Power recap: 'That Ain't Me'

At the start of “That Ain’t Me,” Tariq is trying to turn his life around. Now that he’s decided he wants to go to a prep school in Connecticut, it’s time for his interview. When questioned about the decline in his grades and social behavior, he spins the answer in his — and his father’s — favor, explaining that he struggled after his dad was wrongly accused. After the interview, Ghost drops off Tariq at school as Tariq asks if Kanan will come back for them since they saw him kill Jukebox. Ghost tries to quell his son’s fears: “Kanan knows reporting me to the police is reporting himself. I’m guilty. We’re guilty.” In other words, snitches gets stitches. Got it.

In a different kind of father-son moment, Tommy thanks Teresi for helping him get rid of Sandoval. Teresi still wants to meet him in person, but Tommy can only do that by proving he’s Teresi’s immediate family. Teresi tells Tommy that his mother has what he needs, which leads Tommy to rummage through Kate’s things. When she walks in, he threatens her (and her doll collection) until she points out his real birth certificate. It turns out Teresi was at the hospital when Kate gave birth — and Tommy was given Teresi’s name.

Kate confesses that Teresi wanted to take Tommy away from her since Teresi’s wife, Connie, couldn’t have kids. He wouldn’t leave Connie, so Kate changed Tommy’s name to Egan, her father’s last name. Now that he’s seeing his mother in a new light, Tommy starts to wonder what his life would have been like had Teresi been around. He yells for Kate to leave him alone for good as he takes back his car (which still has the tracker on it) and starts getting high off his own supply again. That can’t be good.

Things get worse for Tommy when Dre meets with the connects to let them know that everything is good. As Cristobal and Dre continue colluding on the side, Dre’s next goal is to get Tommy’s soldiers to turn against him — by rolling up to the warehouse and setting the drug shipment on fire. Their plan is for Tommy to flip out, blame the Jimenez, and start a war.

That idea doesn’t exactly go as planned. Dre informs Tommy that the warehouse burned down, and his connects want to know where their product is since they already paid for it. Cristobal says he wants to part ways, expecting everyone to follow suit, but they don’t. Tommy convinces his team to stay and kicks out Cristobal, then pulls Dre aside and wonders how the Jimenez knew about the shipment. He tells Dre he’s going to kill all of them; Dre looks surprised. Amateur.

Tommy meets up with Jason, the Chicago distro, to inform him about the shipment fiasco and tell him that he wants to go to war with the Jimenez. Jason has no sympathy for Tommy, and he doesn’t want to go to war, either. He eventually agrees to give Tommy a little more time to figure it out, although he regrets not killing him when they killed Petar in that ditch.

Meanwhile, Silver helps Tasha bring James’ things to the penthouse since he’s been proven completely innocent. They kiss as Silver ponders Sandoval dying in the MCC so soon after being found out. Tasha reassures him that anyone could’ve killed Sandoval — he was a dirty prosecutor, after all — then tells him about her plans to divorce James and help Keisha expand her weave shop once James’ real estate business takes off and she gets her alimony.

Keisha and Tasha meet up about expanding Keisha’s weave business, and Keisha emphasizes that she wants her shops to stay legit. Tasha agrees: “I want to go clean. From now on, any business that we do together, it’ll be legit.” Tasha asks Keisha why she didn’t tell her about Tommy, but Keisha knew Tasha already knew. Tasha can tell Keisha is hurt by the way things worked out with Tommy. Tasha knows the feeling — she tells Keisha about her plans to divorce Ghost. “Ghost don’t know it yet,” she says, “but he’s about to give me my way out.”

Tommy pops up at Tasha’s place in need of money while she’s on the phone with the dean of the prep school in Connecticut. Tasha makes it clear to Tommy that she’s done: “I can’t clean money for you at the shop anymore. I’m done with things going sideways. I’m done with this life.” Tommy admits he messed up with Keisha, but he doesn’t want Tasha to change who she is (“a G like me”). He tells her that “the game” is in her blood, but Tasha makes it clear that it’s her choice to walk away. Tommy is not happy.

Desperate for money, Tommy finds Keisha and apologizes. He tells her about finding his father and how he shouldn’t have left her like that. Trying to use her weakness to his advantage, he tries to convince her to let him clean money through the shop again, but Keisha doesn’t fall for it.

Let’s check in with Angela. She has a new boss, U.S. Attorney Tameika Robinson — and she’s excited to be working with a woman. After talking briefly about Sandoval, their first order of business is attending a gala that honors victims who were wrongfully accused. The guest of honor? None other than James St. Patrick.

Robinson makes it very clear that this will be the last time St. Patrick’s name is mentioned in her office, insinuating that she knows about Angela’s indiscretions. When asked who should be promoted to Head of Criminal Investigation between Maks and Saxe, Angela asks why it can’t be her, but Tameka isn’t fond of what Angela did to get their department in this predicament to begin with and wonders if Angela would put someone like her in that same position. There goes that promotion, right?

