Power Book IV: Force enters its third and final season – and as we discover, whether you’re a ride-or-die fan of the Power Universe or a new fish to the gangster crime saga, it’s dangerously addictive.
Power Book IV: Force - Season 3
I’m old enough to remember the linear TV days of yore when you couldn’t watch every single episode of a series whenever you wanted. That wasn’t so bad for sitcoms like The Simpsons or Friends but shows like The Shield and The Sopranos, which told sprawling stories arcing from the first episode to the last, punished those who missed an ep.
The streaming era has simultaneously solved this pain point and done away with two lost artforms: the art of setting your VCR timer to record episodes at designated timeslots and the art of entering a series partway through. I reactivated the latter skill with Power Book IV: Force – Season 3.
As the hefty title implies, there’s a mighty amount of lore powering this saga—known as the Power Universe—which has been dishing out no-nonsense knife-to-throat soap opera-y suspense deeply submerged in America’s drug-peddling underbelly. The first series ran for six seasons, airing from 2014 to 2019, with Book II: Ghost and prequel series Book III: Raising Kanan currently clocking in at four seasons each. On top of the first two seasons of Book IV: Force, that’s 16 seasons of television leading up to this.
I’ll be frank: I haven’t seen any of that. There simply weren’t enough hours in between the day I was assigned this article to the editorial deadline—even if I ignored my other work duties, my family, my life, and my sleep. And yet, despite not doing my due diligence, the first three episodes of Power Book IV: Force – Season 3 available to critics have nonetheless hooked me, leaving me pleading for another hit.
Diamond (Isaac Keys) & Tommy (Joseph Sikora)
Like a compass in the woods, a quick ‘Previously On…’ recap gives just enough of a direction for newbies (or forgetful fans) entering this third and final season. I’ll do my best to nutshell this tightly-packed plot. Deep breath, now…
Tommy (Joseph Sikora) is deep in love with Mireya (Carmela Zumbado), which is the only thing preventing him from icing his psychotic rival and her beloved brother Miguel (Manuel Eduardo Ramirez). Tommy’s business partner Diamond (Isaac Keys) feels the pressure from King Kilo (Glen Davis), who’s threatening to pull his crew if D doesn’t body bag a young dumb teenage wannabe looking to prove himself as a legit gangster. D’s brother Jenard (Kris D Lofton) and J’s lover Shanti (Adrienne Walker) are lying low while scheming against Tommy. Tommy discovers Vic (Shane Harper) is a rat, looking to burrow his way out the game by giving intel to Stacy Marks (Miriam A Hyman)—an attorney eyeing up the mayoral race while simultaneously performing life support on her case when a key inmate gets shanked in prison.
Diamond (Isaac Keys) & (Jenard) Kris D Lofton
Yes, that’s a lot to take in, but this pile of plot pasta is clearly a feature and not a bug. Much like being caught in the eye of a gang war storm, the almighty number of turns and betrayals and murders in any given episode gives the overall impression of something devastating waiting around every corner. The suspense, and enjoyment, comes from wondering who exactly that will happen to, and what threatens to tumble in this skyscraper of cards.
Force relishes in the excitement of being a criminal and the complexities of love and loyalty within a world full of greed and corruption. But the show’s also smart enough to remind us these gangsters got to where they are by being horrible people who will merc an innocent old lady if it leads to pushing more coke onto the streets. This goes for our main man Tommy, whose increasingly unhinged behaviour has the otherwise loyal D questioning their business partnership. It’s understandable why Tommy wants to take out all these “mudda fuckas” threatening his turf, but his impulse and—let’s say—imagination threatens to cause more problems than it solves. This tense dynamic owes a lot to Sikora and Keys, their acting partnership fuelling so much of the show’s relentless energy.
Miguel (Manuel Eduardo Ramirez) & Tommy (Joseph Sikora)
“To carry this show with Isaac has been such a wonderful journey,” Sikora told Flicks over Zoom. “The journey of Tommy, in some ways, is the journey of Diamond. When he’s alone, his family issues, the complex relationship with his brother, it’s just like the complex relationship Tommy had with Ghost, who was his true ride or die, his true other half. And I think that there’s so much forgiveness that the rubber band can stretch so far without breaking when you truly love somebody, and there’s such a true love there between this brother of Tommy and James “Ghost” St. Patrick and this love between Diamond Sampson and Jenard Sampson.”
“It’s been an awesome ride,” Keys adds. “The key is that we work together. Joseph, being a part of Power from day one, understands the deftness of it. He’s guided me with the character on keeping it unique to us, but still have some similarities to some of the things in the Power Universe.”
Tommy (Joseph Sikora)
Sikora continues: “Gary Lennon—our showrunner, our fearless leader, our captain, our North Star—has done an incredible job guiding this show from season two to an even more complex and accurate depiction of the complexities of the violence and struggle within the city of Chicago, with responsible storytelling, showing that there are consequences for actions.”
When I bring up how they’re feeling about this being the end of Power Book IV: Force, Keys laments: “I still don’t even like to hear ‘the end’. It’s bittersweet—we feel like there’s so much more we can do with this show but… it’s also means we put our flag in the ground for what we wanted to accomplish, what we can do, and put our best foot forward.”
