Power Book IV: Force Season 3 Episode 10 Marks the End of Chicago, Not the End of Tommy Egan

Critic’s Rating: 4.75 / 5.0

4.75

THEY SAY THIS IS A BIG RICH TOWN!

Be honest: how many of you screamed when that music hit at the end?

This may be the end of Tommy’s Chicago chapter, but this is not the end of Tommy Egan. And for that, it’s time for us all to rejoice.

Heading into a series finale is always a nerve-racking ordeal because all bets are off. It’s the end of the road, and therefore, you can’t count anything out because there’s no next hour coming around the corner.

We’ve been down this road before with Power and Power Book II: Ghost, both of which left us with finales that were okay but didn’t leave a lasting impression.

I challenge you to think back to both series finales and detail exactly what happened in each. If you can, good for you. But if you can’t, you’d be in alignment with the vast majority of people because neither one was particularly memorable.

Now, maybe this is recency bias (in fact, it is exactly that), but Power Book IV: Force Season 3 Episode 10 was a much better finale than those aforementioned shows, in that it did exactly what it was meant to do.

If given the proper time to craft a satisfying ending, you should aim to tie up loose ends, answer lingering questions, and, above all else, leave the series in a place where the lasting image is one the audience couldn’t forget if they tried.

Wrapping the series with Tommy Egan and Tariq St. Patrick standing on a rooftop, ‘Big Rich Town’ preceding the fade to black, will undoubtedly linger in viewers’ minds forever.

But before we get to the end, there was so much crammed into this hour, it’s hard to know where to begin.

As much as I enjoyed this finale, I will admit they wrapped some storylines up so quickly that it was almost comical, but there was a lot to do in a short amount of time.

This series would have benefited from one or two more hours so that certain storylines didn’t have to end so abruptly, but they did their best.

There was no time for Bobby to have a little cat-and-mouse game with Tseng once he got leverage on him, or for there to be some considerable back-and-forth with Jenard and Tommy. Time was precious, and therefore every minute mattered.

Right from the beginning, it was clear that everything would lead to CBI versus Tommy’s ragtag crew, and seeing the two sides try to one-up each other was a highlight, as they pulled out all the stops.

Jenard didn’t have time to try and suss Raheem out for his duplicity, so he shot him in the head like it was nothing. He was right about him, of course, but that was a clear indicator that no games were being played here.

Had this been in the past, Jenard may have tried to feed Raheem bad information to take back to Tommy, but he couldn’t afford to play chess at that moment when, at any minute, they were liable to be in a gunfight.

Tommy sending Shanti to Jenard was a long shot, but everything about their interaction was hilarious because neither of them was a good actor, and it felt like they were trying to see just how far they could push it before the other broke.

Jenard cheating on Shanti and all of that reckless talk in the bathroom during Power Book IV: Force Season 3 Episode 7 was the end of whatever they could have been for good, and Jenard was smart enough to realize that.

Shanti’s about business first, and, regardless of their personal history, that entire situation showed her that Jenard’s ego would always make a true partnership between them untenable.

Her teaming up with Tommy was a product of circumstance more than anything else. However, it would have been nice to hear more from Shanti over the last few episodes about how she really felt about having to team up with the man she’s basically wanted dead since we met her.

That happens a lot in the universe, where former enemies are forced to become allies, typically because they share bigger, common enemies who pose an immediate threat.

But Shanti and Tommy actually made a lot of sense as partners, and without another season, we were robbed of seeing what that partnership would have looked like when they weren’t only paired up out of necessity.

Tommy, Shanti, Miguel, and D-Mac being a competent unit wasn’t something I would have ever expected at the start of the season, but as everything continued to unfold, it felt right.

But even with their unit pretty shored up, it was never going to be easy to go up against CBI.

The way the hour unfolded, you could tell it was building toward something bigger than just a confrontation between two opposing forces. It was building toward Tommy finally getting everything he wanted when he came to Chicago, or nothing at all.

