S01.E06: Level Up

[Scarlett45]

Air Date: August 29, 2021

 

Quote

Lou’s new artist showcase becomes the nexus of the rivalry between Raq and Unique. At the same time, Kanan cooks up a drug-selling scheme with Marvin.

 

[mxc90]

Yes Raq! Streets do need a body and one fell right at your door steps.

I knew Scrappy was a dead man. Although, didn't think it would come this quick. At least, he didn't go out being seen wearing torn underwear.

Note to Scrappy: if Nique calls you a "Turncoat" to your face, it may be a sign your cover has been blown.

So Raq's house get shot at and now Scrappy's body is dumped there. Raq needs to move. Do the police need any more evidence to keep her under tight surveillance.

Seem odd/awkward to say "RIP D-Wiz" and follow with "Streets need a body". As if he was sacrificed for a higher purpose or crazy ritual.

I thought either Famous or Nicole or Jessica was going to die tonight. 

What exactly was Nique's man's plan? Was he going to shoot Lou and expect to make it out alive? That was suicide mission.

I also thought, Marvin was going to walk in and catch Nicole and Juke together at the house.

Kanan and Juke's talk was nice.

Jessica says "you're Juke's girl". So she knows Juke is into girls and Juke's family (except Kanan) and Famous don't know? 

Of course, it was Famous to get cold feet!

What's with Burke telling Juke about "things' she knows? Maybe Burke likes women too. Could she be an influence on Juke's decision to join the police. 

I'm glad 50 brought up how rapper's lie in their lyrics.

Not sure how those lyrics made Kanan think of Davina. I thought he was thinking about Famous lying.

Davina was ready and had protection handy (one left BTW). Kanan needs to pause, question was that drawer filled with condoms, who else and how many been there. 

The inspector had to be dumbest mother f$%#? around. He did his homework on Raq, still showed up alone and thought he was going to get a piece to seal the deal. 

Raq showed him no respect with that paltry amount of cash she tossed him to look the other way. Lesser people got fatter stacks.

Good job Marvin for carelessly leaving tools lying around, not properly cleaning up at night, so Raq can find a hammer to use.

Wouldn't his rotting corpse leave a smell for the next door neighbors? But in those apartments, the smell is the least of their complaints about things to be fixed.

I'm impressed Marvin got him in the wall, didn't dirty his clothes and still made it in time for the show.

"Mr. Bookman" is a whiny maintenance man. All his scenes are just him crying to Raq about him getting in trouble or you can't do that here.

See Symphony! Kanan paid attention to your white people/Van Wyck story! This will be another venture that will get Marvin on Raq's bad side.

I doubt this is the last we see of Symphony.

Clueless doctor to Detective Howard: "You don't look well". That's because I'm dying!

Good luck getting Raq to consent, Detective Howard!!

What was the point of scenes with the rowdy clown dressed in the pink suit Lou had to talk to and why was he even allowed in the VIP section? 

Barbershops are too good for Kanan?!

Raq had to make sure Lou and Marvin knew their place and who's supplying them with money.

"Pay my grandma!" Her hearing worked well without an hearing aid to know she won BINGO. She probably heard every drug conversation Dean had. Maybe Dean should think if she was the snitch.

Dean found out Smurf was the one to talk to Raq. Wonder when he found out or if he told Nique. Nique wasted his time killing his so called best friend without gathering all the facts.

For a moment, I thought that was Nicole with Famous in the bathroom stall.

It's a matter of time until the bodega owner gets his beating for continuously hitting Julia.

Edited August 30, 2021 by mxc90

[AntFTW]

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

I thought either Famous or Nicole or Jessica was going to die tonight. 

I thought so too… with a good amount of certainty.

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Raq showed him no respect with that paltry amount of cash she tossed him to look the other way. Lesser people got fatter stacks.

Haha! I thought the same. Then I thought to myself “…ain’t his business. The inspector don’t know that.”

[AntFTW]

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Good job Marvin for carelessly leaving tools lying around, not properly cleaning up at night, so Raq can find a hammer to use.

Wouldn't his rotting corpse leave a smell for the next door neighbors? But in those apartments, the smell is the least of their complaints about things to be fixed.

Really bad place to put him. His corpse is gonna stink up the building. I initially thought Marvin was gonna leave the inspector in there alive. I was like “this doesn’t seem like a well thought plan.”

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Barbershops are too good for Kanan?!

Nope but he’s a mama’s boy

[mxc90]

22 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

Really bad place to put him. His corpse is gonna stink up the building. I initially thought Marvin was gonna leave the inspector in there alive. I was like “this doesn’t seem like a well thought plan.”

Bad plan.

When Raq said "make him a meal", I thought he was going to be fed to an animal or tossed in the river with weights on. I'm still trying to understand Raq language.

[ybrik]

Poor Scrappy didn’t even last an episode as a spy. Of course with a name like Scrappy he was always doomed. 

I can see why Unique put the hit on Lou. If Scrappy is for real there is a possibility of getting rid of Raq’s right hand man. If Scrappy isn’t for real then this will probably expose him. 

Man that scene with Kanan and Juke in the restroom at first is a really nice scene until you remember where this all heading. 

Wasn’t worried about Nicole being shot but was somewhat worried that something could happen to her at the show with all the male attention she as drawing. 

Waiting for Marvin to find out about Juke and Nicole’s relationship. I have a feeling that if Raq suspected or knew that it is one more thing that is building between Raq and Marvin. 

Okay glad that I wasn’t only one thinking that Det. Burke seemed to be suggesting that she might also be gay. I do wonder if she will help Juke in not only with guiding her to be a cop but also with her father finds out. I think the continual bringing up of Burke’s father is intentional. 

