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Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

At the end of episode four of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan,’ we might’ve witnessed Kanan (Mekai Curtis) start to actually turn on his mother Raq (Patina Miller). He lied to her face about where he was going. Raq subsequently follows her son only to find out he was visiting his alleged father, Detective Howard (Omar Epps). Feeling like she’s slowly losing her son, in episode five entitled ‘What Happens In The Catskills,’ Raq decides to try and get back in Kanan’s good graces by taking him on a camping trip.

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Knowing that their relationship is currently rocky, Kanan is not excited at all about the idea of going on a trip with just his mother. He doesn’t have a choice though and is forced to go anyways. As him and his mother are leaving, Kanan notices that the car they’re about to take isn’t his mother’s usual vehicle. He’s also told by Uncle Marvin (London Brown) to put his bags in the backseat of the car and not the trunk, which seemed very odd to him. He didn’t know it at the time but Marvin had the body of the super they killed last season in the trunk. The first scene of this episode showed him getting the body from the wall, wrapping it up and spraying it down with Lysol. Although Kanan’s still slightly confused, he and Raq still hit the road, unaware that they had been being watched and eventually followed to their destination by two members of the New Jersey Italian mob.

Before we get into the campaign trip and the chaos that ensued, there were other storylines that were touched in this episode also. The relationship between Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays) and Crown Camacho (Quincy Brown) continues to heat up in the worst of ways. In a meeting with a potential collaborator for Zisa (Paulina Singer), Crown undermines Lou Lou throughout the whole conversation. This leads to Lou Lou punching him in the face when the two are alone later. That situation obviously didn’t go as planned for Crown but another might’ve gone exactly how he expected. Jukebox (Hailey Kilgore) listened to the tape that Crown gave her at Famous’ (Antonio Ortiz) party and realized that Zisa was singing her song. She decides to approach her looking to get to the bottom of it and is informed by Zisa that Lou Lou was the one who actually gave her the song. This further infuriates Juke and leads her to confront her uncle next. Lou Lou explains that it isn’t what Juke thinks it is and tries to explain the positives that can still come from it but she doesn’t really want to hear it. Later on, Famous comes to the studio and Lou Lou promises him that if he comes back with some rhymes, he’ll get him back in the studio.

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Juke turns her anger into something beautiful when she visits her mother’s church. She attentively listens to Kenya (Letoya Luckett) sing before she’s asked to come up and share her talents with the churchgoers. Juke gives an absolutely amazing performance and impresses everyone in attendance, especially her mother. The two share a warm embrace in the very heartwarming  scene. Although Juke is making progress with her relationship with her mother, the one with her father is still nowhere near close it seems. Marvin is taking the right steps though. He has a personal meeting with Renee (Krystal Joy Brown) at a diner. For the what seems maybe like the first time ever, he openly speaks on his relationship with his daughter. He admits that their relationship is all messed up because of him and that he’s been a terrible father.

Another interesting storyline to take a look at is between Howard and Detective Burke (Stanley Caswell). Burke is determined to figure out what’s really going on with her partner. She is so thirsty to find out any information that she can that brings Andrea (Chyna Lyne) in for questioning. She threatens to call child protective services if Andrea doesn’t cooperate. Burke asks her if Howard had said anything about the shooting to which she responds no. It seemed like bringing her in was going to be a failed mission until Andrea revealed that Howard had a son. This completely surprised Burke and surely made her even more inquisitive. When Andrea meets up with Howard to tell him everything that went down, he snaps out and ends things with her immediately. Later on in the episode, we find Howard running into Jukebox while waiting on Kanan to come home. He tells her to let Kanan know he is looking for him. Little did  Howard know that Kanan had his own problems to deal with elsewhere.

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

We figure out that the two Italian mob members that were following Raq and Kanan were sent to take Raq out under the orders of Sal (Michael Rispoli). Jimmy and Dominic trail them to the Catskills and patiently wait for the perfect opportunity to get the head of the Thomas organization alone. When they see their perfect opportunity, Jimmy instructs Dominic to keep an eye on Kanan so that he didn’t come back and interrupt the hit. Throughout the time we see the mobsters in the episode, it is easy to notice that Dominic is a racist. This further complicates the situation. Although they were only there to kill Raq, Dominic peeps Kanan flirting with a white girl and becomes incensed. He tells Jimmy that he wants to wants to also kill Kanan to which Jimmy completely is opposed. He explains that they don’t kill kids and if they did, Sal would kill them. He specifically instructs him to leave Kanan alone.

After Raq got to Kanan at the exact time that Dominic was going to attack him, she scolded him about messing with white girls. The tension between the two was high until they decided to eat s’mores and have a real conversation. This is when we learn Raq’s real motives for coming to Catskills. She came to bury the body that was in the trunk in the jungle and she wanted her son to be there to help her do it. This is her way of initiating Kanan into the business, whether he understands what’s going on or not.

One thing he came to understand by the end of the episode is that the game is crazy and it can go left at the snap of a finger. Jimmy gets another opportunity to take Raq out when Kanan leaves the cabin to turn in the keys before they depart. He tries to sneak in but is unsuccessful when Raq surprises him and places a knife on his throat. Knowing that killing him will cause an all-out war with the Italians, Raq smartly decides not to. Before the situation can further escalate, Raq is informed that Dominic is trying to kill Kanan. Jimmy enters the scuffle at the exact same time as Raq and eventually shoots Dominic in the leg to stop him from continuing. Both sides leave the situation alive and it seems that now we’re at a crossroads: either they sit down and talk and try to figure things out or they will be undoubtedly be a war!

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

Raising Kanan Episodic Stills for 205

Source: Courtesy STARZ / Starz

How will the next meeting between Raq and the Italians go? Is Kanan fully committed to being in the game now? What does Howard want to talk to Kanan about this time? Will Juke stay in the church? Juke Can we expect her relationship with her father to start to get better? Why did Marvin track down Toni? Will Lou Lou finally be able to balance the studio and streets? How will Crown react to being attacked by Lou? Again, another week. Another very solid episode that has left us on the edge of our seats. Let us know what you thought about this episode and what you think will happen on the next one!