S02.E01: The More Things Change

[Scarlett45]

Quote

Kanan returns to Queens where Raq is trying to mend the many fractures in the Thomas family. As Raq expands her empire, Kanan doubts his future in the drug game. Meanwhile, Detective Howard is released from the hospital.

Air Date: August 14, 2022

Season 2 Trailer.

[AntFTW]

Good first episode.

Finally, somebody has a reasonable reaction when someone rushes their car in front of them and suddenly stops like Lou did. YES, YOU SHOULD BE PISSED... BECAUSE YOU CAN DIE! This is an unusually 'Power' thing to throw in.

TV magic: over a couple of summer months, Howard heals from his gunshot wounds and his cancer is in remission. Sounds like he owes a giant 'thank you' to the Thomas family for shooting him. Had it not been for them, the cancer would have gotten him.

[mxc90]

52 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

Finally, somebody has a reasonable reaction when someone rushes their car in front of them and suddenly stops like Lou did. YES, YOU SHOULD BE PISSED... BECAUSE YOU CAN DIE! This is an unusually 'Power' thing to throw in.

From the Power playbook. A car stop scene! I was hoping she put the car in reverse and got away.

Raq is in Virginia and couldn't go to the beach wearing something lighter or brighter? She got a leather jacket on and wearing all black. Probably 90 degrees that day. At least she was barefoot walking on the sand.

For a moment, I thought Raq walked around Deb's house just wearing bra.

Seems Rodney Dunn taught Raq a lesson on attraction. Now she got Kanan, Lou, Marvin, Symphony and others rapped around her finger the way he had her and the other girls back in the day.

I hope that was the last we see of Symphony. He should stay far away from them.

The way Raq is treating Kanan, he is so confused. Especially from their talk from his bedroom, she is playing mind games on him. I guess the adult Kanan won't come out until she is dead.

That was a big gamble on Raq that Howard has no memory of the shooting and to bring Kanan back home. How can she truly trust someone from the hospital with that information?

What Raq is doing in the building is terrible. People are waiting for the elevator, Raq shows up, they stand back in fear and wait for the next one. Pregnant woman doing drugs! People strung out!

And just like that Howard's cancer is gone! The magic of TV. There was no need for the doctor from season 1 to see if anyone in the NYPD could be a donor. The doctor told Burke: Howard has his lungs intact, no more cancer and is a "medical miracle", so why does Omar Epps still look like shit? Did he find his ring is the more important question of the episode??!!

Howard must live in a nice neighborhood where he is away for 3 months, no one breaks in and robs the place during that time or his car wasn't stolen. And it was nice of the electric company to keep the power on while the bills weren't paid. 

Wonder what Aunt Deb was alluding to with Raq's parents. 

No surprise Jessica is cheating on Lou. This will not end pretty for her and Crown. She didn't even pretend to jealous when Zisa walked in. Maybe Jessica is Lou's downfall.

Curious look on Juke's face hearing Zisa. Does she want to get with her or is she jealous about her singing or pissed Lou is putting her down?

Scrap is a CI? That's a one-eyed Dead man!!!! I would guess Howard will tell Raq.

Did Scrap give any thought to not go to the dice game after Raq told him to stop? He has no fear of her? Even if the cops didn't raid, I'm sure word would have gotten back to Raq.

Jukebox hasn't seen her father in 3 months. Seems Raq should have had that "family" speech to repair Juke/Marvin's problem a long time ago. Also, I can see Raq turning on Lou if keeps being away from family business.

Marvin in Anger Management. This should be funny! Poor Renee is going to regret having Marvin stay. She should have had him sign the sheet and not force him/ insist he stay. Eventually, they'll be in bed but will ruin her. I hope she remembers her breathing technique to cope.

So why wasn't Unique released earlier if there is no evidence?

That scene of Unique fighting the 3 in jail was useless. I could see if the altercation led to him being not released from prison, but he was released anyway. What was the point? The only one hurt from that scene is the guy that said Unique was jumped by them. His ass kicking/soap dropping time has only been delayed. They'll catch up with him.

Why is Raq so sure Worell is going to be loyal to her when he has issues with Lou and Marvin?

Kanan didn't immediately run in the house to tell Raq Howard drove by the house and question her if she was telling the truth about him losing his memory??!!!

Ugh! Famous is a Yankees and Jets fan! He is truly hitting that weed hard. Impressed he walked down the street smoking and not get arrested.

Never play counting fries. Eat it!

Kanan: "Seems like you and Juke really connected". Ha!

Edited August 14, 2022 by mxc90

[AntFTW]

13 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

So why wasn't Unique released earlier if there is no evidence?

Shitty lawyer? lol

20 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Howard must live in a nice neighborhood where he is away for 3 months, no one breaks in and robs the place during that time or his car wasn't stolen. And it was nice of the electric company to keep the power on while the bills weren't paid. 

I couldn't help but wonder to myself would I even have a house to come back to after that.