The cartels joining forces was one of those things that felt thrown in there to try to justify Ortega getting taken out and to end that storyline essentially, as the cartels were always this looming threat hanging over nearly every move Tommy made.

I’ll excuse how hastily that storyline came to an end because it was far from the most interesting, and frankly, we didn’t need to spend any more time with it.

I also wasn’t thrilled with having to see Tommy flip Greyskull, if only because we could have spent more time elsewhere, but it was a necessary way to effectively end the RD and D-Mac beef.

Greyskull hated Jenard BAD. Tommy barely had to say anything, and he was ready to not only drive the bus over Jenard but back it up a couple of times for good measure.

I like to think that, between Tommy, Shanti, and Miguel, they would have found Jenard eventually, but even so, the outcome would have been the same: Tommy and company leaving CBI decimated, and a blast from the past delivering perhaps the biggest mic drop the series has ever seen.

Even if everyone knew Tariq was coming back, it still didn’t lessen the sheer adrenaline rush of the camera panning to him after he saved Tommy’s life.

I’m willing to ignore the fact that Tariq has literally never shot that well in his life, because the dramatics and the theatrics of his arrival were so damn good.

Honestly, the entire shootout was well done, even if none of the major players got killed. It’s not something I was expecting, but it’s always a bit lame when every single person dies but the main characters.

It lowers the stakes entirely, and I’m so used to Power not always going that route that it took me by surprise that Jenard wasn’t killed during that battle because everything was set up for that to be the end.

Jenard should have died by Tommy’s hand, I’m sorry.

You could say that kill should have been D-Mac’s, but that hatred between Tommy and Jenard goes back so far and so deeply that it just had to be Tommy at the end of the day.

The decision not to kill Jenard annoyed me greatly, even if I took great pleasure in seeing everyone turn against him for good. It’s about time people see that Jenard’s team will NEVER be the winning team if he’s at the forefront.

It’s not even about Tommy being on the other side of the war, because it could truly be anyone against Jenard, and they would still win because he was never meant to be the leader.

That was always Diamond’s job, and during his absence, Jenard gaslit himself into thinking he could be him. It was never going to be you, boo.

If Jenard had ended the series alone, lamenting his failures, I would still have been frustrated, but okay with that. Instead, the Power Gods decided they could not let me escape this series without my deepest sigh ever.

Every single time they cut to Vic and Rae in their rabbit paradise, I just knew it was leading to him coming back to Chicago because Vic can’t help himself. He’s been beaten down in every conceivable way, including another failed Tommy assassination attempt, but he’s OBSESSED with Tommy Egan.

We should take a poll to see who, over the course of the series, has been the most obsessed with Tommy Egan. Would you put your vote in for Vic? Jenard? The Serbs? Miguel, before Mireya beat him down?

Vic has never been able to get over how everything went down with Gloria, and that’s one of the main reasons why he could never let his beef with Tommy go. Let’s be real about all of this.

He snitched repeatedly and could have lived out his days quietly with Rae, but his blood thrums ‘Tommy Egan Has To Go’ daily, and it drove him right back to Chicago.

Jenard and Vic partnering up in any capacity is my personal nightmare, and sure, the show is over, so we don’t have to actually see it. But how true will that actually be?

Even without a formal announcement, Power Legacy seems to be a go based on Tariq and Tommy’s final conversation, and what a conversation it was.

Let me take a moment to once again marvel at the way Power Book II: Ghost turned Tariq from one of the most hated characters on television into a complicated, but likable antihero. It still catches me off guard sometimes that I like Tariq, and I’m not being facetious.

Tommy and Tariq’s relationship is fraught with so much tension and a painful past. Tommy will never forget that Tariq killed Ghost, even if they have reached a place now where there’s a truce and they can work together when the need and opportunity arise.

There’s still love there, and there’s a respect as well, which you could see radiating off them both as they had that conversation on the rooftop, which was very befitting for the two men.

