Let’s call a spade a spade here, people; Raising Kanan is currently one of the best shows on television.

The series delivers weekly, never skipping a beat, and they don’t need big flashy action sequences or wacky plot twists every two seconds to make it happen. They rely on the characters, and those strong dynamics, combined with absorbing storylines, to get it done.

Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 2 Episode 8 is a prime example of this, as it serves as a set-up hour to lead us into the final stretch but is also such a strong character-driven hour. It’s damn near perfect.

All the Power series are ensemble dramas, but there is a main constantly at the head of the plot, driving the narrative. In this series, that’s Raq. And during this hour, she’s got her hands in a little bit of everything.

Power is one of a handful of shows that can excel by making their lead an anti-hero. They’ve done it across four shows now, and it works because they do an excellent job of layering these characters and letting us see more than just the good or the bad.

We see them as human instead, and it goes a long way in allowing the audience to understand them.

For all her missteps, and there have been many, Raq does love Kanan. She does, and it’s not worth arguing about it, even though she has put him in some unfathomable positions and continues to lie to him. In her mind, I honestly do believe she thinks the ends justify the means.

If Kanan has to kill his own father to stop him from learning the truth about his parentage? Then so be it.

It’s a warped way of parenting, don’t get me wrong, but that’s the way Raq’s brain works.

In this hour, she steps up in a big way when she threatens child predator Palomar, who messed around and found out what kind of family she was messing with.

Palomar is a creep, and her admission to Kanan that she targeted him because she knew who he and his family were, was incredibly deranged, not to mention the fact that she has a history of going after kids. Raq puts the fear of God into her, but she really needs a prison cell.

Naturally, Kanan isn’t too thrilled when he finds out what Raq’s done, but their confrontation at the new mansion is a manifestation of a lifetime of lies.

Raq and Kanan have absolutely no idea how to communicate with one another. They talk in half-truths, refusing to actually get to the root of their issues. It’s almost as if Kanan wants to force Raq’s hand instead of just confronting her with the truth.

At this point, Raq should see the writing on the wall with Kanan, but she still appears to be hiding behind protecting him. And Raq is the mother. She has to save Kanan from himself sometimes, but she’s also put him into positions where it’s unfair to keep him in the dark then.

He can join the family business, make crack, partake in money drops, and shoot police officers, but she can’t be upfront with him about Scrappy’s death.

Kanan is now at a point where he’s seeing all the ugly sides of his mother, and you can tell that it pains him to push away the closest person in his life, but he’s starting to feel like he doesn’t have a choice.

Because to him, the lies just reinforce that she’s willing to do absolutely ANYTHING in the name of love and at anyone’s expense.

Jukebox: Raq love you, Kanan.
Kanan: But sometimes it feel like she use that love to do a whole lot of ill shit.

This divide is so intriguing, and I’ve been waiting all season long for Kanan and Howard to get closer, and there is no better time than now for the two to start bonding. It’s always seemed like Raq was the one who helped mold Kanan into the man he would become, and that’s probably more true than not.

But where does Howard fit in? Finding out how Kanan was affected by that relationship may be the most gripping story of all.

While not dealing with a defiant teenager, Raq gets clued in on the Boselli mess, which quickly spirals out of control. But before we get to that ending, we have to discuss how in the hell Marvin has morphed into the most frustratingly tolerable character I’ve ever seen.

Marvin, he who always has a snack in his hand and a low tolerance level, has slowly become someone you are just entirely immersed in. They’ve done such careful work with him, allowing him to make mistakes this season while continuing to work on himself.

He has been so deliberate in the ways he’s gone about attempting to fix his relationship with Jukebox, and it doesn’t feel performative. It feels like a man who recognizes he can never erase the years he wasn’t a good father but can try to be a little better each day moving forward.

He’s given Jukebox the space she’s requested and hasn’t encroached on it. But he was right there to protect her when she needed him most.

Since Kenya arrived, she’s been trying to turn Jukebox into someone she’s not. Now, it’s one thing to buy her dresses and make her join the choir. It’s another thing to expose her to conversion therapy.

The scene is frightening and incredibly heartbreaking. All Jukebox wanted was to reunite with Kenya and feel connected to one of her parents. She poured so much into building that relationship, at the expense of herself, only to realize that the person she was wasn’t a person Kenya could accept.

The sidewalk confrontation between the three was tense but so necessary for Jukebox to give a voice to her disappointment. She spent so much of her time in silence around her mother, letting her dictate how their relationship would grow, but with Marvin’s help, she was able to let all that go.

It’s a small thing, but Jukebox calling Marvin dad? All the chills because whether or not he deserves it, at that moment, that’s what Jukebox feels.

And that’s why that ending is all the sadder.

Marvin has spent so much time trying to prove himself, and with one miscue, all that work comes undone.

Whether or not he was at the dentist’s house and pulled the trigger is irrelevant because his proposition put all those people in the same space, to begin with. But then again, you are dealing with a bunch of adults, and no one forced Marco or Dominic to do anything. 

So, on the one hand, you can understand where Sal is coming from. He wants someone to blame for his son’s death. It’s not like you can’t see Raq doing the same thing had she been in his position.

But from Raq’s perspective, Marvin didn’t actually kill anymore. His plan or not, he never pulled the trigger. Therefore he doesn’t deserve to die.

You can’t tell me that walking out of that bowling alley, Raq thought Sal was just going to shrug his shoulders and move on with his day. She had to know he would still do something, and I watched those final moments with bated breath because that’s not how these episodes tend to end.

Ever since Howard’s shooting, I refuse to pronounce anyone dead until I see the body. So, if we’re throwing out predictions, my guess is that Renée will die, Marvin will live, and he’ll feel incredibly guilty about the whole thing. He starts to get his life together with the help of a kindhearted person, and he gets them killed.

Hopefully, Sal’s men are a poor shot, and both survive, but it’s highly unlikely that will happen.

If Marvin dies right after he and Jukebox FINALLY start on their path to healing, that will be a devastating turn of events. But in this universe, anything is possible.

Everything Else You Need To Know

• 
  So basically, Lou-Lou just swapped out Jessica for Zisa, and he’s still trying to make Bulletproof Records a thing. There has been very little forward progress with this story all season, but with Crown’s body washing ashore and Lou indebted to Cartier now, things could pick up.

• 
  Burke gets told to mind her business and immediately interprets that as permission to stalk Raq at the grocery store.

• 
  The inevitable Howard versus Burke showdown is going to be spicy.

• 
  Call me crazy, but when Unique and Worrell were strategizing with Raq, Marvin, and Lou-Lou, I actually started to wonder if there was any way they could all co-exist and successfully work together.

Two episodes left! Two! And there are a lot of loose ends dangling out there.

Let me know how you think this season will end in the comment section below, and remember to watch Power Book III: Raising Kanan online right now so you don’t miss the conversation!

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Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.