(WARNING: Spoilers for the most recent Power Book IV: Force episode will be found below.)
“Crown Vic,” this week’s episode of Power Book IV: Force, was a shock, to say the least. Tommy Flanagan’s character, Walter Flynn, is killed off his the episode following his children Vic and Claudia’s plan to ambush him and take him out once and for all. The plan, which was spearheaded by Claudia, wasn’t as successful as she wanted it to be and she also hoped that Vic would be caught in the crossfire. She failed to complete that part of the mission, and she will surely pay for it in the future.
Elsewhere in the season two episode, Tommy Egan is forced to make a tough decision in regards to D-Mac to ensure that his nephew can live out his promising future, something Tommy himself was never able to do. Diamond and Jenard also reconcile their differences, but it only comes after their father passes away. Overall, the theme of family exists heavily in this episode and it’s something that plays out differently for everyone.
Following the episode’s release, we caught up with Lisa Demaine, the director of “Crown Vic.” Demaine discussed the family theme in the episode, the demise of the Flynn family, the authorities’ pursuit of Tommy and CBI, and what to expect in the second half of the season.
There’s a theme surrounding family in this episode as we see relationships with the various characters reach new peaks or a point of no return. What was the specific theme attached to “family” that you wanted to convey in this episode?
The theme was longing. You see it with Diamond when he sees his daddy for the first time in years. The feeling that Isaac and I talked about, where he wanted to be and where I was hoping he could get, was that eight-year-old longing for daddy to show up for him. For Vic, it’s been the longing to be recognized by Walter to not be the little son who’s never good enough. The longing has been really thematic. You see the longing with Kate wanting to be a mother to D-Mac. She’s longing to be the mother she wasn’t to Tommy and to JP — and she thinks she’s finally doing it with D-Mac, until Tommy takes him.
There’s even a moment of longing with Tommy when he is on the phone with D-Mac after he’s been kidnapped and he’s back at the farm and he says, “I’ve got eyes on you everywhere. Don’t you try to escape,” basically. Then, Tommy almost says “D-Mac, I love –” and he stops himself. Tommy almost says, “D-Mac, I love you.” So there’s a longing thematically with the families throughout this episode. Everyone’s trying to belong, no matter if you’re a drug dealer, a fucked up addict who’s recovering, [or] a grown-ass boxer man who’s formidable, but still longs to be loved by your daddy.
The biggest example of the family dynamics that we see in this episode comes with the death of Walter Flynn. What made this the time to say okay, “It’s time to make this happen.” Because his death has always been foreshadowed, but not this way.
I think that we’ve been teasing out a King Lear story with the Flynn family this season and Claudia’s ambitions are palpable. You can feel it, you can see it, she wants to be queen, so building of that. When I got the script from Gary and I read it, I was like, “Are we really doing this? We’re really killing Walter Flynn? Are we?” He’s like, “We’re gonna shock the world, we’re gonna shake the world up.” That’s kind of the thing with Tommy coming to Chicago, and trying to be the kingpin, he’s got to shake it up. I think that was part of it. In order for Tommy and CBI to continue their march towards trying to take over and become the connect, he’s got to start taking people out. The formidable foe of Walter Flynn being taken out, and not even having to be taken out by Tommy, but the blind ambition of his own family, his own children, is such an epic storyline — so Shakespearean.
I was a bit surprised when Claudia was seemingly caught off guard by the revelation that the Flynn family business wouldn’t be for her to take over after her father’s death. Why after all that she’s been through does it still surprise her?
I think ambition is blind and I think Claudia is a bit blinded by her own single ambition of wanting to be on top. Vic has always been a little softer, a little less inclined to want to run it [and] to be the leader. So I think she assumes that she’s really the strong one and she’s really the one who knows this business better than Vic. Vic was always at daddy’s calling, Claudia feels like she can finally step into her own power [and] that she has the ability. So I think her own blind ambition makes her think she can do it and also that Vic doesn’t want it. She just assumes that Vic would acquiesce and she would be queen. I love the scene with [her and] Brendan Doyle because I think Doyle is sweet on her, and I think that if she were not gay, that they might be together because they are attracted to each other. He does it out of the place where he actually likes her and cares about her when he tells her, “You’ll never be queen,” to let her know. Then that sets her up on the next step of her King Lear play.
