Last year’s sophomore season convinced me that Starz’s Power had offically earned the prestige drama label. As the Golden Age continues to evolve, that descriptor evolves too, but there’s one thing we will always need from shows like this—compelling characters making questionable (or just plain terrible) decisions. Last week we published a list ranking all of the episodes of Breaking Bad, perhaps the greatest prestige drama of all time, and a show where endlessly watchable characters remained in a near-perpetual state of drama, largely due to bad decisions and good intentions (and plenty of bad intentions, too). Power’s James “Ghost” St. Patrick hasn’t achieved Walter White levels of cultural fame yet, and Power still has its flaws, but last night’s Season Three premiere gives us plenty of reasons to keep following this show, where fascinating characters continue to fall victim to love and other drugs.
“Call Me James,” is the refrain of the hour, and we know that Omari Hardwick’s Ghost is actively trying to speak his legitimate self into existence. We also know that he will fail. In fact, he has to fail, because Power (and Tommy, and James himself) isn’t quite ready to give up the Ghost. Of course, neither are we. But it’s always fun to watch as TV protagonists insist that they’re done—for good this time—with their old ways. Power has always been interested in exploring moral greys through characters like James/Ghost and Lela Loren’s Angela. These are, perhaps, the only two characters on the show who sincerely want to be good people (even though, for both of them, this seems to require doing occasionally bad things). And so, we feel a certain amount of relief at the start of the premiere, seeing them together at the club, playing the happy couple, having sex in the office. (Someone else who’d be less embarrassed should really write about how unbelievably hot that sex scene was, BTW.)
And the premiere promises us more of the same push and pull that we’ve come to expect from James and Angela—the potential for explosive relationship drama is already brewing. Angela presses James about Julio’s appearance at the club. There’s that not-so-subtle moment where they bump into each other, while trying to get dressed and go to their respective jobs. Under the covers (or, on top of a desk, wherever) these two are in perfect sync, but when it comes to their lives and careers in the real world, James and Angela stumble over each other. It’s an awkward dance made all the more awkward by the fact that they’ve never achieved complete honesty (or trust) between each other. They both know, deep down, Ghost isn’t dead. Or the know—like we do—that, if he is, a resurrection is already in the works.