Subscribe
Cassius Life Featured Video
CLOSE
Power Book III: Raising Kanan Recap: "The More Things Change"

Source: Starz / Power Book III: Raising Kanan

The hood Wonder Years, aka Power Book III: Raising Kanan, is back. Season two picks up three months after the streets of Queens were on fire after Kanan shot his alleged father, Detective Howard, with Raq using the moment to pin the shooting on her nemesis, Unique. Instantly a lot has changed for Raq and the crew.

Raising Kanan Comes Back Home

Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Source: Starz / Power Book III: Raising Kanan

The episodes open up with Kanan chilling on Sandbridge Beach in Virginia, taking in the view one last time. His moment of solitude is interrupted when his mother, Raq, pops up. After a brief conversation about her time as a teen visiting Virginia, she tells her son it’s time to come back home, but the look on his face shows he is not ready to head back to Queens.

Kanan makes that clear when talking to his younger cousins while he packs his suitcase, revealing that if it were up to him, he would stay in Virginia instead of going back to Queens. Kanan is correct because that decision is not his to make but clearly up to his mother, who tells his aunt that Kanan’s time in Virginia was only temporary and her son goes where she goes.

During the drive back to NYC, Raq tells Kanan that Detective Howard is getting out of the hospital, and the news has Kanan shaken. Raq reassures Kanan that he will be good because Howard is suffering from amnesia, so he doesn’t remember anything from the night he was shot.

Detective Howard Gets A Second Chance. His Partner Is Skeptical

Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Source: Starz / Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Last season, Detective Howard was hanging on to dear life after his cancer diagnosis. It didn’t look like he was going to make it to another season to bother Raq and the crew, but getting shot by Kanan actually saved his life.

Speaking with a doctor at the hospital, his partner, Detective Burke, asked about Howard’s sudden memory loss, giving us the impression she’s not buying it. The doctor is convinced that Howard’s memory loss directly results from the trauma he experienced after he got shot. But he also called Howard’s recovery nothing short of a miracle because he came into the hospital with a bullet in his chest and cancer in his lungs. Thanks to a bone marrow transplant from another officer, Howard’s cancer is in remission, and now he has a second chance at life.

Too bad he doesn’t allegedly remember anything, so he might have to start fresh, but Burke still thinks her partner is keeping secrets from her or could be protecting someone.

When Burke brings Howard home, she asks Howard about what happened that night, revealing to him that Unique’s alibi as far as where he was the night of the shooting clears him from being the shooter. Howard still claims not to remember what happened that night, but his memory seems to start clicking again when he picks up a file on Kanan.

The Family Business Is Booming

Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Source: Starz / Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Raq is happy to show off how her drug empire has grown since they framed Unique and got him off the streets—taking a page out of  New Jack City and how Cash Money Brother’s idea to turn an entire project building into a drug operation was a wise move on their part.

Business is so good that Raq wants to expand to another city and wants Lou Lou to head up that operation, but his head is in the clouds, or should we say in the studio. Raq is not feeling her best enforcer not being focused on the family business, but we saw last season that  Lou Lou was losing interest in the drug game.

Lou Lou Has Big Plans For His Label

Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Source: Starz / Power Book III: Raising Kanan

When we catch up with Lou Lou, he is beefing with his girlfriend Jessica about their current artist Famous who is slacking after his first single flopped, and now all he does is do drugs and sleep with women. Lou Lou is no longer interested in wasting money on Famous and drives off and, just by a stroke of luck, pulls up alongside a young woman singing in her car.

After a brief chase, Lou Lou parks his car in front of hers, learns her name is Zisa, and offers to sign her to his label. She also happens to be extremely beautiful, so she could end up being a replacement for Jessica.

Jessica learns about Lou Lou’s new signee when she walks in on a studio session where she tries once again to get her boyfriend and Crown Camacho to put more time and money behind her brother Famous, but that’s not going to happen.

We quickly learn that Jessica is using what’s between her legs to get what she wants and is sleeping with Camacho, and both fear what would happen if Lou Lou found out. Jessica asks Camacho for help, and he hooks her up with a new job in Los Angeles.

Jukebox Misses Nicole, Still Hates Her Dad

Power Book III

Source: Starz / Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Jukebox is still going through it after losing her girlfriend Nicole and that insane fight with her dad, Marvin. She visits Nicole’s grave and leaves a mixtape she made her.

Her dad, Marvin, dodges a bullet and will not face any jail time after Toni snitched on him because she didn’t even bother to show up to the court to testify against him. Still, Marvin will have to do community service or attend anger management courses as part of his “punishment.” Marvin opts for anger management classes instead of picking up trash. His lawyer tells him he could probably work it out and that Marvin only has to sign in confirming his attendance.

While it seems Jukebox wants nothing to do with her dad, she looks to establish a relationship with her estranged mother, Kenya Pierce (LeToya Luckett) after finding a photo of her stored away in a shoebox.

To celebrate Kanan’s return, Raq decides to bring everyone over for family dinner. It’s the first time they have come together as a family since Kanan left. Marvin tries his best to reconnect with Jukebox, but she is not trying to hear a word out of his mouth.

After dinner, Kanan reveals to Jukebox that he is having second thoughts about being in the family business, something he later expresses to his mother.

Unique Is Free & Detective Howard Wants To Talk

Unique

Source: Starz / Powerbook III: Raising Kanan

While business is good, there is still room for things to go bad because, in the world of Power, they always do. Raq and Lou Lou’s relationship is deteriorating, especially after she revealed she wants to hire the same man from Unique’s crew who tried to kill him. So, of course, that is not sitting well with her brother.

Raq also warned Scrappy to stop going to his mother’s illegal card games because if he gets caught, that could spell trouble for Raq and her organization. Unfortunately, Scrappy has a bit of a gambling problem and, against her wishes, continued to attend the card games and, yup, you guessed it, got arrested when the police raided the illegal gambling operation.

During a visit to the precinct, Detective Howard notices Scrappy being interrogated and makes a mental note of that, so we know that will play a significant role later on in the season.

Unique is also getting out of prison. Uncle Marvin was there to see his sister’s rival walk out from behind the prison gates, a free man.

Speaking of Raq, she gets a call from Detective Howard, and he wants to meet. So much for him not remembering anything. It looks like his memory is working just fine.

We will have to wait till next week to see what he has to say, and we are definitely sure it’s nothing good for Raq.

Photos: Starz/Power Book III: Raising Kanan