Luke Cage 2.13

They Reminisce Over You

There's a lot in this final episode of the season and the series. It is pretty clear from the way it ended that it wasn't the end that the show runner wanted. He had other things planned. This is not the way to leave things hanging for a character like Luke Cage unless you have at least one more segment of the story left to tell.

Luke Cage 2.12

Can't Front on Me

Someone is selling drugs with Bushmaster's name on them. This is similar to what was happening at the opening of the season when someone was selling drugs with Luke's name on them. Luke tails Bushmaster and finds him about to attack a production or distribution warehouse for the drugs. He helps Bushmaster to tear the place apart and fight off the Asian gangsters that are guarding the place.

Luke Cage 2.11

The Creator

A decent episode. Things continue to build toward the inevitable end which I am fairly certain will include a showdown between Mariah and McIver. The events of this episode are mostly followup on what happened at the end of last episode, the massacre at Gwen's.

Luke Cage 2.10

The Main Ingredient

Danny shows at Pop's Barber Shop. He and Luke hang out and then go looking for Bushmaster. They pay a visit to Turk along the way. They find him running an underground shop selling drug paraphernalia. He tells them enough to find one of Bushmaster's grow houses, where he had his people working on growing Nightshade. They beat up his people and then burn it to the ground.

Luke Cage 2.09

For Pete's Sake

Luke doesn't call Danny. Instead he leads the small group (Mariah, his father, Misty, and D) that just escaped the shootout at Mother's Touch to a building owned by Danny's company. The building is still under construction but mostly complete. Luke gets them in the door and then they hunker down. On second thought, maybe he did contact Danny. How else would he have known the pass code to get in the building? Hmmm...

Luke Cage 2.08

If It Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right

Things pick up right where they left off at the end of the last episode. The viewers know everything but it quickly becomes clear that not all of the characters on the show do.

Luke Cage 2.07

On and On

Luke experiences a series of visions before he regains the ability to move and saves himself from drowning. He goes to find Piranha, whom he left in his father's care, only to discover that Piranha left. Bushmaster has Piranha and wants him to hand over the passwords to Mariah's accounts. Piranha says he can't do that but Bushmaster insists.

Luke Cage 2.06

The Basement

Luke and Piranha run from the club. The Jamaicans are hot on their trail. They evade their pursuers but the Jamaicans find them. Piranha's leg gets injured when Luke throws him from one building to another. The Jamaicans catch up to them again. Luke gets his hands on their squad leader. He tries to scare him but the man isn't afraid. Luke and Pirahna take off and hide out in an old movie theater, the Uptown.

Misty is at the police station. Mariah has been brought in after the debacle at the new health center. The heads on the poles in the health center have been identified. One was Coackroach. Misty was getting to plant evidence in his apartment when she found his headless body. She wants to interrogate Mariah but Captain Ridenhour won't let her. Misty overhears a conversation between Captain Ridenhour and Mariah and learns that they went to high school together. He even has a pet name for her.

Luke Cage 2.05

All Souled Out

Luke gets sued by Cockroach who is willing to settle out of court for $100,000. Luke doesn't have the money but he lets Foggy Nelson, his lawyer, talk him into doing a personal appearance for a fee. Piranha hires Luke to hang out at a party. He just wants Luke to hang out, smile, and pose for pictures.

Luke Cage 2.04

I Get Physical

Luke gets up after getting knocked down by Bushmaster. They fight but Bushmaster is too much for Luke. He is too fast and too strong. He also caught Luke by surprise. The fight ends when Bushmaster knocks him out. Insult is added to injury when the whole fight is caught on video and broadcast across the internet.

Luke Cage 2.03

Wig Out

Cockroach lives. Luke didn't kill him. He's just in really bad shape. Misty is the first cop on the scene. She talks to Luke but doesn't arrest him or take him in for questioning. Her colleagues and her boss are less than thrilled with this call.

Shades shows up at Mariah's home unexpectedly. She is having a meal with her daughter. Mariah chases him off.

Luke Cage 2.02

Straighten It Out

Luke is still stunned over the fact that a Judas bullet didn't hurt him. Bobby Fish arranges for a test of his abilities. They don't test Luke's invulnerability. Instead they test his speed, strength, and leaping abilities. A crowd gathers during the tests which happen on an open field. A couple of the observers are ESPN reporters, Jemele Hill and Michael Smith. I'm familiar with them from a couple podcasts appearances.

Luke Cage 2.01

Soul Brother #1

All sorts of things are set in motion in this episode. Most of the players are back from last season including the ones who also showed up in Defenders.

James Lucas, Cage's father becomes part of the story in this episode. He is played by Reg E. Cathey, who died before the season dropped. Looking ahead I can see that he appears in about half the episodes in this season. I've got no idea if that is the first half or every other episode or what. There is one scene with him early in the episode. He is a preacher and in that scene he is preaching about Luke, but not before an audience. Later in the episode he meets up with Luke, whom he insists on calling Carl, the name Luke was given at birth. It is not a pleasant reunion.

