The Feud Deepens and the Bodies Pile Up on Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 4 Episode 8

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

The feud between Raq and Unique heated up during Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 4 Episode 8, but their beef wasn’t even the most fascinating development from this hour.

No, there was A LOT of killing during this one, and if you’ve been following along with me this season, you’ll be surprised by whose storyline I found the most fascinating.

Hell hath frozen over, and I am willing to admit that I may have been too harsh on little old Lou-Lou since all the boring music stuff led us to those epic final minutes.

Much of Lou-Lou’s Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 3 storyline revolved around his alcoholism and his struggles to cope with his increasingly volatile feelings towards himself and Raq, with whom he placed a lot of blame.

He felt like he wasn’t in control of his life in many ways, which was difficult to understand and even harder to feel like he could change.

Going to rehab was the best thing to happen to him because it allowed him to start facing a lot of challenging emotions in a safe setting, and we’ve seen a sober Lou-Lou this season make a lot of critical and important choices to protect his sobriety.

It’s been a new version of Lou-Lou, as he’s leaned even further into music, made amends with Raq, and feels much more comfortable in his own skin.

But it’s not like the sins from his past just disappeared, never to be heard from again.

Ever since Famous’s death, you’ve seen Lou-Lou a little off-kilter. And while they didn’t dive too deeply into Joyce’s death during the hour, that would undoubtedly have affected his as well.

B-Rilla was introduced as a problem, and it was only a matter of time before he proved his first impressions correctly. But it wasn’t clear how B-Rilla’s extracurriculars would affect Lou-Lou, who’s done the work to keep his hands clean this season.

The thing about B-Rilla is that he may be talented, but he’s not a very smart man. Instead, he’s a desperate one, and that’s where the whole idea to rob Lowell came from: desperation.

Three seconds with Kenyatta could tell me he wasn’t the kind of person used to not getting what he wanted, and once that money was dangled in front of him, he wasn’t going to let one botch stop him from getting what he wanted.

So, with B-Rilla in a bind and incapable of compartmentalizing, Lou-Lou was dragged into his mess, and you could ask yourself, ‘Why would he involve himself in this? He doesn’t owe B-Rilla anything.’

Those thoughts would be correct, but at the same time, since the jump, B-Rilla has been his responsibility. Everything he does reflects upon Lou-Lou, for better or worse.

Trying to talk to Kenyatta and flex a little muscle was never the issue, but the way he was needled clearly hit a nerve that Lou-Lou was begging no one to strike again.

Part of me loved that Lou-Lou got out from under Raq and focused on the fleeting things in his life that actually made him happy. Being her enforcer wasn’t what he wanted, but did you see that gleeful look on his face when he stood tall over Kenyatta to make sure he felt every single bullet in his body?

Lou-Lou chose to fight back. He wasn’t doing Raq’s dirty work or doing something he didn’t want to do.

He was in complete control of his actions, which creates a very intriguing thing for Lou-Lou because I can’t look at his face at the end and assume he won’t find himself pulled back into the “game” in whatever way that looks like for him.

Once a soldier, always a soldier, or whatever 50 Cent said during that voiceover at the end.

The same could be said for Unique, a forever soldier who popped up back from the dead and got to work the second he could swallow solid foods again.

I’ve been talking about this for a bit now, but Unique’s biggest problem has been that everything he’s done has been driven by a need to exact revenge against Raq. That singular focus hasn’t allowed him to see all the pieces on the chessboard.

He doesn’t have a clue Raq is in bed with Hafiz and about to change the game completely, nor did he seem to think that in revealing himself, Raq wasn’t going to do anything to retaliate for the weeks of abuse she took at Unique’s hand.

Killing Quân was a way for Raq to hurt Unique the same way he hurt her, and the fact that no one seemed to predict or prepare for that was a little baffling but not surprising because we’re not dealing with old Unique.

Old Unique would have all his damn ducks in a row and an extra one behind them, but post-resurrection, Unique exists off hatred for Raq and the need to make jokes about rising from the dead every time the opportunity presents itself.

Unique honed in on teaming with Phil Russo because it was his easiest way in, and knowing that Raq had Stefano, he needed another mafia figurehead behind him.

But at the end of the day, Russo is mainly there to get his money. If a play opened up for him, he’d do it, but he’s not starting a mafia war for Unique.

Now, I never fully considered what a partnership with Unique and Snaps and Pops now would look like, and while he only went to them as a last resort, his business pitch wasn’t a bad idea.

Snaps and Pop tend to stay behind the scenes, though, and teaming with Unique puts them front and center in a way we haven’t really seen from them. I wouldn’t bet against them, but there’s a reason they have the cache they do, and it’s because they make smart, strategic moves that set them up for success.

And they wouldn’t insert themselves into a potential full-blown war if they didn’t think the upside was worth it.

Speaking of the always impeccably dressed couple, we found out one of the seasons-long mysteries involved the devilish pair, as it was revealed THEY were the ones that called the police hit on Famous.

I’ve seen MANY theories about who killed Famous, ranging from Raq to Lou-Lou to even Kanan himself!

But I didn’t see many people thinking it was Snaps and Pop.

They were frightened enough by his potentially loose lips to take him out and not think twice about it because they certainly don’t have any loyalties to Kanan at the end of the day.

It was interesting and showed just how much hatred Kanan has for his mother, that he would see her paying the cops and assume it could mean ‘Raq killed Famous!’ but he also saw Snaps and Pop meeting with the cops.

Not only did he not assume they could have anything to do with Famous’s death, but he turned around and asked them for help with the cops!

Kanan (and Unique, for that matter) cannot see beyond their Raq-tinted glasses. They are filled with so much rage that the benefit of the doubt or even simple logic won’t compute for them.

Even if Kanan discovers it was the pair who killed his best friend, I wouldn’t be surprised if he still found a way to blame his mother.

Krystal had the right idea in going to Raq because she’s the only one with some sense. But it’s not as easy as Raq stepping in to save Kanan from himself at this point.

I agreed with Krystal that Raq was skirting her responsibilities by saying there was only so much a mother could do, but Krystal doesn’t understand the depths of betrayal Kanan feels towards Raq.

The history and the pain between mother and son won’t be easy to repair on Raq’s side, but does that mean she should stop trying?

Raq’s backed off Kanan considerably, but their relationship hasn’t gotten better or worse in that time. She can’t sit idly by if she’s that concerned about what Kanan may do.

She should step in and do something, though I’d be lying if I said I knew what that something should be.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• Jukebox is really Team Kanan, huh? She lied to Raq, and she’s been willing to engage his delusions about her.  

• Marvin has made such strides to be a better father, brother, and a more reliable worker, but he still finds himself in these terrible positions all the time. And I fear that in killing Londell, he’s now set up Early to go right to Stefano, which will threaten everything Raq has been building.

• I’m sorry, but David cracks me up. He is unbothered by everything around him.

• O-Cee may not have had a choice when Unique first approached him, but what kept him returning? And why did he think Unique was someone who would help him in any meaningful way?

• Is Gracia just following a new person around every day so he can then ambush them with questions and get absolutely no answers? Is he doing this in his spare time? There’s no way he could be this incompetent on the clock!

We are two episodes away from the end of the season, and as usual in the Power Universe, everyone is on the brink of war.

Agree with my thoughts? Disagree? Have a theory?

Let us know in the comments, or share this article with someone who will want to argue about it with you!

You can watch Power Book III: Raising Kanan on Starz at 8/7c on Fridays.

Watch Power Book III: Raising Kanan Online

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