Luke's mission to protect Mariah leads to another conflict with Bushmaster, and the police hit a snag after news is overheard. Luke takes everyone to not-yet opened branch of Rand Enterprises, where he says they will wait out the night. Misty says there's too many entry points and they should have stayed at the precinct, but Mariah scoffs, noting the recent attack there.
As Tilda goes off to the bathroom, James asks the others to join him in a prayer circle despite Mariah's mocking, and Misty jokes that she just prayed with the devil. Bushmaster and the Stylers ransack her store looking for more Nightshade ingredients, with Bushmaster flying into a rage when he realizes she took it all. As he destroys what's left of her store, he rants at Sheldon to up the bounty on Mariah and Tilda to $3 million each. Tilda helps James with his knuckles, though he says it honestly felt good to fight again. She uses the remaining Nightshade she has to fix him up as they talk about whether things can be magic or just not-yet understood science. She seems nervous about what it could do to James, but he sees it differently and says simply that he has faith Luke can protect them. Luke and Misty try to convince Mariah to take a deal, but she says it would be crazy, given Bushmaster's ability to beat Luke could mean they can't hold him in prison. Mariah finally gives in when Luke says to return the favor of him saving her from her house, so she agrees on the condition that she be granted immunity. She says she'll talk if she can't be prosecuted for anything involving the guns, and though Misty stands at a firm "no," Luke seems to want to agree. He says they couldn't give Shades the same deal, but she replies he can take care of himself. With Luke considering it, Misty demands Mariah's phone, though the latter says it isn't charged and insults her, so Luke has to hold Misty back from fighting. Luke and Mariah talk in a stairwell, where he points out that Bushmaster will destroy Harlem trying to get Mariah, and given his past and skin color, no one would find his own testimony on the matter credible. He explains that while they can only get Bushmaster on the guns, they could then try to find something else to use against Mariah. Realizing he's right and all the options suck no matter what, Misty goes back to the precinct, where she learns Deputy Chief Priscilla Ridley is now in charge. Luke walks in on a sleeping Mariah, and the two argue about each of them saving or destroying Harlem, which he says only survives Mariah, unlike Cornell. She retorts that Harlem raises her up while he is just an overseer, saying Harlem needs not a hero but a queen. Back at the precinct, Misty tells Ridley of Mariah's demands, and explains the same thinking that Luke had, impressing a surprised Ridley. Ridley says to keep the plan between only the now three who know, and we cut back to Luke trying to get cocoa for himself and James, becoming angry when nothing comes out, so James simply presses something and fixes it. Mariah tries to call Shades but finds the office phones don't work yet, she instead listens on as James and Luke talk. James notes that Luke is carrying a lot of guilt and just needs to keep his temper in check at times, and when Claire is brought up he says when someone that good comes along, you make sure they stay. Luke realizes Tilda used Nightshade on James and wonders if it's science or magic, and the latter says the true magic in a person comes from how well they handle a situation; this defines a hero. Ridley reveals to Misty the higher ups have already approved Mariah's deal, and an exasperated Misty brings up how she yelled at Ridenhour for just wanting to offer Mariah a deal. Ridley replies she has learned from Ridenhour that you can't stop a flood; you can only try to save as many people as possible. Misty tells Ridley where she has Mariah and that she can get her quickly, unaware that Nandi is watching them through the interrogation room's double sided window. Luke goes to Tilda after noticing James's hand, and she begins saying how she got into the medical business to be like her dad. He finally asks why Bushmaster visited her, and she admits to him having a strange list, which she says she only looked into after seeing Luke, wondering if they had undergone the same procedure. Explaining an old-world obsession with the gods, she says she could learn what's going on with him if she had his blood, but isn't sure she could stop it. Luke tells her to leave taking down Bushmaster to him and share everything she knows. She agrees, but says Luke has to tell her everything he knows about Mariah. At Harlem's Paradise, Bushmaster fails to convince Anansi to help him get Nightshade, as the latter says it's tearing him apart mind, body, and soul, then leaves. Shocked that no one has found Mariah after the improved bounty, Bushmaster asks Sheldon about his "other task," but the latter says it'll take time to get him Nightshade because of the different soil. Bushmaster says he needs it done, and while Sheldon rushes to stop one man from using an explosive, Nandi arrives and gives them Mariah's location for the bounty. Mariah comes to seemingly seduce James, and he recalls seeing her Family First Initiative on TV. He says she was trying to do good, no matter how bad her methods, and she shrugs it off as feeling like a lifetime ago. She explains her inability to be there for Tilda and hope to make up for it, and James opens up about being there for Luke without "being there." He shows her old photos of Luke on his phone, and the two mention the idea that you don't know what you're doing until you do it. He says Tilda has grown into a fine woman and offers Mariah time at church, and after he turns his back, she takes his phone and leaves. Mariah calls Shades, who doesn't answer because he's sitting at Gwen's to make a move, and Tilda comes to demand the full truth of their past. Scoffing, Mariah asks why Tilda chose to come to Harlem, especially because most of her clients are Jamaican. The latter says she wanted to come home, and brings up Cornell, prompting Mariah to say she must have thought