People cannot stop talking about Power’s mid-season finale and for good reason. The closer left fans puzzled with the shooting of James “Ghost” St. Patrick with many suspects to highlight.
There’s Saxe, Tommy, Tasha, Tate, Paz, Dre and Tariq shown heading towards or away from Truth nightclub. We know at least three of the five are strapped since we see Paz and Saxe grab guns (Tommy is never without one). With so many players at hand, it should be easy for fans to break down who shot Ghost before the series comes back in January 2020.
But this is 2019 and fandom has more layers than Ghost’s waves. Theories have floated around social media with the show’s creator Courtney Kemp giving us a few clues along the way.
The Starz show pulls from Shakespearean elements but Kemp says the final episodes are inspired by the 1951 film Rashomon. The film is known for popularizing the idea of showcasing one incident from the perspective of both the protagonist, antagonist and supporting characters. There’s a death in Rashomon, but we don’t see Ghost die per se, leaving more questions than answers for fans.
“We’ve always talked about how the show is really Shakespearean,” Kempt tells Entertainment Weekly about Ghost’s journey. As the mid-season winds down, Ghost is visited by the sins and loves of his past like Angela, daughter Raina, and frienemy Kanan.
“I draw from a lot of different classical references, and people aren’t usually aware of them because it looks different and it’s contemporary and, frankly, because it’s people of color,” she adds. “People don’t see that it’s based on Shakespeare, but if you think about this season and how it’s been about fathers and sons, mothers and sons, and familial bonds, it’s been very influenced by Shakespeare. And this is very much influenced by Richard III. Richard kills a lot of people, and then they come and visit him as ghosts, so this is very similar.”
The final five episodes are bound to reveal who killed Ghost and give closure to our favorite and not-so-favorite characters. While we wait for Power to return on January 5, check out the wildest theories behind who shot Ghost.
1. The Ramona Garrity Theories
Ramona Garrity, played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson, is one of the series’ most refreshing new characters and one of mystery. With a Type A personality, Ramona is a fan of having her ducks in a row and her plans in order. Fans have a few reasons as to why she would be the one behind the gun.
She wasn’t one of the characters walking up to Truth nightclub because she was already in the club. With this advantage, fans believe she shot Ghost after overhearing his conversation with Angela’s sister Paz (Elizabeth Rodgriguez). James doesn’t fit the vision she had of him for Lorette Walsh’s potential lieutenant governor, so he has to go, right? Or maybe she shot Ghost in order to boost his political image. This theory doesn’t make much sense since Ramona and her team want to keep James’ image squeaky clean for the campaign.
Then, there are these two theories. One being that Ramona shot James because she is the sister of Breeze, the first person Ghost killed during his drug-dealing career. Ramona has been rather quiet about her past (other than her ex-husband’s cheating scandal), but she seems to know her way around the block. When she chats with Cassandra about keeping her affair with Tate on the low for an exchange for a congressional seat, she drops factoids about the inner city. She also keeps Tate’s campaign on the right path with events focused on the people, which she gathered quite easily.
Lastly, there’s a very unlikely theory that Ramona is Terry Silver’s ex-wife. We don’t see that as an option considering the very public nature of Ramona’s sex tape with her ex-husband.
2. Tommy Did It To Avenge LaKeisha
We don’t have to dig too deep into this one. While it’s a possibility, it would be way too obvious for Tommy to kill Ghost at Truth. He’s had plenty of opportunities to go in for the kill but hasn’t. Is it because he’s hip to who really killed LaKeisha?
When sharing his grief with Tariq and Tasha about LaKeisha, he seems to believe Tasha’s grief about her longtime friend. But like Tariq, Tommy can read past the bullsh*t. Tommy might’ve been on the way to see Tasha after finding out who was after both him and Ghost at the warehouse.
3. Ghost Staged The Shooting Himself
Ghost is on top of the world in season six for many reasons. He’s finally broken free of the drug life (with the killing of Jason) and can now move somewhat clean. We can’t see his plan, but the idea of Tariq turning himself in for Raymond’s murder has to be connected to a bigger puzzle piece. As far as we know, he’s unaware of Sergeant Blanca Rodriguez’s arrest warrant but his favor from 2-Bit does cause some skepticism. He could’ve asked 2-Bit to help stage the shooting in an effort to keep his enemies at bay.
