Monet Tejada in 'Married to the Game’ Power Book II: Ghost Season 4 Episode 9

Show: Power Book II: Ghost | Season 4, Episode 9 | Network: Starz | Aired: September 27, 2024

I have been sitting with this episode for weeks and I still cannot fully put into words what it did to me. Married to the Game is the episode where we lose Monet Tejada. And the way she goes out is so completely, heartbreakingly HER that even through the tears I found myself saying yes. That is exactly right. That is exactly who she always was.

The Plan

The episode starts with Noma and Carter teaming up to send Tariq and Monet to an abandoned amusement park in Staten Island to be gunned down by Russian hitmen. Dru and Diana show up in time, take out the Russians, and realize that Noma and Carter think they are already dead. That buys everyone time.

Monet, Tariq, Brayden, Dru, Diana, Effie, and Davis all come together to devise a plan: they will strike at Noma and Carter on Noma and Cane's wedding day. Tariq will go after Carter. The Tejadas will deal with Noma at the reception. It should work. It almost works.

What Monet Was Wearing

Rick Owens Jumbo Peter bomber jacket with a lacquered, textured finish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiONZENOyGU

The Wedding

At the reception, Noma uses their first dance to tell Cane he has to choose: his mother or her organization. When he refuses to disavow his family she has him restrained. Dru and Diana are hauled out to be killed.

And then Monet bursts into that room like she is the lead in an action movie. She is. She always has been. She shoots the henchmen. She frees her children. She goes back inside to get Cane. And then she takes bullets in the chest. Multiple bullets.

She falls. And the last thing she says, looking at Dru and Diana rushing to her side, is My babies.

My. Babies.

After everything. After four seasons of empire building and survival and ruthlessness and manipulation and love and grief and sacrifice. Her last words are about her children. Not the business. Not the power. Her babies.

What This Means

Monet Tejada died the only way she ever could have. Not quietly. Not alone. Not surrendering. She died guns blazing, protecting the people she loved, in the middle of a fight she started specifically to save them.

She was married to this game. The title says it perfectly. You do not get out of a marriage like that. You are in it until it ends you. And when it ended Monet Tejada, she went out on her feet, for her children, the way she always said she would.

A Tribute to Mary J. Blige

I am not going to be the same after this episode. And I know I am not alone. Mary J. Blige gave us four seasons of one of the greatest television performances in recent memory. She made Monet Tejada real. Complicated. Human. Worthy of our grief when she was gone.

What Monet Was Wearing

Zuhair Murad Phenix Brooch-detailed jersey gown

Rest in power, Monet. The Queen reigned for four seasons and she never stopped fighting.

How did you feel watching Monet die? Drop your tribute in the comments. The Queen deserves all of it.