Kanan Stark Is Doing Too Much (And Seeing Too Little) on Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 4 Finale
Has Kanan Stark surpassed Tariq St. Patrick at the most insufferable teenager in the Power Universe?
Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 4 Episode 10 made a compelling case for Kanan. He continued to not see reason and became laser-focused on blaming all the world’s problems on his mother, no matter how many people tried to reason with him.
Ultimately, he chose VIOLENCE of epic proportions, leaving us on quite the cliffhanger as we head into the long wait for Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 5.
All roads were leading towards an all-out war, and while the hour ended with one beginning, the hour was less about the action and more about advancing character storylines, which I found to be surprising but something that worked well.
Power shows have never been all gas at all times, but finales take on a bigger sense of urgency, and they typically do involve the season’s central conflicts coming to a head in some way.
This hour was less about seeing a bunch of shootouts and holding our breath at every turn and more about showing what toll this season has taken on everyone, their relationships, and what it may shape up for everyone moving forward.
Take Jukebox, for example, who started Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 4 in the Army before quitting and not having a firm grasp on what she wanted to do with her life.
We’ve seen various versions of Jukebox, but that’s part of growing up, right? You’re figuring yourself out and discovering what you enjoy and what you don’t, and maybe most importantly, you’re figuring out what makes sense for the life you want to lead.
Jukebox has distanced herself from her family in the past, but if anything, this season showed her how much like her family she was and how discovering that wasn’t as terrifying as she once would have thought.
She’s Marvin Thomas’s daughter, and she’s not ashamed of that.
Jukebox has been subtly changing since the series began, but this was the first season you could really see adult Jukebox, perhaps none more than during her conversation with Raq.
Jukebox has never been shy about sharing her opinions, but she’s never been the loudest person in the room. She has always been content to sit back and let those around her take center stage while she sits back to watch.
But a person sitting back to observe should never be confused as weak.
Jukebox has been privy to her family’s crap for years, and she does know these people better than they may think. While she may not see Jukebox as the monster Kanan has convinced himself she is, she knows that Raq fails to see who she really is, which has always been part of her problem.
I loved that Jukebox wasn’t afraid to say what she meant and didn’t back down to Jukebox, because these adults CAN NOT keep seeing these kids as kids anymore, because they’ve made sure to raise them in environments in which they were ALWAYS going to see and experience things they never should have.
It was also nice to see Jukebox recognize that, unlike Raq, who has done nothing to rectify her relationship with Kanan under the guise of protecting him, Marvin has made noticeable changes to himself and their relationship.
Jukebox not only feels safe with Marvin, but has seen that he is the one person in her life who has always been there, and when things went to disgusting places, he did everything he could to make her feel safe again. And he hasn’t made empty promises.
Knowing that her main reason for sticking around right now was because she didn’t want to leave Marvin, feels like something you could have told me three seasons ago, and I would have never believed it.
I would also never have believed that we reached a point in time when Kanan was completely devoid of any sense.
It feels like there will be this moment where he actually begins to see what’s happening around him and how he’s being used, because adult Kanan was so great at reading what was happening around him and figuring out where to position himself.
And maybe all these events are what turn him into that person. In fact, that’s likely, but seeing his emotions get the better of him time and time again, and him putting every single blame on his mother has been exhausting.
He wanted to blame Raq for Krystal’s death so badly that all he needed was a spark so he could run with it.
Snaps and Pop subtly filled his head with all kinds of nonsense to get him on their side because keeping him close was always going to be a priority for them once they realized Kanan was never going to let Famous’s death go.
And with Krystal now, their best play was to get him on their team where they could keep an eye on him and use him.
Sure, they want to make sure Kanan doesn’t catch wind of the fact they’re the ones murdering his people, but while they cover their tracks, they can also get him to make them some money.
Many fans have wondered FOR YEARS when we’d meet Breeze, considering he played a pivotal role in Kanan, Ghost, and Tommy becoming the men we met in Power. But to this point, we had never met him before.
Considering a new Power entry is on the horizon that will dive into Ghost and Tommy’s origins, Raising Kanan will be on a crash course with that series sooner rather than later with the introduction of Breeze.
He’s an intriguing character on the surface because, like Kanan and Jukebox, we know what will eventually happen to him. This makes seeing his earlier years so interesting as we try to figure out where things may have gone wrong.
