This week marks the highly anticipated debut of STARZ’s Power Book IV: Force. The third spinoff of the Power franchise catches up with Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora) as he is gone from New York City.
Tommy Egan is back in the Powerverse with his own series Power Book IV: Force. We last saw him on the season one finale of Power Book II: Ghost as he and Tariq parted ways. Now that Tommy is on his own, he is out for blood.
The first words that I said upon watching this week’s Power Book II: Ghost is “That escalated quickly.” I said that once the news about Zeke’s real age became public during his press conference.
In celebration of the world premiere of “Power Book IV: Force”, STARZ hosted a star-studded, intimate premiere on Pier 17 in New York on Friday, January 28.
It was only an amount of time before the truth will begin to come out on this season of Powerbook II: Ghost. And all it took was for this episode for that to be revealed.
This week’s episode of Powerbook II: Ghost held nothing back as every character tested their own limits. That is because with the trial coming up very soon, there is zero time to be wasted anymore as it is running thin.
STARZ’S Powerbook II: Ghost returned today to kick off their second half of the second season. We last saw Tariq St. Patrick being taken away in handcuffs and today, he is out on bail.
Last week’s ending of Powerbook II: Ghost left us a question of “Who’s the daddy” with the shocking reveal by Mecca. This week’s ending went from that to “daddy’s home” with Lorenzo returning home with Monet and their family.
But that was not the only thing that left us speechless. When things seemed to be going fine with
Tariq as he gained legal guardianship of his younger sister, disaster came looming at his doorstep as he is arrested for the murder of Detective Ramirez and Jabari Reynolds. And how do you add extra salt in the wound? By having Tariq read a letter from Ghost. Ghost made sure to write that letter before he passed away and that letter was vicious! I wish Ghost’s voice was the one that narrated the reading of the letter as the scene played out.
Tariq was also lucky that he was not the guard Mecca cut open. Cane saw that in person and he must really know what he is dealing with now. I wonder if that would have happened if Cane would have confirmed that he knew Tariq when he was caught. Everything that happened with Tariq on this episode is poetic to the teacher’s topic of karma earlier on in the episode as he cannot escape his own sins as Caridad Milgram said.
It is a good thing to see Zeke free to go however. Now he can focus on getting drafted on the NBA. I do wonder if the previous interview will affect his spot. But Monet sure put her words on Caridad to stay away from Zeke however.
With all of these developments, I am intrigued on what is coming next. Especially since Lauren was also involved in getting Tariq arrested since they had a wiretapped conversation. Imagine if the both of them will stand on opposite sides in court? That would be an ugly sight to see! Great episode this week with awesome acting from the cast of Powerbook II: Ghost.
This week’s episode of Powerbook II: Ghost featured the arrest of Tariq St. Patrick for the murder of Jabari Renolds. At the scene of the arrest, Brayden was there to witness it. After that scene played out, there will be some questions that will carry over to the next few episodes.
In this exclusive interview, Brayden himself Gianni Paolo talks about that scene and much more about this season of Powerbook II: Ghost!
The Knockturnal: Tariq was arrested the moment he went back to the campus and the first person he saw was Brayden. Do you think the general discussion will shift from him being arrested to Brayden possibly telling the police that the badge belonged to Tariq?
GP: “I guess it could be. It could be perceived that way. I do not think he wouldn’t get anything out of it, in my opinion, but you never know. So yeah, I think I actually like the way how in the Power universe, it’s like anything could be anybody. Like sometimes they’ll frame, it can be like, ‘Oh, well, it could have been this’ kind of like what they did in the final season of Power. When Ghost died, they promoted the last few episodes like ‘Oh, who? Who killed Ghost? It could have been this person.’ So that’s what I kind of love about Power. They do a really good job of making the drama and being like, ‘Oh, who actually did it?’ I think at the end of this, it’s kind of like no one really knows what’s going on.”
The Knockturnal: This season we also saw Brayden with Cane again. Last season, he gave him a test of trouble and he passed, and this season, he did it again with digging up the officer’s body. So what are the conversations between yourself and Woody like when the both of you are preparing for these scenes?
GP: “I love working with Woody. He’s so much fun. Michael Rainey Jr. is obviously one of my best friends in the world. The second we get the set, there’s chemistry and we already know what we’re doing, what we’re getting into. But with Cane (Woody McClain) is kind of like a wild card because those scenes are kind of crazy. Every time I get on the set and I work with him, we’re doing something wild. So I love working with him because it’s just such a great switch up from the scenes that I have with Tariq or the normal scenes that I have with my family. And obviously it’s always action packed, which I love filming and doing too. So, yeah, working with Woody, He’s great, he’s unbelievable. He’s probably one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. So, you know, we just have a great we have great chemistry and obviously the fans see that.”
The Knockturnal: There was an interesting scene between yourself and Michael where you two used the mechanical brick wall to hide the product and to exchange. Do you have any stories of how that was built because I was convinced that was a normal wall.
GP: “I got to the set and it was already built and they had showed me it. I’m an actor. And because of that, I don’t know how to build stuff like that. So it always kind of blows my mind when you read it on the script and you’re like, ‘Good luck’ because I don’t know how this is going to come out. And then once I put the phone up to that thing that popped out., I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy.’ So yeah, it was kind of cool how they did that. It’s wild to me because I don’t know anything about that world of engineering. And I saw it and I was like ‘Wow, this is nuts ‘ And everyone loved it, too. Everyone thought it was genius. Everyone’s like Brayden is really stepped it up, but I didn’t build it. But you know!”
