Sacrifice: ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Season 3 Episode 8 Recap

TARIQ, BRAYDEN & EFFIE

After he missed work, Kiki (Moriah Brown) shows up at Brayden’s (Gianni Paolo) house to make sure he isn’t freaking out about the Ponzi scheme news. She also lets him know that Monet (Mary J. Blige) has been calling the office all morning to meet with Lucas. Kiki tells him that they can’t have that type of exposure so he needs to handle it himself. When Brayden finally shows back up to work, Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.) discloses that there’s a RICO case being built against them. Brayden shares some bad news with him too. He tells Tariq about the Ponzi scheme and how his Uncle Lucas (David Walton) will out them for dealing at Weston Holdings if they say anything. Hearing that Weston Holdings was a Ponzi scheme, Tariq realizes that his trust fund money is gone. Brayden mentions that the Tejada’s money is also involved to and how if Monet wants it back, they’re screwed.

Stansfield held the congressional debate that Tate (Larenz Tate) was competing in. In attendance were RSJ (Gbenga Akinnagbe), Professor Harper Bonet (Keesha Sharp) and the Weston family. After hearing Tate speak, Lucas felt like they had found the man that could replace Sweeney and all that he did for them. After the debate was over, Harper expressed her discontent with seeing Tate talk to Lucas. Tate uses the conversation as an opportunity to ask Harper to marry him again (Apparently he’s asked before). He tells her that he’s going to cancel the lunch meeting that he and Lucas scheduled. Meanwhile, Tariq told RSJ about Weston Holdings being a Ponzi scheme. Tariq explains that they can’t go through the SEC or he won’t get a penny back. RSJ blames Tariq for the situation they’re in but Tariq explains that he didn’t have anything to do with it and he is also impacted by it so they need to work together to fix the issue.

After Effie barely made it out of the cops grasp, she went over to the Tejada household to tell them that she knows what they did and why they did it but what she couldn’t understand was why they had to leave her in the dark about it. Tariq and Monet apologize and tell her that they needed somebody on the outside and she wasn’t at risk. She lets them know that she understands and she would’ve did the same thing to them. Tariq angrily watches Effie leave with Cane but he doesn’t get a lot of time to feel anything. Monet tells Tariq that she wants a cashier check back for her full amount. This urges Tariq to call Brayden and tell them that they ave to carry out their plan that day. RSJ, Brayden and Tariq met with Lucas later that day. RSJ tells him that he knows it’s a Ponzi. He threatens to call the SEC if Lucas doesn’t return every dollar he invested, Tariq’s trust fund money and the Tejada’s money. RSJ also tells Lucas that if he does anything against Tariq and Brayden, he’ll leave an anonymous tip with his friend at the commission. Lucas realizes that he’s in a jam and agrees. RSJ tells Lucas that he set up a repayment plan and that he should hope the feds don’t find out until he’s paid in full. Lucas mentions how they have nothing to worry about. He was confident because he met with Tate. Harper talked to BruShaundria (LightSkinKeisha) and she told her. Tate admits that he lied to her but tells the truth and lets her know that he accepted a donation from him. Harper urges him to give it back. When Tate declines and explains that he doesn’t like losing, she tells him that he’s losing her. Will Tate continue to work wit Lucas or will he listen to Harper? How will Lucas respond to being strong armed by RSJ, Tariq and Brayden? Will Tariq be able to get Monet her money back in time?

