S01.E05: Choose Your Battles

[Scarlett45]

Air Date: August 15, 2021

[mxc90]

08/15/21. Happy Birthday Kanan.   

Raq was fierce. Her tirade to Kanan and Marvin motivated me to clean my room and do the dishes.

"We shake hands when we negotiate, we throw hands when we renegotiate. You don't want that Papi!". Ouch Raq! Ouch!

Every time they kept telling us Detective Howard has "no family", I should have seen this soap opera twist coming. Now let's see Kanan get talked into being a donor. Kanan looks nothing like Howard. He's lucky he had the blood to test.

It was odd to hear Raq tell Kanan she was showing him how to cook because if something ever happens to her, she wants Kanan to be good and able to survive. What happened to all that talk for Kanan to go to school? How quickly she gave up on her dream for him to get away from this life.

Nicole was playing with fire every time Juke was is the house and they made out. She had to know her parents were going to walk in at some point. At least, she didn't lie and blame all on Juke.

The actress playing Nicole mom seemed like she was delivering from the heart (well done lady). Probably was done in one take.

Juke quickly should have made a plate of spaghetti to go before she left the house (it's a long trip back home). Almost thought Juke was going to take her anger out on those couples.

Still don't trust Jessica. Now that Crown has no money, there's no need to mess with him. It's soon to be Lou's studio.

I thought Crown told Famous to be real? He was rapping the same BS. Juke did sound nice.

Surprised Marvin had the upper hand on Lou in their fight. I thought Lou would be the better fighter even if he is younger.

Scrappy is a dead man. No way he can be spy for Raq for long. Nique will catch on quick to this.

Interesting tidbit about the Van Wyck Expressway.

Juke immediately thought it was Davina that told (there's that future cop instinct). Kanan was quick to protect her. Could this rift and the situation with Nicole be the reason Juke leaves for Maryland.

Felt bad for the man getting a beating in his apartment. What's to stop him from giving the police an anonymous tip and move away from the location Raq setup for him?!

Detective Howard: "Kanan is from royalty". I was waiting for him to tell the lady detective that Kanan is the last from Ned Stark's bloodline (Oopps wrong show).

Lady detective looked at Symphony like she wanted a piece.

So is Raq going to treat Symphony (like Marvin and Kanan) for not telling her he had to get Kanan from the police?

Marvin lost his baby mama to a New York Knick player.

Playing "The Choice Is Yours" seemed appropriate.

[AntFTW]

9 hours ago, mxc90 said:

08/15/21. Happy Birthday Kanan.   

Raq was fierce. Her tirade to Kanan and Marvin motivated me to clean my room and do the dishes.

"We shake hands when we negotiate, we throw hands when we renegotiate. You don't want that Papi!". Ouch Raq! Ouch!

I'm in love with the actress!

The store owner's wife is loving Raq slapping down her husband. He's clearly an abuser. His wife is loving every bit of Raq's dominance over her husband.

9 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Every time they kept telling us Detective Howard has "no family", I should have seen this soap opera twist coming. Now let's see Kanan get talked into being a donor. Kanan looks nothing like Howard. He's lucky he had the blood to test.

I feel that's where that was leading and I assume Kanan will say no... and so will Raq since Kanan's a minor.

9 hours ago, mxc90 said:

It was odd to hear Raq tell Kanan she was showing him how to cook because if something ever happens to her, she wants Kanan to be good and able to survive. What happened to all that talk for Kanan to go to school? How quickly she gave up on her dream for him to get away from this life.

I felt so conflicted about this. Kanan isn't giving up on this drug game dream. No matter how much Raq shuts it down, he's shoving his way in despite her resistance. Kanan is gonna keep doing stupid shit behind his mom's back, like shooting Buck-20 or fighting Scrappy or getting product from his uncle or bringing his dumb ass back to the stash house, that pushes him further and further in the game despite Raq's best efforts at shutting it down.

9 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Detective Howard: "Kanan is from royalty". I was waiting for him to tell the lady detective that Kanan is the last from Ned Stark's bloodline (Oopps wrong show).

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

I'm in love with the actress!

The store owner's wife is loving Raq slapping down her husband. He's clearly an abuser. His wife is loving every bit of Raq's dominance over her husband.

Patina Miller is gorgeous and fierce and bringing her A game. 
 

I know that store owner is going to end up dead and his wife will probably arrange it. 
 