The Knockturnal: BMF is also another successful show on STARZ and Powerbook II: Ghost has had a ton of success as well. It seems like the fans are putting the shows against each other regardless of one being fiction and another being non-fiction. What is your stance on this from the fans of both shows?
GP: “It’s a great show and I love it. It’s just that I don’t even think there really is a competition. It’s just kind of 50 Cent, you know, doing what 50 Cent does. And it’s smart. It’s a genius move because everyone’s just talked about it. And obviously, if you saw me and Meech Jr. on Instagram, you saw that we were going back and forth. Me and Michael Rainey Jr and everyone that whole day, all four of us were posting each other. We got on the Shade Room and it was on everywhere. So it was just a lot of fun like, we’re just kind of, you know, throwing digs at each other. And it’s great. The fans love it. The fans have fun and they feel like they’re involved in it. It’s great. You know, we have no bad blood with them, like it’s just kind of all fun and games. And it’s just great for the shows and I love it. I love the competition, you know? I’m a competitive kid. I grew up playing sports. I’m always like ‘Now we’re better. We’re better!'”
Powerbook II:Ghost’s Shane Johnson has played the Cooper Saxe character since the original Power series. Once made it his mission to take down the St. Patrick family, is now currently defending them. Saxe paired up with Davis MacLean (Method Man) in order to do so while also continuing his career. In this exclusive interview, I speak with Shane Johnson about the current storylines on the second season of Powerbook II: Ghost while he also gives his thoughts about the show being picked up for a third season.
The Knockturnal: You worked with Michael Rainey Jr. from when he was younger to his current age.
SJ: “it’s been really cool working with Michael because i’ve gotten to see him since he was twelve when he started on the original show. He’s really grown into a fine actor. and a great dude. We have a lot of fun. We’re friends. I could be his dad age wise. It’s been really cool to see him develop to the point where he’s carrying a show now. I think he’s a pretty formidable force on screen.”
The Knockturnal: It was announced earlier this week that Powerbook II: Ghost got renewed for a third seasion. How excited were you once you got the news?
SJ: “It’s been such an incredible ride being on this show. This will be nine years playing the same character for me. So it’s been such a blessing and I’m so thankful to the Power Universe gods that are really Courtney A. Kemp and 50 Cent. The other thing that’s kind of cool is that every year, it’s not the same. Every year layers are added and the characters get more complex. You’ve watched the show from the beginning, you know the Cooper Saxe has gone from more of a two dimensional sort of character that was really designed to be a thorn in Angela’s side to now all these years later, a guy that’s really complex that kind of waffles on both sides of the law. And it’s gotten himself a little bit into the dark side now with Davis MacClean (Method Man). He’s got a love interest and his family that pulls him in different directions. You know, he’s got a lot of complexity now. And every year there’s another layer added and it gets more and more rewarding to play and to explore.”
The Knockturnal: Now I want to bring up Saxe’s love interest because Saxe is the one defending the St. Patrick family now and the love interest is the one with the other team that’s trying to figure out the murder case. What we see these two characters clash over this soon?
SJ: “Well, it certainly seems like already they are hiding things from each other. In the scene that took place this week, you know, the sort of bedroom scene you see Cooper get some information from her and it immediately put it to use, you know? So I can’t imagine that friction and that sort of playing both sides of this by being involved with her doesn’t complicate issues, you know? I think the real challenge is going to be if that piece of information does blow up in their face, it’s going to call into question their ethics and what kind of people they really are. How they respond to this situation, I think will say a lot about their characters.”
The Knockturnal: We also saw Zeke being interviewed live on TV. When these interviews happen, it is Live TV meaning that there is no double takes or stopping. Zeke tried his best to not give off the impression that he knew about the murder case but it felt flat and the public eye will think otherwise about this athlete. What was your reaction to seeing this scene?
SJ: “I think that situation with him is really getting in deep. And he’s being questioned by the detective who I think does a fantastic job. Jeff Hephner is just a fantastic actor. You can see that he’s getting to Zeke and starting to like play inside of Zeke’s head. Zeke is starting to realize what his family is and he’s in a dangerous spot. that is a very interesting comment too on where we are at right now in our culture where everything is so immediate and everything is so recorded like I’m reminded of a scene a couple of episodes ago where there’s that character that comes up to Mecca’s loft and he’s filming and he’s like ‘Oh yeah, look at his oh, snap, look where I’m at right now’ while he’s doing Instagram Live. And Mecca shuts it down and breaks his hand in half. It just shows you the mentality of the different generations too. That’s one of the cool things about our show as well as you have. Different generations kind of with different mentalities and expectations playing against each other. You know, you got the college age group and then you’ve got these adults who have lived through a couple of generations now and are looking at these kids going, ‘What are you doing?’ I’m 45. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to do Instagram and I get lost half the time and i am like ‘ Wait, what is this?’ I spend most of my time looking at like cute puppy videos or something. I’m like ‘What am I doing? I got stuff to do and why am I watching puppies run into walls and stuff.'”