Tommy takes Tariq on a joy ride, letting the youngster drive his whip, but things turn sour quickly. It was his job to grab the cake, but Terry shows up as the savior with the dessert. Ghost fails to show up for his son’s first birthday without his sister. This episode is called “Happy Birthday” for a reason, but when the time comes for Tariq’s birthday, everything falls apart.
Tommy still isn’t too worried though, and he shrugs off the deal. Angela also removes a tracker from Tommy’s car, which shocks both him and Proctor. That’s a pretty good deal in Proctor’s eyes, who warns Tommy to think about the Homeland agent he murdered.
Angela asks Tommy to snitch on the Jimenez, and she offers him full immunity in return. That prompts Angela to set up a meeting with her ex-lover’s best friend.Īngela orchestrates a meeting with Tommy through Proctor, and the three have a very uneasy meetup. Still, she reveals to Angela that Mak and Saxe are working on bringing Tommy Egan in. Angela plays it off like she’s investigating a dirty cop, but you can tell Tameika isn’t convinced. Tameika is suspicious of Angela, and brings up the fact that she confiscated Blanca Rodriguez’s files. She has bigger problems to worry about though. Angie leaves the shop in a rush, but the moment between her and Ghost lingers. It seems like she stands up to Ghost after she warns him that she doesn’t want to get sucked in again, but he sucks her in anyway using his daughter’s death. She meets up with Ghost after he calls her to help pick out shoes for Tariq’s birthday. In the legal world, Angela Valdez continues to dig herself into a hole. Laces reveals that he’s just rambling off the script of a commercial he heard in passing, and as soon as he came, he disappears again. For a moment, it seems like Laces can see into Kanan’s soul, as he begins to break down several characteristics of the burned gangster. There’s something brilliant in the twisted madness of Laces, and Kanan decides to let him live. At the moment where the crackhead thinks he might die, you actually feel empathetic. Laces helps Kanan set up several kills before Kanan turns on Laces. Kendrick Lamar is the highlight of the episode as Laces, who talks a mile a minute and has a high pitched haunting laugh. At first, Kanan dismisses Laces, but once he realizes that the vagrant can help him track down members of the Tainos, he uses him to his advantage. Meanwhile, Kanan is approached by Laces, a Spanish speaking crackhead who wanders the streets. After choking out the politician and threating to kill him, Ghost flees his own club in a drunken stupor. Councilman Tate brings Dre to Truth and a drunk Ghost attacks Tate in front of all the guests.
It seems like everything is good at that point. Dre was planning to hold an event for the Queens Child Project at his new club, but now that he’s jobless, Ghost takes control and moves the party to Truth. Dre unknowingly signed a non-compete clause when he worked for Truth, and his new employer fires him rather than be sued by Ghost over the contract. There is a moment of brilliance, where he gets Dre fired from his job. Ghost spends most of this episode spiraling out of control.
It doesn’t matter though, because Kanan goes out and figures out how to cause drama on his own. That’s when Kanan introduces a plan to Tommy to stir things up between Dre and Cristobal, but Tommy doesn’t co-sign on the plan. Still, Ghost hands Tommy a clean check after washing his dirty money, and leaves. Tommy defends his father, which makes Ghost uncomfortable. When Tommy tells Ghost and Kanan about his father choosing him over his best friend, they’re both in disbelief.
Unfortunately, the entire situation makes Tommy trust his father even more. Now that Sammy and Teresi’s relationship is ruined, Vince leaves the scene and cuts the trio out of his business. Surprisingly, Teresi points the gun at his best friend and shoots, but the clip was empty. Vincent realizes that Tommy and Sammy lied to him about taking care of Dre, and so he places a gun in Teresi’s hand and instructs him to kill one of the two men. Tommy admits that drive-by was orchestrated by Dre (although it was actually set up by Kanan in secret). Vincent is suspicious of the shootout that occurred in the previous episode, and he presses Tommy for the truth. The mid-season marker began with a not so friendly meeting between Tommy, Teresi, Sammy, and Vincent.