the "Stokes Curse" was gone; the same mistake she made. Tilda says Mariah was the one obsessed with losing the family name, but Mariah counters that Stokes is real while Dillard was a fantasy. Annoyed, Tilda says Mariah hated herself because of having dark skin like the Stokes family and tried to get away from that, but Mariah mocks her belief. Mariah finally admits that Tilda brought her joy and her highest shame, finally pressed into revealing that her husband was not Tilda's father. Explaining that he was gay, she says his rich family was so happy he married a woman they didn't care that she was black, nor that she had a child. She claims everything else about Howard was true, and after he died she kept up appearances to keep their lives good. Tilda says Luke was right; Mariah can't be trusted, and the latter says she's a survivor. When her daughter asks about Cornell's death, she initially questions the reliability, wondering if she heard from Luke, then admits to it in graphic detail. She blames it on Luke, saying Cornell lost his mind trying to kill the Power Man, then admits it was because he loved their Uncle Pete more than her. Tilda wonders what Pete has to do with anything, and an initially silent Mariah says he was a powerful, suave man she loved, until he started doing things to her in her room at night. Saying she never wanted it, Mariah says Mabel found out and refused to let her have an abortion, causing Tilda to realize Pete was her father. Mariah goes on that Tilda was with the Johnsons when she was engaged to Jackson Dillard and Cornell killed Pete, then when she was three Mabel had a stroke and began losing influence. She goes into graphic detail about killing Cornell, saying again she never wanted it, then shocks her daughter by saying she never wanted her, either, because when she looks at Tilda she sees Pete. Heartbroken and in tears, Tilda screams that Mariah is a monster as the latter walks away with a simple "I'm sorry." Mariah heads back to Luke and Misty, gloating about her deal, and we cut to Harlem's Paradise, where police have charged in with a warrant to arrest Bushmaster, only to find the building empty. As Misty gets the news, Bushmaster and the Stylers drive up to an entertaining "Sweet Christmas from first James, then Luke. Misty says backup is coming but they see Sheldon has a missile launcher, and Bushmaster calls out to Luke, saying he'll let everyone else go if he gets Mariah. Luke questions why he shouldn't just do as Bushmaster says, to his father's surprise, but says he wasn't raised that way when Mariah says she would have tossed Luke if their situations were reversed. With no response, Bushmaster declares war, and the group looks for a hiding place. Luke enters the fray by tossing a cabinet out a window to a car below, causing Sheldon to waste his launcher. Luke tosses aside two men as he and Bushmaster start going at it, and the group insides tries their best to stay hidden and fight when possible. With Luke and Bushmaster brawling, the episode comes to a close with their fight's result, an unexpected turn afterward, and Mariah making a choice as the group tries to survive inside. Luke and the others being confined to Rand Enterprises throughout this episode does a lot in terms of opening them up and looking at their characters. This is especially true for Mariah, as along with her repeated attempts to call Shades, we learn the harsh truth about her and Tilda's relationship. Interestingly enough, the show set this up in a way even back in the first season, as we learned during Cornell's last moments that Pete raped her. Perhaps because of the time between seasons, I didn't even connect his words with Ridenhour's at Harlem's Paradise, when he brought up Tilda's father. Alfre Woodard and Gabrielle Dennis show off their serious acting chops in this scene, as they wrestle with the emotional turmoil that has plagued their entire relationship. At some points, especially when Mariah explains about Pete, Woodard turns away from the typical explosive emotion they each show by sitting silently. In the past, Mariah tried her hardest to keep Pete a secret from Tilda, and you can tell as she sits there that she is debating admitting everything. When she finally does, she coldly delivers the full account of the Stokes family after Tilda's birth, and that she never wanted her daughter. Dennis spends much of this realization in horrified shock, and when she first learns of her true father her face goes quickly through the pain of Mariah's story to understanding the deeper meaning. We also see the results of James and Luke's improved relationship, continuing from James saying that no one hurts his baby after Luke was shot. While the beginning of the season showed the two constantly tossing sarcastic insults at one another, the two are continuing to open up, and Luke's realizations about his role in Harlem allows him to finally listen to his father. James brings Claire back into the story and gives the same reference to Titanic he told Tilda, providing a comical but still emotional bonding moment for the two. For parts of this episode the characters talk about whether things like Nightshade are simply science or magic, but the bigger moment for me comes from James. As he and Luke talk about the latter's anger, he does his best to, rather than lose his own temper, show his son that sometimes a gentle touch is needed, and that being in control of how a person responds to tough situations shows who they are. With this relationship improving and Mariah and Tilda's in tatters, Bushmaster also faces a strained relationship as well as the strain of Nightshade withdrawal. He began the season in full control of himself, showing fans a cool demeanor as he went about his mission, but now he is unhinged. In his desperation to get Mariah, he no longer cares what he has to do as long as he can get to her, and becomes brutal with his men as the Nightshade evades him. After a violent climax that ends on a dark note, we are nearing something big for Harlem as the season starts to reach its end.
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