Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 has been on an absolute tear.
This season has been a thrilling ride thus far, delivering non-stop action and raising the stakes higher than ever before.
Part of that exhilarating journey has revolved around those on the other side of the drugs and murder, namely Jenny Sullivan, who has made it her personal mission to rid the streets of the murderous group of criminals that have evaded the law for so long.
We got to jump on a video chat with Jenny’s portrayer, Paton Ashbrook, who was gracious and extremely candid in her responses to all our pressing questions. It’s always great to speak with actors who are so passionate about the characters they portray.
This was a wonderful conversation, with some great insight into what we’ll continue to see from Jenny and her storyline as the season progresses.
Coming off of Power Book II: Ghost Season 3 Episode 4 and Whitman’s death, it once again shows how anything is possible in this world, and no one is safe.
Jenny has been in dogged pursuit of justice, but does she understand the scope of what she’s doing and the dangers associated with it?
As Ashbrook explained, “I think, well, with Jenny, she’s super ambitious. Just that blind kind of ambition and focus on her goals, and she’s really just leaving her emotions out of it as best she can. And so when that happens, yeah, it definitely throws her.
“This is the first time Jenny is coming close to some seriously dangerous situations because she’s dealing with the St. Patrick’s, and it gets dangerous and obviously Monet.
“So yeah, the walls are closing in on them, but she’s also, especially after Whitman, feeling the walls starting to close in on her, and the reality and the gravity of the situation is starting to show up for her.
“But the way she deals with it is really interesting as the season goes on. And there will be more to say about that, but you will get to see how she handles it and how it makes her go even further because now she’s desperate to win since she’s lost somebody. Right. And it’s like, this is real now, and we have to keep going.
“These people need to be put in jail. It’s too dangerous.”
In order to bring everyone to justice, she was always going to need help. She has Lauren in witness protection, but with her sealed off to the world, the team she’s assembled consists of two people with a checkered past.
“She couldn’t keep the secret anymore,” Ashbrook replied when asked why Jenny felt now was the best time to unite the longtime enemies. “She has so many secrets. Look, I joke that she has this amazing hair in the show, and that’s where all her secrets hide. She has so many things.
“And I think even for her, she’s incredibly savvy and very capable and used to doing things alone and by herself. But the compartmentalizing of the relationships as far as working together and knowing that they have drama, Blanca and Saxe, she knew it was inevitable that they have to meet. Saxe is becoming this jealous guy.
“They’re not together, but he’s got his claws into Jenny, and she needs him to lay off. So she’s like, okay, finally, we’re going to just get this over with. You guys have to play nice with each other. This is for all of our benefits. But she was pushed to make that happen sooner than I think she really wanted it to.
“I think she would’ve preferred to wait until Cooper had some even more substantial information. But she couldn’t lie anymore.”
And speaking of Saxe, the dynamic between Jenny and him has significantly evolved from Power Book II: Ghost Season 2. They’re now in this relationship that’s much less romantic and much more based around working together.
But even in working together, does Jenny trust Saxe? Did she ever?
“Yeah, what’s interesting is, and this hasn’t really been shown in the show, but there is a backstory between these two people,” Ashbrook said when asked just that. “Like this isn’t the first time they were having some kind of a relationship together. They actually did, and they tried it, and it didn’t work, and it didn’t end well.
“It ended in such a way where the jealousy factor and that kind of thing started to happen, and Jenny just doesn’t do that. She doesn’t have time for it. She works too hard. She doesn’t need more drama in her life. So it ended, and then it started back up in this sort of friends-with-benefits sort of way last season.
“And now that he’s her CI and she knows that he wants there to be something more, she knows that. But for Jenny’s sake, because she’s so obsessed with this case and getting it done and doing the right thing, protecting Lauren, Lauren’s life is really at stake, and it’s because of Jenny that she’s still alive.
“And so if she messes up, she could lose that person. And so it complicated things even more with Cooper. You’ll see that they’re not even sleeping together anymore.
“So the dynamic in the relationship has really shifted, the power dynamic has really shifted, and you get to see them wrestle with it in big ways coming up as the season goes on because it’s not sustainable, and it’s a little bit toxic.
“But she, again, is doing what she really believes she needs to do in order to put these people in jail, which is her perception of justice. That’s what she believes will fix everything. So, she’s sacrificing her relationships, and she’s not even really aware of it because if she were aware of it would mess up how she’s able to function in her job.
“And so yeah, you get to see that wrestling in her as the season goes on. It gets harder and harder.”
Jenny has been laser-focused on Tariq, with Whitman even insinuating at one point that she and Blanca may have a bit of an infatuation with bringing the young St. Patrick down.
But Ashbrook sees it a little differently.
“Well, here’s the thing, the way I think about it is the person that really messed with her last season was Brayden,” she remarked when asked about Jenny’s perceived obsession with Tariq.
“He completely ruined everything she had put together in that moment. And so if that were the case, if it were personal, Paton, me, I would tend to think she would go after Brayden. Right?
“But I think it’s more about, especially with Lauren, Lauren’s situation and knowing that that accident was not an accident, and with Carrie’s death also, who, again, Jenny knew. Jenny actually had a relationship with Carrie. She didn’t like her very much. She thought she was messy. But, she knew her.
“And so all these people around her and that she’s working with or using are in great danger, and she really is taking it on as if she’s the one that has to solve everything. And she’s not very good at asking for help.
“That’s actually what I like about the Blanca and Jenny relationship is because I think for the first time you get to see Jenny working with someone that she sees as an equal and that she trusts, and another woman in a world where it’s very male-centric.
“And the most emotional people on the show right now that she’s working with are Saxe and Whitman, and they’re just out of hand, out of pocket. And Blanca and Jenny are the grounded ones.”
Everything feels like it’s on one hundred this season, and it’s only going to get crazier, as Ashbrook teased for us some things to come and where we’ll see Jenny’s journey continue to go.
“Well, a lot happens. So much happens,” Ashbrook explained. “You think things are messy now; they get worse. It just gets messier and messier. More of her secrets come out. People aren’t happy with her keeping her secrets. But again, she’s really doing what she thinks she needs to do because she doesn’t trust anybody.
“She doesn’t trust Cooper, and there’s good reason for that. He’s already gone through her stuff. He was using her last season, and she knows that. Jenny is a smart cookie, so nothing really gets by her.
“What has been the most fun thing to play with her is her negotiation between the very real consequences of her relationships and what ends up happening to the people that she works with and to herself while in pursuit of this very grand, you could call it career ambition, and I think that’s what Jenny would say it is that it is for her career.
“But when I’m inside her playing her, it feels much more personal. She doesn’t fail. If you ever look in her office, you’ll see all these amazing, incredible awards on her walls. She doesn’t lose. And the fact that she lost last season is a big pushing driving factor in her like, ‘I’m not going to lose this time.’
“I almost lost Lauren. Lauren almost died, they tried, and she felt responsible for that. And so, she literally took her into her own family home to protect her. It is personal for her, even if she can’t admit it to herself.”
You can watch Power Book II: Ghost on Fridays at 8/7c on Starz. And follow along here at TV Fanatic each week for our reviews!
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity.***
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.