Luke Cage 1.10

Take It Personal

Luke and Claire spend most of the episode in Georgia. The episode begins with Dr. Burtein and Claire trying to dig the shrapnel out of Luke. They have a hell of time opening him up to get at the shrapnel and almost kill him before they can start operating on him. Even after he has recovered he is haunted by memories of Reva, in part because of things Dr. Burstein says which lead him to question his memories of her.

Mariah and Diamondback stir things up in Harlem. Stryker frames Luke by killing a cop using a super-powered glove in front of several witnesses. The police department does not take kindly to this. Among the suspects brought in during the search for Cage is young boy in his early teens. He gets in a violent argument with a cop which ends with the kid going to the hospital. Mariah uses this incident to stir things up some more.

Luke and Claire travel to Savannah, where Luke grew up. Standing in the now rundown church that his grandfather founded he has a couple flashbacks to his youth. He understands now that Diamondback is his brother, same father different mother. He also understands now why Stryker hates him so, because their father hated Stryker and has transferred that hatred to Luke.

Misty remains unconvinced that Luke is the one who killed Cottonmouth or the cop.She sits on the sidelines for most of the episode. Towards the end she shows up at Harlem's Paradise at a rally organized by Mariah. Stryker is also in attendance. Luke shows up after the rally is already in full swing. Misty tries to arrest Stryker but he shoots her. Luke rushes in a saves her for the moment. The episode ends with the two of them crouched behind the bar at Harlem's paradise under fire from some of Stryker or Mariah's thugs.

Much better than the last episode, although Misty did sit around for much of this episode.The operation to extract the shrapnel from Luke went fast. I'm undecided as to whether it should have been stretched out but it seemed to go a little more smoothly than I am sure a similar operation on a non-super-powered being would go.

In the scene where Stryker shoots Misty it looks like the bullets hit her in the shoulder. I'm wondering if this is going to be the injury that is going to result in her losing her arm and getting it replaced with a bionic one. Hard to tell at this point.