My notes:
-Seeing Ghost and Tommy working together again.
Seeing Ghost, Tommy, and Tasha all working together.
It's sad how much these three don't trust each other and constantly argue because the show works a lot better when they're all on the same page. We still had to see them do that this episode, but for the most part, they were focused on the plan and played their roles instead of trying to take over and be the hero. At this point, one of the few things I want from the show is for Ghost and Tommy to be boys again, and for most of the episode, I can tell Ghost wanted it too. But then he figured out that Tommy killed Proctor, and Tommy figured out that Ghost figured it out, so I guess the reunion won't happen any sooner than episode 10. It's a shame because that's what I was looking forward to the most in this episode, and we were so close to getting it.
-Tariq is a fukking sociopath, I swear. I don't think I've ever hated a character in any television show more than him. What makes it worse is that he's always been a piece of shyt. I still have to go back and watch the first two seasons, but ever since I started watching this show, Tariq has been the worst character in the series. And every season, he gets worse, he makes dumber decisions, he lies more, he manipulates more, and he has no capacity to care about anyone other than himself. What I hate the most about Tariq is that he shows almost no vulnerability or fear. It's rare that the writers put him in a situation that he has no control over, or they have him realize that he's just some dumb kid who doesn't have the answers to everything. Dre's character is written inconsistently, but at least he's been shown to be afraid of things, be put in a vulnerable position, and have no idea how to get himself out of a particular situation. Tariq is never treated like that. One of the few times that happened is when Kanan died. You think Tariq would be scarred for life, but a week later, it turns out that this was all part of his own master plan. He gets kidnapped by the Eye-talians for cutting the weight, and you think he's in a situation where he's scared of what might happen to him, but it turns out that this is all part of another master plan. I would say that Tariq should go to jail, but then it would turn out that he has some master plan to escape it by shooting everybody in the courtroom during his trial, including the judge, and find a way to pin it on someone else so they go to jail instead. That's how much they've destroyed his character.
-The only thing that makes me happy is that the show is finally having the other characters acknowledge that Tariq is an awful person. The writers know he's an awful person. Courtney Kemp confirmed it before she started rambling about how great Vincent's actor was. And now, Ghost and Tasha realize it. That's why it was so beautiful to see him get hit repeatedly with oranges. I still felt bad because Ghost and Tommy had to watch it, but he deserved way worse than that. I'm still dreading the "You lost me a long time ago, Ghost" scene.
-Like everyone else said, Tate was hilarious in this episode. It felt like he was Ghost's sidekick, constantly getting annoyed and confused because of Ghost's antics but unable to do anything about it. And apparently, he used to be a dirty cop, but that probably won't come up at all during his campaign. It feels like Ramona is on to Ghost because of how much the robbery ended up being a positive. It seems like she's too smart to piece everything together and not realize that it was an inside job.
-Tommy looked like he didn't want any part of Benny and his crew.
That's what I like to see: A character like him getting challenged or forced to think things through because he sees how much trouble he's in. I don't know how much sense it makes for Benny to know that Tommy killed Proctor and not do anything about it. Wouldn't he have just killed Tommy right there if he knew the truth? I don't think he believes Ghost lied to him because none of their conversations suggested that, but I do believe that he hasn't pieced everything together yet. He might suspect Tommy, but he can't confirm it right now. If I were Tommy, I wouldn't make any moves because he'll have to deal with Benny, and I don't think he really wants that.
-Calling it now: Keisha is going to go out the same way as Holly. Not the exact same way, but she's going to get in over her head like Tasha warned her not to do, do something she wasn't supposed to have any business doing, and Tommy will end up having no choice but to kill her. All the signs are there. She even has this obsessive hatred for Ghost. Tasha, I understand, because she's been played by her too many times. But even before this season, even before the Teresi thing, Keisha wanted Tommy to snitch on Ghost. I don't get it. Now, she's over here wanting to kill Ghost? What are you talking about, you're not killing anyone.
Then next week, she's once again going back to her "I'm not built like this, Tommy, I want out" persona. She's written more inconsistently than Dre.
-That robbery scene was ridiculous. It almost brought the episode down because of how much they dragged it out. It feels like the episode was too short, so the writers decided to lengthen that scene to get the right amount of pages on the script. I noticed the episode had a much faster pace than usual, but everything slowed down during the robbery scene. What made it worse was Alphonse going into business for himself and being an idiot, forgetting the plan and attacking Ghost. What the hell did he think was going to happen? There was so much awkwardness in that scene because you kept waiting for something to happen and they were teasing it way longer than they should have.
-An episode with no Saxe?
No wonder it moved faster. No need to try and shoehorn characters into episodes they don't belong in. That's why I'm glad they threw Paz in the
after the first two episodes.
You know what? I'm not done with Tariq yet.
-I'm just going to say this again for emphasis: He is a fukking sociopath. I don't think there's any redemption for this character. He's done, they derailed him too many times. He's not even human anymore. What kind of psycho manipulates his own parents and "uncle" into giving him ransom money? You would think that with all the trouble that his stupidity and bad decision making has caused, all the blood covering his hands, he would realize how terrible he is and try to change. But he doesn't, and he never will. What's wrong with his brain? Why is this kid so abnormal, so incorrect, so grotesquely strange? At least in season three and maybe four, I could somewhat understand why Tariq was acting the way he was and making bad decisions. But after he killed Ray Ray? No, he just got worse. He kept sinking lower and lower with every new scheme like he was in some fukking Saturday morning cartoon. And there's still more dumb shyt for him to do and more ways for him to piss me off. I want the writers to really go for it since we only have four episodes left before the break. Impress me, make Tariq even more of a monster because there's no lowest point he can reach if they try real hard.
One more time to close it out: Tariq is a fukking sociopath.
