“Ghost Is Dead”: Power Season Finale Recap
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James “Ghost” St. Patrick has always viewed himself as more than just a drug dealer. He aspires to succeed as a true businessman, as a life of illegal activity usually concludes with incarceration or death.
Season 2 of Power has thematically highlighted the Ghost “happily ever after” fantasy. In this narcotic funded Utopia, he rides into the sunset with his high school sweetheart, overseeing his (now legit) businesses without a care in the world. Unfortunately for him, reality was far more sinister. The ominous title of this episode, “Ghost is Dead” represents the endgame for James St. Patrick. Ghost must die in order for James St. Patrick to live. His exit strategy needs flawless execution in order to succeed. The season finale of Power brought us the culmination of Ghost’s plan, and the repercussions of his actions will provide the foundation for a hectic season 3.
How can Ghost get out of the game alive? Here were the key components of his plan
The Drug Operation Needs To End
Joe Proctor, always angling for more business, let’s Ghost know that he should keep him on retainer if he plans to continue his business. Proctor tells Ghost that with Lobos in custody and the witch hunt for witnesses, his best bet was to eliminate all ties to “Ghost” and leave the city. Ghost is resistant to this plan, and wants to handle things his way.
The mutiny against Ghost and Tommy turned the entire crew against them. It was time to “burn down The Carter” and clean house. Early on, it seemed that the Jimenez brothers were doing the dirty work for Ghost. Drifty got bodied within the first 3 minutes of the episode, and Vladimir (The Serb) met a similar fate. The hitman left a calling card, the “La Araña” (the Spider) card at every hit. Whomever is killing off the cartel is also texting other people from the deceased member’s cell phones. The USDA’s led by Mike Sandoval, inform Lobos that his NYC operation were dropping like flies, and he might be next unless he gets protection. Lobos holds firm on not snitching (including a hilarious roast session comparing Sandoval to a Telenovela actor) and denies any deal. The misfortune eventually found Lobos, as he was stabbed in cell by an inmate receiving a cell phone and instructions from the outside, dealing the same La Araña card.
Ghost still has respect for Ruiz, even through the double crosses. He goes to Ruiz to inform him of the hits on the cartel and how they have to leave town to protect themselves and their families while this all blows over. Ghost even suggests that Lobos may be behind the murders. Ruiz agrees and proceeds to pack up and leave NYC expeditiously. This leaves Tommy, Ghost and Kanan as the last remaining prominent members of the operation.
Reclaim Truth and Solidify His Legitimate Business Ventures
Simon Stern has proprietarily schooled Ghost this season. He forced him into a partnership by becoming his landlord, and continues to keep Ghost hooked by offering an unattainable 20% over profit goal in order for him to buy Truth back. The robbery at Truth where the books and money were stolen was met with minimal anger for Stern. Since he “couldn’t prove” that Ghost met the mark because the money was stolen and Kantos failed to enter the figures into the system, Stern considered his success a non factor. Little did Simon know that Ghost had a final trump card in his hand. During Stern’s divorce proceedings with his wife Madeline, she revealed her knowledge of his off shore embezzlement and his two sets of accounting records for Truth. Instead of alerting the authorities, Madeline worked out a deal to get ownership of Truth, along with two other clubs (probably including the Miami club too) and she subsequently signed the rights over to Ghost! Simon won many battles, but it finally looks like Ghost won the war, and his club back. Kantos better update his Linkedin profile!
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Rekindle With Angela and Reconcile with Tasha
Angela wants nothing to do with Ghost since he potentially destroyed her career. She had a hearing on the Isabella Ruiz sketch situation and faced potential sanctions and disbarment, all because Ghost wanted to #FreeTommy. Angela’s love for Ghost supersedes her disdain, and even to the possible detriment of her career, she still protects him. She goes to Sandoval and portrays Greg Knox as a stalker who couldn’t handle her moving on to another man. While “mistakes were made” with James St. Patrick, that didn’t mean that he was a drug lord. So, instead of Greg and Angie presenting Sandoval with a case against Ghost, Greg was suspended on sexual harassment charges.
Since Ruiz left town with Isabella, she wasn’t present to give her testimony regarding Angela and the illegal sketch, so Angela was acquitted! Pretty convenient huh? Now that her career is somewhat salvageable, and Ghost has the businesses to leave the drugs behind she was more receptive to be with Jamie.
