‘POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN’ Season 3 Episode 5 ‘Brothers and Keepers’
Entertainment 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.
Now that we have all seen the episode, I suppose the narration in the beginning from 5o Cent while Ronnie jacks a man for his car, makes a lot of sense now.
Kanan and Raq are on one of the rockiest mother and son rides I have ever seen. Kanan is doing business in his mother’s house and he could careless how she feels about it. He remains very secretive when asked what he is discussing on the phone and why he is using a map.
Ronnie notifies his brother, in the middle of the night, that he will no longer need to stay at his place. Now why did Ronnie have to make that announcement in the wee hours of the morning — couldn’t that have waited until breakfast?
Marvin and Gerald have their first therapy session at a diner. Things seems to be running smooth until Gerald mentions how Juke came from the wrong side of the tracks when discussing a angle to a possible article about her musical talents. Marvin becomes a bit snappy when he says to Gerald they are not from any tracks. Gerald apologizes but he mentions a drug dealer that had just been murdered the night before on the southside — Dean. Marvin quickly gathers his things and tells Gerald he will catch up with him later.
Raq’s business has been vandalized — no surprise. Them shady mayo enforcers rolled up right on time to try to rub the incident in her face. Once again they make an attempt to extort Raq but she declines.
Lou-Lou is at the bar and offers to grab some records from his mom’s house. He also declines a drink — looks like someone is trying to clean their act up. Lou-Lou suggests advertising the set on the radio since he has a friend o the air waves. Ya’ll remember his friend right? He was so shook when he saw Lou-Lou, he read that advertisement immediately.
Marvin visits Raq and gives her the news about Dean. He tells her that he got cut up with his grandmother in the next room. No one in the streets seem to know what happened. Marvin invites Raq to Lou-Lou’s set at the bar and she rudely declines. She tells Marvin that everyone is trying to go legit and basically f*ck Lou-Lou.
Chile Famous got arrested! On top of that, they questioned him about Freddy’s murder. See I knew Grady from last season was going to say something about Famous. When Kanan meets up with his carriers and questions them about where Famous is, he seems more annoyed that his boy has been apprehended. Honestly considering the lack of work ethic Famous possesses, Kanan likely thought his friend was being sloppy on the streets.
Unique takes Ronnie to the Chinese restaurant to show him what his operation looks like. Ronnie basically calls it worthless since no business is coming in. He declines taking over the restaurant operation for Unique. When the two of them go outside, Unique questions Ronnie about Dean. Ronnie tells his brother he is worrying about the wrong things and that he allowed Raq to take everything that was theirs. He takes a shot at Unique for sleeping with Raq and Unique let’s his brother know he will let him slide with the comments because they are brothers. Ronnie is convinced that Unique is hiding more lucrative opportunities from him, which simply is not true.
Meanwhile Pebbles, I mean N’Kiyah, has been working TLC, I mean Butta, to the bone chile. Iesha struggling to get her steps and N’Kiyah seems to be losing her patience with it. Jukebox thankfully offers to give Iesha some extra help with her dance moves — they also begin to bond with one another. It seems like Iesha and Juke may like each other a little bit, atleast that’s what Marvin catches when the pair leave the dance studio together. Although Marvin playfully talks about the great taste in women Jukebox has — she denies that there is anything more than a friendship between them.
Whew chile that social worker popped up on Raq and Kanan was missing in action. Thankfully the social worker is giving Raq and Kanan a chance to get things right with the next random visitation.
Kanan finally meets Ronnie. He walks up on Kanan and questions him about where he is getting his work from. He asks if he is working for Unique but Kanan is in business for himself. When Ronnie mentions heroine, Kanan appears confused — questioning why Ronnie would think he has heroine.
Is there any surprise why Lou-Lou, Marvin and Raq ain’t stand a chance out here with the mother they had? When she pops up on Lou-Lou while he is looking for some records to take over to the bar, she talks about him having a pipe dream like his father. In her mind music put their father in the grave but Lou-Lou corrects her in saying music is not what killed their father. She complains about not being financially supported by any of her children, so Lou-Lou leaves her some money on his way out.
Ronnie makes another attempt with Julianna but she is standing on not dealing with either of the Mathis brothers. She suggests that maybe the disappearance of Unique could change her mind but Ronnie insists that his brother will not be going anywhere.
Famous arrives home to a very agitated Kanan. He is upset that the police kept the money and I am sure he would have rather had that back instead of Famous. Famous questions Kanan not showing any concern about his well being while he was locked up considering Kanan bailed one of the couriers out immediately. Famous also tells Kanan that he was the one that killed Freddie and Kanan tells Famous to never speak of it to anyone else. Kanan suggests Famous bury it with him because he does not need his stupidity messing up the business — yikes! Things have been very rocky between Kanan and Famous this season.
Dean’s funeral brings everyone out. Raq and Unique are both in attendance to pay their respects to the Southside dealer. The pair meet outside to discuss what happened and Unique reveals that Ronnie is likely the one that killed Dean.
Ronnie ol’ creepy behind tells Pernessa that Unique has been sleeping with Raq and proceeds to silently exit stage left. How you drop that type of tea and just walk off? A pure psycho is what you call him. Later that day, Prenessa makes Unique a sandwich before dropping the news that she knows Raq is the woman he has been sleeping with. Things get heated when Prenessa wonders how he could sleep with someone who took a shot at their child. Unique angrily leaves on the hunt for his brother.
The cops got Demo down at the precinct and they ask him about Crown and his involvement in the projects. Demo slips and refers to Raquel as ‘Raq,’ and mister officer thinks he may have a lead. He wants to circle back on her initial statement and her involvement with the record label.
Looks like Lou-Lou’s open mic night is a success! Look at me being happy for Lou-Lou. Kanan and Famous awkwardness continues at the open mic, the two friends don’t say a word to each other. Kanan meets Iesha and is immediately interested in her. He pulls Jukebox to the side and asks if it would be okay for him to try to get with her. Although Jukebox gives an okay, we can clearly see she likes Iesha. Ya’ll Famous premieres a new song and dare I say, it’s actually pretty good! I am actually proud of Famous!
Raq is intercepted at home to come down to the precinct for questioning. In the questioning, she is asked again about her involvement in the label. She once again tells the police she was a silent partner that invested along with her brother. Her lawyer tries to push the questioning along considering the detective has nothing new to present to his client. After the questioning, Raq’s lawyer tells her that she shouldn’t have to worry about the FBI or the case anymore.
Unique finally catches up with his brother — at the tailor shop he once conducted business out of. Unique confronts Ronnie about his attempts to ruin his livelihood. The two brothers end up in a physical fight — one that Unique seemingly wins. Unique yells to his brother that he is the big dawg now. As he attempts to leave, Ronnie grabs a metal pipe and bludgeons Unique to death. Ronnie transfers Unique’s body to a secluded area and tosses the body down a steep hill.
New episodes of “Raising Kanan” are available Friday at midnight on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming, and on-demand platforms. On linear, new episodes will premiere every Friday at 8pm ET/PT on STARZ.
