Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Previously on Power Book II: Ghost, Saxe’s (Shane Johnson) time in the Power Universe ended thanks to Maclean’s (Clifford ‘Method Man’ Smith) brother Theo Rollins (Jordan Mahome). Effie (Alix Lapri) ends up in jail for the attempted murder of Lauren (Paige Hurd). After killing Gordo (Erik Hernandez), Dru (Lovell Adams-Gray) is going through it, and after seeing Everette (Bradley Gibson) finally announce he’s proud to be gay and booed up with someone else. Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.) and Brayden (Gianni Paolo) link up with RSJ (Gbenga Akinnagbe) to get their money out of Weston Holdings.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
After Lauren fingered Effie for attempting to kill her, Blanca Rodriguez (Monique Gabriela Curnen) and Jenny Sullivan (Paton Ashbrooke) wasted no time throwing her back in her jail.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
As a direct result of Lauren finally revealing to the world that she is still alive, Cane (Woody McClain)now knows that Brayden failed at the task he gave him. He is also mad that his new boo is potentially going to jail for a long time and could burn them all, so he gets on the phone and calls MacLean.
He heads to MacLean’s office and finds Riq frantically going through the late Cooper Saxe’s things, trying to find some information to tell him where his mother is being held in witness protection.
Riq’s search is interrupted when Cane shows up, and they get into an argument that has honestly been waiting to happen for multiple seasons. After Riq accuses Cane of wanting to be him, he swings at Cane but misses, and the two begin fighting. Before things get really out of hand, MacLean shows up to break up the fight.
Even though they can’t stand each other, they agree that Effie being in jail is a problem, and MacLean agrees to handle it. Riq tells MacLean about the copy of the file on Monet (Mary J. Blige) he found, and MacLean immediately knows that if Saxe has it, the Feds could too. Riq takes the original copy to dispose of it, leaving MacLean to think angrily about Saxe being a mole under his nose.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Blanca and Jenny try their best to get some information from Effie, but she knows the game and will only talk to her lawyer, leaving them running out of options and time.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
They send Effie back to her holding and cell, and both get a call. The message was to inform that Saxe is dead, Jenny goes to look at his body, and she sheds tears.
MacLean shows up to offer Effie his services on behalf of Cane and Riq, but she declines. Effie tells him she is having problems using the phone, and MacLean promises to help her with that. Before he leaves, she tries to ask him something about Riq, but she stops, clearly indicating she still has some feelings for him.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
As MacLean is leaving, Blanca and Jenny press him about Saxe’s death, and they threaten him by saying they saw what happened in the interrogation room with Diana. MacLean basically pleads the fifth and leaves and tells Jenny that if she wants to blame anyone for her boo’s death, she must look in the mirror.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Cane shows up to speak to Effie in a last-ditch effort to convince her to flip on Riq so she can get out of prison and not burn the Tejada clan in the process.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Effie also shuts him down because that’s not how she is built, and she tells Cane to leave. He lets off one last f**k you, but you can see his feelings are hurt.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Cane is p***y whipped, and Effie turning down his help was a punch to his gut, especially since they slept together.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Saxe is dead, but his will to ruin’s Tariq’s life is alive and well. In the event of his murder, Saxe prepared a bunch of handwritten letters to be sent to Monet, Jenny, and even 2-Bit (Michael J. Ferguson). Remember him?
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
In the letter written to Monet, Saxe alleges that Riq has been working with the Feds, and Monet is not buying it. Diana tells her to chill and thinks they should look further into what Saxe alleges because she believes Riq set her up. Monet tells her to “do her thing” and find more information.
Diana links with Riq to ask what she learned after reading Saxe’s note, and he shuts that all down. He tells Diana he has to go after he gets a call from RSJ, who is big mad about Weston Holding’s now being investigated for the Ponzi scheme because someone snitched. That person was Rashard Tate, who Riq had just asked for help securing green cards for Obi (Kyle Vincent Terry).
