‘POWER’ IS BACK ON Starz
flicks switch on electric drama series
A S Season 4 of “Power” gets under way Sunday night, James “Ghost” Patrick (Omari Hardwick) is in jail and awaiting trial for killing FBI agent Greg Knox (Andy Bean) — a murder he didn’t commit.
It doesn’t help Ghost’s case that Bean was ex-girlfriend Angela’s (Lela Lorena) lover. In the Season 3 finale, Angela turned on Ghost.
“What makes [Ghost] so interesting is that, whether Angela thinks [Ghost] did or didn’t commit that crime, she doesn’t know how much he’s really done,” says Hardwick. “Angela has turned a blind eye to a lot of things. This is a show where the viewer knows more than the character.” Fans of “Power” — coexecutive-produced by rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (who appears as Kanan) — have been following Ghost’s threeseason journey as he tries to leave the drug world behind and focus on legitimizing his nightclub, Truth, while dealing with his murderous best friend, Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora). And, as we enter Season 4, Hardwick says there’s only one person Ghost can really trust. “Right now, Ghost can trust his daughter, Raina (Donshea Hopkins),” he says. “I did not say Ghost’s son, Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.). I am very definitive on how to answer that question. Ghost doesn’t even know if his lawyer, Joe Proctor (Jerry Ferrara), can be trusted. He can only trust that Tasha will take care of his kids [in] the task of being a mom.”
Another ongoing theme has been Ghost’s cheating on, and eventually leaving, his African-American wife, Tasha (Naturi Naughton), for Angela, his Puerto Rican childhood sweetheart. Many of the show’s female viewers feel that Ghost is getting what he deserves, dividing themselves into Team Tasha and Team Angela.
“I don’t pay attention to women saying, ‘You deserve this.’ The female fans are not necessarily mad that he’s having an affair, but [are mad at] who he’s having the affair with,” says Hardwick. “So, for me, I am aware enough to know some of these passionate outbursts of ‘Good for you — you should of stayed with Tasha’ are because of the fact that we have certain women who are not ready to see an interracial affair as a reality.
“If Tasha was the mistress and Angela was the one he was married to ... I’m a smart dude, but can’t nobody tell me at the age of 43 that it would be a different reality,” he says.
However the question remains: if Ghost ever does make it out of jail, which woman will he be with?
“I do want a break from women going into Season Four. I want Ghost to go find a basement in Jamaica [Queens] where he grew up and just be alone,” says Hardwick. “Ghost needs to look deep in the mirror and ask himself, ‘What has happened to you?’
“The King has fallen and so has the throne,” he says. “The club business can be replaced. Ghost can never leave the drug game completely.
“For this season viewers can expect chaos,” he says. “This is the first time that Ghost feels like he has no control.”