Tariq St. Patrick was the most hated character on television. Seriously. When Power ended, fans were actually furious that the kid who killed Ghost—the untouchable James St. Patrick—was getting his own show. People swore they wouldn't watch. They promised to boycott. But then Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 dropped on Starz, and something weird happened. We all started rooting for the villain.
It shouldn't have worked.
The spinoff picks up mere days after the original series finale. Tariq is at Stansfield University, trying to balance an Ivy League education with the crushing reality that his mother, Tasha, is facing life in prison for a murder he committed. It’s a mess. Courtney A. Kemp, the series creator, took a massive gamble by centering a billion-dollar franchise on a protagonist the audience actively wanted to see catch a bullet. Yet, the first season pulled in massive numbers, proving that the Power Universe had legs beyond Omari Hardwick.
The Impossible Balancing Act of Tariq St. Patrick
Most people think this show is just about drug dealing. It’s not. At its core, the first season is a frantic legal thriller. Michael Rainey Jr. had to carry the weight of a legendary predecessor while playing a character who is, frankly, kind of a sociopath. Tariq isn't Ghost. He lacks the physical presence. He doesn't have the charm. But he has the brain.
In those early episodes, we see him trying to navigate the "Canonical Studies" program under the watchful, suspicious eye of Professor Jabari Reynolds. It’s a brilliant narrative mirror. While Jabari is trying to deconstruct the "thug" archetype in literature, Tariq is literally living it to pay for Method Man’s legal fees. Yeah, having Method Man play Davis MacLean was a stroke of genius. MacLean is expensive, unethical, and incredibly good at his job. Tariq needs $500,000 to keep Tasha from the needle, and that desperation is what finally makes him relatable to the audience.
Desperation breeds relatability.
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You see him struggling. He’s a kid who has everything and nothing all at once. The first season does a great job of showing the technical side of the hustle. He can’t just sell on a corner; he’s on a high-security campus. So, he develops CourseCorrect. It’s basically Uber for drugs. It’s smart. It’s modern. It also shows that Tariq is a product of his generation—he uses technology to bypass the old-school violence his father relied on.
Enter the Tejadas: A New Breed of Chaos
We have to talk about Mary J. Blige. As Monet Stewart Tejada, she brought a completely different energy than anyone in the original series. Monet is cold. She’s calculated. She runs her household like a military junta, and her kids—Cane, Dru, and Diana—are her soldiers.
When Tariq crosses paths with the Tejadas, the show shifts. It becomes a chess match. Monet doesn't trust this "prep school kid," but she respects his ability to move product without attracting the feds. The dynamic between Tariq and Cane Tejada (played with terrifying intensity by Woody McClain) is the highlight of the season. Cane is the muscle; Tariq is the mind. Cane hates him because he sees Tariq for what he is: a replacement.
Honestly, the family dinner scenes in the Tejada household are more stressful than the shootouts. You can feel the resentment simmering under the surface. It’s a domestic drama wrapped in a crime fleece.
Why the Legal Stakes Mattered
Tasha St. Patrick being behind bars gave the season a ticking clock. Naturi Naughton delivers some of her best work here, playing a woman who has lost her husband, her daughter, and her freedom, yet is still trying to manipulate the world from a jail cell. The legal maneuvering involving Cooper Saxe—everyone’s favorite cockroach—adds a layer of "how are they going to get out of this?"
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Saxe is obsessed. He’s been trying to take down the St. Patricks for years, and in Season 1, he finally thinks he has the "Ghost" he’s been hunting. The irony is that Tariq is becoming more like his father every time Saxe tries to pin him down.
Technical Mastery and the Starz Aesthetic
Visually, the show feels more expensive than the original. The contrast between the cold, sterile hallways of Stansfield and the vibrant, dangerous streets of Queens creates a constant sense of displacement. You never feel like Tariq is "safe" in either world.
The pacing is breakneck. Unlike some shows that take five episodes to get going, Power Book II: Ghost Season 1 hits the gas in the pilot and never really lets up. By the time we get to the mid-season finale, the stakes have escalated from "I need to pay a lawyer" to "I need to hide a body."
- The Jabari Reynolds Problem: Many fans found the professor subplot annoying. It felt like a distraction. But looking back, Jabari was essential. He represented the world Ghost wanted for Tariq—a world of books and academia—and Tariq ended up destroying it just like his father destroyed everything he touched.
- The Tommy Egan Factor: When Joseph Sikora shows up in the finale, the energy changes. It was the validation the spinoff needed. It tied the old world to the new one, but it also signaled that Tariq was officially the man in charge. He outmaneuvered the most dangerous man in New York.
What Most People Get Wrong About Season 1
A lot of critics complained that Tariq was "too smart" for a teenager. They argued it wasn't realistic for a college freshman to run a drug empire and outwit veteran FBI agents.
They’re wrong.
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The whole point of the series is that Tariq was raised by two master manipulators. He spent his childhood watching Ghost and Tasha lie, cheat, and kill to get ahead. He’s not a normal kid; he’s a legacy. If he weren't this capable, the show wouldn't have a premise. He’s the evolution of the St. Patrick bloodline. He has the ruthlessness of Tasha and the strategic mind of James, but he lacks the ego that eventually killed his father. At least, he does in the beginning.
By the end of the season, we start to see that ego creep in. When he stands over a certain character in the woods in the finale, you realize the transformation is complete. He isn't the "innocent" kid who got caught up anymore. He is the architect of his own destruction.
The Actionable Takeaway for New Viewers
If you’re just getting into the Power Universe, or you’re debating a rewatch, here is the best way to approach it. Don't look for a hero. There are no heroes in this show. Every single person is working an angle.
To truly appreciate what 50 Cent and Courtney Kemp built here, pay attention to the dialogue. The scripts are dense. They use a lot of "street" slang, but the underlying subtext is always about power (obviously) and the cost of survival.
Next Steps for the Power Fan:
- Watch the Finale Again: Pay close attention to Tariq’s face during his final conversation with Tasha. It’s the moment he realizes he can never go back to being a "civilian."
- Track the Ghost Parallel: Notice how often Tariq uses his father’s old lines. "I'm doing this for the family" is the ultimate lie they both tell themselves.
- Analyze the "Canonical Studies" Syllabus: The books Tariq reads in class actually foreshadow the plot of the episodes. It’s a meta-commentary on his life.
Season 1 wasn't just a continuation of a story; it was a reinvention. It proved that you could build a successful series around a character everyone hated by simply making him the most interesting person in the room. It’s messy, violent, and occasionally over the top, but it’s undeniably compelling television that redefined what a spinoff could be.