THE TEJADAS

Jenny Sullivan (Paton Ashbrook) and Blanca (Monique Gabriela Curnen) try their best to get Diana (LaToya Tonodeo) to fold. They first tell her that they have her on felony possession with intent to distribute. After she doesn’t fold, they bring up Tariq and how he works with Cane (Woody McClain) and Monet (Mary J. Blige). While Monet and Dru (Lovell Adams-Gray) discuss whether Diana will talk or not, Tariq comes and drops the RICO news on them. Jenny and Blanca turn the pressure up on Diana by telling her about it too. They bring up the deaths of Zeke, Lorenzo, Mecca, Jabari Reynolds and Carrie Milgram to scare her a bit more. Cane makes his way to Stansfield to see if Effie (Alix Lapri) can give him any information on why Diana might’ve gotten roped off by the feds. She tells him that Diana was dealing out of the campus candy store and that she might’ve gotten caught by the camera on the roof. Before Cane can leave, Effie stops him and thanks him for paying for her tuition and doing it without any expectations. Their conversation steamy as they eventually end up having sex. As Cane is about to leave the next morning, Tariq knocks on Effie’s door. She convinces Cane to hide in the bathroom while she deals with him. Tariq offers Effie a way to get back in the business. He tasks her with picking up cups and filling out orders. Although she is originally against it, Tariq tells her he’ll give her one brick a week in exchange for her holding it down for him.

Monet and Dru meet with the Castillos. Monet tells them that they have to shut down their operation for a couple days. She adds that they should lay low until she can dead the police investigation. Although one of her sons is very mouthy and doesn’t like what he’s hearing, Evelyn (Luna Lauren Velez) demands him to be quiet. She says that they will do what Monet says and wait it out. As the Castillos are leaving, Evelyn asks Dru has he talked to Gordo. He says that he hasn’t spoken to him but they’re all good. Cane arrives a little later and Monet tells him about the RICO. She tells him that they’re not moving in product until she says so. She also orders him not to tell Effie what’s going on, which angers him a bit because he realizes they’re trying to set her up. Lastly, she scolds him for putting their money into Weston Holdings. Monet claims that those white people will never want to see them win and now she has to go clean up another one of Cane’s messes. She takes is upon herself to pull up on Lucas at a country club to lay down the law. Lucas understand exactly what she’s saying and expresses that it’s nice to meet her in person. At the penthouse, Cane calls Effie to try to deter her from doing it. His conversation with her is interrupted when he hears Dru upstairs throwing and breaking things in his room. He and Cane watch the television as Everett (Bradley Gibson) comes out as gay to the world and introduces everyone to his boyfriend, who happens to be white. Dru went and got really faded and ended up running into Everett at a bar. The two shared an emotional conversation (while people took videos and pictures) where Dru expressed how he had been feeling since the loss of Gordo. The conversation ends with Everett giving Dru a hug and letting him cry on his shoulder. The video of Everett and Dru ended up going viral. One of the people who ended up seeing it was Evelyn, who knew that they needed to talk to Dru again.

Diana is finally released from the precinct. When she meets Monet outside, she expresses how she wants to be out of the life altogether. She floated the idea of transferring to Spellman the following semester. Monet completely ignores the idea and brushes Diana off. Meanwhile at Diana’s school, Cane and Effie are back at it. They hear a knock at the door and the person says they’re maintenance. In reality, it was the DEA coming to arrest Effie. While they’re walking her to the car, she mentions how the warehouse they arrested at was clean. Jenny lets her know that she’s not being arrested for that but instead attempted murder. The window of a truck rolls down and there is Lauren (Paige Hurd) who identifies that Effie was indeed the one who tried to kill her. All while this is happening, Cane is watching. Will Cane realize that Tariq knew Lauren was alive? Will the Castillos get the information they’re looking for about Gordo? Can Diana get out of the life? How will Monet keep her family in tact?

COOPER SAXE, DAVIS MACLEAN & THE TASK FORCE

The episode began with Cooper Saxe (Shane Johnson) finding Davis MacLean (Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith) getting drunk on a rooftop. Davis was clearly hurt by the fact that his brother wasn’t appreciative of all he did for him. As the two talk, they’re interrupted by a call from Monet (Mary J. Blige), who tells him that Diana (LaToya Tonodeo) has been arrested. Saxe uses Davis being intoxicated as an excuse for him to sneak in and go to the precinct to do her arraignment. As Saxe leaves, Davis gets a text from Tariq saying they need to talk ASAP. When Tariq gets to Davis’ office, he immediately tells him that Saxe is Jenny Sullivan’s criminal informant and that they’re building a RICO against them. Davis initially grabs a gun before Tariq talks him out of making a really bad decision. He urges Davis to act as if everything is normal so that Saxe doesn’t know that they’re on to him. When Cooper Saxe arrives to represent Diana, Jenny warns him that pretending to be Davis’ legal council is too risky and very unethical. Davis sobers up enough to get to the precinct. When he arrives, he sees Saxe and Jenny talking.

