Tasha remembers better days.
It’s Tariq’s birthday. Tasha dreams about him being with her blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. Raina shows up. Tasha breaks down in tears and hugs her, apologizing for not protecting her.
After she wakes up in her cell, she looks at an old family photo of her, Tariq, Raina, and Ghost.
She calls Tariq to wish him a happy birthday. He says he will come see her but he has to study for a test first. He looks at Cane who is waiting on him inside of a jeep.
Tameika gives Saxe a warning.
Saxe pops up at Tameika’s place after he learns she got a subpoena from Maclean. He begs her not to get on the stand and says that he was at Truth the night of Ghost’s murder. But Tameika tells him she will have no choice if she takes the stand. So she warns him to drop the charges and let Tasha be. They both know she’s not a queen pin. Saxe says he can’t do this but won’t tell Tameika who is pulling his strings. Frustrated with Saxe, Tameika tells him to leave and if he was smart, he’d stop pursuing Tasha so that Tameika doesn’t have to testify.
Monet is at home trying to coach Diana on how to control a man. She says that she has power over Ramirez but it’s more to it than sex. She understands she’s in a man’s world, so to have power, you have to feed a man’s ego. But Diana needs to understand that she has to be able to withdraw to wield true power. She gives Diana a true example of this when she refuses to let Ramirez in to see her. Before he leaves frustrated, Monet tells Ramirez that he can’t just show up unannounced to see her with nothing to offer her in exchange.
Cane confronts Monet.
Tariq and Cane are in the jeep headed to the house. Monet asked Cane to pick Tariq up and bring him to her. When they pull up, they see Ramirez leaving. This angers Cane because he can’t understand why Ramirez is always around. Tariq questions this too and he tells Cane that dirty cops can never fully be trusted. And it has to be expensive to keep Ramirez on the payroll. After Tariq asks how much Ramirez is getting to feed them information, Cane isn’t sure.
When they get inside the house, Cane demands Monet explains to him what Ramirez was doing there so comfortable during the day. It’s not discrete. And this places the family at risk. However, Monet doesn’t want to talk about this and reminds Cane that they don’t discuss family business in front of company.
But Cane continues to go off and accuses Monet of putting outsiders before her family. At this point, Monet warns Cane to watch his mouth. So Diana pulls him away.
Tariq protects Dru.
Monet shows Tariq the picture Dru drew of Everett. She asks him who this person is. Tariq says he isn’t sure because he’s been busy writing Zeke’s papers and dealing her product. But it would probably be a good idea to ask Zeke since he knows a lot of people. Monet agrees to this and Saxe sends Tariq a text saying they need to meet up.
When they meet in Saxe’s car, Saxe explains that Tameika has been subpoenaed. And he told Tameika that he saw Tariq at Truth the night of Ghost’s murder. So if she testifies, Tariq will be exposed. So he needs to keep Tameika from getting on the stand.
Tariq calls Tasha about this and she says Tameika was fired because she began to piece together that Tariq was the shooter. So she’s calling the shots now and she will have Maclean withdraw the subpoena.
Riley gives Saxe an update.
Saxe meets up with his niece Riley and asks her what she knows about Tariq. Riley says she found it odd that Tariq’s grandmother asked him for money and not the other way around. She also reveals she’s dating Brayden, so she’s been in Tariq’s dorm room a lot lately.
Saxe warns her to not say a word to Tariq. But observe who comes in and out to see him.
Tariq is late to Professor Reynolds’ class and is told that the 15-page paper was due at the beginning of class. Now Tariq must turn in a 25-page paper for his tardiness.
Maclean doesn’t back down.
When Tasha meets with Maclean, she tells him to withdraw Tameika’s subpoena. But he refuses and says that Tameika’s testimony will prove that Saxe worked with Tasha to take down Ghost and his drug empire, this proves that Tasha is not a queen pin.
Professor Reynold tries to lecture Tariq after class. But Tariq goes off after Tasha and Ghost are brought up. He makes it clear that he had a father and doesn’t need another one.
Tariq meets up with Dru and lets him know Monet asked who the man was in Dru’s drawing. Dru tells Tariq everyone in the family knows he’s gay. So Monet is just testing Tariq to see who’s he’s more loyal to, Dru or her. And at this point, Monet looks at Tariq like one of her kids. This could be good or bad, so he warns Tariq to protect himself.
Monet gives Diana a task.
Meanwhile, Monet is talking to Diana about Tariq. She’s depending on Diana to get closer to Tariq and make him push away all the other young ladies in his life. Then she can find out how he’s selling their product and they can determine if they can cut him out in the future.
Tariq finds Professor Reynolds in the middle of a meeting with his book agent. He hands over his 25-page paper and apologizes for his tardiness to class. Professor Reynolds appreciates this. And an apology from Tariq is a positive thing to hear after his agent tells him his last book was a flop and he can’t flop on the next one.
