‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Season 1 Episode 8 ‘The Cost of Business’ (2024)

Jukebox stands outside of the church where Nicole’s funeral service is being held. Kanan is by her side, although he attempts to talk Jukebox out of going in, she does anyway. She stares at the photos of Nicole with eyes still and filled with pain. As people enter the church, there are whispers about what caused Nicole’s death. Nicole’s father spots Jukebox and tells her she should not be there and of course enters Nicole’s mother being the “Karen” we all know she is. Jukebox and Kanan leave the service but not before Kanan tells Nicole’s parents that Jukebox loved her. Kanan tries to get Jukebox to go with him but she has other plans.

She waits outside of Nicole’s house waiting for her parents to leave. She breaks in and heads to Nicole’s room. Juke finds the music video the pair recorded at the mall. She watches the video and breaks down into tears. Nicole’s father discovers Jukebox and tells her they called the police not knowing she was the one that broke in. Nicole’s mother begins to shout at Jukebox, blaming her for Nicole’s death and handing her the empty vile of crack that killed her. The police arrest Jukebox but she is released due to an officer from Queens asking her to be pardoned. We are pretty sure that was Officer Burke.

Raq returns a favor to Juliana by killing her abusive husband, Gabriel. I mean we knew he was out of here. At breakfast, Lou Lou presents news about the blue caps to Raq and Marvin quickly tries to cover it up by saying it was a dealer from the Bronx bringing the bad drugs in. Raq orders Marvin to find whoever it is and tell them they need leave their turf. She questions Lou Lou on his loyalty to her considering Unique tried to flip him but he assures her his loyalty is with her.

Meanwhile, Unique blames Raq for the blue caps and feels she is purposely trying to sabotage his business by creating a heavy police presence. Officer Malcolm and Burke get a tip that Lil Rob was the one who was selling the blue caps. When they serve Lil Rob with a fake warrant he tells the officers that Kanan was the one he received the blue caps from.

Now that Malcolm has leverage, he confronts Raq on still not telling Kanan the truth about who his father is. In the conversation we discover that Malcolm was an undercover cop and Raq was only 16 when he slept with her and got her pregnant. We also find out she and Death Con had never been physical with one another because Death Con was gay. Malcolm puts Raq on the clock to tell Kanan the truth otherwise he will arrest Kanan for the blue cap deaths and tell everyone that Raq slept with a cop.

Later that day, Raq confronts Kanan on his horrible decision making which has resulted in her doing heavy clean up work. She also tells Kanan that he chose to work with Marvin who is a former addict himself. In her rage, she admits to Kanan that she had D-Whiz killed to protect him and that Kanan is the one at fault for D-Whiz’s death. Raq rage does not end there, she goes to see Marvin. After hitting him with a two by four piece of wood, she tells Marvin how much of a f*ck up he has been and that she is done with him. She tells Marvin to take whatever drugs he has left and give them to Lou Lou. He is out of the business.

Lou Lou and his lawyer present paper work to Crown Camacho. All of his favors were intentional. Lou Lou wants to do a debt to equity swap where he will retain 50 percent ownership in the record company. Crown wants to negotiate the contract but Lou Lou pulls out his gun and reminds Crown he has no leverage, half of the company will be his. Smart move. Lou Lou later tracks down Unique. Raq orders him to pick up some dry cleaning which turns out to be Unique’s customized jacket.

Later that night while Jess is over, she celebrates Lou Lou’s ownership in the label and gets right in to discussing what he needs to do for her brother Famous. Lou Lou rejects her ideas and it turns into a nasty disagreement with the two of them prompting Jess to leave.

Kanan goes to see Daveena and finds out that she and her sister were picked up by Child Protective Services. Daveena’s mother died a month ago and with no one available to take on the kids, they had to go to CPS. Kanan is broken by the news. Jukebox and Kanan both meet up to talk. She tells Kanan that Nicole died after smoking the crack she got from him. He expressed deep remorse for what happened but Jukebox does not blame him. Jukebox blames their environment. She is beginning to come to the realization that being from where they are from means that they will experience trauma and tragedy no matter what. I think we are beginning to see why Jukebox becomes a police officer.

Unique gathers his crew together. He has organized a hit on someone. Not only are guns involved but a couple of Molotov co*cktails.

Marvin goes to see Toni at the club. After the pair have sex, he asks her for money that he is owed. She tries to get Marvin to give details on what the money is for but he refuses to deal with her game and leaves. Of course we find out Toni was attempting to record the conversation for the police in exchange for her freedom. Thankfully Symphony has his ears to the club streets.

Raq has her meeting with Joaquin and he asks her about the nature of her relationship with Officer Malcolm. He admits that his people have been following her. She tells Joaquin that every dealer has a cop in their pocket so it;s not big deal. Raq tells Joaquin that she killed Gabriel for Juliana, proving she takes care of those that take care of her. Joaquin still needs to make sure everything Raq is telling him is valid.

Lou Lou enjoys a drink while the Isley Brothers “Footsteps in the Dark” plays. Raq calls him for a task but he does not answer the phone. He’s off tonight. Meanwhile, Unique’s crew pulls up outside of Lou Lou’s. Worrell throws the first bomb in and the rest of the crew immediately begins shooting into the house. Worrell throws a second bomb in. Lou Lou finds a gun but is struggling to shoot and breathe.

Marvin is riding up and the guys begin to shoot into his car, resulting in him crashing. Marvin breaks down the door to Lou Lou’s house screaming for him. He finds his brother and carries him out of the house. He places him on the street and begs Lou Lou to stay with him. Marvin yells for someone to call an ambulance.

Takeaways:

I think we knew it would be Lou Lou after the exchange at the diner. This will likely be the thing to bring the family back together.

Detective Malcolm came out swinging tonight. He finally has the upper hand for now.

Finding out Raq was Death Con’s beard was the shoe I did not expect to drop chile. MESS!