A few weeks ago, I started watching the series Power.
After years of seeing different followers post about it throughout social media, I had to know what all the buzz was about. I’m currently on season four, and to my surprise, so far, I’ve found the show gripping, provocative, and uninhibitedly entertaining. Though the show is controversial and explicit at times, it’s hard to ignore the contrasts and conflicts happening with the main male protagonist, James “Ghost” St. Patrick, played by Omari Hardwick.
James is a businessman who owns a New York nightclub called Truth, who also happens to be a drug dealer whose main goal, at least at the start of the series, is to leave the dope game and street life behind him and go legit with his nightclub venture. Although he has a questionable moral compass, his mission is clear: self-improvement and progression. He stacks his paper, works tenaciously to get out of the drug dealing business, takes care of his family as best as he can, and strives to make his money legally.
Along with his goal to leave his life of crime behind him, James also has his wife Tasha, three kids, a criminal best friend and business partner named Tommy, a childhood sweetheart turned mistress named Angela, and plenty of enemies, whose lives are inevitably intertwined, complicated, and impacted by James and his actions throughout much of the series. As I continued watching the different twists and turns and the evolution of some of the different characters involved, it became clear that James St. Patrick’s goal would not be one easily attained.
I started to see that who James was and who he was striving to become, were two completely different people. James St. Patrick is a businessman with a vision for a better future and Ghost is a street-smart criminal who slings dope, runs the streets, and can’t seem to escape the world he’s working tirelessly to part ways with. His family and friends don’t seem excited or supportive about his vision to go legit, even if it means a better life for them all, and those involved in the future version of who he strives to be, including his mistress, Angela, can’t seem to fit into his world peacefully or safely either.
James is a complicated man torn between two very different worlds. And I’m uncertain if he’ll finally reach the goal of going legit and the fate of how his story will end, but I do hope he accomplishes what he originally set out to do. I’m well aware of many spoilers from some of the previous seasons, thanks to fans of the show who have frequently posted about the show across social media, and continue to do so, but as the series continues in its sixth season, I’m sure all will eventually be revealed. I’m eager to see how things unfold.