‘Power’ Recap: The One Where Ghost Gets His Character Tested

Ghost is almost ready to break behind bars but he’s still holding on

Editor’s note: Spoilers ahead so tread lightly.

Well that escalated quickly, didn’t it? It jumped up several notches. But not in the way of explosions we normally associate with Power but the episode, while possibly the weakest of the season so far, did increase the amount of pressure on everyone, including Ghost. “The Kind of Man You Are” isn’t just about telling James what he’s about, but putting his feet to the fire to have him answer the question himself.

First, William Sadler aka “the bad guy from Die Hard 2” is revealed to be Tony Teresi, a guy who’s plan is finally — hopefully — coming into focus. A couple weeks ago we found out his wife is in a tight predicament with her health and the family can’t afford anymore treatments. While the jury is still out on whether or not he’s Tommy’s dad — and Tommy does mention his dad for the first time ever — it’s clear he wants to extort Ghost in order to get his wife back to full health. Obviously he can’t afford to say no to Teresi’s offer so cue the extortion theme music.

Also important to the overall plot is Angie doing her best to continue to breakup a hap…well a content home. By dragging Lakeshia into the drama, she sets in motion a plan to label Tasha as an accomplice instead of a wife, meaning she would be forced to testify against her husband or face jail time. Not to mention there’s Raina and Tariq — who still needs an ass whooping — dealing with the paparazzi and the lack of maturity teenagers have when it comes to dealing with their dad getting his Slick Rick on…you know, behind bars.

All of this gets back to James and as the episode keeps moving, he’s clearly feeling the effects of everything and who wouldn’t? His kids are in the paper, his wife is being positioned to turn against him, his ex-girlfriend is working for the organization framing him and that organization just so happens to be the U.S. Department of Justice. James seems like the type who can deal with his own situations and take that on the chin, but the episode shows the lives of those around him really do matter and he doesn’t want to put them through any unnecessary heartache. Angie believes when he wants something no one else matters but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

There’s also a drug subplot with Tommy and Truth while Kanan is running up in penthouses picking targets based on if they have beef with Tariq. None of it is really compelling and it all feels like the show is spinning its wheels. The more interesting stuff and more dramatic tension just isn’t with this stuff which, in comparison, seems petty and irrelevant. I’ll be blunt; it’s boring.

The true measure of a man is what he does when his back is against the wall and for a split second, James wonders what he would have to do in order to help his family and avoid a potential death penalty once Angie puts a plea deal on the table — one that is probably a duck tale. All he has to do is flip on Tommy and this will all go away. It wouldn’t be realistic if he didn’t ponder it even for a split second, but we know he won’t. Orange jumpsuit or no jumpsuit, he’s still loyal.

Marcus Benjamin is a danger to the public, an alum of American University, St. John’s University, a screenwriter, and has an intense relationship with words. Witness his tomfoolery on Twitter,@AbstractPo3tic.

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