Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 5 Episode 6 Shows Raq Has Run Out of Moves

Critic’s Rating: 4.1 / 5.0

4.1

Everything is falling apart.

With only two episodes left in the series, Power Book III: Raising Kanan is taking a slow-burn approach in its final hours, setting many different things into motion that are all leading to one inevitable confrontation: Raq and Kanan figuring it out one way or the other.

Whether Raq and Kanan decide to call a truce or go out in a blaze of glory, it’s all heading to these two making decisions that can never be undone.

With a shrunken episode order and a lot of things to cover, this season has felt a bit off-kilter, which does happen when a series knows it’s over. It’s like they remember every single thing that has to be wrapped up, so the season can feel more obligatory than intentional.

It doesn’t help that the series will always be leading into the Ghost and Tommy prequel series, Power: Origins. In a lot of ways, this feels more like a stepping stone for that than a subtle conclusion to the series at large.

None of this means the series isn’t compelling, but with each passing hour, it does feel like the season lacks a certain spark.

There’s still a lot more that needs to happen over the course of the next two episodes to wrap this up in a satisfying manner.

After the beatdown heard round the world on Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 5 Episode 5, Marvin went right to Raq to get to the truth of the matter when it came to Lou-Lou’s death, and all signs are pointing to Marvin not surviving the season.

When you think about Marvin’s character trajectory, he’s put in the work to be a better father with Jukebox, and he’s committed to Raq and the family business, putting himself on the line time and time again.

He’s never really questioned whether he was meant to lead the life he’s living, and while he’s made his fair share of mistakes, he’s always played his part. But now you can see the fight leaving him.

Lou-Lou’s death has just awakened a lot of the anger that’s always inside Marvin, but it’s mixed in with a lot of sadness and confusion, and it’s obvious that he’s at a loss as to how to deal with that.

We’ve seen Marvin go to church and talk with Flossie, and the main takeaway has been that he’s lost right now. He’s hurting, but he’d never admit that because he’s Marvin.

You pair that with his increasing anger towards Raq, and you can see how disillusioned he’s become.

I wasn’t sure whether Raq was going to be fully honest with Marvin about Lou-Lou’s death, but she did tell him the truth, which was interesting, considering he’d already almost killed Kanan.

Letting him in on the full truth could have just pushed Marvin even further over the edge, so it was interesting that was a risk she was willing to make.

She would never outwardly sanction Kanan’s murder, but she’s not looking out for his best interest either; can you blame her?

Marvin’s fate has felt sealed for a little while, and after his talk with Flossie and the episode introducing Jukebox to Amber, this feels like a very un-subtle way to prepare us for his demise.

Could they shock us and have Marvin ride off into the sunset like Unique? I guess. But it’s hard not to think about adult Jukebox here because she’s so unhinged in the future; it’s hard not to think that some of that may be due to her father’s death.

Imagine if all the Thomas siblings died this season. That sentence just gave me a chill. But is it out of the realm of possibilities?

Raq’s about as rattled as we’ve ever seen her this season, and the position she’s found herself in is one of her own making.

Raq and Kanan are the same in the way they both underestimate others and react when they should be taking notes.

It’s been very odd to see Raq on the defensive as much as she’s been because even when it happened in the past, it always seemed like she had a way out. Or at the very least, she’d be able to find one.

Right now, it seems like killing people is her only play, but at what point does that just leave you standing by yourself with nothing?

There was a wonderful theme threading the hour with Kanan placing the blame on his mother for literally everything, while Raq pushed back against the notion, especially in her therapy session.

So often, especially as kids, you can view your parents as being these forces out to ruin your life because they’re the ones who implement the rules and “know what’s best for you.”

Kanan had some of that, especially when we first met him, but his hatred for his mother is more rooted in her deceit than in her mothering style or anything like that.

He’s felt consistently betrayed by her, and so he’s not wrong to blame her at times, but he’s also turned that into his entire personality.

Business problems? Blame Raquel. He almost gets killed for something that was his own fault? Blame Raquel.

Kanan struggles to take responsibility, and you saw that in adult Kanan as well, as he was always someone ready to place the blame on others. Throughout this series, we can now see where that came from.

For her part, Raq’s always operating under the belief that she’s doing things for the greater good, like she always knows best, but she’s really just a control freak who often can’t get out of her own way.

Take, for example, the mess she finds herself in now with Stefano.

She had every right to rebuff Stefano after the events of Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 4, but she’s also gone out of her way to alienate him, piss him off, and she topped it off with a failed attempt on his life.

Did she really think he was going to sit by and not let that go?

Her genuine shock when she met with Hafiz made no sense because after Joaquin’s death she should have seen that coming, and the reason she didn’t is that she’s spread so incredibly thin right now, cleaning up messes she created herself.

So, yes, Raquel, it is all about you because you’ve created so many of your own problems.

I love that even when Marvin pushes back at Raq, he still ends up falling in line because that’s truly the nature of their dynamic at this point. Though one does wonder if that cycle will finally be broken at some point, because all Raq is currently doing is putting them in more and more danger.

Killing Hafiz’s men sends a message, I guess, but it’s not a message of strength. It reads more like desperation.

If you’re keeping score, Raq has Stefano, Hafiz, Kanan, Snaps and Pop, and probably someone else we’re not even thinking about, and Marvin as her only true ally.

Would you put your money on her to win any war right now?

Speaking of war, Kanan is always ready to buck up to someone, just like his mother. He was on the defensive all hour in the aftermath of his beating, and going after Flossie right after Breeze basically told him that not every action needs a reaction sums up Kanan perfectly.

Killing Flossie would have been to get one over on Raq, because that’s where his obsession lies, even if he wants to hide it behind talk of money and work.

I’ve never liked Breeze more than when he bluntly told Kanan that his beef with Raq was his and his alone and to leave everybody else out of it. He also said not to buck immediately, and Kanan disregarded that because he can’t help himself.

The hour ending with Flossie still having a gun pointed at his head is curious because she’s not going to kill him, but if she gets freaked out and ends her partnership with Raq, then Raq’s really screwed in every direction.

It’s difficult to see a path forward for Raq and Marvin, and it’s starting to feel like we should be guessing how they’ll go out rather than how they can save themselves.

Power Book III: Raising Kanan was always meant to end this way, but seeing it come fully into focus doesn’t make it any easier to bear.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• Seeing as how we already knew that Snaps and Pop were behind Famous’s death, Garcia’s quest to find answers was lackluster at best. The only part that got a reaction out of me was the Baptiste of it all because I didn’t really know how heavily involved he was in everything.

• Garcia giving Jukebox the money back and trying to be the one honest cop in New York City is so funny considering everything Jukebox experiences will lead her to be a huge dirty cop in the future.

• This Jarita and Kanan relationship is being speedrun because there is literally no time, and it just makes Jarita look silly because Kanan has been lying to her from the start, and she got over it in about five seconds.

• Marvin and Flossie being best friends bound by grief is one of the funnier elements of this season.

Two episodes left, people!

There are still many plot points that need to be wrapped up before we move fully into the next series, and while I have faith that they’ll get it all done, I’m hoping it’ll be satisfying.

Let me know all your predictions and what you thought of this one in the comments!

You can watch Power Book III: Raising Kanan at midnight on the STARZ app. On linear, it airs on STARZ at 8:00 pm ET/PT in the U.S.