Power — latest news, discussion & facts — IJR

Power — latest news, discussion & facts — IJR

Notable quotes

“Nothing attracts the powerful quite like more power.”
— Ben Aaronovitch, Lies Sleeping (2018), , p. 102
“It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery.”
— Demosthenes, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 455
“Most people can bear adversity; but if you wish to know what a man really is give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never used it except on the side of mercy.”
— Robert G. Ingersoll, (1883), Unity: Freedom, Fellowship and Character in Religion, Volume 11, Number 3, The Exchange Table, True Greatness Exemplified in Abraham Lincoln, by Robert G. Ingersoll (excerpt), Quote Page 55, Column 1 and 2, Chicago, Illinois. (Google Books Full View)
“No matter what kind of promises a man who’s looking for power makes, he’s not going to turn out to be any different from the one he replaces.”
— Mike Resnick, Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future (1986), chapter 3
“Man is constantly being assured that he has more power than ever before in history, but his daily experience is one of powerlessness. … If he is with a business organization, the odds are great that he has sacrificed every other kind of independence in return for that dubious one known as financial.”
— Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences (Chicago: 1948), p. 16
“When I resist, therefore, when I as a Democrat resist the concentration of power, I am resisting the processes of death, because the concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human initiative, and, therefore of human energy.”
— Woodrow Wilson, governor of New Jersey, speech, New York City, September 4, 1912. The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, ed. Arthur S. Link, vol. 25, p. 100 (1978). This speech was delivered to the Woodrow Wilson Workingmen's League "dollar dinner", at the Yorkville Casino.

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Main

Omari Hardwick as James "Ghost" St. Patrick, a high-level drug distributor and nightclub owner. A smart, well dressed and calculated man, yet will not hesitate to kill if necessary. He is married to Tasha, is the father of Tariq, Raina, and Yasmine St. Patrick, and is also romantically involved with AUSA Angela Valdes.

Lela Loren as Angela Valdes, an Assistant United States Attorney tasked with prosecuting Ghost unaware of his real identity. She went to the same high school as St. Patrick and Egan. She is St. Patrick's love interest and mistress.

Naturi Naughton as Tasha St. Patrick (née Green), Ghost's wife and criminal accomplice. She has romantic affairs with Kanan's son Shawn and attorney Terry Silver. She is also Q's new love interest.

Joseph Sikora as Thomas "Tommy" Egan, Ghost's hot headed partner, best friend, and the godfather to his children. Egan is seen as an honorary member of his family.

Andy Bean as Gregory "Greg" Knox, an FBI agent assigned to the Ghost/Lobos case and Angela's former love interest (seasons 1–3)

Adam Huss as Joshua "Josh" Kantos (seasons 1–2; recurring season 3)

Kathrine Narducci as Frankie Lavarro (season 1; guest season 2)

Luis Antonio Ramos as Carlos Ruiz (seasons 1–3)

Greg Serano as Juan Julio Medina (season 1; recurring seasons 3 and 5)

Sinqua Walls as Shawn Stark, Kanan's son who is also the personal chauffeur and loyal bodyguard of Ghost. But he starts an affair with Tasha. (seasons 1–2)

Lucy Walters as Holly, a petty criminal and waitress at Truth and the love interest to Tommy (seasons 1–3)

Shane Johnson as Cooper Saxe, a fellow attorney and Angela's colleague also assigned to the Ghost case. (seasons 2–6; recurring season 1)

J. R. Ramirez as Julio Moreno, Ghost and Tommy's right-hand man and a former Toros Locos gang member. (seasons 2–4; recurring season 1)

Rotimi Akinosho as Andre "Dre" Coleman, a low-profile and ambitious drug dealer. He works with both Ghost and Kanan and eventually becomes a major player under Alicia Jiménez. (seasons 2–6)

David Fumero as Miguel "Mike" Sandoval, a corrupt FBI Assistant U.S. Attorney (seasons 2–4)

Curtis Jackson as Kanan Stark, a fellow drug dealer and Ghost's and Tommy's former mentor-turned rival. Stark is the series' anti-hero. Prior to the events of the series, he was set up by Ghost and Tasha to go to prison for ten years. (seasons 3–6; recurring seasons 1–2)