If this theory holds up, it would take the attention off of his son and can buy him more time to figure out an alibi for Silver’s murder.
4. Kanan Did It Because Ghosts Are Real
Leave it up to Bow Wow to conjure up a theory so outrageous. The actor-musician shared this theory on social media Sunday (Nov. 3) after the mid-season finale. According to him, the spirits who visit Ghost are actual spirits except for Kanan. He also believes Tariq had a hand in the deed since he helped Tommy kill Proctor (Jerry Ferrara).
But this doesn’t hold up–at all. The writers have proven Kanan’s death several times throughout the season. There’s his corpse in the season opener, Tariq taking Kanan’s ashes and the feds confirming Kanan’s death. It’s a troupe used in many shows to remind us that our favorite characters are not coming back (Poussey in Orange Is The New Black, Wes on How to Get Away With Murder, Derek Shepard from Grey’s Anatomy). It also showcases the influence of the character throughout the show. We see how much of an influence Kanan had on Tommy and Ghost and now, Tariq.
Which leads us to…
5. Tariq, Tariq Tariq
Everyone has ruled Tariq out because it doesn’t appear that his character is near Truth. Don’t let your eyes deceive you. Tariq seems to be leaving or entering part of the High Line bridge, a walkway that goes from Gansevoort and Washington Street up to 30th Street. If you aren’t from New York, here’s the translation: the walkway is just blocks away from Truth, the fictional nightclub located in the Meatpacking District. He still could be the person behind the trigger or at least apart of Ghost’s plan to off himself.
6. Tasha’s Boyfriend
Leave it up to a randos like Quentin to shake things up. Tasha’s new beau cares immensely for her and seeing the bruises on her arm only invigorates his need to protect her. We don’t know much about Q, but we do know he works in construction (and can afford Burberry shirts, aye). He also seems to be hip to the local drug game since his child’s mother is battling addiction. Could Q also want to get Ghost back for supplying the neighborhood with drugs and violence? Ghost seems to look at Q with a heavy dose of intensity when he visits Tasha’s daycare making the connection even more plausible.
7. Yasmine St. Patrick
Baby Yasmin❤❤❤ #PowerTV #Fambo❤ pic.twitter.com/fmPpZn6Rki
— Tasha St.Patrick (@RideOrDie247) December 14, 2017
Kemp has shared how she wants to keep Baby Yaz away from the violence on the show and she’s done a good job at it. Once again, Yaz is mentioned in a heated argument between Tasha and her mother Estelle (played by Debbi Morgan) and once more when Ghost threatens to take away Yaz from Tasha. Maybe Baby Yaz is tired of the back and forth (and lack of screen time) and wants to show her Daddy she’s not the one for games.
Maybe, maybe not.
8. Tasha’s Mother
Estelle isn’t a happy camper when she sees Tasha teaching her grandson Tariq how to move weight. She tells Tasha they need Jesus but also might take an initiative to get rid of the “Devil” in their life that is Ghost.
9. Kadeem, LaKeisha’s Ex
Remember Kadeem? He’s one of the characters in the Power universe that has been talked about often but never seen–until now. Played by Jesse Williams, Kadeem is given a face (and a crazy amount of tattoos) when Tommy drops Cash off after the death of LaKeisha.
Their exchange is brief but Kadeem tells Tommy to let him know if he ever has a hunch about who killed the mother of his child. Kadeem is about that life, considering his stint in jail and his slight resemblance in personality to Tommy. The two have that “crazy eyes” look and a love for gold chains. Maybe Kadeem was under the impression that Ghost killed LaKeisha and wanted to do the deed himself.
Williams shared with Entertainment Weekly small details behind his cameo and if he’ll appear in other aspects of Power, including the much-talked-about spin-off series. “I just don’t know. We really are fans of each other, we’d love to figure out ways to work and she’s got really cool ideas for the spinoffs,” he said about working with Kemp. “I’m open to doing cool, creative, different work that I haven’t done before. It’s certainly a possibility as far as I can tell.”
Article first appeared on Vibe
