Source: Courtesy / Starz
After leaving us on the edge of our seats with season one’s finale, Season 2 of Starz’s ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan‘ is finally back. This season picks up three months after Kanan (Mekai Curtis) set the city of Queens on fire by shooting his alleged father, Detective Howard (Omar Epps).
The season kicks off with Kanan enjoying his last few minutes at Sandbridge Beach in Virginia. As he’s taking it in, Raq (Patina Miller) makes her way to him. After giving Kanan a brief recap of her time visiting Virginia as a teen, she informs her son that it’s time to come back to Queens. The look on Kanan’s face tells it all. He obviously doesn’t want to go back and he emphasizes that to his younger cousins while he packs his suitcase. He tells them that if it was his choice, he would stay in Virginia instead of going back to Queens. The decision isn’t his though and since that’s the case, Kanan reluctantly heads back home with his mother. On the drive back to NYC, Raq informs Kanan that Detective Howard is getting out of the hospital but is suffering from amnesia and doesn’t remember anything from the night of the shooting. Despite his mother’s optimism, Kanan is shook by the news.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
Source: Courtesy / Starz
Ironically enough, it seems like Kanan shooting Howard ended up doing more good for the cop than it did harm. We find out that while he was recovering, another cop donated his bone marrow and now Howard is in remission with both of his lungs intact. Howard’s partner Detective Burke (Stanley Caswell) isn’t necessarily concerned with Howard being cancer free though. She is convinced that Howard isn’t telling the truth about what he remembers from the night he was shot. The doctor tries to reassure her that the memory loss is directly linked to the trauma the shooting brought him. Burke ends up taking Howard home and then drops some news on him. She lets him know that Unique (Joey Bada$$) has an alibi for the night of the shooting and evidence would clear his name of being the shooter. Howard doubles down on the fact that he doesn’t remember anything from the night but after Burke leaves, he picks up a file on Kanan that seems to refresh his memory a bit.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
Upon returning home, Raq is ecstatic to show Kanan how good business has been since they framed Unique and got him put in prison. She takes a page out of New Jack City and turns the whole apartment building into a drug operation. Raq and the family are so up that she decides that she wants to expand into other cities. She tasks her younger brother Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays) with running one of the new operations but his focus is somewhere else. Raq doesn’t like the fact that Lou Lou is so wrapped up with Bulletproof Records and the studio all the time. We seen this split brewing last season, but now it might come to a complete boiling point.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
Lou Lou does have a lot to deal with in terms of his label. The first time we see him this episode, he is arguing with his girlfriend Jessica (Natalee Linez) about her little brother/artist Famous (Antonio Ortiz). After his first single flopped, Famous hasn’t been up to much besides smoking weed and having sex with women. His big sister tries her best to convince Lou Lou to not give up on him but he is not receptive. Lou admits that he’s no longer interested in wasting anymore money on him. After he drives off, he meets a singer at a red light who just so happened to be rapping on one of his beats. He offers to sign her to the label. Jessica finds out about this new signee (whose name is Zisa) when she walks in on a studio session with the goal of getting Lou and Crown Camacho (Quincy Brown) to put more time and effort into her brother. Jessica seems to be using what she has to try and get what she wants. It’s revealed that she is also sleeping with Camacho. The two discuss what would happen if Lou found out before Camacho hooks her up with a new job in Los Angeles.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
Another person who found themself in the studio was Lou Lou’s niece, Jukebox (Hailey Kilgore). She’s obviously been there quite a bit because we see her visiting Nicole’s grave and leaving a mixtape she recorded for her. It’s obvious that the death of Nicole and the fight with her father Marvin (London Brown) are both still weighing on her heavily. Speaking of Marvin, he was able to avoid any jail time due to the fact that Toni didn’t come to court to testify against him. He still had to do either community service or anger management courses as part of his punishment. Marvin chooses the latter after his lawyer tells him that he’ll more than likely be able to set it up so that he only has to sign in to confirm his attendance. Raq throws a family dinner to celebrate Kanan’s return. Marvin tries his best to hold conversation and make amends with his daughter but she is not interested in the least bit. This seems to be the complete opposite of what’s to come with her and her mother’s relationship. She found a picture of her in a shoebox and it seems as if she’s going to try and reconnect with her.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
After dinner, Kanan and Juke have a discussion about how things have been for them both over the past three months. Kanan shares that he’s been shook since everything transpired and he’s having second thoughts about being in the family business. He also expresses this to Raq, who was obviously affected by Symphony (Toby Sandeman) telling her how Kanan actually felt about the situation. She goes on to let her son know that she never meant to put him in harm’s way and from now on, she’ll make sure she protects him. Before the conversation gets any deeper, Raq is interrupted by the house phone.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
The last five to ten minutes of the episode were filled with things we have to keep an eye out for. Not taking heed to Raq’s warning, Scrappy (Ade Choke Torbert) is arrested as his mother’s illegal gambling ring is raided. Detective Howard sees him talking at the station. We’re not sure exactly what he was saying, but it’s not a good look for him. While Scrappy could be headed to jail, we see one person get released. After brawling with three white prisoners earlier in the episode, Unique is released from jail. He doesn’t know it, but Marvin is right across the street watching him as soon as he’s let out of the gates. He also doesn’t know that Raq is planning to bring in his number two, Worrell (John Clay III). She doesn’t want Unique to have anything when he gets back. All of Raq’s plans could potentially be ruined by the phone call she received. The last scene of the episode shows Raq at the same park that Kanan shot Detective Howard at. Out of nowhere, the recently shot cop appears. Him and Raq have a western like staredown before the episode ends.
Source: Courtesy / Starz
What does Detective Howard want to talk to Raq about? Does he actually remember what happened? When will Jukebox find her mother? Will Lou Lou and Raq get back on the same page? How will Worrell react to the Thomas family trying to recruit him? What’s Symphony’s role going to be? Will Kanan change his mind again about being in the family business?
Source: Courtesy / Starz
There are so many storylines that we’re going to see play out this season. Let us know how you felt about the first episode and give us your predictions for next week!
