When TV is at its best, there’s a nice cyclical nature to the writing. That joke you heard in Act 1 will payoff in Act 3 and that thing you couldn’t help but notice in that one scene will have more meaning than you thought. The season finale of Power is a testament to this idea, as the last scene inverts one of the show’s first scenes. It takes that pivotal moment when Angie walked back into Jamie’s life, setting him on the path to shed his Ghost–not ghostly as in Casper-alter ego. Ironic that after being arrested in his own club, in front of power brokers and his shiny, new business partners, it’s James St. Patrick who may be dead to the world for the foreseeable future.
Let’s get this out the way: This is Power‘s best season. Granted, there’s only three seasons worth of material to go on, but the show operated on a different level this past summer. Exhibit A is the aforementioned last scene, while Exhibits B-Z are everything else. While Kanan’s Captain Hook plan took another interesting twist with the reintroduction of the always delightful Jukebox, it’s just another crumbling layer in the foundation coming down around our protagonist. Sure, he and Tommy seem to be on better footing after thoroughly outsmarting Milan and even allowing their eyes to twinkle after jokes about cops and racial profiling, but Tommy’s still not being completely honest about his true intentions. Jamie and Tasha appear to be on the verge of… something, but that’s undercut by the aforementioned diabolical Kanan and the fact that he still loves Angie.
Which brings it back to that last scene and why it’s so good. Angie walking into his place of business is that tornado from The Wizard of Oz. It fundamentally changes everything and turns our perceived reality on its head. After going out of his way to carve out a social media identity for himself all in the name of exposure. It’s that same visibility that leads to the blinding flashing lights masking his face as he walks out of Truth in bracelets. I’m sure there’s some metaphor about the truth setting you free but with Jamie, its the honesty that may put him behind bars.
Ghost didn’t kill Greg. He really was trying to protect Angie by snooping around Greg’s apartment and he really had her best interest in mind when he told her what Greg had planned. His only crime was being sloppy by not wearing gloves. Of course, who could predict that Greg would have a meeting with Lobos’ actual informant, confront said informant about his wrongdoing, plead with him to do the right thing, and then get shot a few several times for his troubles? Because, ya know, that sort of thing happens all the time.
Angie doesn’t know that though. She’s hurt and running on possibly clouded judgement, but also trying to atone for her past mistakes of letting Jamie slide. A lot. Slide he shall no more. If the next season finds him at rock bottom for an episode of three, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
James St. Patrick has built his empire on being smarter than everyone else around him but this time, he may have been too clever for his own good. In any great story, it’s not a question of will the protagonist get back on their feet, but all about how it happens. If Power truly wants to stick the landing on the dismount it pulled off this season, then the story of Jamie pulling himself out of the flames needs to be just as compelling as the one which currently has our favorite liar liar with his pants… you know the rest.
Until next summer, Power!
