Whoa! If you blinked your eyes one too many times, you may have missed some major and minor details in this episode. “Stick and Move†introduces us to three new characters. We find out Unique and Raq share the same connect. (How this isn’t a conflict of interest, I don’t know.) Raq continues to be sneaky by partnering up with Smurf. She also gives Detective Howard some hot tea regarding Unique and his team’s whereabouts. Detective Howard is diagnosed with leukemia (so soon in the season, shit!) and we find out he basically has no family, so that still leaves us confused how he is connected to Raquel. With an ego as big as his, his diagnoses can potentially be the cause for him to act ruthless or even more corrupt in upcoming episodes. Kanan kisses Davina (eye roll), and Raquel and Symphony have lots of hot passionate sex to the tunes of Jodeci. Whew! (*Pauses to take a breath*) But wait, there’s even more. Let’s get into it!
You can’t have a crime drama centered around the drug game without a drug bust. And what makes a drug bust even more thrilling to watch? You guessed it: When the drug dealers outrun or outsmart the know-it-all cops. The struggling rookie cop takes a tumble straight to the ground and gets teased for telling the young man to “grab the wall†(yeah, it’s impossible to do). We also find out why Detective Howard struggled to keep up with one of Raquel’s men. Besides the fact he had on hard-bottom shoes, remember, he has a serious form of leukemia. Raquel’s corner boy takes him all through Southside and crosses the invisible finish line without a scuff on his brand-new Jordans!
It’s interesting to see the dynamic between Raq and Symphony. Besides being equally hot and enjoying sexing each other, they don’t have much in common; they come from two different worlds. This is most noticeable during their post-sex pillow talk where Raq makes a comment about Symphony “still being in college,†showing she does not really know the difference between an undergraduate and a graduate student. As Symphony tries to balance spending time with his drug-dealer “girlfriend†(they ain’t really made it official official yet) and his schoolwork, Raquel persuades him to do his work at her place. When Kanan runs into Symphony in his boxers at the computer, he immediately goes into Jody from Baby Boy mode. The unplanned introduction between the two males causes a little bit of tension between Raquel and Symphony. She rejects any comments Symphony makes about Kanan’s reaction to seeing him. Not surprising, though. By now, we know Raq is overprotective of her son.
After what can be categorized as makeup sex, Raquel and Symphony quiz each other about their intentions. Satisfied with each other’s answers, Raquel, being the alpha female that she is, gives him one rule to follow: Don’t try to save her.
Meanwhile, Kanan has become increasingly defiant with his mother (wait until he finds out she had D-Wiz killed). Not only does he talk back, he showed up to school late, performed poorly on his progress report, and went behind his mother’s back to begin prematurely selling drugs. Their relationship constantly shifts from strict single parent and teenage son to drug queenpin and novice hustler. Throughout the episode, Kanan does not do a good job at “sticking and moving.†In fact, he makes two significant mistakes: underselling the coke for a low price and blowing up the cover to the stash house. Women in the Power universe have a history of being conniving, so it would not be far-fetched to assume Davina can only be trusted as far as we can see her. Kanan, however, is lovestruck (I mean, he did kill her boyfriend). His motive for selling dope was to make money so that he can buy Davina some groceries. Of course, he gets assistance from Marvin and for some reason, I know this will come back and bite both of them in their ass. Appreciative of the kind gesture, the two kiss. I’m not sure if Davina kissed him because she wants more groceries or because she actually likes him. Earlier, when she saw him outside of the stash house, she confronted him about Buck Twenty’s murder for the billionth time, searching for the truth, and as expected, he lied. Oscar-winning performance, if I say so myself. I was glad he didn’t throw D-Wiz under the bus, though. He’s having a really hard time dealing with the death of his friend.
As Kanan lies to Davina about Buck Twenty’s death, Raq lies to Kanan about D-Wiz’s death. Once she notices her son is grieving, she suggests they pay a visit to D-Wiz’s mother. Raq says all the things you’re supposed to say when someone dies, and she consoles both her son and D-Wiz’s mother, knowing that she’s responsible for the teenager’s death. (We see where Kanan gets his cold-bloodedness from.) It is not clear whether or not Kanan has caught on to his mother’s lies.
Jukebox continues to boost the freshest new clothes. Each mission gets more and more dangerous, though. Her relationship with her girlfriend also continues to flourish. Similar to Raq and Symphony, they come from two different worlds. Although her girlfriend is curious about Jukebox’s neighborhood, Jukebox makes it clear that South Jamaica does not define who she is. I wonder how long she’ll be able to hide her sexuality from her family.
On the other hand, there’s not much you can hide from Raquel. It didn’t take her long to figure out that Unique has been making deals with the cops. And although she quickly begins to brainstorm “a large plan,†she is summoned by her boss, Azuma Deen. Concerned by the police bust and potential conflict between her and Unique, he offers several warnings to Raq, and like always when surrounded by powerfully dangerous men, she never folds.
Other Notes:
It would be hard to tell a story about the drug game in the early ’90s without hip-hop. The writers merge the two worlds perfectly!
Marvin is a MESS! He replaced the publicist’s dog, but got her a dog 50-11 times the size of her miniature toy poodle LOL! He was also caught sneaking in his daughter’s room! Not cool. And then, he helped put Kanan on the streets selling for him.
Whew, Raq is vicious! She really sat in front of that little boy’s mother’s face and lied! What is going to happen to her relationship with Kanan once he realizes she did it??
Raq finally got one up on Unique. I’m sure he’s going to retaliate somehow.
It’s refreshing to see these new characters in the Power universe enjoy their love interests. (Remember Holly, Lakeisha, Shawn, the lawyer, and Angela? Yeah, they all ended up dead.)