Article first published as POWER Review on Seat42F.
STARZ airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on Starz.
Power | Omari Hardwick
Starz’s
latest attempt at a scripted series, POWER, is about as good as their
last few efforts, unfortunately. Like the canceled Magic City, the show
follows a mobster who wants to be an honest business man. Like the
now-gone Boss, the lead is a complex guy trying to win out over those
that are against him. Like a huge number of organized crime movies,
there is death, nudity, and a familiar cast of characters, trying to get
the audience to root for our hero to escape, but as most of these type
of films do, POWER falls short.
The
pilot, “Not Exactly,” which aired last night, introduces us to James
“Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick, Dark Blue), an extremely successful
kingpin who dreams of owning a night club. Now that he has said club,
he’d really like to go on the straight and narrow, building the kind of
life he imagined he would have before going down the dark path. Can he
do it?
One obstacle in Jamie’s way is
long-time friend and current business partner Tommy Egan (Joseph
Sikora, The Heart, She Holler), who is enjoying their current situation.
Tommy sees the club as an extension of their laundry mat scheme, a
front to launder money, not a serious effort. This puts him at odds with
Ghost, who doesn’t feel comfortable trying to convince Tommy of his
goal yet, preferring to allow his friend to believe they are on the same
page.
Another issue for Ghost is his
wife, Tasha (Naturi Naughton, The Playboy Club). Tasha met James before
he became a big-time drug dealer, prior to being rich, so we know she’s
not just after his money. But she is quite happy with the wealth they
have accumulated and has no desire to turn off the tap, not believing
that owning a club is enough of an income source. Strangely, though, she
claims to just want more attention from Ghost, which doesn’t quite gel
with her comments about their money nor her actions in “Not Exactly,”
giving Ghost few chances to prove himself before testing the cheating
waters.
Tasha and Ghost have a
terrific family, whom Tommy also cares about, but this means different
things to different characters. Ghost wants to provide his children with
a legitimate means of support, not endangering himself or them. Tasha
wants to give their kids the best, though she also doesn’t want to spoil
them, seemingly another contradiction for the role. Tommy is the fun
uncle who likes everyone and is well liked, which will make Ghost’s
inevitable betrayal that much more painful when Tommy is cut off from
the whole clan.
To make matters more
complicated, “Not Exactly” brings in Angela Valdes (Lela Loren, Gang
Related), Ghost’s old girlfriend. Ghost sees her as a symbol of what he
was and desires to be again, which means he can’t quite stay away from
her, even though he claims to love his wife and be happy in his
marriage. Angela, of course, is actually with law enforcement and is
hunting Ghost, not knowing yet that her query is the man she’s never
gotten over.
It does take several
paragraphs to explain what’s going on, but POWER is not complex or
ground-breaking. It’s extremely similar to other efforts in the genre,
and the production, while slick, is also fairly two-dimensional. POWER
looks good, but it’s all surface, lacking the true depth and complexity a
compelling drama needs. The characters are just not interesting or
unique enough to care about, making the whole thing rather boring. The
acting is pretty solid, but the material isn’t very intriguing.
Even
the frequent use of mirrors, both literal and figurative, and I’m not
just talking about in the theme song, seems too on the nose. We know
Ghost is reflecting on who he was, who he is, and who he wants to be; we
don’t need to be constantly reminded of this time of self-evaluation.
Does he like what he sees reflected back at him? Who cares? If he wants
to make a change, he should do it, not just keep playing around with
Tasha, Angela, and Tommy, not telling any of them what’s fully going on.
What
could save POWER is a sense of threat or a ticking clock, prompting
urgency to change. Neither is really there. The cops have no real lead
on Ghost, and Ghost’s boss is not coming down on him at this point.
These things may happen later, but should be present in the set up. They
are not, which makes the whole effort seem rather lackluster.
There’s
also the draw for 50 Cent fans of the singers involvement and
contribution to the soundtrack. Not being someone who cares for this
particular artist or his product, that is not me, nor will it be the
vast majority of the potential viewership. Perhaps those who like 50
Cent will see something of his music in the plot, but I can’t say that
for sure, not being familiar enough with his repertoire.
Every
month, I wonder if I should keep my Starz subscription, as none of
their series ever seem to rise to expectations. And every time I’m on
the verge of cancellation, another announcement of a show coming on the
horizon makes me pause. But with shows like POWER, the network is
definitely not doing itself any favors, failing to compete with the
quality of FX or Showtime, let alone AMC or HBO. Subscribers expect
better, and we’re not getting it.
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