‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Episode 9 Recap: Monet to Tariq: ‘What’d You Say About Your Father?’
In episode 8 of Power Book II: Ghost, ties were severed with Cane, and Riley was halfway outed by Tariq. Tariq threw an unexpected wrench in his love triangle with Diana and Lauren by getting with Effie, but they made tons of money.
Jabari got more inquisitive about Tariq and followed him, eventually learning about Course Correct. But the biggest moments came through 2-Bit. His extortion tactics and murderous instincts made things more tense between Tariq and Monet.
With Cane exiled from the family for trying to kill Tariq, things were hot heading into episode 9. Here’s a recap of “Monster.”
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Power Book II: Ghost, Episode 9, “Monster”]
The campus block is hot thanks to Cane and Tariq
Cane is a savage, hacking Lil Guap’s associates’ bodies to pieces and putting them in barrels. Lil Guap helps.
At Stansfield, 2-Bit texts Tariq to demand $50,000. Tariq hits Davis to ask for a payment extension, but MacLean lies about a having an expert witness. Tariq says he’ll figure something out. Paula overhears and questions MacLean about gaming Tariq.
Back at Carrie’s, she wants to know about Zeke’s bruises. She pushes him and he tells her the whole story about being jumped and GTG. She wants him to call the cops, but he’s against it.
On campus, Carrie and her colleagues attend a meeting with a detective named Santana about the GTG kid’s pool death. He suspects the murderer is experienced and staged it to look like an accident.
He thinks it was a student. The detective eyes Carrie when she says, “GTG?” out of familiarity, but the dean explains she used to be a prosecutor.
Jabari grows protective of the students against the police when the cop mentions he wants to profile kids of “similar backgrounds.” He and Carrie argue that the students should come forward anonymously to them and they’ll pass pertinent information along. Santana side eyes Jabari and agrees.
Saxe and Davis are found out
Dru tells Monet they need more help doing collections. Tariq shows up to the bar to get more product, but supply is low. Rico’s stolen bricks are what they’re working with. Tariq warns them campus is hot due to Cane sending that now-dead hitter.
Tasha hits Tariq and he quickly mentions Davis’ “expert witness” before hanging up. Tasha’s clueless.
In class, the theme of the week is Frankenstein and what really constitutes being a monster. They talk about prejudice, profiling, and who deserves punishment.
Are monsters made or do they turn into them based on how they’re treated? Tariq gets offended by Lauren’s judgmental opinion. He blows her off after class.
Tasha scrambles during a random cell search. The janitor runs up and asks for the burner and she figures out he works for Lorenzo. Meanwhile, Ott confronts Saxe about the cell search and learns it was clean. He warns this works in MacLean’s favor but Saxe disagrees and walks off. Ott makes a call to an investigator.
Carrie goes through Zeke’s family photos and googles the names. She’s all in the Tejada business now and finds out about Lorenzo, Big Guap, and GTG. Jabari barges in and notices the photo with Dru in it, but says he doesn’t recognize anyone.
Dru visits Cane at Lil Guap’s warehouse and tries to convince him to come to the drop. Rico is coming. Dru spots Lil Guap and wants to know why he’s still alive, and Cane tells him to join the team or be against him.
At the Tejada house, Dru is mad that he’s in the middle. Monet reiterates that Lorenzo wanted him in charge and Cane’s actions have solidified it. He’s upset and wants something else for his life.
Saxe and MacLean meet at the witness’s house. It’s Epiphany the stripper. But Saxe doesn’t know he was tailed by Ott’s guy and photos are taken. Epiphany is talked into testifying about Tasha and Tariq — but on Saxe’s side — because she has an outstanding case. They convince her it will help Tasha and it’s not snitching.
At the dorm, Brayden is still mad at Tariq, but they have to figure out how to move product. They decide to hit up Effie at Yale since Stansfield is too hot.
Carrie questions Zeke about GTG and his family and urges him to report his story so he won’t be tied to the pool murder later. He walks out.
