Twitter

Maybe if you were casting the role for a slick attorney, you wouldn’t immediately think Jerry Ferrara, best known as Turtle from Entourage. But this is just one of the many reasons the people behind Power continue to be smarter and one step ahead of us all.

Ferrara joined the cast of Power back in season 2 as shady lawyer Joe Proctor, but now that Ghost (Omari Hardwick) is behind bars, well, he’s seeing his screen time increase significantly in season 4. Before, he was simply advising; now he’s called into action. And Ferrara has more than stepped up. In fact, he’s doing the best work of his career this season on the Starz drama.

Proctor, whether he likes it or not, has become a central figure to the Power universe. Not only have the first two episodes of this season given viewers a look inside Proctor’s own messy life, including issues with his baby mama and juggling fatherhood with a job that never allows him to clock out, but he’s proving his worth to nearly all the other characters on the show.

It’s not just the intensity he brings to his meetings with Ghost behind bars, or the confidence he’s got on hand in the courtroom, he’s also serving as a liaison for Tasha and Tommy (look out for some incredibly tense scenes coming up in episode 4 between Proctor and Ghost’s right-hand man). And then there are the times where he mixes it up with fellow attorneys, John Mak (Sung Kang) and Angela Valdes (Lela Loren), his opposition. They clearly look down at him when they’re trading barbs, but that’s because they know this is a guy that knows the law inside and out…mostly so that he can bend it in his favor. Sure, Proctor might not be the definition of a “stand up guy,” but while you wouldn’t want to admit it, you’d be nervous to face him in court.

Ferrara does a great job of bringing a savvy to Proctor, warning Ghost to stay as innocent as possible in prison, and working the media to his advantage. Proctor is smart and slick in an unlikely way. This is a guy that wears crisp suits when he’s working, and hoodies and baseball caps when he’s working less, that wardrobe choice serving as the viewers’ only real reminder of his Entourage past. Unlike professional pal and chauffeur Turtle, Proctor is important, necessary and powerful, able to keep calm and poised even when he knows things might not be going quite his way.

While Ferrara has popped up in other roles since the HBO bro show, perhaps the most fun being the Think Like a Man series, and hosts the Bad 4 Business podcast with his new wife (congrats!), Power is giving him a surprising new side to his acting, and letting viewers know that this Turtle has come out of his shell (I know, I’m sorry, but I still had to do it).

Proctor is level-headed and reasonable and focused on getting his client out of jail, a task viewers are rooting for just as hard. The best example of his work so far came in this week’s episode, as the show cuts from Angela being questioned by her team, to Proctor grilling Ghost in jail, each working on their own stories and determining what can be used against them in court. It’s an exciting scene, as the stories weave in and out of contradicting and lining up with each other, while Ferrara gives a strong and snappy performance, even directly to camera at times.

Look, maybe you weren’t planning on Ferrara being your crush of the summer, but he’s undeniably great on the series, even as more bumps in the road loom for his character ahead. And maybe Ferrara wasn’t planning on having strangers shout “Turtle!” at him on the street for the rest of his life, but his work on Power is the first real indication that they won’t be. Hope he doesn’t mind hearing a “Proctor!” from time to time, or even better, “Jerry!”.

Where to watch Power