His being Snaps and Pop’s nephew was new information, and that adds a new layer to things as well, especially if Kanan ever smartens up and realizes he’s being played by the duo, who should NOT be trusted over your own blood.
Kanan’s conversation with Lou-Lou was the first time I thought he might start to see reason because Lou-Lou may be the person best equipped to have a constructive conversation about Raq.
In many ways, Lou-Lou was Kanan before Kanan was. He was the little brother, and Raq raised him in every sense of the word. As an adult, he became her number two, committing crimes and doing everything else she told him to do.
But Lou-Lou has learned since he got sober and started re-evaluating the totality of his life that he had to stop pushing the blame onto everyone around him and look at himself in the mirror.
You can’t walk through life not owning up to your decisions and actions. Lou-Lou spent a lot of time building up resentments, and maybe some were justified, but he couldn’t put every decision he willingly made on his sister.
And figuring that out for himself, alongside finally accepting every single ugly part of himself, has taken so much weight off his shoulders.
You can see how Lou-Lou has his swagger back, skin fresher than ever, and he’s locked in.
He wasn’t wrong when he told Kanan that Raq’s a lot stronger than the rest of them because she has shouldered a lot in her lifetime, and that doesn’t mean she can get away with being a crap mother and person, but it’s something Kanan should remember when he gets on his high horse.
Raq was in a bad mood during this hour because business continued to stall, and her meeting with Unique made things personal.
Still, her lashing out at Marvin felt like a season’s worth of aggravation coming out, and Marvin just happened to be the one standing in front of her when she couldn’t keep it inside anymore.
‘Day late, dollar short Marvin’ is a tremendous nickname, but not too much on Marvin, Raquel! He’s stood by you more than anyone else, and yes, he’s a hothead who doesn’t think things through, but he’s LOYAL.
He is the one person who hasn’t wavered on her, and maybe that’s why she felt so comfortable casting him aside; she knew he’d come back.
And I hate that for him.
The stage was set for Kanan and Raq to come face-to-face during this hour, but who thought it would be with a gun between them.
Sorry if there is a lot of Kanan bashing from me, but he has been insufferable the past few hours, and his marching over to his mother’s house, ready to kill her because someone said a black woman was spotted coming out of the apartment Krystal was murdered in, really set me off!
Is Raq the only black woman in that city?
He really grinds my damn gears, y’all! And I don’t even think many of his feelings towards his mother are wrong!
He gives Tariq in that he can never see beyond his limited vision, maybe because he’s still a child himself. But if he wants to play adult games, he will need to start thinking like an adult if he wants me to ever be on his side.
This idea that Raq has been trying to keep Kanan all to herself would sound appealing to someone who needs a reason to kill her, but it was never rooted in reality because Raq has never kept that tight of a leash on him until he tried to push her away.
And even then, the leash only went so far.
Raq can claim Kanan is her life all she wants, but she has repeatedly put him in awful situations, and her words feel empty at this point because when has Kanan felt that way over the past few years?
Was it when she wanted him to kill his father? When she lied to him over and over and over again?
The thing about Raq and Kanan is that they’re both right about certain things and wrong about certain things. And that leaves us looking at them both, like, where do we go from here?
No part of my spirit thinks Kanan killed Raq because I think it would have been far more interesting to leave us with Raq being fatally shot and Kanan standing over her dead body, than a gunshot sound over a black screen.
The fact that we didn’t see the shooting makes it far more likely things won’t play out how you think, but now we get to wait however many months until the show returns and we get some answers!
It’s been a privilege yet again, Raising Kanan fans!
Everything Else You Need To Know
- Unique should have sent Pernessa and her whole family outside of the state. Just relocating her was never going to be enough.
- If we live in a world where Kanan did shoot and kill Raq, imagine living a life where you killed your mother and son, and were a to your mother killing your father. Damn.
- What are we going to do next season when Jukebox and Garcia become a legitimate little team?
- Stefano played himself by meeting with Russo all alone and then threatening him! I also love the little nugget about Russo wanting Sal dead because best believe Stefano will use that information when he recovers from being shanked.
Another season down and Raising Kanan continues to be must-see!
As always, I would love to hear from you, and I look forward to connecting when Power Book IV: Force returns in the fall!
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Watch Power Book III: Raising Kanan Online
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