It looks like that honor will go to Maks, who shows up at Angela’s apartment before the gala, saying he wants her to be part of his team: “You’re a pit bull, and we need someone like you on our side.” Angela is salty and thinks if Robinson wanted to turn the department around, hiring a whistleblower would’ve been the way to do it. Plus, she thinks Maks wouldn’t be able to handle having her on the side of the defense.

Stern visits Ghost after his press interview with Councilman Tate, saying, “You’ll soon be New York’s favorite black.” The two of them disagree over whether Tate is trustworthy. “Knowing who to trust is the most important skill to have,” Stern says. Since Ghost went behind his back with the Tate deal, Stern says he’ll be taking the reins at the board presentation. When Ghost reminds him about the silent partnership and says he wants a bigger role in the “business,” Stern makes it clear that opportunity went out the window after the Tate deal.

Later, when Tate and Ghost talk business, Ghost says he thinks he’s getting played by Stern after reading a fine-print clause in his business agreement. Tate tells Ghost he’ll take care of it — but that comes back to haunt Ghost later.

Stern and Ghost are at the committee meeting when Stern, who’s making the presentation on Ghost’s behalf, gets blindsided when Tate calls out the fine print in Ghost’s business agreement: It unfairly lists Ghost as a 51-percent owner but categorizes him as a small shareholder, compensation-wise, in Stern’s business. That won’t fly since the loan was strictly based off Ghost’s minority status. The committee decides not to vote on the loan until they see a revised contract from Stern’s lawyers. Meeting adjourned. (Recap continues on page 2)

Tommy storms over the house while Ghost is hanging out with his kids, asking for whatever clean money he’s owed so he can take care of the missing product. They argue about Teresi and the primeras. Ghost thinks it’s Tommy’s fault that he got into this mess, but he writes the check so Tommy can leave.

When Tommy rolls up to meet his connects, he only sees Dre and one other guy, who came to tell Tommy to his face that he was leaving. Dre found a way to get everyone to jump ship — probably by telling them there was going to be another war with the Jimenez. Tommy goes off on Dre as Dre reminds him that he’s been helping Tommy clean up his mess. Dre threatens to walk, and Tommy doesn’t stop him.

Dre and Cristobal meet up to talk about what happens next, and according to Cristobal, something is “going down as we speak.” Cut to Kanan killing people. I suspect Dre and Cristobal hired Kanan to kill all of Tommy’s people and frame it like Tommy retaliated after they left him. We’ll see. Speaking of Tommy, he finally decides to visit his father in jail and asks to meet the rest of the family.

Tasha is at Silver’s place getting her sexy on while Ghost has a busy night at the gala. He exchanges a few words with Stern, who tells him that he’s why Joshua Kantos dropped out as a witness against Ghost at his trial. Ghost then runs into Angela and tries to start up a conversation, but she’s more interested in listening to her new boss give a speech. Robinson announces Angela as the new Head of Criminal, blindsiding Maks and Saxe. Ghost congratulates Angela as they go their separate ways…for now.

Councilman Tate approaches Ghost with Alfons, the boy Ghost saw on the block. He knows something is up as Tate reminds Ghost that he’s the one who helped him get a bigger cut. Now, he says, it’s time for Ghost to reciprocate. I’m sure Ghost isn’t a fan of being played on both sides.

Meanwhile, his son is in trouble. Ray Ray rolls up on Brains and his friend and asks about last week’s house robbery gone wrong. Brains tells Ray Ray that Tariq is the one who messed it up, and Ray Ray kills them both, but only after making it clear that Tariq was the wrong one to get involved. Taking matters into his own hands, Ray Ray goes looking for Tariq at school, dressed up as a cop. The principal brings him into his sister’s classroom hoping to find him, with no luck.

We later find out that Tariq was at Destiny’s house (his so-called girlfriend and — surprise! — Ray Ray’s cousin). They plan to meet up after the school dance, but that only spells trouble. Raina tells Tariq that Ray Ray came looking for him, and Tariq admits to Raina that Ray Ray tried to kidnap him. He begs his sister not to snitch to their parents.

Before he heads to the dance, Tariq is on the phone with Destiny when she starts asking him about Brains and the robbery. He tries to deny it, but he confesses after she tries to make him feel bad for not telling “his girlfriend.” Ray Ray hovers over his cousin as she continues to set up Tariq. He takes her phone and heads to the dance to kill Tariq.

At the dance, “Destiny” texts Tariq telling him she’s out back. When he gets outside, Tariq realizes it’s a setup. He runs off and hides behind a wall as he hears someone confronting Ray Ray outside, and by the time Tariq realizes it’s his sister, it’s too late. Raina is killed in her brother’s cowardice.

Head here for showrunner Courtney A. Kemp’s breakdown of this shocking tragedy.