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Becoming a parent is a life-changing event that, for many, shifts how they approach life, make decisions, and navigate emotions. The desire to protect your child is included in the parenting welcome bag — it’s arguably instinctive. This is why, in episode eight, we see Scrappy’s mother’s unwavering determination to find out what really happened to her son. It’s why Detective Howard isn’t interested in pressing charges against Kanan. It’s also why Sal wants Marvin dead and why Marvin provides emotional protection to Jukebox after she experiences heartbreak from her mother.

It could be argued that the desire to protect one’s child is also why parents make a lot of mistakes. Kenya views introducing her daughter to her overly religious way of life as protection. For her, exposing Juke to conversion therapy is protecting her from the pits of hell. And then there’s Raq. We already know she is going to go hard for her son in the name of protection. Sometimes her actions are warranted, and other times they are not. In this episode specifically, Palomar is lucky Raq didn’t kill her predatory ass. Let’s get into it!

At the end of the last episode, Dominic was suffering from a gunshot wound after accidentally shooting and killing Marco Boselli. He manages to make it to the nearest hospital, bloody and all, arriving by foot. News about Marco’s death hits the streets quickly. Unique lets Marvin know he’s well aware of the deal he and Marco had and offers him sound advice: “Until that body shows up, he ain’t dead, and if he ain’t dead, he still talking.” Unique was right. Once Sal finds out that Dominic was with Marco, he goes to pay him a visit, and it doesn’t take long for Dominic to start running his mouth. And of course he leaves out the part about him killing Sal’s beloved son. Although appreciative of the intel, Sal still orders Dominic to be killed. As a minor character who has lots of opinions, including racist ones, Dominic will not be especially missed. Still, R.I.P.

After killing Dominic, Sal requests a meeting with Raq. He blames Marvin for his son’s death and demands he die. Raq isn’t interested in listening to Sal’s made-up rules, so she schools him on how the universe works in her world. “Me and my brother, we don’t owe you shit. Now I’m sorry for your loss. But your loss ain’t my loss, and mine ain’t yours,” Raq tells Sal in a matter-of-fact way. The two leave the conversation exactly how they entered itl: Sal still wants to kill Marvin, and Raq doesn’t see a reason to take accountability for Marco’s death.

When it comes to her son, though, Raq is definitely big on accountability. She shows up at Palomar’s house and presses her about her relationship with Kanan. Apparently, the young mom has a history of messing with underage boys. Palomar repeatedly denies any relationship with Kanan, but Raq isn’t here for her bullshit. To make sure Palomar knows this, Raq pulls a gun on her. The scare tactic works. Not only does Palomar shut her mouth, she also agrees to leave Kanan alone.

While Kanan’s waiting at the Q6 bus stop, Scrappy’s mother pulls up on him damn near ready for war. She expresses how she feels about Scrap’s death and the way Raq has handled it. She is not convinced her son killed himself. She asks Kanan to talk to his mother and tell her to do something, as if Raq is going to (1) admit she killed Scrap for no reason and (2) listen to her teenage son. But just like Raq, Scrappy’s mother doesn’t play about her son. She made it clear to Kanan that if Raq doesn’t do anything, she will, and based on her recent persistence, I believe her.

What is hard to believe (maybe not that hard) is Kenya ruining her budding relationship with the daughter she’d abandoned. When Juke arrives at her mother’s apartment, she is surprised to see most of the church congregation inside. What happens next is quite shocking. Kenya leads Juke to a chair, and the pastors begin conversion therapy treatment in attempt to “cure they gay” out of Juke. Up until this point, Kenya never acknowledged her daughter’s sexuality, but it seems Juke’s attempt to make her think she was interested in the boy from church was a failed one. In this moment, we see a different version of Kenya, and this version is rather unlikable. The look in Juke’s eyes lets us know this is the exact moment that changed her forever.

Back at the precinct, Detective Howard snitches on his partner, Burke. She’s been doing way too much snooping, and he’s fed up. The captain is equally fed up with Burke’s snooping. Since she put her nose in the Bingham case, Nicole’s parents have concocted a story that Burke has been preying on young girls and providing them drugs. Captain Baptiste calls Burke into his office and scolds her. “That is it, detective. Your first, last, and final warning. Keep your fucking nose out of everyone else’s business,” he tells her. But of course Detective Burke — Ms. Private Investigator herself — doesn’t listen. After the captain tells her to back off, Burke actually approaches Raquel in the grocery store and asks every invasive question she can think of.

Famous hasn’t been to school in two weeks, and his dreams of becoming a rapper are quickly fading away. When Kanan comes over, he can’t help but tell Kanan what he witnessed his mother do earlier to Palomar. Pissed, Kanan heads straight next door, but Palomar ain’t checking for him. Or shall we say, she ain’t stupid, unlike Kanan. “She ain’t gonna do shit to you Palomar,” Kanan yells through the door, underestimating his mother. As I suspected, Palomar targeted Kanan based on the strength of who his family is. “I knew that was your mom when I stepped to you, and if I’m being honest … I think that’s what got me thinking about you in the first place,” she tells Kanan. I’m not sure what she thought she would get out of the situation. Maybe a job from Raq, a baby plus child support, some money from Kanan — who knows? It’s hard for Kanan to handle rejection from Palomar, and when he returns to Famous’s spot, he finds that Famous went through his bag and found the paternity test that confirms Howard is his father. It’s clear their friendship is the only thing that stops Kanan from whooping Famous’s ass.

Kanan leaves to go meet up with his mother. She shows him the new house in the suburbs and he is far from impressed, telling her, “Southside good enough for me.” The energy between the two of them is off, mostly stemming from Kanan’s built-up resentment. He no longer respects or trusts his mother. Back at the crib, he vents to Juke. “I can’t trust her no more, Juke. It’s not just one thing, it’s everything,” he says. Although he is well aware his mother loves him, he has a different perspective of how she weaponizes the love she has for him to manipulate, lie, and do “ill shit.”

Kanan’s so caught up with his moms, moving out, and not trusting her that he hasn’t noticed the shift in Juke. While Kanan and Raq’s parent-child relationship is fractured, Juke and Marvin are making progress toward healing. He comes home to find his daughter crying while burning the flowery dresses Kenya gifted her. Seeing this as an opportunity to show up for his daughter, Marvin heads over to Kenya’s the following day to confront her. They get into a heated argument, and after Kenya slaps him, Jukebox comes to his defense and tells her mother exactly how she feels: “I was fine without you. I don’t need you. I never needed you”.

One thing about Marvin is he cares about being a good father to his kid. And the reality is most drug dealers never figure out how to balance being active in the game and being an active father. And they also often didn’t have good examples of what good fathering was.

Now that he has his daughter back, Marvin revisits the spark he and Renee shared. To her surprise, he pops up on her, and the two enjoy a moment of flirtation. But the moment is cut short when, without notice, Sal’s men shoot at them, and it is not clear who got hit. I love a good cliffhanger, but I’m praying Marvin and Renee are both okay.

Other Thoughts

• Police have found Crown Comacho’s body. This is not good news for Lou or Raq.

• There were a number of good performances this week: Scrappy’s mama, Kenya, Jukebox, Kanan. Shout-out to the casting director.

• Hypothetically speaking, if Lou goes to jail for Crown’s death and Marvin doesn’t make it or is hospitalized, that would leave Raq by herself. She and Kanan would have no choice but to rely on each other.

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