Maclean saves Tamieka.
Tasha calls Tariq and tells him to go see Tameika and tell her not to testify. After he asks what happens if she doesn’t listen, Tasha tells him to make Tameika listen.
When he gets there, he tells Tameika she can’t testify because it will come out that he saw Saxe at Truth the night of Ghost’s death. And he’ll be forced to testify that Tommy was the shooter, and no one can protect him from Tommy. Tameika then asks where exactly Saxe was inside the club. As Tariq begins to go for his gun, Maclean knocks on the door.
So Tariq slides out while Maclean asks Tameika why Tasha doesn’t want her to testify. As Tameika tells Maclean they need to talk, Tariq leaves after he gets a 911 text from Brayden.
Brayden’s surprise party doesn’t impress Tariq.
He heads to the frat house and sees that Brayden planned a surprise 18th birthday party for him. He’s not thrilled, especially after one of the fraternity brothers spills his drink all over Tariq. After he goes to the bathroom to clean himself up, Brayden gets irritated and tells Riley not to ask any more questions about Tariq. So Riley fixes Tariq a drink and drops a pill inside to drug him.
Tariq gets a call from Tasha and she confirms Tameika is still testifying. After they hang up, Tasha leaves a message with Maclean’s office saying she wants a deal. She doesn’t want her case to head back to court.
Dru and Zeke show up at the party with Diana. She immediately dismisses other girls away from Tariq. As for Dru, when he sees Everette, Everette is cold towards him and makes it obvious he’s in the closet. This angers Dru and he storms out of the party.
Diana gets even.
When Lauren shows up at the party, Tariq excuses himself from Diana to talk to Lauren alone. Diana disappointed.
Later, she goes outside to find Dru talking to Everette in the car. Everette tries to play everything off and Dru tells Diana they have something romantic going on. Everette gets upset about this after he learns they are related to Zeke who he plays on the same basketball team with.
Tariq and Lauren kiss again. But she leaves once Tariq passes out from Riley drugging him. Riley then takes his phone, unlocks it with his face, and turns on his location.
After Zeke runs into Professor Milgram at a restaurant, they have sex in a restroom.
While still drugged up, Tariq sees Diana outside and she slyly puts his gun in her bag after telling him she just wants to be alone.
Professor Reynolds reads Tariq’s paper and begins to plagiarize it for his next book.
Saxe learns the truth.
Riley calls Saxe to tell him she drugged Tariq and shared his location with her cell phone. Saxe is outraged and tells her to help him find Tariq who is currently walking around drugged up.
Tariq walks to the cemetery and finds Raina’s grave to talk to her. He says he wishes he died instead of her because she deserves to be alive celebrating their birthday. But he will look out for Tasha and Yas for her. He then walks over to Ghost’s grave and tells Ghost he was in the way, so he had to do what he did. And Ghost was the only one who would understand. He feels he did what Ghost would have done.
He doesn’t realize that Saxe is behind him recording him with his phone.
Brayden gets answers.
When Tariq wakes up in his dorm room, Brayden calls him out for being so secretive and going off on him at the party. He wants to know what Tariq is up to, especially if it can put him in harm’s way. So Tariq tells him about Monet and her family. They agree that Brayden will knock down certain chess pieces to let him know who came looking for him while he’s away. Monet is the queen. Lorenzo is the king. Cane is the rook. Dru is the knight. And Diana is the bishop.
And if it’s an emergency, Brayden is to knock down every piece on the board. He agrees to this.
Diana goes home and shows Monet the gun she stole from Tariq. Monet is furious and tells her she doesn’t know what she’s doing. So she couldn’t survive in the game without her mother.
One of Brayden’s frat brothers breaks in their dorm room and steals the drugs.
Monet welcomes Tariq to the family.
Tariq arrives to Monet’s house and she asks him why he tried to protect Dru. He says it’s what you do if you don’t know “the lay of the land.” And when Monet asks which one of her kids she can trust the most, Tariq says that would be him. Monet is pleased and demands Cane gives Tariq his burner gun. He reluctantly does this and Monet tells Tariq he’ll always have a place in their family.
Saxe and Maclean team-up.
Maclean meets with Saxe and tells him that he’s stopped Tamieka from testifying but Tameika told him that Saxe was at Truth the night of Ghost’s death. But he will back off from Saxe if Saxe drops the charges on Tasha. Saxe then plays the video of Tariq talking at the gravesite, letting Maclean know that Tariq is the killer. Both agree to work together and free Tasha, but take down Tariq to put Ghost’s real killer behind bars. In order to accomplish this, they will get Tariq on the stand. And Saxe will cross-examine him.
What are your thoughts on the midseason finale?
