‘Raising Kanan’ Recap: Bodies Drop as Raq’s Feud with Jersey Mob Worsens

Sam strikes out.

Marvin locates Sam as he’s smoking crack. After shooting the man Sam was smoking with, Sam begs for his life. He promises Marvin that he really will get on the bus and get out of town this time. However, Marvin tells him it’s too late for that. And he should have taken advantage of the opportunity he gave him. Instead, Sam took the money Marin gave him to score more crack. 

He’s allowed one last puff from the crack pipe. Sam tells Marvin that he used to be an accountant before drugs took over his life. And sometimes in life, you can’t go back after you turn the corner. 

Marvin shoots him dead. And he’s emotional about what he just did.

Unique and Raq make peace.

Raq and Unique meet up at the diner. Unique tells Raq that she needs to watch her back because Sal is looking for her. And there will be bloodshed on the streets. Raq says she isn’t worried. But she’d like for Unique to help her with her worldwide expansion. Unique politely declines. He and Worrell want to have their own operation. But Unique makes it known he has a lot of respect for Raq despite their past issues.

Before ending the conversation, Unique asks Raq if she could ever have romantic feelings for him. She brushes this off and says they just tried to kill each other. Unique wishes her well. After he leaves, Raq blushes a little bit.

Kanan makes another bold move.

After the traumatic situation with Kenya and her church, Jukebox beats up Corey because she realized Kenya asked him to ask her out on a date as a cover-up for the intervention. Police arrest her while she’s in action.

Burke goes to a crackhouse to look for Sam. One of the men there tells her Sam frequents another spot but no one wants to give her the address since they know she’s a cop. 

Sal goes to see Stefano at this fish tank store. He’s surprised to learn that Raq already came to inform Stefano of their beef. Stefano wants nothing to do with it even though he’s the head mafia boss in New York. And he tells Sal to handle whatever he needs to handle with Raq. And Sal needs to keep his drama in Jersey next time.

While Marvin is working, he sees Kanan stealing some drugs to sell on his own. He and Famous are low on cash. Marvin tells Kanan he’s not right and he knows his nephew has been stealing drugs because the numbers have been coming up short. Kanan says he isn’t stealing because the whole operation belongs to him. And he doesn’t care if Marvin tells Raq what he did.

Sam’s body is discovered.

Freddy’s neighbor is asked about his murder. A detective wants to know if he saw or heard anything. The man says he doesn’t remember and the cop hands him his card to contact him if that changes. It’s possible the neighbor saw Famous kill Freddy in the hallway. 

The police locate Sam’s body. Burke and Howard arrive on the scene. It’s fishy to Burke. But Howard downplays it as drug addicts getting caught up in street life. Burke tells Howard that Sam told her he saw who shot him just days ago. She questions if Sam’s murder is connected to Howard’s shooting. Howard tells Burke that she needs to do as she was told and back off. Sam wasn’t a reliable source to the department. Burke storms off.

Raq updates Marvin and Lou Lou. While she’s confident they will come out on top in their beef with Sal, her brothers aren’t so sure. 

Marvin tells Raq about Kanan stealing drugs and she says she will take care of it. 

Burke gets Jukebox out of prison. She asks if Howard is Kanan’s father. Jukebox tells her Def Con is Kanan’s father and that’s why his last name is Stark. But since she’s appreciative of Burke helping her twice now, she tells Burke that there is a target on her back.

Lou and Marvin take out some of Sal’s men via a drive-by. 

Jukebox tells Nicole’s father the truth.

At the bank, Lou learns that Crown signed a deal before he died. Raq agreed to buy his portion of the record label in the event of his death. So since he’s deceased, Raq is Lou’s new partner. And she owns more of the business than she did before. He’s furious. 

Raq meets up with Cartier’s former associates that she helped out. With Cartier dead, she figured they’d be on board with working for her. However, they don’t want to deal with another middleman. They also don’t want to be involved with Raq as she takes on the Jersey mob. So they went behind Raq’s back to strike a deal with her distributor Joaquin. Raq promises she’ll get her revenge. Marvin is in shock by the betrayal. 

Jukebox meets with Nicole’s dad to clear Burke’s name. She confirms that Burke didn’t give them the drugs. Nicole took the drugs from her backpack and Jukebox had no idea until her death. She apologizes. It’s hard for Nicole’s father to process this. But Jukebox leaves before it sinks in that she isn’t lying to him.

Juliana goes against Raq.

Raq and Marvin confront Juliana and Joaquin about the shady deal they made with Cartier’s men behind Raq’s back. Juliana has no regrets. She’s still upset about Unique kidnapping her while she was at the bodega working for Raq. So her cousin Joaquin decided to cease being Raq’s connect. Raq warns Juliana that she’s playing games outside of her weight class. 

Burke arrests Kanan when she sees him selling drugs. 

She takes Kanan to the location where Howard was shot and asks if that’s where he did the crime. Burke tells him she knows he’s Howard’s son. And Raq was his underaged snitch around the time that Kanan was born. So she wonders if that’s why Kanan shot him. Kanan says she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. After he fails to answer anything, she tries to place handcuffs on him to arrest him for selling drugs on the corner. 

He pushes her to the ground and runs. 

Once Marvin learns that Jukebox has moved back in, he emotionally tells her that they have to look out for each other because they are all they got.

Raq huts Lou.

Lou confronts Raq at the new house she bought for her and Kanan. Raq also admits she found out Scrappy wasn’t a snitch after all. So she killed him for nothing and she has to live with this forever. Raq doesn’t believe Marvin or Lou could handle the burdens she carries. She has no remorse about purchasing Crown’s share of the label. Even though Lou is upset and wants his own thing, Raq says everything he ever had she gave him. And she owns him. The conversation brings Lou to tears. 

Kanan tells Howard about what went down with Burke. It’s time for him, Raq, and Kanan to talk. They have to have the same story.

Lou decides to go to the studio to pack up all of his things and leave. He tells Zisa he has to go because his sister is a problem. 

Unique tells Worrell that he’s thinking they need to move on from the crack game. It seems like it’s dying and no longer with the effort.

Chaos ensues. 

Sal is in great spirits as his men are out getting revenge on Raq and her crew. They shoot up all the spots, including the apartments. Worrell is killed but Unique survives. Marvin is also shot but one of the tenants hides him in his apartment so he isn’t killed. Luckily for Marvin, the tenant is someone he previously looked out for. 

The shooters also show up at Lou’s studio while he’s attempting to leave. Zisa is killed but Lou survives after killing both shooters. 

Meanwhile, Kenya makes her way to Raq’s old house. Before she can walk in, she’s shot and killed by Sal’s men. One of the shooters shoots Raq in the shoulder. Unique kills him before he can kill Raq. 

Raq isn’t sure if she can trust Unique still, but he offers his hand to help her up. She accepts and he tells her they are both from the Southside so they are going to help each other when it comes to outsiders like Sal. Not too long after, Howard and Kanan arrive confused by Raq’s injury and Kenya’s corpse. 

What are your thoughts on the season finale?