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As one book of Power closes, another opens (or at least, it will open in June). The Starz series finally revealed the identity of Ghost's (played by Omari Hardwick) killer in Power Season 6, Episode 15—but in one final twist another character ended up taking the fall for the shooting to protect their family.
In the episode, titled "Exactly as we Planned," Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.) kills his father, breaking with the plan that was to see Tasha St. Patrick (Naturi Naughton) commit the crime. As he confronted his father, he realized that he himself had become Ghost, and that his father was now the only person standing in his way.
This ending has proved very divisive among fans, many of whom have expressed their dislike of Tariq on social media throughout the show, but anyone who has read interviews with showrunner Courtney Kemp will know that her love of Shakespeare and classical tragedy meant that he was the only character she would have let kill Ghost.
She told Entertainment Weekly: "It has to do with my obsession with Shakespeare, obviously. I mean, that doesn't surprise you. I'm traditional, I'm a classical storyteller. If you go through everything that we've done on the show, you will see classical roots in almost every cliffhanger and wild twist and turn."
Kemp later added: "So, Tariq, the first reason he should do it is he is putting himself in the line of fire for his mother. What do they say to each other, that they're going to protect each other...Then, there's also the fact that he feels like the original injury has been done to him by Ghost. And that's why when he shoots Ghost, Ghost says, 'You can't go back from this,' and Tariq says, 'I wish I could go back, to before you left us for Angela.' It's really that little kid, that innocent Tariq who is so rageful."
After Tariq kills his father, Tasha tells him to get rid of the gun, at which point Tommy (Joseph Sikora) sees him (in a scene we first saw two episodes ago) and Riq sees Cooper Saxe (Shane Johnson) in the club.
The next day, Tariq and Tasha start telling a cover story that Dre killed Ghost, which Tariq gets Saxe to agree to, hiding the fact that he was also at Truth that night with a motive. However, when Dre dies (as seen in Power Season 6, Episode 11), Tasha opts for plan B and tries to frame her boyfriend Q (Trone Marshall Brown).
However, Q knows not to trust anyone, so he went to a diner on the night of Ghost's death and bought a drink, so that he would have an alibi. This leads Blanca (Monique Gabriela Curnen) to arrest Tasha for the murder, and the last we see of her (for now) is in orange in her cell, stripped of her wig and weeping.
In an earlier scene, we get more details of what was in Ghost's will. Tasha gets nothing, while Tariq gets both his and his dead sister Raina's (Donshea Hopkins) share of the estate. However, there's a catch—Tariq must finish college before he gets a cent, in Ghost's final attempt to stop his son following in his footsteps.
As seemingly confirmed by the end teaser, the spin-off Power Book II, coming in June, will see Tariq at college while his mother is in jail—though as we know that Method Man is playing a shady lawyer in the sequel, maybe he could have a hand in getting her out. Before going to prison, Tasha manages to get Stern (Victor Garber) to give Tariq a place at his alma mater Stansfield, which is presumably where we will see him when the spin-off begins.
The closing moments of the Power series finale may also set up another spin-off. As the credits roll, we got a mid-credits scene featuring a young Angela, Ghost and Tommy in high school, which could be part of the upcoming '90s-set Power Book III: Raising Kanan, one of four spin-offs shows that will be part of the so-called "Power Universe" on Starz.
Kemp, however, refused to confirm or deny what this scene meant for the future prequel. She told EW: "I can't say anything, other than...those kids are amazing, that girl was such a great doppelgänger for Lela. That was always how it was going to end. And I'm glad it made you happy. That is what it was meant to do."
Power Season 6 is streaming now on the Starz app.
