Stream It Or Skip It?

Can Tommy Egan really commandeer a hefty chunk of Chicago’s drug trade? Because basically everybody in the city, cop or criminal, is gunning for this dude. That’s what it feels like as Power Book IV: Force returns to Starz for its third and final season, but if we’ve learned anything about the Power Universe, created by Courtney A. Kemp and exec produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, it’s that resilience is as valuable as getting rich or dying trying. Joseph Sikora, Isaac Keys, Kris D. Lofton, Manuel Eduardo Ramirez, Lili Simmons, Shane Harper, and Miriam A. Hyman all return for this latest Power spinoff’s final 10 episodes.

Opening Shot: “The feds are on the way to the spot!” Nothing’s ever simple when you lead a life of crime, and certainly not in the Power Universe. Force opens its final season with trouble already in motion.

The Gist: “We got a problem.” Yeah Tommy Egan (Sikora), that’s an understatement. Problems of both the personal and business kind are blowing up all over the place as we begin Season 3. But as is typical for Tommy, his cocksure sense of self keeps him in operator mode. Or, as he tells Diamond (Keys), his partner in the Chicago drug game, “My personal life ain’t gonna be a problem when it comes to our business.” 

How cocksure? Here’s an example. Tommy walks toward a wall of pointed weapons at the HQ of Miguel Garcia (Ramirez) and the Insane Princes. He doesn’t care that his rival has learned of the romance Tommy and Mireya (Carmela Zumbado), Miguel’s sister, developed on the low in Force Season 2. He’d rather die than not be with her, and Mireya feels the same. It’s a testament to both Tommy’s brazen brand of courage and his romantic bond with Mireya that Miguel has his soldiers stand down. For now.

The potential for World War II in the streets between Miguel and Tommy is just one piece of friction this season. The powerful, murderous hand of the Marquez Cartel is always moving behind the scenes, which in some ways helps Tommy – the enemy of his enemy of HIS enemy is his friend, etc. – but in other ways paints a target on his back. There is also Vic Flynn (Harper) and his sister Claudia (Simmons) to deal with. One of them is on the outside, one is behind bars. But either way, they stay in play as inheritors of their father’s criminal operation. (RIP Walter Flynn, played by the great Tommy Flanagan.) And inside CBI, Diamond’s group with his brother Jenard (Lofton), sidelong moves are also being made. Jenard and boxer/drug dealer Shanti “Showstopper” Page (Adrienne Walker) might have interests that diverge from Diamond’s. 

So you see? Lots of problems. And we haven’t even got to the cops’ side of things. While US Attorney Stacy Marks (Hyman) has had success with her interdiction task force, nabbing a heavy hitter like Radovan Mirkovic (Konstantin Lavysh), her attempts to target Tommy have been less successful. There are also Marks’ sizable career goals to navigate – Lieutenant Bobby DiFranco (Chris Tardio) thinks her ego is distracting from the task force’s goal of securing drug convictions. And Marks, like Tommy, is managing other moving parts, parts that rely on the validity of gathered intelligence. Everyone in Power Book IV: Force is “Spittin’ facts,” as one character declares. But those facts can change drastically – and become quite deadly – with the smallest adjustment in perspective.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? While Force will end with Season 3, the Power spinoffs will continue. Speaking of spin-offs, the now-concluded, Los Angeles-set period crime drama Snowfall has one upcoming, starring Gail Bean and Isaiah John. Bean is also a star of P-Valley, the Starz drama about strip club performers in the Mississippi Delta, which has its own third season on the way.

Our Take: So, 10 episodes left of Power Book IV: Force. Who you got? Because even in the first episode of Season 3, certain information might make your choice waver about who will win. There are so many rivalries and beefs and crosses occurring at once in this series, it might be easier to sit back and watch them all either merge or resolve themselves, options that both come with almost certain violence attached. In fact, we are occasionally taken out of Force and its connected storylines a little bit, because we start to analyze how each actor in the series deploys their character’s distinct toolkit of threat-trading, assurances that an enemy will be snuffed out, prodigious use of “Fuck” in its various forms, and deals inside of deals inside of deals. 

At the same time, that swirling gyre of violence and unpredictability is what keeps us in it. While Joseph Sikora has long proven he can carry the series as Tommy Egan, previously in the Power shows as a supporting character, we like how Force does not fixate on his point-of-view. After all, Tommy is a transplant in Chicago. His ambition is real, and he has the cunning and trigger finger to support it. But there is always another player – or enemy – around the next corner, and as Season 3 kicks off, we like seeing where Egan stands through different characters’ eyes.

This happens in at least two ways. While one group is looking at Tommy and saying “That white boy got nine lives” (and might decide to do something about that), Mireya Garcia isn’t letting her newfound love for Tommy cloud existing realities. We’re particularly taken with this triangle of perspectives that has developed between herself, her gang leader brother Miguel, and Tommy. They all know the score, know what life they chose. But we can’t even anticipate how this choke point of personal relationships and dangerous business interests will clear, which from every angle makes the run toward the end of Force that much more compelling.

Sex and Skin: Standing/leaning sex against the turnbuckle of a boxing ring? It’s possible! 

Parting Shot: “Now I own you.” Not the best thing to hear if you’re a criminal, in league with other criminals, who thought you could skate on heightened scrutiny of your activities. 

Sleeper Star: Joseph Sikora just plain eats up the screen in Power Book IV: Force. His every line delivery as Tommy Egan is full of the character’s presence, drive, and New York City history. But we also really like Adrienne Walker here as Shanti, who’s already in a critical spot as Season 3 of Force begins.  

Most Pilot-y Line: Tommy lays down some fighting words. “Oh, I ain’t comin’ after you, Miguel. This ain’t personal. You thought this was personal? Naw, this about bid’ness. See, I’m talking straight facts here. Capitalism. So let the best man win.” 

Our Call: Stream It! Power Book IV: Force has continued the themes and feel of this series universe with confidence. As we approach its Season 3 conclusion, we can’t wait to see whether Tommy Egan’s dreams and ambitions survive what and who is coming at him.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.