It’s obvious that Davis and Saxe weren’t on the same page from the jump when they start talking to Diana. The two basically argued with each other before Diana stopped them. As Diana considered her options (taking the charge or not), Davis purposely spilled a cup of coffee on Saxe. He slickly hands Diana a piece of paper that read ‘Put Saxe on Effie. Trust me.’ Diana does exactly what she’s supposed to do and gives Saxe information on Effie. Saxe believes her and immediately goes to tell Jenny and Blanca what he was told. He expressed how he thinks she can connect the campus drugs, Wall Street and the Tejada street business. Blanca absolutely loses her mind when Saxe admits that he’s giving them privileged information. After Jenny convinces her that it can work and Saxe says that he’s okay with his cover being blown if he’s right, Blanca agrees to put a tail on Effie.

Back at Davis’ office, as Saxe is about to leave for the day, Theo (Jordan Mahome) shows up. He apologizes to them then relays the message that his treatments are already working. A disgruntled Davis makes Saxe leave the room. Theo notices the tension between the two. Davis spills the beans that Saxe is working with the feds. He tells Theo that he only told him because he thinks that it might mess with his release but he will take care of it. Theo urges his younger brother to stop always thinking he’s the smartest person in every room. After the tail put on Effie reports her making a pickup back to Jenny, she calls Saxe to make sure he’s still okay with them moving forward. He says he is and Jenny ends the conversation by telling him to be careful.  As Effie pulls up to the warehouse, the cops jump out on her. She starts to run but is quickly caught due to the fact that she’s outnumbered. They handcuff her as they make her watch them search through the warehouse. Fortunately for her, there weren’t actually any drugs in there. All the drugs had been moved and replaced with sugar. The cops were forced to let Effie go. All this was happening as Tariq watched from his phone. Saxe’s misinformation got him put on the hot seat. He and Jenny argued about whose fault it was that the sting didn’t go right and if Saxe intentionally played her. Jenny tells Saxe that she can’t ask for protection for him anymore. Before he leaves the room, Saxe makes sure to tell Jenny how he truly feels about her. As he’s walking outside to his car, he calls Tariq and leaves a voice message warning him that he’s the only one who knows where Tasha and Yazmin are. He continues by saying that if he dies, the information will die with him also. Before he can finish the message, he’s put at gunpoint by Theo who was camped out in his backseat.

Tariq makes his way to Davis’ office yet again and lets him ear the message that Saxe left on his phone. As they’re trying to brainstorm on where Saxe could be, Davis gets a call. It’s Theo’s doctor and he tells Davis that Theo is still actually dying. Davis calls his brother and doesn’t get an answer. He asks Tariq what time he got the call from Saxe. When he gets an answer, it hits him what might’ve occurred. Davis and Tariq arrive at the helicopter pad that Davis and Theo used to come to as kids. Theo is holding a gun to Saxe’s back as Davis and Tariq try to convince him to not do what he was about to do. Their words fall over deaf ears as Theo shoots and kills Saxe. Davis tries to convince his brother to give him the gun so that he doesn’t have to go back to jail. Theo states that Davis is right about him not going back to jail because they’re both free now. The episode ends with Theo taking his own life in front of his brother and Tariq. How will Saxe’s death shake things up for Davis, Tariq and the Tejadas? Was he really the only person who knew Tasha and Yaz’s whereabouts? Will Lauren or Effie be valuable resources for the Feds now that they’re both technically in their custody?