Luke Cage 1.13

You Know My Steez

Luke finally has it out with Diamondback. The two fight in Pops Barber Shop and then the fight continues out into the street. A crowd gathers. The fight is broadcast live on TV. Candace and Claire see it. Claire tells Candace to stay with her mother while she goes to Pops to be there for Luke.

The two half-brothers fight to a standstill until Luke is able to figure out that much of Styker's strength is coming from him. The harder Luke hits him the stronger Stryker gets. Luke goes limp and lets Stryker use up all that energy he has amassed and then he knocks him out. The cops have arrived, by that point and are ready to open fire with Judas rounds but Misty steps into prevent them from doing so. Stryker is arrested and carted away. Everything that follows the end of the fight is epilogue and laying the groundwork for next season and possibly in part for part of season 1 of Iron Fist.

Misty arrests Mariah, who stuck around on purpose, after the fight is over. She reveals Luke's original name, Carl Lucas, to a reporter as she is interviewed on live television. Luke is not arrested but is brought in for questioning. Misty and Inspector Ridley do their best to sweat a confession out of Mariah.

Shades works behind the scenes while Mariah is in custody. In the confusion at the end of the previous episode Misty dropped her phone. Shades picked it up. It wasn't clear then whose phone it was. Shades uses the phone to text Candace, pretending to be Misty. Candace goes to meet Misty and is shot and killed by Shades. Her body is found. Her confession on tape drops in value immediately. Inspector Ridley drops all charges against Mariah. Misty in incensed but can't do anything to stop Mariah from walking free.

Two US Marshals show up for Luke. Based on Mariah's reveal of Luke's former identity he is arrested for breaking out of prison and not serving his full sentence. He goes with them peacefully. Claire promises to call her lawyer friend, a clear reference to Matt Murdock although she doesn't actually name him. The episode ends with a montage of scenes of the various players in the story as (the recently deceased) Sharon Jones performs 100 Days, 100 Nights at Harlem's Paradise.

I was ready for this. I was ready for this not to be fully resolved. I appreciate the fact that they didn't wait until the last 5-10 minutes but rather used more than half of this episode, as I mentioned above, to slowly reset the board for the next season. This season should probably be viewed not as a complete story, but as act 1 of a larger story.

I didn't binge watch this season. I don't like binge watching. I especially don't think it makes sense to binge watch a season like this. It should be savored and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There are going to be slow moments in a 13 episode season like this. I'm amused by people who binge watch and also comment on how the show dragged in places. It didn't drag, it slowed down, which is natural. What isn't natural is binge watching.

On the whole I was very impressed with this season of Luke Cage. There were some episodes I liked more than others but I now feel confident saying that I don't think there were any major misteps in this season. Some things were handled or presented a little too directly, without enough nuance for my tastes, but overall I think the producers and directors did a marvelous job with the whole show in a way that was not done with any of the previous Marvel Netflix seasons. Whether this is what Harlem is really like or not they gave it, the neighborhood in which the story took place (for the most part) a personality which is something that I didn't get from either Daredevil or Jessica Jones.

It can be argued that both seasons of Daredevil are also about Foggy and Karen. Season 1 of Daredevil is also about Kingpin, Season 2 is also about Punisher and to a lesser degree, Elektra. Season 1 of Jessica Jones is mostly about Jessica and Killraven. None of those seasons embraced an environment in which they were set in quite the way Luke Cage did. Finally this season of Luke Cage was as much about Misty Knight (and occasionally Claire Temple) as it was about Luke.

This is by far my favorite season of Marvel Netflix series to date. There's a bit or irony in that appraisal considering that I wasn't very enthusiastic for the series until just before it was released*. My lack of enthusiasm was due to my lackluster response to Luke Cage in season 1 of Jessica Jones. He didn't intrigue me on that show. I didn't feel the need to learn more about him. I didn't realize then the extent to which the producers of Luke Cage were going to make the story about much more than just the main character.

I am eagerly looking forward to Season 2 of Luke Cage and am interested to see if and how elements from this season are carried forward into Iron Fist and the the other Marvel Netflix shows.

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* Some credit for getting me excited about this show is due to the conversation Cheo Hodari Coker, the show runner, had with Combat Jack on the Sep 27, 2016 episode of the Combat Jack Show.
https://soundcloud.com/thecombatjackshow/the-cheo-hodari-coker-episode

Luke Cage 1.12

Soliloquy of Chaos

Like the last one, this episode picks up where the previous one left off. This time Luke is in chains after surrendering himself to the police. Just before they load him in a paddy wagon, Misty surreptitiously encourages Luke to make a run for it. When the vehicle is stopped at a light Luke breaks free and takes off running. He gets stopped by a cop who remembers him from Pop's Barber Shop. For a second it looks like the cop is either going to shoot him, with Judas rounds, or call for backup but he let's Luke go.

