Even though we’ve all just watched this episode, I feel like what I’m about to type sounds pretty flipping unbelievable, but here we go: Raq tried to kill Symphony! This bitch is heartless! And this is after she finds out that Scrap was not a snitch! This is the part where I say, “I told you so.” Besides Marvin, Scrap was probably the most loyal worker she will ever come across. Detective Howard’s hasty assumptions about Scrap didn’t allow him to realize that it was Scrap’s mother who was a confidential informant, not Scrap. She’s been working with Detective Peng for a little over a year, an arrangement that allowed her to run her gambling ring without getting shut down by 5-0. She doesn’t believe that her son killed himself and is pressuring Peng to open an investigation into his death.
Speaking of informants, Raquel Thomas was an informant for Howard when she was 17! Burke’s investigation is coming together rather slowly, but she’s making headway. Her obsession with figuring out the correlation between the shooting, Kanan, Detective Howard, and Raq is starting to make her not only look crazy, but also do crazy things. Like stopping Symphony without probable cause to interrogate him. She doesn’t even realize that her having a conversation with someone can put them in danger. Howard is onto her, though, and soon all the digging she is doing in the dark will come to light and bite someone in the ass, whether it’s her, Howard, or Raq and her family.
Afraid that Toni might snitch, Marvin has her killed. He hires Sal Boselli’s son to do the job, which the kid accepts without his father knowing. Of all the people to bring with him to complete the job, Marco chooses Dominic, who is not so bright. After putting a bullet straight in Toni’s head, Marco ends up tussling with her dentist boyfriend. With the goal of breaking up the tussle and ultimately killing the boyfriend, Dominic pulls the trigger and the bullet pierces Marco. This is not good for Dominic, it’s not good for Marvin, and it’s sure not good for Raq. My guess is that Sal is going to make them all pay for his son’s death. Since Unique is one of the only people who knew about the arrangement between Marco and Marvin, I also won’t be surprised if he uses Marco’s death as an opportunity to establish himself as a hero. He is well aware that Raq is taking her time to figure out what to do with him and Worrell. In the meantime, though he technically works for Raq, Unique is setting his own rules in Jersey. “We gon’ make our own plans and our own moves, ’cause I ain’t goin’ out like that again, and neither is you,” he told Worrell.
At least Unique is thinking strategically now that he’s back in the game. Do you know who has yet to demonstrate that they too can consistently think strategically? This fool Lou-Lou! He allowed his ego to get the best of him and ended up killing Crown, and now he has inherited Crown’s debts and problems. While he’s giving it to Zisa, three Jamaicans walk into the studio demanding to know where Crown is, and although Lou-Lou remains equally stern and cool, they make it clear that Crown’s business has now become his business. Apparently Crown borrowed $50,000 from a Jamaican drug dealer, Linton Manley, and he put the studio up as collateral. This is not a good business look for Lou-Lou.
To show Lou-Lou they mean business, the Jamaicans beat him up badly in a dark alley. He doesn’t tell his siblings, though, and because he needs money, he is moving quickly and making irrational decisions without thinking. He takes a bag of money from the buildings without allowing one of the workers to count the total, and then he takes a meeting with Cartier that ends up with him agreeing to a business deal far worse than his setup with Crown. In many ways, he is now Crown and Cartier is him. It would have been a better look if he’d asked Raq to invest in the business than Cartier, but in this game, leading with ego and going behind people’s backs is the norm.
The title of “No Love Lost” seems fitting for most of the narratives and themes depicted in this episode, however, the show begins with Jukebox visiting Nicole’s grave, and it’s quite clear that she’s still grieving. Out of all of the characters, Jukebox has experienced the most love lost, from being abandoned by her mom, to falling in love with Nicole and mourning her death, to being estranged from her homophobic father. It’s quite admirable that the young songstress hasn’t snapped just yet. In fact, a new romance is bubbling up for Juke, though I’m not sure if she’s actually into the church kid or trying to impress her mother and conceal the fact that she’s into girls. While at the cemetery, Juke is able to catch up with Nicole’s father, who thanks her for showering his daughter with love and invites Juke to reach out to him if she ever needs anything. We also find out that Nicole’s parents are getting a divorce because of their opposing views (no shocker there), but nonetheless, the moment is a sweet one that the two of them equally needed.
Speaking of parents, Marvin finally catches Juke alone and questions her about kicking it with Kenya. He doesn’t say anything positive about Kenya or her ability to be a mother to Juke. Instead, he warns her that Kenya won’t be around for long. “She wasn’t there for you before, she ain’t gonna be here for you now,” he tells his daughter. It would truly be heartbreaking if Kenya abandoned Juke again. She’s present for now, and at least she’s not trying to sleep with Juke’s man!
Corinne can’t say the same about her momma. File Palomar’s behavior under “what in the actual fuck.” She seduces Kanan and the two end up sleeping together. He kinda enjoys it but definitely appears uncomfortable and acknowledges that the two of them sleeping together is out of pocket. “You act like this is some regular shit,” he yells after Corinne catches him in her mother’s bed. He is concerned about Corinne’s feelings and makes somewhat of an attempt to chase her, but Palomar pulls him back. What do you do when your mom sleeps with your teenage boyfriend? You snitch on your teenage boyfriend to his mom. Later on in the episode, Corinne approaches Raquel and tells her there’s something she thinks she should know. We don’t hear exactly what Corinne says to Raq yet, but we know how Raq feels about her son. Palomar might be a dead woman walking — just saying.
Other thoughts:
• Shout out to Marvin for graduating from his anger-management program. His therapist was pretty bold for shooting her shot, but we knew sis had a crush.
• Raq is always doing some shit. She approached Cartier’s man Traymont behind his back, which if he finds out will for sure piss him off, and pissing Cartier off is not something anyone should want to do.
• Can we give a moment for the wardrobe? Each week the characters come through with the best looks from the ’90s. This week my favorite was Unique’s vintage MCM leather two-piece.