How much and in what ways at all did Ghost and Tariq’s relationship and the way Tariq grew up inspire the direction for Tommy and D-Mac in this episode?
Not as much as one would think because Tommy really has his own ideas about what his family should be. He started to take D-Mac under his wing when he saw last season how smart D-Mac was, and when he realized that D-Mac was JP’s son, he started to put him under his wing to look out for D-Mac like nobody looked out for him. I think it’s a desire for Tommy to have family, to protect D-Mac, and protect him from the streets like no one protected me. Tommy didn’t have a choice. He feels like D-Mac is smart enough. Tommy can set him up to not have to go on the streets and he’s been trying to do that this season to keep him out of there. When D-Mac goes rogue, he’s just got to shut it down.
Though he looked unfazed by it, what about Diamond’s character made it important to grant him a moment of closure with his father and why didn’t Jenard get that same opportunity?
I think it’s an interesting choice, it could have gone either way. I think it was so interesting to have the big brother have that moment with the dad, especially given in the moment that Jenard is not coping very well. He’s snorting heroin, he’s using on the street, [and] he’s floundering a bit. I think what’s really nice is that big brother getting some closure, gives big brother the ability to step in and start to take care of Jenard. Diamond takes that role on when Jenard shows up and dad is gone, [he says], “What are we going to do D? Pop is gone.” I love the story that Diamond spins. “He loved us, he wished he could have been there for us. You were always the favorite.” You see him stepping into the role of, is it going to be reunification for the two brothers? Will they get back into CBI?
There’s so much family in this episode. When you have family drama and a family rift, can you heal it and how do you heal it? You see that happening through the death of this really angry, not-very-nice man. I mean, Big Syd was Big Syd, he never was what he should have been to these boys. Diamond steps into it to take care of Jenard and that’s why he had the closure with dad that Jenard didn’t.
Like you said, we also see Jenard spiral a bit more in this episode. What would you say that’s most connected to?
These wounds always start deep and young. I think it is connected to the loss of his father [and] never having that. Diamond going away to prison [and] forcing him into a world that maybe he shouldn’t have been right. Jenard was the smart one, he did have the opportunity to do something different. The spiral happens when he and his fear of Tommy, and the jealousy almost of Tommy coming in, and the rift between them develops. He [says], “This white boy is coming between us and you’re picking him over me.” That wound I think that it causes between the brothers is what starts his spiral and his demise. Once he starts using, he can’t keep his game together either.
Throughout the entire Power Universe, we’ve seen the feds come after a series’ main characters time and time again, is there anything different that we can expect with the task force against Tommy and CBI?
I think that Stacy Mark’s ambition to do whatever it takes. She is willing to bend the rules. I mean Bobby, her husband — Chris Tardio, the actor that plays Bobby DiFranco — is like her ambition is in the way with her bending rules to get people to ID and to pointing at pictures when she’s interrogating people. I think that her desire to get Tommy Egan at any cost — you see at the end. “Oh, you’ll give us Claudia Flynn, you’ll give us your sister, but what I really want is Tommy Egan.” She’s willing to let Vic walk – an unknown murderer – to try to get Tommy. I think this task force has more gunpowder in their arsenal than maybe in the past because she is so laser-focused after Tommy. Which means that Tommy has a really formidable foe.
You directed the penultimate episode for this season, and without revealing too much of course, what did you hope to accomplish as a director in what these two episodes contributed to the season?
There’s so much big sort of mid-season finale almost in episode five that we do. I mean, there’s Paula’s death, Walter’s death, [and] Brendan Doyle’s death. The Flynn organization takes a big hit. So when we get to 209, there’s not a lot I can say because there’s a lot of spoilers, but obviously, the task force is closing in and working their way towards CBI and the cartel. I will tell you that people die and that drug dealing is a dirty business. There’s not a lot more I can say. Episode 209 is a very big episode with some really big moments that tie a lot of things together.
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