When Riq leaves, she sneaks back into Riq’s room and finds the file he took from MacLean with the dirt about Monet linking her to Lorenzo’s death.
In Jenny’s note, Saxe confesses his love for her and wanting to start a family with her. He also begs her to stop “chasing the white whale,” telling her he can do more to Riq from beyond the grave than he ever could when he was alive. Jenny doesn’t take that advice and vows to get Riq for Saxe’s death.
2-Bit also comes back into the fold after receiving a letter from Saxe. Riq stills owe him money, and he comes to collect. It appears Saxe gave him the location of Tasha, so 2-Bit uses that to get more money out of Riq and even takes his car. But at least Riq now knows where his mother is.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Now that the cat is out of the bag, widespread panic is going down at Weston Holdings. The Feds have shown up to the office seizing paperwork, and Brayden’s dad is big mad.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Keke (Moriah Brown) is very worried because she knows about the Ponzi scheme, and Lucas (David Walton) is nowhere to be found. Brayden’s dad asks Keke if she knows where Lucas is, and Brayden steps up by saying she has no clue and that Uncle Lucas knew all along, and he even asks what was going on when he saw the numbers were off in the books.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Sh*t hits the fan when the Feds come knocking on Brayden’s front door to take his father in for questioning about the Ponzi scheme. Riq also presses his “brother” from another, telling him it’s time to get down or lay down and take out his uncle because he’s going to snitch, which he does try to do.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Brayden, who always had one foot in and one foot out the door of the gangster life, is not jumping up at the notion he has to kill a family member. He tells Riq that much pointing out that he is not like him, pointing to Riq killing his father.
Feeling that he can’t trust Brayden to handle the job, Riq takes it upon himself to take out Lucas and pays someone to find him.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Before Riq can head upstairs to cancel Uncle Lucas’ Christmas, Brayden catches his first body after he pushes Lucas off the balcony killing him after he says some wild sh*t about his father and pinning the whole Ponzi scheme on them.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Problem solved.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
The Tejadas are in a rough spot. Monet is trying to stay in the good graces of her kids, and the Castillos know they have something to do with Gordo.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Gordo’s momma, Evelyn Castillo (Luna Lauren Velez), shows up at the bar to speak with Monet, begging her to tell her what happened to Gordo after she saw the clip of Dru’s breakdown.
Monet insists she knows nothing and warns Evelyn to chill out. Before things get out of hand in the bar, Cane shows up, and Evelyn takes a hint and leaves.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Dru shows up and knows only one thing needs to happen. The Castillos have to go. Dru tells his mother that he will be the one to kill them all.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Cane and Dru do just that, filling up the Castillos’ restaurant with lethal gas fumes, killing them. Before she kicks the bucket, Evelyn reveals to Dru that Monet was behind their father’s death.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
With their newfound information, Dru and Diana conclude that Monet killed their father with some help from Riq. Cane shows up to pretty much confirm that is the case.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
They head home to speak with Monet about what they know, and a shouting match ensues with the Tejada kids standing up to their mother.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
Diana kicks her children out of her crib, telling them she doesn’t need them.
Source: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
After getting the information from 2-Bit, Riq heads to where his mother, sister, and grandmother are being held. He’s not the only one there for the family reunion. Tommy (Joseph Sikora) is there too.
After Tommy dispatches the officers watching the house, an intense standoff between Riq and his Uncle Tommy ensues. Someone knocks him out before Riq can pull the trigger, and he wakes up in the hospital. Tameika (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) is there to present him with some bad news. They don’t know where his mother is.
The penultimate leaves us on that cliffhanger heading into next week’s season finale.
You can see the reactions to the latest intense episode of Power Book II: Ghost below.
Photo: Starz / Power Book II: Ghost
‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Recap: Brayden Is Finally About That Life, An Old Family Friend Returns was originally published on cassiuslife.com