One thing about Tariq, he’s ALWAYS thinking ahead. As soon as D-Mac told Tariq that Tommy was going to have a baby, you could see the gears in his head turning. But turning in what direction?

For a second, I wondered if we were all being bamboozled and Tariq was going to take out Tommy, but that made no sense. And to be honest, Tommy swiftly abandoning everything he fought so hard to make a reality in Chicago also doesn’t make sense, unless you start to ponder the deeper meaning of all of this.

From the very beginning, all the way back to New York, Tommy has wanted to be King. He wanted to be King alongside Ghost, and as we all know, for various reasons, that was never going to be.

Chicago was a way to start over, but also a way to achieve that ever-elusive power that he’s always been after. But once you get it, there’s nothing else to fight for, except maintaining it. And where’s the fun, the thrill, and the joy in that?

Returning to his home, with his new family and teaming up with a newer version of Ghost even he has to respect, feels about as on-brand for Tommy as it gets.

Tommy got the power, but all-encompassing power, as it turns out, is still not enough.

The end of the hour gave me literal chills.

From Tommy standing tall with Tariq overlooking the city he conquered to the MUSIC drop. For those of us who have been rocking with this universe since 2014, it’s hard to explain all the emotions these shows bring out and what they’ve meant.

It was a perfect ending and a setup for what could come next.

Elsewhere during this one, let me just briefly touch on Tseng and Mireya, because they were the two other big stories that needed wrapping, and wrapping they did.

Were we supposed to know that Tseng and Tommy were working together? If so, then I missed a chapter of that story, but Tseng killing Bobby was the biggest genuine shock of the hour.

Tseng is a non-factor overall, but I love it when a story subverts expectations, even if it’s in a way I don’t love.

Stacy and Bobby didn’t deserve to be made the faces of Chicago corruption, but alas, what can you do?

As far as Mireya goes, I’ve always been upfront about not exactly falling for the Tommy and Mireya one true love propaganda because I’ve seen Tommy in other relationships, and everything surrounding this relationship came about so quickly and never settled into something I felt was worth rooting for.

But Mireya’s decision to get the hell out of town, and do so in a way that assured Tommy, was one of the best things she’s done throughout the entire series.

Tommy was always going to have her and his baby in the back of his mind while he was trying to do about fifty different things, and her away and safe with people who loved her and not just people on his payroll, allowed him to head into this crucial battle with one less thing on his plate.

Do I think Tommy and Mireya are destined to live happily ever after? I may never be convinced of that, but Mireya has proven that she does care for Tommy and is willing to put up with all of the chaos that comes with it, and that’s more than a lot of people from Tommy’s past could say.

For that, I will give Mireya her 10s.

And I will give this whole series its 10s for giving us more time with Tommy Egan, the Power world, and Chicago. You will be missed.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• Diamond not getting a funeral, and instead, a fifth-grade-level poster was not it. Diamond deserved more than that!

• Cane Tejada, Jenard Sampson, and Vic Flynn are still alive in the Power Universe, and that makes my left eye twitch.

• D-Mac and Tariq talking felt like this super surreal moment: two of the worst people you know meeting for the first time, leaving you stunned. Well, Tariq’s not the worst anymore, but I wonder if it was a bit like looking into a mirror with D-Mac and his horrible decision-making skills.

• We got a mini Tommy-and-Kate conversation, and I won’t complain too much since this is clearly not the end of Tommy.

• D-Mac lying on the ground with the gun and the childhood pictures got me in my feelings for a minute. I’m glad he and JP had that time together toward the end.

That’s it, guys. We’ve come to the end of the road, and I can’t let go.

The endings of these series are always bittersweet, even if Power never dies.

Please let me know in the comments if this was the kind of finale you could appreciate, or if you were looking for a little more. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

And thank you, as always, for taking this ride with me!

You can watch Power Book IV: Force on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms.