“Don’t Worry, Baby” is a halfway decent episode. It’s clear that Power showrunner Courtney A. Kemp and her crew bit off more than they could chew last week, tossing up one plot development after another — so things slow down considerably for this one. It’s mostly comprised of salacious fillers. Really, there’s no reason for us to see Tommy practically hurling spit out of his mouth as he gets it on with Holly, or Kanan proving his hands work by jerking himself off and pleasuring Jukebox’s girl at the same time. And that all happens in the first 15 minutes!
Pace aside, enough happens in “Don’t Worry, Baby” to keep the story moving forward. Knox gets back on the Lobos task force by finding Ruiz’s whereabouts in San Diego, and brings him in as a key witness. This, of course, worries Angela, since Ruiz could give up Jamie and his (former) place in the whole operation.
As always, James is too busy concentrating on being Mr. Respectable Businessman, finally succumbing to being photographed at his new club Verbatim (something that was a no-no way back in the first season), after Karen Bassett encourages him to build a social-media presence. But he still gets roped back in the old life after getting a call from Dre, who tells him that he heard on the block that Tommy was going to get lit up by the now-pinkyless Dylan, who’s figuratively and literally still sore about Tommy calling out his stepped-on product to Jae Shin.
James briefly jumps into Ghost mode in time, pulling out two cannons and smoking some of the fools who roll up on Tommy. A bleeding-but-okay Tommy comes back to Holly and tells her he thought it was Lobos. Holly, who still hasn’t told Tommy about the baby she’s carrying, does the only thing he won’t do: She goes to the Jamaicans and orders a hit on James.
Once again, these Jamaicans better get in line if they want a piece of Ghost. After Kanan successfully proves he can still steal and smoke at Jukebox’s jewelry heist, running those jewels and killing jewelry-store employee Dirt (I thought that was payback for those “pork rind” taunts last week, but Jukebox ordered the hit), Kanan tells Jukebox of his plans to kill Ghost at a strip club. Jukebox suggests he might need to change his plan up, if only to make sure Ghost pays for his actions.
With all these vultures secretly circling around him, it’s only a matter of time until James goes full Ghost. It almost seems like he’s quietly itching to get into some action. The whole happy-home thing with Angela appears to be losing its luster, now that they’re no longer the on-the-low lovebirds they used to be. (They’ve only smashed ONCE this season! Remember when it used to be every episode?) Let’s face it: These two are so damn sketchy, constantly doing things behind each other’s backs (which comes to a head in this episode when he finds out she went to see Tasha, and she finds out he paid her rent), I’m shocked they’ve held it together for this long. Even Angela’s sister, who comes over for dinner, tells James straight-up that this may not last.
You have to feel for Angie when she dumps the last of the wine into that glass near episode’s end, telling Jamie that a happily ever after might not be in the cards. As much as Jamie tries to convince her that she’s all he’s got, you know Ghost will eventually be back in the machine.
Some Stray Thoughts:
- So, I’ve been calling the Koreans the Chinese these past two weeks? Man, I’m no better than Tommy when he thought they were Japanese. Sorry about that.
- It looks like Kanan is sweet on Jukebox’s girl. I mean, he gives her a bracelet from the heist and they get busy in the kitchen again. (This time with full penetration, complete with a shot of 50 Cent’s bare ass — or was that a butt double?) Either they’re all gonna have a crazy-ass love triangle, or the two cousins are gonna battle it out.
- Lemme say one mo’ gin that Naturi Naughton has been killing it this season. She coolly owns all of her scenes, whether it’s when Tasha reminds Angela of the choices she’ll make now that she’s with Ghost, or when she’s schooling Holly on the choices she has to make now that she’s with child. I loved how she easily picked up on the pregnancy — “Girl, you’re about to cry for no reason!” — or simply lamenting to her girl LeKeisha about how she doesn’t remember who she was before she met Ghost.
- Joseph Sikora has a couple of decent moments too, particularly during Tommy’s bonding session with Tariq and his brief confession with Jim Norton’s Ramones-loving priest.
- Seeing Dre get his flirt on with Bassett (while quietly irking James) instantly made me think they’re gonna get their fling on. Perhaps Dre will stumble upon something Bassett is hiding from James — could she be a spy for Simon? — which might be what James’s security guy was trying to tell him before he took that phone call from Dre.
- We really didn’t need to see 50 Cent jerk off. Just saying.
