‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Season 5 Episode 7 Explores Marvin’s Death and Sets Up the Series Finale

‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ has spent its final season stripping away every person and every excuse that once kept its title character from becoming the man fans of ‘Power’ already know he turns into. Episode 7, titled “Penultimate Means Second to Last,” pushes that transformation past the point of no return.

The episode aired on Starz on Friday, July 31, and it closes with a death that removes the last obstacle standing between Kanan and his mother. The final season of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ has entered its home stretch, with fans tracking Kanan Stark’s transformation into the ruthless figure introduced in the original ‘Power’ now watching the season fracture the Thomas family’s grip on Queens.

Marvin’s Death and Kanan’s Ruthless Turn

Episode 7 is where Kanan’s budding ruthlessness comes to a head when he takes out Marvin in the final act, and killing another one of his uncles already carries its own weight. Kanan had already killed Lou-Lou earlier in the season, though that death was framed as an accident, and he had also come close to killing Raq before that, with visible hesitation still present in that moment. Marvin’s death carries none of that ambiguity.

The season has slowly stripped Kanan of every reason to hold back, and how and why he kills Marvin epitomizes the version of Kanan Stark who becomes a ruthless killer with no qualms about turning on his own flesh and blood. The act is described as less an explosion of rage over the beating Marvin gave him and more a cold execution reflecting the man Kanan has decided to become. That beatdown had closed out episode five, “School of War,” which made Marvin’s demise in episode 7 feel inevitable rather than shocking, unlike the earlier and more unexpected death of Lou-Lou in the premiere.

In his final moments, Marvin is described as fearless while staring death in the face, smoking a cigarette and appearing almost taunting toward his fate. He challenges Kanan to get on with it, and the scene ends with Marvin joining his brother in the afterlife while Kanan walks away cocky and self assured. Actor London Brown discussed the moment with Deadline shortly after the episode aired, offering his own perspective on Marvin’s arc and what it meant to close out the character this way.

Raq’s Crumbling Alliances

Marvin’s death does not exist in isolation. Everything is crumbling for Raquel Thomas by the time episode 7 ends, with Flossy having already cut ties, which in turn takes Pino out of the picture as well. The Thomas family is now fair game to nearly everyone, and Marvin had been the last person left in Raq’s corner before Kanan took him out too.

Raq had killed Ishaq the week before, and Hafiz appeared ready to make her pay for it, with Stefano positioned to work alongside Hafiz to further weaken Raq’s network and potentially threaten her life. Kanan, meanwhile, still had a score to settle with his mother and uncle after the beating he took from Marvin, and his growing ruthlessness had been building toward this exact reckoning across the whole series.

Raq does not yet know that Marvin is gone, but that will not last long, and once she learns the truth, any remaining hesitation about confronting her own son will disappear. Marvin had functioned as the family’s enforcer, and without him there is no one left capable of imposing consequences on Kanan. Raq had already made her choice weeks earlier when she told Marvin the truth about who really killed Lou-Lou, a decision that marked her own final break from protecting her son.

Jukebox’s Next Move

Marvin is not the only member of the Thomas family shifting closer to the version of themselves that longtime ‘Power’ viewers already recognize. Official episode details describe Jukebox hatching a plan of her own even as Raq and Marvin navigate their own precarious situation and Kanan and Breeze deepen their partnership.

Something else happens in this next to last episode beyond Marvin’s death, as Hailey Kilgore’s Jukebox takes a step closer to the version of the character audiences first met in the original series, where she was played by Anika Noni Rose. The show has spent this final season building toward that convergence for every major player, not just Kanan.

The episode overall centers on Raq facing pressure from all sides as she struggles to maintain control while alliances crumble around her, with Kanan’s growing ruthlessness threatening the relationships he has left. That includes his alliance with Breeze, which continues to deepen even as Kanan’s methods grow colder.

What It Means for the Series Finale

Removing Marvin from the picture ultimately clears whatever roadblock remained between Raq and Kanan’s inevitable collision, and the penultimate episode brings that brutal escalation into full view. In the season and series finale, there is no longer anyone standing between mother and son, and while Kanan appears unstoppable, Raq is not going down without a fight since she now has nothing left to lose.

The season is not expected to end with Kanan’s death, but it will mark the end of the story for other characters. Series creator Sascha Penn has said the fifth season was always intended to be the show’s last, and that it would answer every remaining question, including definitively explaining how Kanan comes to kill Jukebox in the original ‘Power’ series.

Everything involving the Thomas family is expected to be resolved by the time the season wraps, with that final season having premiered on June 12, 2026, and expected to conclude on August 7, 2026. The final episode of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ airs the following Friday, August 7, on Starz, bringing the prequel’s five season run to a close.

With Marvin gone and Raq nearly out of allies, the finale has little left to resolve except the confrontation the entire series has been building toward, and it is worth asking how fans think Raq and Kanan’s final showdown should play out after everything Marvin’s death just set in motion.