Michael Rainey Jr. as Tariq James St. Patrick, Tasha and James's son. An honor student, he has a strained relationship with James/Ghost because of his marriage-ending relationship with Angela and lying about being involved in the drug game and being mentored by Kanan. Tariq has two sisters: a twin, Raina St. Patrick, who is later murdered by a crooked police officer, named Raymond "Ray Ray" Jones, when Tariq was involved in pulling home invasion robberies with Kanan and Ray Ray; and a younger sister, Yasmine St. Patrick. (seasons 3–6; recurring seasons 1–2)

Jerry Ferrara as Joseph "Joe" Proctor, a criminal attorney who frequently represents Ghost and Tommy. (seasons 3–6; recurring season 2)

Callan Mulvey as Dean / Milan (season 3)

La La Anthony as Lakeisha Grant, Tasha's friend and criminal accomplice. She is a hairstylist and business owner. She becomes Tommy's love interest in the later seasons. (seasons 4–6; recurring seasons 1–3)

Matt Cedeño as Diego "Cristobal" Martinez, Dre's best friend and a head of the Hermanos Tainos. (seasons 4–5; recurring seasons 2–3)

Sung Kang as John Mak, an Assistant U.S. attorney who leads the case in the murder of FBI agent Greg Knox. (seasons 4–5; guest season 6)

William Sadler as Anthony "Tony" Teresi, an incarcerated Italian-American gangster and caporegime in the Mosconi crime family. He is the father of Tommy Egan. (seasons 4–5)

Brandon Victor Dixon as Deleterious "Terry" Silver (season 5; recurring season 4)

Larenz Tate as Rashad Tate, a New York City councilman who is running for governor of New York. Tate uses James for PR for his campaign, as St. Patrick is viewed as an inspiration to potential urban voters. Tate is a former police officer and frequently participates in corruption. (seasons 5–6; recurring season 4)

Michael J. Ferguson as Francis "2-Bit" Johnson, former accomplice of Dre / Kanan who runs with Tommy (season 6; recurring seasons 2–5)

Mike Dopud as Jason Micic, Tommy's Serbian connect (season 6; recurring seasons 4–5)

Monique Gabriela Curnen as Blanca Rodriguez (season 6; recurring season 5)

Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Ramona Garrity, a political strategist for the DNC (season 6)

Evan Handler as Jacob Warner (season 6)

Recurring

Elizabeth Rodriguez as Paz Valdes, Angela's sister who maintains a dislike for James

Donshea Hopkins as Raina St. Patrick, James and Tasha's eldest daughter and twin sister to Tariq (seasons 1–4; guest season 6)

Enrique Murciano as Felipe Lobos, an international drug supplier who works with Ghost and Tommy (seasons 1–3)

Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Tameika Robinson, the leader of the United States Department of Justice (seasons 5–6)

Victor Garber as Simon Stern, a rival nightclub owner

Ana de la Reguera as Alicia Jiménez, Diego's sister and one of the leaders of the Jiménez cartel (seasons 4–6)

Patricia Kalember as Kate Egan, Tommy's mother (seasons 2–6)

Bill Sage as Sammy, an Irish gangster who works with Tommy (seasons 4–5)

Anika Noni Rose as Laverne "Jukebox" Ganner, a dirty cop and Kanan's cousin (seasons 3–4)

Maurice Compte as Diego Jiménez, a rival drug supplier and one of the leaders of the Jiménez cartel (seasons 4–5)

Avery Mason as Black "BG" Grimace, Tommy's right-hand man and valet

Amaya Carr as Yasmine St. Patrick, James and Tasha's daughter and sister to Tariq

Debbi Morgan as Estelle, Tasha's mother

Denim Roberson as Cash Grant, LaKeisha's son

Ty Jones as SAC Jerry Donovan, an FBI agent working on the Lobos and Jimenez cases (seasons 2–6)

Mattea Conforti as Elisa Marie Proctor, Joey's daughter

Aleksandar Popovic as Petar, a member of the Serbian organization who worked with Tommy (seasons 3–4)

Andrea-Rachel Parker as Destiny, Tariq's ex fling (seasons 3–4)

