Tamal Kundu
Created By Courtney A. Kemp, Starz’s ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ is the second entry in the ‘Power’ franchise. The series revolves around Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.), the son of James St. Patrick, or Ghost, the protagonist of the original series. After Tariq kills his father, his mother, Tasha, takes responsibility so he can have a modicum of normal life. But Tariq soon realizes that he can never escape his father’s legacy. In the course of the seasons, he gradually comes to accept this, despite the fact that he continues to yearn for an ordinary life with the remaining members of his family.
Portrayed by Caroline Chikezie, Noma (likely Covington) is a character introduced in the third season of ‘Power Book II: Ghost.’ After Mecca’s death, she and her team arrive in New York to assert control over the drug business in the city. She was Mecca’s boss and fiancée. The series establishes how dangerous and brutal the character is in the very first scene she appears, in which she chops off a woman’s hand because she is wearing the ring that Mecca promised her. The head of an international drug operation, Noma has an enormous amount of resources available to her. Tariq realizes this, and with Effie’s help, finds the only person who might be Noma’s weakness: her daughter. Here is everything you need to know about it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Noma’s Daughter: A Pivotal Revelation
The ‘Power’ universe is violent by design and has some of the worst antagonists on television. Even the protagonists of this universe have questionable morality and are always murderers. But Noma seems to be in a league of her own because of how powerful and influential she is. The first time Tariq meets her is at Mecca’s apartment. She brings Raqui, a former employee of Mecca, with her and soon has Tariq, Brayden, and Cane on their knees. They escape certain death by convincing her to let them work for her. In an interview with Digital Spy, Chikezie spoke about her first impression of her character.
“I think I actually gasped out loud. I actually was like, ‘Oh my god, what is happening?’, when I saw that [the first scene mentioned above]. And obviously when I got the script, I didn’t have her backstory,” the actress explained. “I didn’t know what was happening. I just knew that she came on and did this. I wanted to know more. It made me interested. Who is she, what’s happening? And it just made me want more of her and her backstory and hopefully that’s what people want to find out: what’s going on with this woman? She’s obviously very intense. What’s the prob? What’s going on? That’s the effect it had on me.”
In the same interview, she spoke about Noma’s backstory, which is largely shrouded in mystery. She was an orphan from Nigeria who was adopted by East End gangsters, and they brought her up in that lifestyle. Despite the overall effect she has on the narrative, she appears in only three episodes of season 3, which has led to speculations that one of the future entries in the ‘Power’ franchise might be set in London and feature Noma as an important character.
In episode 5, Noma, along with her second-in-command Obi, interrupts Tariq and Effie’s time in Italy and tells them to retrieve a listening device Mecca placed in the house of one of her prominent rivals, Francesco Lombardi, who her people later kill. While they are at Lombardi’s home, Effie finds a photo of Noma, Lombardi, and a girl, making it apparent to Effie and Tariq that Noma just orchestrated the death of her child’s father. They know that it’s only a matter of time before Noma takes them out as well, so they plan to use her daughter as leverage against her.
In the season 3 finale, as Monet starts working directly for Noma, Tariq finds himself in a desperate situation. He learns from Effie that Noma’s daughter is now about their age and attends New York University. In the climactic scene, when Cane is about to kill him, Tariq lies to Noma, claiming that he has people keeping an eye on her daughter, Anya Covington. But this is when Effie appears, revealing that she told Noma everything in exchange for a position in her organization. Noma explains that she has already moved her daughter to a safe location. Fortunately for Tariq, this is when Brayden arrives and rescues him.
Read More: Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 Finale Recap and Ending, Explained