Kill Kanan
Shawn let Ghost know all he needed in regards to Kanan’s true intentions. Kanan was looking for retribution, and Ghost needed to finally rid himself of Kanan so he can move forward. He tells Tommy about the cartel flipping on them, and devises a plan to infiltrate Kanan’s crew. Tommy approached Kanan with anger towards Ghost about possibly setting him up with Lobos and working with a lawyer to release him. Kanan trusts Tommy and tells him about Ghost and Tasha setting him up to be jailed for a decade. Tommy never heard this story. He also tells Tommy that he killed “pink sneakers” to which Tommy also wasn’t aware, because Ghost told him that he killed pink sneakers. While Tommy still sided with Ghost, these inaccuracies within the information Ghost provided bothers him. Dre still tries to convince Ghost that he wants to work with him, after Kanan killed his own son and lied to Shawn’s mother about his whereabouts. Ghost finally seemed to warm up to Dre, who reported back to Kanan that Ghost has no clue about what’s in store.
Kanan tells Tommy to lure Ghost to an underground location so they could kill him. It was a double cross and Ghost was waiting for Kanan. Tommy however never arrived. Ghost and Kanan get into a brawl, and Ghost deal the final blow with a broken glass shard to the abdomen. He proceeds to set fire to the location and lock Kanan inside. Ghost seems to have ended Kanan’s terror for good (?).
While Ghost’s plan seemed to work well, he didn’t account for some key variables:
Holly Returning
Holly shows up to confess to Tommy that Ghost paid her to go away. Tommy was truly in love with Holly and furious with Ghost. When he meets with Ghost after the Kanan fight, he informs him that he purposely missed the Kanan meeting and didn’t trust Ghost anymore. He thinks Ghost is gone, and trying to be something he’s not: legit. Tommy knows the drug life is all he has, but since Ghost wants better, Tommy feels discarded. Ghost then reveals that HE killed off the members of their operation for their disloyalty and encouraged Ruiz to leave too. The game was over. Tommy loses it and the guns come out and Dre is there to back up Ghost. Looks like Ghost has a new lieutenant. Tommy tells Ghost to leave the drug to him, go run his clubs and leaves him alone forever.
Lobos Surviving The Hit
While in his Truth offices, Ghost discovers one of the bloody La Araña cards. This was a message that Lobos survived and knows Ghost was behind the hit. Laying in his hospital bed, Sandoval brings him a cell phone and he calls Tommy (via one of his goons) to offer him the NYC operation. The only condition is that he kills Ghost, and he “sweetens” the pot by threatening to kill Tommy, Ghost, Holly and his dog if Tommy didn’t choose correctly. Seriously, the dog got pressed too. Lobos is tired of being humble!
Knox Still Searching For Evidence On Ghost
Hell hath no fury like a ex-boyfriend on suspension because his lady left him for a drug kingpin. Knox wants retribution for his false suspension and lets Angela know in a drunken, stalkeresque tone that he is still building a case against Ghost and will take Angela down with him.
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Tasha Discovering That Shawn Was Murdered
Tasha didn’t hear from Shawn about their morning rendezvous and couldn’t believe that he would no call/no-show. After speaking with Tommy and hearing that Ghost damaged Angie’s career for the sake of “the family’, she wanted to hear for herself. Speaking with Ghost in his hotel, she asks if it’s really over with Angela, to which Ghost retorts “Is it over with you and Shawn?”, and the arguing commenced.Ghost tells Tasha about Shawn attempting to kill him, and how he told Shawn to leave New York.  As reckless as Ghost’s affair has been, he argues that sleeping with Shawn, along with direction from Kanan, put their family at jeopardy. Tasha later receives a phone call where she was called down to the morgue to identify Shawn’s body. She’s distraught, but now believes that Ghost was behind the murder and will seek revenge.
Kanan Resurrecting
The end of the episode shows us that no body was discovered in the fire after the Kanan-Ghost fight. We also see that someone broke out of the room. Is Kanan still alive? If he is, then you can truly live through anything, including a major stab wound and a gasoline fire, if Magic made it!
As we end the season, Ghost isn’t as comfortable as he thinks. He has multiple threats staring him in the face, and there’s no clue how he will deal with these issues. He might want to heed the advice of Nas in Belly in order to stay alive.
What a season!
To hear my review and the open questions left for us going into season 3 of Power, Listen to That ADHD Show and the Power Season Finale Podcast!
