‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Season 2 Finale ‘If Y’Don’t Know, Now Y’Know’
Culture Editor Bianca Gregg is back with her weekly recaps of all things Power Universe with the return of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan.’ The saga continues with the origin story of one of the universe’s most notorious characters; Kanan.
Let me start off by saying, what a finale! A lot of bodies dropped and emotions ran extremely high for both the Thomas family and the Italian’s down in Jersey.
Now ya’ll know Marvin caught up with Ol’ Crackhead Sam because Sam was not going to break the mold — even after having his whole existence threatened. Marvin knew exactly where to find him and was courteous enough to allow Sam to get one final high. No matter what Marvin tries to do to separate himself from his killer side, the family pulls him back in.
Unique meets up with Raq to warn her about an impending storm from the Italians. He assures her he never gave her up because that isn’t his thing. Raq offers a partnership with Unique to help her in expanding her business but he passes on the offer. He and Worrell plan to set up their business again. Before parting ways, Unique questions if Raq ever had romantic feelings for him and although she denies it, the smirk on her face as he walks away may reveal something else.
Down at La Crack House De Famous, he tells Kanan that it is high time he starts paying some damn bills around there. It’s funny because didn’t Kanan pay for everything up in that place — down to the stained curtains. Kanan takes it upon himself to steal some drugs from the projects but this time right in front of Marvin. When Marvin attempts to stop his nephew and warn him that he will give him up to his mother, Kanan could careless. The wedge between mother and son is at it’s highest.
Jukebox runs up on her little church boyfriend and gives him a lesson on how to squabble. Considering he was the one who ratted on Juke, the ass whooping is very deserved. Jukebox is ultimately arrested and briefly placed in holding. Another favor comes from Burke and Jukebox is free to go. Burke waits for Juke to leave the precinct and outright asks her if Howard is Kanan’s father. Juke denies everything about Howard and Kanan but she does warn Burke that there is a target on her back by way of her fellow police officers. You better watch out CoDumbo!
Sal takes his big ass down to Queens to get permission from Stefano to ride on Raq and her team. Sal ultimately gets the okay but not before being reminded that Stefano does not want beef with the Blacks. Raq had also paid him a visit to get the okay to start a war and received the same answer.
Kanan and Famous are hard at work huggin da block — that’s right hustlin rocks. Things seemingly move great until Burke rides by and apprehends Kanan right after a sale. She takes Kanan to the park where Howard had been shot and immediately drills into him. She lays out all the tea and even calls Raq a snitch which does not sit well with Kanan. When he refuses offers up information to Burke, she tries to arrest Kanan against a gate but he pushes her to the ground and takes off. Burke gets up and shouts something like “I’m going to get you buddy boy!”
Raq, Marvin and Angry Lou Lou have a chat about how things will need to move going forward with the Italians. Raq is pretty sure they have the upper hand but delusion has been a very big topic around Raq all season. Her many fallacies comeback to haunt her in tonight’s finale.
Marvin and Lou Lou do exactly what needed to be done and do a drive by on the Italian hang out. Sadly, Sal was not harmed in the hit so clearly this war will keep on going. The ball is in Sal’s court.
Raq’s deal with Traymont completely falls through. Since Cartier is dead, he was able to go straight to the supplier and not deal with the middle man. Traymont pays Raq for her hit on Cartier, so I guess there is a silver-lining here. Now for the other shoe to drop, Raq visits Joaquin and discovers it was Juliana’s plan to cut Raq out of the deal. Clearly, she was still upset about how things went with Unique.
Lou Lou goes down to Wells Fargo and discovers the truth about Raq and Crown. Crown sold his percentage of Deathrow to Raq and now she owns a chunk of the label. Checkmate on her own brother!
Marvin gets home after a long day of helping Raq collect her face off the ground. He hears some ruffling coming from upstairs and draws his gun, turns out it’s just Jukebox. She is settling back in at home — her home with Marvin. He invites Juke out for some food after he makes a run and explains to her what happened with his dog LT. Marvin also tells Juke that they must take care of each other because they are all one another has. When he leaves her bedroom, Marvin quietly sheds tears — he got his daughter back.
When it rains, it pours and Raq is in the middle of an emotional breakdown when Lou Lou decides this is the time to discuss the record label. In all fairness, Raq tried to tell him that it was not a good night for this conversation. She proceeds to rip into her brother after he tries to run down a list of things he has done for her. She admits she made a fatal mistake with Scrap and that she must live with that decision forever. Lou Lou stares at his sister with eyes full of tears as she tells him there is nowhere for him to go. She grabs her brother’s face and tells him “I own you nigga.”
Lou Lou heads to the studio to pack up his things but Zisa wants to work. Marvin heads to the projects for a pick up and Unique is at his location in Jersey with Worrell discussing how crack is becoming played out. Raq is home still packing up to move into her big ass house in the burbs.
Sal is down at the juke-joint playing pool and relishing in what is about to unfold in Queens and Jersey.
Unique’s spot is hit by the Italian’s. Worrell is killed in the crossfire but Unique survives the hit.
At the studio, two hitters enter and kill Zisa immediately. Lou Lou is able to kill both of the gunmen.
The Italian’s enter the projects and shoot their way to the apartment where Marvin and crew are. Marvin is able to clear everyone out but is hit in the abdomen. He stumbles down the stairs and tries to get into an apartment downstairs but his knocks go ignored. Thankfully the man in the wheelchair Marvin had a previous run in with, let Marvin into his spot. When you do good shit, sometimes people do look out.
Kenya takes a Godly stroll to Raq’s house to talk to her about Jukebox. Raq asks Kenya how she got to the door pass her security. She looks at the car and realizes her guys have all been killed. She tells Kenya to get down but Kenya is killed in a hail of bullets. Raq is able to kill the first gunman that enters her home but is shot in the shoulder by the second one. Just when it looks like this is the end for Raquel, Unique comes in and kills the second gunman — saving her.
When the pair exit the house, Howard and Kanan are riding up clearly confused and in disbelief of the scene.
Takeaways:
Can we all agree, Unique and Marvin did what needed to be done. Hopefully Marvin can get patched up sooner than later.
I lost count of just how many pound-cakes we going to be baking for all these upcoming funerals. A lot of casualties tonight!
I commend Juke for being honest with Nicole’s father. I know that was not easy.
Lou Lou had a rough go tonight. His ego took a huge hit but I did feel for him during his confrontation with Raq.
Detective Burke survives another season and lives to be nosey another day.
Raq’s blood runs cold! Although she can be very vindictive, I love seeing a woman go harder than the men!
Howard and Kanan are really a whole ass duo now. I don’t know why this is so funny to me. Will Howard teach his son how to buy ass for a span of 10 plus years? I imagine these are the things father and son could bond over.
Condolences to the families of Worrell, Zisa, Kenya, Raq’s security crew, the gate man down at the projects, the cash counter in Jersey, the guys that were just trying to play dice in Jersey, the elevator guard in the projects and all those that left us in the final 10–15 minutes of the episode.
