#Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 Episode 4 Review: The Prince

Tariq really inherited Ghost’s business sense.

But then again, intelligence has never been Tariq’s problem. He’s a smart kid, but he’s impulsive and emotional, and his tendency to think he knows best has consistently gotten him into trouble.

In the past, his parents were always there, whether he wanted their help or not. He’s solely on his own now, and Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 Episode 4 continued to show Tariq navigating his new normal and trying to do whatever it took to get money and help his mother.

The decision to go into business with Stern’s husband, and not tell Stern about it, will surely be an issue in the future, but in the interim, it was a pretty savvy decision.

In a day and age where you can do nearly everything on your phone, setting up an app to get product delivered to your door under the guise of help with your education is a genius concept.

But he had to know that Monet was going to be curious as to how he was making his money.

There’s a bizarre dynamic between Tariq and the Tejada’s at this point. He very much threatens Cane, Diana is falling for him, Dru respects him but does what is asked of him, and Monet sees him as a means to an end but doesn’t trust him.

Everything between Tariq and Monet is fraught with tension, but as long as Tariq does what he’s supposed to do, things should remain civil. However, his budding relationship with Diana could further complicate things.

Not an episode passes where Monet doesn’t preach the importance of family to her children, and you have to wonder if the more and more she pushes, the more they decide to rebel in the end. And does Tariq use those cracks to try and weasel his way in?

Tariq is a quick thinker, and he’s excellent at exploiting people’s weaknesses. He did grow up in the St. Patrick household, after all.

His quick thinking got his drug dealing campus rival kicked off campus, and it also got Paula off his throat about where he was earning large sums of money from.

But to this point, things are going so well for him that you figure something has to trip him up eventually.

And that trip up could come in the form of Cooper Saxe.

The Davis and Saxe battle continued to drag on, with Davis hoping to get Saxe off the case. And bringing in some old faces to bring Saxe down sounds good on paper, but everything goes off the rails spectacularly once they’re in front of the judge.

Saxe is dirty, that pretty much goes without saying. But is anyone on this show clean?

Everyone has lied, cheated, stole, or committed a crime to achieve their desired goal. Blanca may not have liked what Saxe was doing, but she went right along with things if it meant she had a chance at getting what she wanted.

And Tate. Well, Tate has only ever cared about one thing; himself and his burgeoning political career. He knows Ghost is guilty of everything, but telling the truth doesn’t do anything for him, so he follows the DNC’s lead and pushes the narrative of Ghost being an upstanding citizen.

Tate: Look, I know you gentleman don’t want me to say what I actually know to be true. That James St. Patrick was a murdering, lying, drug dealer, who fucked all around town. And put hands on his wife.

Mak: Correct. We certainly can’t have you saying that.

Both witnesses do little to help Davis. And he’s not even aware that Saxe has his niece running an undercover operation to get more information on Tariq.

Tariq is too smart to open up to a stranger randomly, but Brayden is a whole different story, and it remains to be seen whether or not he’ll be the one who ends up screwing up in the end.

I haven’t been shy about not loving the Carrie and Jabari story because it feels disconnected to the rest of the plots. They aren’t uninteresting characters, but what do their history and current toxic arrangement have to do with everything else going on?

Their dynamic is intriguing, as they’re two people who care deeply for one another but seem to bring out the worst in each another. It’s just hard to reconcile what it all means in terms of the bigger picture.

And that’s something Power has struggled with at times due to the large volume of the cast.

But they both have a connection to Tariq and learning that Carrie has a past with Davis could point to some worlds colliding in the future.

The dinner with Lauren’s family was awkward and funny at times, but it did little besides confirming that Tariq is interested in Lauren and truly cranked up the inevitable love triangle.

How Tariq has time to even entertain either girl with the number of things he has going on is beyond logic, but now he’s found himself really in it, and he’s going to be pursuing both of them.

His little speech to Lauren about being young and exploring his options was cute, but has he met Monet? How does he think she would respond to him potentially breaking her daughter’s heart?

Tariq is forever smart and ridiculously clueless at the same time.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• Davis and Paula having an affair! Oh my!

• Cane is very crazy, and it feels like he’s three seconds away from losing it altogether. When he gets solid proof that Monet and Ramirez are a thing, he’s going to go off the deep end.

• The 2000’s frat party was terrific, and Brayden may get the MVP of the week award for the Cam’ ron outfit. He nailed it.

This was definitely a middle of the season kind of episode, but even though there wasn’t any crazy movement forward, the show continues to deliver.

Tariq is sitting comfortably right now, but as we’ve seen in the past, you should never get too comfortable because there’s always someone out there looking to bring you down.

Were you impressed with the tutoring app?

Are you interested in the Jabari and Carrie storyline?

Should Tariq be worried about romance or stick to his business hustle?

Let me know all your thoughts and remember you can watch Power Book II: Ghost online via TV Fanatic anytime!

Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.