conference. Sure sounds like higher-government material to me!

2. Mak
While Saxe took the No. 2 spot last week, Angela’s other office rival slides in here this week. Like his co-worker, Mak wants to end Angela’s career (which probably deserves to happen), but he’s also got his eyes on Ghost, even trying to get Proctor to flip on his client. Despite not getting Proctor to agree to do so, Mak scores a win by forcing Terry to the stand in Proctor’s bar hearing, and the testimony proved to be less than ideal for Turtle Proctor.

3. Dre
After dominating the premiere power rankings, Dre drops a few spots as he encounters some less-than-ideal situations. Dre’s beef with Ghost, Tommy, and Kanan is on hold this week, with his own soldiers and the Jimenezes serving as his headache. Diego tasks him with settling the fight over who will be the head of Toros Locos, which Francis solves in a sloppy way (Dre does a nice job of cleaning it up by giving Arturo credit for killing Lorenzo). But Dre might also be finding himself too close his new boss, considering that Diego likes both having Dre watch him have sex and watching Dre have sex. If only there was an HR department in the drug-trafficking game.

4. Kanan
Poor Kanan. Two weeks and two different people who spot him and ask, “Who the f— is this guy?” Damn, a guy goes to prison for a few years and he’s just forgotten! Well, Kanan plans for everyone to soon remember his name. Whereas Tommy and Ghost are rightfully unhappy to have Jason pointing guns at them due to the L.A. port deal having gone bad, Kanan sees it as an opportunity. He tells Tommy and Ghost that Dre will lead them to the Jimenezes, but later he tells other guys that he plans on cozying up to Jason and stealing Tommy’s organization. Okay, now I get why Ghost and Tasha sent this guy to prison in the first place.

5. Tariq
This kid took drugs, committed robberies, shot a guy, and is largely responsible for the death of his sister, and yet he isn’t even grounded from playing video games. And in addition to no discipline, Tariq is being sent to Choate, which means he gets to live it up at a fancy private school away from his parents. I guess it’s true what they say, a life of crime really does pay.

6. Angela
Angela’s power positioning is trending up, thanks to her making progress in her investigation into the Jimenez siblings. The one problem is that she still thinks it’s the Jimenez brothers, unaware that Alicia is the second “brother.” She also keeps digging herself deeper into covering up Tariq’s involvement in Ray Ray’s murder, so that’s not ideal.

Click HERE to read the rest of the recap, “Damage Control.”