Now we know why they call Laverne, Jukebox! That’s so precious. Poor Laverne I knew that was going to happen when she said the parents were downstairs. Also I’ve been black my entire life and was raised by black people and I have never seen black people make spaghetti that way- noodles, sauce, cheese in the oven…..that’s like a baked spaghetti….I’ve seen plenty of black people make lasagna or stuff shells in the oven (duh) but not spaghetti. Maybe it’s a New York thing. (Of course I’m one person with one lived experience but that’s why Jukebox was cracking me up saying that black people make spaghetti a certain way)

[Joimiaroxeu]

Wonder how Raq would feel about Symphony dealing with Kanan behind her back? That might be outside of his job description as her fcuk buddy or his teacher. Maybe he's doing it at Raq's behest since she really seems to want Kanan to like him.

Does Famous not know Juke is gay? I can see things going wrong if he finds out and decides he can "fix" her, in the worst possible way. 

Aw shid, Kanan's father is a cop? A cop who needs bone marrow from a close relative? Guess we'll see whether Howard ends up dying by natural causes or not because Raq won't be having Kanan know Howard is his daddy.

Quote

Lady detective looked at Symphony like she wanted a piece.

I ain't mad at her. Symphony is not a snack, he's a full course meal. 😛

Quote

Detective Howard: "Kanan is from royalty". I was waiting for him to tell the lady detective that Kanan is the last from Ned Stark's bloodline (Oopps wrong show).

Did we know before this episode that Kanan's last name was Stark? Whatever, there's gotta be an Iron Man joke in there too somewhere.

[AntFTW]

7 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Did we know before this episode that Kanan's last name was Stark? Whatever, there's gotta be an Iron Man joke in there too somewhere.

Yes. On the original Power series, we learn that his full name is Kanan Stark.

[AntFTW]

22 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Now we know why they call Laverne, Jukebox! That’s so precious.

Right! I loved that.

23 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Poor Laverne I knew that was going to happen when she said the parents were downstairs.

That was kinda predictable. What I thought was unrealistic was them not hearing Nicole’s mom walk in and say “hello” (or whatever it is that she said).

26 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Also I’ve been black my entire life and was raised by black people and I have NEVER seen black people make spaghetti that way- noodles, sauce, cheese in the oven…..that’s like a baked spaghetti….I’ve seen plenty of black people make lasagna or stuff shells in the oven (duh) but not spaghetti. Maybe it’s a New York thing. 

You and me both…

When Jukebox said “in the oven”, I said “on what planet? Not this one”

[Scarlett45]

55 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Did we know before this episode that Kanan's last name was Stark? Whatever, there's gotta be an Iron Man joke in there too somewhere.

That was in the original power. 

 

55 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I ain't mad at her. Symphony is not a snack, he's a full course meal. 😛

🤣🤣🤣. I’m dying that’s so funny. 

[AntFTW]

9 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Does Famous not know Juke is gay? I can see things going wrong if he finds out and decides he can "fix" her, in the worst possible way. 

I’m finding Famous to be a very annoying character.

[Scarlett45]

10 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Does Famous not know Juke is gay? I can see things going wrong if he finds out and decides he can "fix" her, in the worst possible way. 

Kanan is the only person who knows Juke is gay. I think Raq suspects and is waiting for Juke to tell her when she is ready. Marvin (Juke's dad) may suspect too, but I am more certain Raq knows than he does. I wasn't really getting that vibe from Famous, I see him as being the comic relief among the friends. 

 

37 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

I’m finding Famous to be a very annoying character.

I think he is supposed to be the comic relief and represent the innocence in this world. 

[Scarlett45]

So, on Kanan being the Detective's son- I think that Stark (the original Kingpin) was Raq's steady,  Stark goes away, Raq and has sex with the Detective- later learns that she is pregnant. Given how close the time line is, she very well could've thought it was Stark's son, until he was born and the math didnt add up. Remember in the 1970s there are no home pregnancy tests and in 1975 I am not sure there are ultrasounds as standard care (so no way to age the fetus accurately during the pregnancy).

Being Stark's woman, the mother of his kid gave her respect in the drug empire. NO WAY was she messing that up by telling the Detective (and the community) that Kanan is not Stark's son. Also no one wouldve been counting that closely besides maybe the grandparents. Stark is away- best case she could write him, say she was pregnant, and send him a picture later, just lie about the birth date.
 

As we see Raq didnt partner or have more kids. I think there is a reason for this. 

We now know what happened to Jukebox's Mom, she left them for a Knick's player.

[MCMLXXVII]

I thought it was a little off that rich upper East side folks would just be having “spaghetti” in the first place. 😂 From what I recall of the early 90s they would have bougied it up- pasta primavera, linguine, orecchiette, or whatever. 

[Tara]

Wait a minute……the Van Wyck was built so whites didn’t have to drive through a ‘hood and the Brooklyn Bridge was built so whites could get into Manhattan and move away from the blacks who were moving into Brooklyn? Wow.