Tasha puts out a hit
Tasha requests a solo meeting with Paula to talk about the expert witness. She finally gets her to spill it’s “Dr. Epiphany Turner.” Paula didn’t know she’s a stripper.
She quickly looks up records and learns Davis and Saxe made a deal. Tasha tells Paula to give Tariq a coded message: “Treat Epiphany the same way we treated Slim.”
Ott confronts Saxe about his deal with MacLean and knows he wants to implicate Tariq. Ott wants Tasha to take the fall and threatens Saxe to take her down and MacLean. Saxe is under the gun.
Zeke tells Auntie Monet about the school investigation and wants to either tell the cops or distance himself from the family. Monet is pissed that Carrie is giving him advice. She asks Diana about Milgram and Diana — always the helpful tattler — brings up the note she saw in Tariq’s bag about a professor sleeping with a student.
Back on campus, the detective gets an update from the professors, and Carrie spills on Zeke getting jumped. She didn’t mention his name.
Paula talks to Tariq about Slim and Epiphany, but she doesn’t realize it’s a message to take the stripper out.
Carrie walks into her office and is startled to find Monet sitting there. She confronts Milgram about boning Zeke and threatens her to mind her business about their family or her job is toast.
Tariq doesn’t want to be a monster
Tariq and Brayden go to meet Effie and talk about Riley. He tells Brayden about Saxe and now he finally believes Riley is a problem. He breaks out when Effie shows up.
Tariq and Effie have a tender moment while doing business, and he confides that he’s not a monster and doesn’t want to carry out what his mom ordered him to do. Effie tells him they’re both monsters and they have to accept it.
He heads to Epiphany’s to shoot her but hesitates once she starts yapping about his lawyer. Tariq puts it together that Saxe and MacLean are in cahoots. She’s oblivious and says if she had money, she’d run because she doesn’t want to testify. He doesn’t kill her but gives her the money he owes Monet.
Saxe and Davis are nervous when Epiphany doesn’t show for court. They have a quick meeting in the men’s room and argue about the stripper. Saxe threatens to expose the photos Ott took, and now they both hate each other.
MacLean confesses the truth to Paula and tells her about the video Saxe has of Tariq. She quits because she’s tired of his secrets. Court reconvenes and Saxe calls Tariq as a witness. Tasha calls him later to tell him.
Tariq is ready to die, Dru is not
Tariq meets Monet at the bar and she’s mad he doesn’t have the money. Cane learns that Rico is eliminating Monet as a distributor. He rolls out to try to stop the hit at the drop.
Monet has a gun pointed at Tariq and he gives a speech about betrayal and hurting everyone who cares about him. He says he deserves whatever he gets. Diana and Dru beg her not to shoot. “Even my father. But even he couldn’t see until it was too late,” Tariq says. Monet asks, “What’d you say about your father?”
Shots are blasted into the bar and they all take cover, but Dru is hit. Rico and his guys drive off, and Cane shows up to see his brother bleeding on the floor. Monet yells at him and asks where he was. After the dust settles, Monet warns Tariq they aren’t done but she owes him for saving Diana.
Paula meets with Tariq and shows him the video Saxe had of him talking to Ghost’s tombstone. She advises him to get a lawyer but not dirty Davis.
At the hospital, Monet tells Cane to leave, but he begs her for a place in the family. He reminds her that she made him into what he is. Monet wants to hear none of it.
Cane calls Ramirez about killing Tariq. He thinks he’s responsible for Dru and everything else. Ramirez calls him stupid and tells him Tariq poses no problem. He almost pulls his gun and tells Cane to go. Cane kills Ramirez, which seems to be a huge mistake.
In the end, Tariq accosts Tameika and winds up telling her the truth about killing Ghost because “he was the monster.” She agrees on that point and accepts the case. Tariq tells her when Saxe calls him to the stand, he wants to confess. 2-Bit is somewhere out there.
