Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Part of the reason that I love “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” so much is because, at its core, the show is really just a family show where the family business happens to be selling drugs. But a character like, Raquel, is trying to keep her son close and safe, while making sure that there’s some generational wealth to speak of when it’s all said and done. Oh, and she’s trying to stay out of prison, but again, their family trade is the drug trade.
In the latest episode, we’ve returned back to “present-day,” which for the world of “Raising Kanan” has to be somewhere in the mid-90s, likely 1995 or so. Jukebox is in basic training and while she viewed the military as a way out of her traumatic life—seriously, Jukebox has experienced a lot of death and violence—she determines that perhaps the military isn’t for her. A private in her company was kicked out for allegedly being gay, and I guess she uses that to get herself put out as she tries to figure things out.
Figuring things out is a theme of this episode. For instance, Jukebox heads down to Atlanta, to Spelman College, where her boo from the R&B group she’s in, Butta, is a freshwoman. She considers trying to stay in Atlanta but is quickly made to realize that she’s both chasing something and running from something at the same time. So she heads home and I have a feeling that there’s nothing good that’s going to come from this. We’re four seasons in; at some point we have to see the seeds of the psychopathic killer that she becomes as an adult.
Kanan has some moves to figure out on his own too. His mother is his supplier and she’s having issues with her plug, but Kanan worked out a deal with Pops and Snaps, the old-timer drug kingpins who have seen it all, done it all, and ended the lives of those who have made things difficult for them. However, an old deal made by Kanan comes back to bite him in the derriere and he doesn’t take too well to that. Kanan has to decide what kind of businessman he wants to be and if that type is the kind that other kingpins want to work with. His mother reminds him of this and it feels like the kind of reminder Kanan needs too often and one that will have repercussions later.
Speaking of later repercussions, Unique is a looming figure over the entire episode. While business is happening all around him, he’s in the shadows, alive but presumed dead and moving around and checking on all the people in his world who had his back and those who may have stabbed him in the back. Unique says so few words this episode, but you can sense the frustration in his soul; his brother Ronnie may be the one who tried to unalive him but everybody else is going to have to pay. Unique is at a crossroads and being alone is taking its toll on him.
Lou-Lou is also at a crossroads. After leaving rehab, he’s got to convince his family that he is to be trusted again and that he’s living his life right. But Lou-Lou is also supremely talented as a music producer; his first single with Famous (who has gone missing) “The Streets Need a Body,” so people have been talking about his talents so he was essentially given a job as a VP at a record label to handle their hip-hop. Lou-Lou has enough wherewithal to realize that he might not be ready to jump into the crazy world of music yet, but an artist that he believes in pulls him right back in. I do hope that Lou-Lou doesn’t regret this, but so far it feels…fine.
Our family matriarch, Raquel, has been given some good news: the federal task force that was after her and Marvin has been disbanded (or so they think). The NYPD declared Det. Howard’s death to be a drug deal gone bad, but Howard’s old captain doesn’t buy it and wants that case cleared. While Raquel thinks things are on the up and up, the police seem like they’re about to heat things up. It only gets worse when Unique kills Raquel’s lawyer, the one with an ear to both the streets and the police and feds, which means that whatever concerns Raquel felt were allayed, are about to ratchet up. Just when the family thought they might be able to lay low, things are about to spin out of control.
Southside.
You can watch episodes of “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” on STARZ and select streaming platforms with a premium subscription.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).