22 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Curious look on Juke's face hearing Zisa. Does she want to get with her or is she jealous about her signing or pissed Lou is putting her down?

I'm not leaning one way or the other. It's hard to tell. At first, I thought Juke was looking at Zisa like she wanted her but that she could have very much been pissed with Lou.

28 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Why is Raq so sure Worell is going to be loyal to her when he has issues with Lou and Marvin?

We're on the same page. I thought this was really stupid. I'm sure she's thinking his loyalty to money trumps all but... I wouldn't be so sure.

31 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Kanan didn't immediately run in the house to tell Raq Howard drove by the house and question her if she was telling the truth about him losing his memory??!!!

We haven't watched teenage Kanan make the brightest decisions. My expectations aren't high that he would do the reasonable thing. At least question that this man can regain his memory. He's a cop. Cops tend to believe other cops. If Howard tells other cops that he remembers Kanan shooting him, they will likely act on that information.

35 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

That scene of Unique fighting the 3 in jail was useless. I could see if the altercation led to him being not released from prison, but he was released anyway. What was the point? The only one hurt from that scene is the guy that said Unique was jumped by them. His ass kicking/soap dropping time has only been delayed. They'll catch up with him.

I also thought that the purpose of that scene was to show that Unique would stay in jail, but apparently, I thought wrong. He ended up being released anyway. That scene seems to have served no purpose to the story.

37 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

No surprise Jessica is cheating on Lou. This will not end pretty for her and Crown. She didn't even pretend to jealous when Zisa walked in.

I'm over Jessica. Her character can die now or be written off. She doesn't add much to the story.

37 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Marvin in Anger Management. This should be funny! Poor Renee is going to regret having Marvin stay. She should have had him sign the sheet and not force him/ insist he stay. Eventually, they'll be in bed but will ruin her. I hope she remembers her breathing technique to cope.

We're on the same page here LOL

As soon as she introduced herself. I said "yup, they're gonna be in bed together by the end of this season."

[mxc90]

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

Shitty lawyer? lol

Yup. Would have been interesting to meet a lawyer like Proctor walk in demand his immediate release. But these writers would have to have had an interesting way to explain why he was out of jail before their 3 month time jump. 

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

I couldn't help but wonder to myself would I even have a house to come back to after that.

He claims to have no family, so utilities should be shut off? Behind on mortage payments. Place is dusty and smell of 3-month-old garbage.

And someone cut his grass. Burke must have had some free time.

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

We're on the same page. I thought this was really stupid. I'm sure she's thinking his loyalty to money trumps all but... I wouldn't be so sure.

Does Raq have anyone to tell her "No! That is a bad plan"? She is getting too ambitious and think she will not get caught.

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

We haven't watched teenage Kanan make the brightest decisions. My expectations aren't high that he would do the reasonable thing. At least question that this man can regain his memory. He's a cop. Cops tend to believe other cops. If Howard tells other cops that he remembers Kanan shooting him, they will likely act on that information.

Around that time the "Godfather" should have been fresh on Raq's mind. Michael killed that cop and was gone for at least year. She should have kept Kanan away for a long time. 

I sense Burke will be a casualty of this.

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

I also thought that the purpose of that scene was to show that Unique would stay in jail, but apparently, I thought wrong. He ended up being released anyway. That scene seems to have served no purpose to the story.

Unless we see that guy (who was about to get beaten) get out of jail and meet up with Unique in a future episode, it was useless.

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

I'm over Jessica. Her character can die now or be written off. She doesn't add much to the story.

She is easy on my eyes. I'm not there yet. But close to saying goodbye!!!

She did annoy me with her talk to Lou. Such a greedy tramp. 

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

We're on the same page here LOL

As soon as she introduced herself. I said "yup, they're gonna be in bed together by the end of this season."

With Marvin's track record, by the end of next week's episode.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Liked the updated opening credits.

No matter where you go, there you are? Heh, look at 50 quoting Confucius. He better not be bringing that Tariq-ish crap over here though. 😒

Gotta admire how Howard commits to an act. After all this time no one suspects he does indeed remember who shot him.

Lou just found his Rihanna. (Or whoever was the 90s version of Rihanna. Mya? Aaliyah?)

Well that's quite a trap operation Raq has set up in that building. Got rooms for the users to indulge on site, and it sounded like there was some prostitution going on too.

Scrappy betting on MacDonald's fries. He does have it bad.

Famous telling his sister the hard truth. She knows it too, that it looks like her cooch is cost of doing business with Lou. Apparently it's value was overrated.

Howard stalking Kanan is a bad idea. If Raq finds out she won't let him escape another hit.

Was the cold shoulder look a thing in the 90s? I don't remember tops like the  ones Raq was wearing.

Wait, what? Did we know Scrappy was an informant?

Symphony looked like he's lost a lot of weight. Hope the actor is okay.

