The story of Power continues in the sequel series Power Book II: Ghost as we follow Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr), the son of slained character James St. Patrick from the main show. The spin-off shows the young man trying to balance his college life with protecting his family since the death of his father as he becomes the head of the family.
The show’s first episode brings us some familiar faces from the mothership series while also introducing us to some new ones in this post-Ghost world. These new characters will be creating some problems for Tariq and his family and it has certainly peaked our interest. As Tariq tries to adjust to focusing on his education, he’s also working on getting his mom Tasha (Naturi Naughton) out of jail after taking the rap for murdering Ghost. Tariq is doing all he can to free her without revealing who killed Ghost in order to clear his mom’s name.
Seeing Tariq spending a lot of time coming up with a way to free Tasha is what this first episode focuses on, showing viewers that he is the protagonist of the story. Tariq is the guy that we care about as he evolved from being the spoiled brat of a Kingpin to becoming a smart individual who is only trying to look out for his family. Despite all the tragedy he has caused to his family throughout the first series, Tariq seems to be following in his late father’s footsteps in order to provide for his family.
It seems like series creator Courtney A. Kemp has some work cut out for her and the writing staff to make Tariq a character that everyone can be behind after his betrayal in the final moments of the main show’s big finale. The show seems to help make that happen with some new players in the picture. This includes some big names like Method Man playing the magnetic defense lawyer David Maclean who is working to free Tasha as well as Mary J. Blige as the hard-as-nails criminal matriarch Monet.
We also have Melanie Liburd in the role of college advisor Carrie Milgram who serves as a mentor to Tariq. Her character tries to see the good in Tariq as he attempts to apply for a tough course to help him in his studies. Tariq fails the first assignment given to him, but a second chance to redeem himself shows how the reading material given to him relates to his own struggles. Tariq doesn’t work too hard to obtain what he needs as there are many people in his life who are looking out for him. It will be interesting to see how two potential love interests in the form of Lauren (Paige Hurd) and Diana (LaToya Tonodeo) try to see the good in Tariq.
Power Book II: Ghost portrays Tariq as a young man with flaws but not enough redeemable qualities to make him a worthy character to root for. Perhaps his run-ins with Monet will make him return to the criminal life in order to pay the legal fees for his mother’s court trial. Even though the show is titled after his father, perhaps we will see Tariq grow into a version of Ghost as we’ve seen him become in our very eyes for a couple of years now. Even though he’s on a path that James has not envisioned for his son, it’ll be fascinating to see how much Tariq ends up being his father’s son. With these new characters in the picture, we shall see if the show can balance them with Tariq’s own story of redemption.
This review is authored by Mufsin Mahbub, TANTV’s global entertainment writer.