[Scarlett45]

13 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Jessica says "you're Juke's girl". So she knows Juke is into girls and Juke's family (except Kanan) and Famous don't know? 

She said “you’re Juke’s home girl (BFF).” I don’t think she knows that Juke is gay. 

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, ybrik said:

Okay glad that I wasn’t only one thinking that Det. Burke seemed to be suggesting that she might also be gay. I do wonder if she will help Juke in not only with guiding her to be a cop but also with her father finds out. I think the continual bringing up of Burke’s father is intentional. 

You weren’t the only one. My Mom also said to the screen “Maybe that’s how she (Juke) ends up being a cop.”

[Avaleigh]

My guess is that Nicole is going to end up getting addicted to drugs. That scene made me think of the character Mel on Snowfall. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that's where this is headed for her character. 

1 hour ago, ybrik said:

Man that scene with Kanan and Juke in the restroom at first is a really nice scene until you remember where this all heading. 

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Based on what we've seen so far there's nothing that justifies how Juke became so evil in Power. 

Raq is still my favorite character. That being said, what was her plan if that hammer hadn't been left there? I was certain that she wouldn't really go there alone. 

[ybrik]

Oh man, Nicole getting addicted to drugs? Hadn’t thought about it but that could make sense. Not only with we saw from her this episode but for two other things. With Juke not able to go to Nicole’s place, they are going to have to hang around in Juke’s world more so Nicole might feel a need to try to fit in more and taking drugs could be a start. Then there is Marvin starting with Kanan’s idea which will specifically start selling to white people. Juke’s father being the cause of her girlfriend getting addicted and whatever comes from that is one of those things that can start leading into turning Juke into who she becomes. 

So is the Brooklyn guy going to be someone that Raq is going to have to team up with to get rid of Unique. Or is he an outside threat that forces a temporary truce with her and Unique?

Agree with y’all in not understanding Raq’s plan with the inspector. I almost think that everything she is dealing with got the better of her and in anger thought she could just deal with the guy on her own. 

I am wondering about the abused wife and.her apparently having a brother in the business. So she has connections but her abusive husband is still alive and abusing her? I need to know more about this. 

[benteen]

This might have been the best episode so far and it had more to do with the characters other than Kanan.  Mekai Curtis still does some good work as Kanan, particularly with Jukebox.  It is sad to see where that relationship is going to end.  When you look at this series, you realize that everyone we see here is probably dead or in jail, long forgotten for the most part.

Yeah, I think Nicole is headed for a bad end.

Terrific work by Patina Miller and Hailey Kilgore.  That building inspector should have just taken the money and moved on from there.  Even knowing she was a drug dealer, he couldn't leave well enough alone and he paid the price for it.  I never expected Jukebox to be such an engaging and even likable character here after seeing how she'll be when she grows up.

 

[Scarlett45]

10 hours ago, ybrik said:

Agree with y’all in not understanding Raq’s plan with the inspector. I almost think that everything she is dealing with got the better of her and in anger thought she could just deal with the guy on her own. 

I am wondering about the abused wife and.her apparently having a brother in the business. So she has connections but her abusive husband is still alive and abusing her? I need to know more about this. 

I think Raq's plan was to hand him some cash and give him a talking to, and IF he got lippy she was going to threaten him (hence the gun). The dude went to violence quickly (we were not surprised, but I think Raq didnt expect it that quickly). Not that I think Raq cannot handle herself, but anyone can be attacked. 

The brother might not know, he may be in the business but might live in Jersey and not see her all the time. He may travel back and forth from where they are from (Columbia did they say?). I can believe she is ashamed and didn't share with her brother she was being abused. 

[Tara]

On 8/29/2021 at 8:22 AM, mxc90 said:

At least, he didn't go out being seen wearing torn underwear.

hahahaha……apparently every mother’s worst fear for their kid. 😂

[Joimiaroxeu]

Okay, Raq is helping the store cashier Julia get some personal agency but is she also going to get Julia killed by her abusive husband? He might notice Raq talking to her.

What kind of car did you have to pump the brakes in order to open the glove box?

So the building inspector did know who he was dealing with. Apparently he didn't get the whole story though because Raq wasn't ever going out like that. She better hope he didn't tell anyone he had a late night appointment with her.

Dontcha hate when you gotta risk messing up your good clothes while you dispose of some guy who tried to rape your sister? 😉

Kanan and Jukebox had a great friendship.

Raq, no. You had a good man who was looking out for your son as well as putting it to you good and proper. Don't dump Sympony for one mistake. 😕

So who was that Brooklyn guy Lou had to let into the club when Raq showed up? What an idiot, trying to push up on Lou's girl and then on Juke's girl who doesn't even swing his way.

"Writin' rhymes ain't the same as doin' crimes." Rap and hip-hop in a nutshell. At least 50 always had the real street cred. (Someone on reddit said that line was 50 throwing shade at Ja Rule.)

Whee, everybody was getting lucky after the showcase. Everyone except Raq, lol.

Poor Scrappy. Raq better give him a raise and a long vacation after what Nique's people did to him. (Re comments upthread, I guess posters didn't see him twitch? He's wasn't dead. Not yet anyway.)

That "Streets Need a Body" song slaps. Until you pay attention to the lyrics.🙄

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For a moment, I thought that was Nicole with Famous in the bathroom stall.

I did too! I couldn't figure out why she'd cheat on Juke right at the showcase. Crack is a hellova drug but Nic likely isn't addicted and making bad decisions because of it quite yet.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Joimiaroxeu