Tyrone Marshall Brown as Quinton "Q" Wallace, Tasha's new love interest (season 6)

Joseph Perrino as Vincent Ragni, a member of the mob, Tommy and Tony conflicted with (seasons 4–6)

Franky G as Poncho, the new primera for the Soldados Family, after Ruiz

Gianni Paolo as Brayden Weston, Tariq's best friend and business partner

Alix Lapri as Effie, Tariq's new love interest

Omar Scroggins as Spottswood "Spanky" Richards, a childhood friend of Dre's and 2Bit's, who later works under Dre and Tommy (seasons 2–6)

Glynn Turman as Gabriel, Ghost's uncle. (season 6)

Charlie Murphy as Marshal Clyde Williams, a violent guard in Ghost's cell block (season 4)

Jim Norton as Father Callahan, a priest who sells drugs for Tommy

Lee Tergesen as Bailey Markham, a Homeland Security agent and Greg Knox's friend (seasons 3–4)

Sonya Walger as Madeline Stern, Simon's wife

C. S. Lee as Jae Shin, Korean crime boss. (seasons 2–3)

Johnathan Park as Dylan, Jae Shin's son (seasons 2–3)

Richard Ryker as Steve Tampio, a DEA agent Angela deals with

Ian Paola as Uriel Diaz, leader of the Toros Locos

Patrick R. Walker as Alphonse Clemons, former associate of Rashad Tate

Victor Almanzar as Arturo Magdaleno, Dre and Cristobal's right-hand man and a new leader of the Toros Locos

Darrell Britt-Gibson as Rolla, a close friend of Ghost's and leader of the RSK's (season 1)

Danielle Thorpe as Lindsay Proctor, Joey's junkie ex-wife

Mercedes Ruehl as Connie Teresi, Tony's wife

Domenick Lombardozzi as Benny Civello, a member of the Civello crime family and Joey Proctor's cousin

Michael Gaston as Judge Tapper, the judge on Ghost's case

Sheena Sakai as Soo, Julio's girlfriend

Maria Rivera as Maria Suarez, a witness Ghost spared (seasons 5–6; guest season 1)

Vinicius Zorin-Machado as Nomar Arcielo, a Soldado turned informant for Angela (season 1)

Johnny Serret as Sabueso, a drug courier for Ghost

Leslie Lopez as "Pink Sneakers", an assassin hired to target Ghost's operation (seasons 1–2)

Ivica Marc as Drago, Jason's right-hand man

Gus Halper as Alby

Cedric the Entertainer as Croop, a hitman Tate associates with. (season 6)

Audrey Esparza as Liliana, Julio's friend, became Tommy's right-hand woman on Power Book IV: Force (season 1)

Critical response

Season 1 of Power received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Metacritic gives the season a score of 57 out of 100, based on 15 reviews, indicating a mixed reaction to the series. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the season a score of 44%, based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's consensus states, "Power suffers from excessive plotting and the use of overly familiar by-the-numbers story elements."

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter observed in his review, "Power seemingly wants to be a show that tells a big, complicated, meaningful story about, well, the perils and problems of power and how one man deals with them." Critic Brian Lowry of Variety states in his review, "The three previewed episodes of the show, created by The Good Wife alumna Courtney A. Kemp, move briskly enough, but they're still only moderately compelling. And while 50 Cent's participation provides some promotional heft (he has a cameo in a later episode), the allure of such behind-the-scenes marquee names is usually limited. Mostly, this is undemanding escapism with all the requisite pay-TV trappings, along the lines of what Cinemax is offering in episodic form. While that might be a formula to keep Ghost visible for some time to come, creatively speaking, it leaves Power a touch low on juice.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the season a score of 100%, based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. Review aggregator Metacritic gives the season a score of 75 out of 100, based on 4 reviews, indicating a generally favorable reaction to the series. The New York Daily News staff writes in their review, "Power hits on all cylinders as it returns for its second season. Throw a couple of great women into Ghost's life—his wife, Tasha (Naturi Naughton), and his recently resurfaced lifelong flame Angela (Lela Loren)—and you have drama that's hard not to keep watching."

Rotten Tomatoes gives the season a score of 78%, based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the season a score of 83%, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the season a score of 100%, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10.