Watch Famous try to do a collabo with Zisa. (BTWs, according to Wikipedia the actress is half-Ukrainian. Then one scene had Kanan wearing a jacket in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Heh, look at 50 doing some timely virtue-signaling.)

Juke looked at Zisa like she's what's for dinner and dessert. She better hope Zisa swings her way. And that Uncle Lou doesn't get in there first.

Glad this show is back. It's my favorite book next to Tommy's.

Quote

That scene seems to have served no purpose to the story.

I think he wanted word to get out that being locked up hadn't softened him. He's still ready to bust some heads if necessary.

[AntFTW]

On 8/14/2022 at 2:29 PM, mxc90 said:

She is easy on my eyes. I'm not there yet. But close to saying goodbye!!!

She did annoy me with her talk to Lou. Such a greedy tramp. 

I just got there after watching this episode. She was super annoying in this episode. This episode got me sitting at the table of "she can disappear now."

On 8/14/2022 at 2:31 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Famous telling his sister the hard truth. She knows it too, that it looks like her cooch is cost of doing business with Lou. Apparently it's value was overrated.

Famous seems to feel entitled. They're telling him what they want to see from him so that they can invest more time into him, and he seems to pretty much ignore that and assume that his sister's vag should be doing all the work for him. It got him into the door. He has to put it some effort from there.

On 8/14/2022 at 2:31 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Wait, what? Did we know Scrappy was an informant?

I gotta go back and rewatch because this part is going over my head.

On 8/14/2022 at 2:31 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Juke looked at Zisa like she's what's for dinner and dessert. She better hope Zisa swings her way. And that Uncle Lou doesn't get in there first.

I thought the same. Juke was looking at Zisa like she was a whole snack... but I also thought she could have been upset because the new girl is getting studio time and not her. I actually want to see that connection between Juke and Zisa rather can Zisa and Lou because 'Zisa and Lou' is predictable and boring. Maybe Zisa is little too "adult" for teenage Juke but fuck it, I'm down for whatever.

On 8/14/2022 at 2:31 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Watch Famous try to do a collabo with Zisa

He should... and maybe actually write something like Lou said.

On 8/14/2022 at 2:31 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Glad this show is back. It's my favorite book next to Tommy's.

They need to refine Tommy's Book a little more. The plot was messy and all over the place.

Edited August 15, 2022 by AntFTW

[Scarlett45]

On 8/14/2022 at 10:45 AM, AntFTW said:

TV magic: over a couple of summer months, Howard heals from his gunshot wounds and his cancer is in remission. Sounds like he owes a giant 'thank you' to the Thomas family for shooting him. Had it not been for them, the cancer would have gotten him.

Well his shooting and rare blood type alerted the tri-state area cops to his need of his blood type and need of a donor. It’s 1991, so the internet was in its infancy, this was the one way to let a lot of people know in a realistic way and find a match for him not from a blood relative. Yes it’s tv but I buy it!!

21 hours ago, AntFTW said:

They need to refine Tommy's Book a little more. The plot was messy and all over the place.

Yes I agree. The writing was awful. 

22 hours ago, mxc90 said:

He claims to have no family, so utilities should be shut off? Behind on mortage payments. Place is dusty and smell of 3-month-old garbage.

And someone cut his grass. Burke must have had some free time.

He was likely paid injured in the line of duty and I’m sure the police force has someone handle things like that for injured officers that don’t have family. (HR/Social Service support) It’s possible Burke took his check book and just wrote checks to the utilities/mortgage for three months. Also- he was in the hospital for three months, he wasn’t in a coma for three months. Plenty of times people need to be in the hospital but are capable of doing paper work. **
After a few weeks he may have been writing checks and having them mailed out for him from the hospital. 
 

**Howard Ashman wrote the song “Prince Ali” (the last song he wrote for Aladdin) from his hospital bed as he lay dying of AIDS complications. He never made it out of there but the song did. 

[mxc90]

23 hours ago, AntFTW said:

I gotta go back and rewatch because this part is going over my head.

I don't believe there was any mention in Season 1 of Scrap being a CI or had any interaction with the NYPD.

It was curious Peng had Scrap and his mother in the room. Could the mother be a CI too or just her and not Scrap?

Also, wasn't it careless of Peng to mention out loud in the detective's room that he had CIs? He doesn't know if any of those cops/detectives are corrupt.

17 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

He was likely paid injured in the line of duty and I’m sure the police force has someone handle things like that for injured officers that don’t have family. (HR/Social Service support) It’s possible Burke took his check book and just wrote checks to the utilities/mortgage for three months. Also- he was in the hospital for three months, he wasn’t in a coma for three months. Plenty of times people need to be in the hospital but are capable of doing paper work. **
After a few weeks he may have been writing checks and having them mailed out for him from the hospital. 

True. I can see the NYPD requesting suspension of services.

Would be funny if Burke had mentioned to Howard she kept up payments for his "Playboy" magazine subscription.

[saNe]

Can anyone tell which song is playing at 23 minutes when the juke is looking at the photos? please