‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Season 5 Episode 7 Ending Explained: Who Did Kanan Really Take Out?

‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan‘ has spent its final season methodically stripping away every relationship and every excuse that once kept its title character from becoming the man ‘Power’ fans already know he grows up to be. Episode by episode, the show has been closing in on an inevitable transformation, one built on betrayal, grief and a family that keeps giving Kanan new reasons to harden.

That slow unraveling reaches a brutal turning point in episode 7, titled “Penultimate Means Second to Last,” which sees Raq and Marvin hunted from multiple directions while Kanan and Jukebox make moves of their own. The hour picks up in the aftermath of episode 6’s fallout, when Marvin beat Kanan to a pulp after learning his nephew was behind Lou-Lou’s death.

By the episode’s final act, Kanan takes his revenge, confronting Marvin and gunning him down inside a church. The order to kill both Marvin and Raq reportedly comes down after pressure from Stefano, Snaps and Pops, putting Kanan and Breeze in position to carry it out, though only Marvin’s death is confirmed by the episode’s end.

The killing lands differently than Kanan’s previous acts of violence this season. His killing of Lou-Lou earlier in the season was framed as an accident, and an earlier attempt on Raq’s life still carried visible hesitation. Marvin’s death carries none of that ambiguity, playing less like an explosion of rage over the beating he took and more like a cold, deliberate execution reflecting exactly who Kanan has decided to become.

That inevitability had been building since episode 5, “School of War,” when the beatdown that closed out that hour all but guaranteed some form of retaliation. Unlike Lou-Lou’s more unexpected death earlier in the season, Marvin’s fate had been telegraphed clearly enough that the show seemed less interested in shocking viewers than in making the moment feel earned.

Marvin’s death also lands as one of the more emotionally weighted losses of the season given how his character had evolved. Where he once played the role of Raq’s loyal yes-man, always doing what he was told despite his grumbling, this season saw him pushing back more forcefully and speaking hard truths to his sister in ways that felt rooted in genuine love rather than disdain.

Kanan isn’t the only one embracing a more ruthless streak by episode’s end, either. Jukebox gets her own measure of payback by killing Snaps and Pops in Central Park, cutting down two more of the players circling Raq’s operation in a single stroke.

Raq’s position, meanwhile, keeps deteriorating on nearly every front. Flossy has already cut ties with her, which takes Pino out of the picture as well, and with Marvin now gone, the last person firmly in her corner has been removed. That leaves the Thomas family exposed to nearly everyone still circling for a piece of Manhattan’s underworld.

Raq does not yet know that Marvin is dead by the time the episode ends, setting up a gutting reveal still to come as the show heads into its final two hours. With only two episodes left before the series wraps entirely, the show is clearly setting the stage for a direct collision between mother and son, one that finally removes anyone left standing between them.

Kanan isn’t going to die before the story catches up to the character fans already know from ‘Power,’ but episode 7 makes clear that plenty of other people won’t be so lucky before the finale arrives.

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