‘Power Book II: Ghost’: When Perception Changes, Truth Changes In Season 3, Episode 1

(WARNING: Spoilers for this week’s Power Book II: Ghost episode will be found below.)

With the conclusion of BMF season two, comes the start of another season in 50 Cent’s cinematic universe: season three of Power Book II: Ghost. The show stars Michael Rainey Jr. as Tariq St. Patrick and Gianni Paolo as Brayden Weston. It’s been a little over a year since the finale of season two which brought an end to a collection of shocking events that occurred within the season’s final two episodes. Mecca, Zeke, and Lauren were all killed in that finale and Monet was exposed at the family dinner table for sleeping with Mecca and lying for years about Zeke being her nephew when he was actually her son — one she shared with Mecca. It was quite the dramatic end to season two of Power Book II: Ghost and now it’s time to pick up where we left off.

In the season three premiere of Power Book II: Ghost, we return to see that Monet is still heavily grieving the loss of Zeke while actively demanding that her family do whatever they can to find his killer. Much of her anger is directed at Diana, but that isn’t too much of a surprise when she was the one who exposed her true life in front of the Tejada family at the dinner table last season. As for Tariq, he’s enjoying a new peaceful life away from the drug with his new girlfriend Effie. However, as it always does, Tariq’s past caught up to him leaving him to deal with a pesky business partner and the demands of Mecca’s boss who arrives to wreak havoc on his life more than anyone else has before. Elsewhere, Brayden begins work with the Weston family and continues to work with Tariq, Cooper Saxe continues to be the bothersome act we’ve known him to be as her works with the enemy a bit more than expected, and the truth of Lauren’s disappearance somewhat comes to light.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways that we have after season three’s first episode, “Your Perception, Your Reality”:

The way we perceive the world can also be defined as our reality, and Tariq’s reality is he’ll never be able to have a fresh start. Sure, the eldest St. Patrick is an effective and successful drug dealer considering the fact that he doesn’t own a car (I really hope this is solved in season three), but he doesn’t want to do this forever. Tariq’s side hustle as a drug dealer began as a way to get money to pay his lawyer Davis MacLean to free his mother from prison in season one. This forged a relationship with Monet that he now maintains today. Now that his mother is out of prison, Tariq doesn’t need to hustle but he’s in too deep with Monet to exit until she’s ready to. Fast-forward to now and in the first episode of season three, Tariq admits that he’s enjoying the break from hustling after Mecca’s death in the season two finale. Unfortunately for him, that break is now over as Noma, a new and more threatening drug connect than Monet ever was in Power Book II: Ghost, has arrived and forcibly employed Tariq, Cane, and Brayden to sell the leftover product that Mecca had in his possession before his death. For Tariq, he can try his best to run away from a past that looks like his father’s, no matter how much he despises that idea (just don’t say that to him before you end up like Bash, RIP to him). For now, there’s no such thing as a fresh start for Tariq St. Patrick, just a repeat of the past with different details.

Season three of Power Book II: Ghost begins with Monet still grieving heavily over the loss of her son Ezekiel “Zeke” Cross. As is sometimes the case with people who are grieving over a heavy loss, Monet is quite snappy and short-tempered with her family — especially with Diana and Lorenzo. The one person Monet is still kind to so far this season is Tariq because he was the one person who was with her at the time of Zeke’s death, so she knows Tariq wasn’t responsible for it. There’s a bit of love between the two in their lone conversation in the season three opener, which is a big contrast from the strictly business relationship we’ve seen them exhibit in prior seasons. If you thought that meant Tariq was getting a break, well it’s time you met Noma. She was Mecca’s boss and fiancée, and in her search to learn what happened to Mecca, she stumbles upon Tariq, Cane, and Brayden. In a matter of a few minutes, the trio watches Noma shot and kill a young lady, pistol-whip Cane, and threaten to kill them all if they do not tell her how Mecca was killed. In the end, Tariq, Cane, and Brayden (and later Effie) are tasked with moving what’s left of Mecca’s drug supply. If Tariq thought Monet was a lot to deal with, it’s only going to get worse with Noma. The stakes are higher and the risk is higher, but it remains to be seen if the reward will be higher as well.

If there’s one character I don’t miss from Power Book II: Ghost it’s Cooper Saxe. The prosecutor who worked tirelessly to put James St. Patrick behind bars in the original Power series is now a defense attorney working in Davis MacLean’s. Yet, he struggles to stay on the same team as the main characters of the show. Between eavesdropping on Tariq and Davis’ conversation in the latter’s office to working with prosecutor Jenny Sullivan — despite being a defense attorney — to help her prove that Davis is working for Tariq and the Tejada family, Cooper Saxe is just all over the place. With his motive for season three out in the open, it’s clear that Cooper Saxe will continue to be a nuisance to Tariq and his circle of friends and associates — and not in the Sergeant Blanca Rodriguez “talented cop” kind of way. It’ll be trademark Cooper Saxe making a bunch of mistakes on his way to hopefully solving an investigation that will eventually be ruined because of his own mistakes. Hooray!

This week’s episode title couldn’t be more perfect for the events that led by and took place in the season three premiere of Power Book II: Ghost. “Your Perception, Your Reality” the title reads for episode one. In numerous instances in this episode, we see examples of how the characters’ perception of their worlds become their new reality. Tariq was made to believe that Lauren is dead, but we now know that’s not the case. Monet thinks Zeke’s killer is still on the loose when little does she know that they’re living in her home — that being her husband Lorenzo. Davis believes Saxe is on his side when he’s really helping Jenny get evidence that Davis is working for Tariq and the Tejada family. However, as the saying goes, “when perception changes, truth changes,” but this saying could also work if it were flipped. The truth always comes to light, and among all the aforementioned situations, one of them will indeed come to light and shake up someone’s world and their perception of it. The truth that we know for now is that no one is ready to hear it. Whether it be Lauren’s return, the discovery that Cooper is working for the other side, or the truth about Zeke’s death, whichever comes out, if not all in season three, the damage that follows will be heavy.

New episodes of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.