What doesn't make sense is why the paddy wagon stopped for the red light. If they have an important prisoner in the back then I would think they should have the lights and siren on and be going through red lights. I guess the reason they stopped could be because the two officers in the front seat were too engaged in conversation to remember to follow protocol.

Early the next morning Luke stops a hold up at a small convenience store. Method Man, who later talks and raps about the experience on a radio program, is in the shop when Luke walks in and stops the attempted robbery. He helps Luke out by switching hoodies with him and spreading the word about Luke's actions. Soon black men all over Harlem are wearing hoodies with holes in them which helps to confuse the cops. The Larry Davis reference was appropriate but went over my head until I did a Google search.

Shades is in police custody but Misty and Inspector Ridley can't get anything out of him. Eventually Stryker sends a lawyer to bail Shades out of jail. Zip and a couple of Styker's thugs pick up Shades. It looks like they are taking him to meet Styker but then Zip tries to kill him while the other two stand around and watch. Shades manages to get his hands on a gun and kills all three.

Misty gets a bigger role this time around. She bounces around trying to piece things together. She gets a call from Candace, who wants to come clean and testify against Mariah and Shades. Alex, Mariah's assistant, has been keeping an eye on Candace from a distance and reports back to Mariah on her meeting with Misty. Later Misty secretly meets with Luke to compare notes.

Domingo decides the time has come to take down Diamondback. He and a bunch of his boys go to Stryker's warehouse armed to the teeth. Despite having him outnumbered and outgunned, Domingo and his crew end up on the losing side of the fight.

The episode ends with most of the major players converging on Pop's Barber Shop: Luke, Misty, Mariah, Shades, Diamondback. Mariah and Shades want Luke to take down Stryker. They try to bribe Luke with a file on him that should help him to clear his name. Misty wants to arrest Shades and Mariah. Before the conversation gets very far Diamondback shows up in a new suit. Shades tries gunning him down but the suit seems to make him bulletproof. Diamondback says he is the angel of death just before he and Luke charge one another and the episode ends.

Claire did not appear in this episode. She was mentioned at least once. I assume that she will be back in the final episode of the season.

There is some evidence that Misty's arm was injured but by the end of the episode it is hardly apparent that she was injured badly in the prior episode. I suppose there is no telling what may happen to her in the final episode of the season. Maybe they're saving the injury that costs her an arm for the first season of Iron Fist.

There's a lot going on this episode. I'm not sure if everyone is going to survive the end of the season but I will be very disappointed if they don't resolve things between Luke and Stryker. There is some hint that they might be setting things up for the return of Mariah in season 2.

Once again I am very impressed by the music and the way it is used throughout the episode. I wasn't blown away by Method Man's performance at the radio station but it worked very well with the images that were used as he spit lyrics about Luke and Harlem.

Luke Cage 1.11

Now You're Mine

This entire episode takes place inside the club, Harlem's Paradise. Picking up exactly where the previous one left off Luke and Misty escape from behind the bar. They barricade themselves in the kitchen. While Stryker is pulling his resources together, Luke takes them into the basement through a secret passage. For a while they are safe down there as Stryker blows up the kitchen with what looks like a 40mm grenade.

Claire is still upstairs and has become a hostage, one of many still in the club. She meets Candace, the hostess who used to work in the club and was coerced into saying she saw Luke kill Cottonmouth. Candace has a theory about where Luke and Misty have gotten to which she shares with Claire. Somehow Claire convinces the guards to let her go down to the basement to get Candace's medication. Claire takes down the guard who is sent to keep an eye on her and makes contact with Luke and Misty after he punches his way though a wall.

One aspect I had a bit of a problem with is how everyone stayed so far apart from one another. I would think that Diamondback would have his men looking high and low for Cage. I was also a little surprised when he didn't recognize Claire, at the time she became a hostage, although later on he remembers her.

Stryker does his best to convince the cops who have surrounded the club that Luke Cage is the one behind chaos in the club. Inspector Ridley is on the spot and in charge of the police response to what's going on inside Harlem's Paradise but they don't see any real action.

She isn't seen in this episode but behind the scenes Mariah has gone to the mayor and convinced him to arm the police with rounds that are effective against Luke, Judas rounds, which are similar to the ones that Diamondback shot him with a few episodes back. After killing one of the hostages with his power glove Stryker leaves Luke to face the cops. Luke turns himself in and is arrested despite Misty's protests that he is innocent.

It looks like Misty is going to lose the arm, despite Luke and Claire's best efforts. There were moments in this episode when Misty looked a little too fine for someone who has had one of her arms shot to pieces. I think that probably isn't the actor's fault as much as it is that of the team doing makeup for the show. I'll be disappointed if there isn't a brief appearance by Danny Rand, somewhere in the last two episodes, stepping in to offer her the resources of Rand Industries to replace her arm.

More is revealed about why Stryker is out for revenge against Luke. Maybe it isn't new information but they seemed to put it very succinctly this time around. It is now clear why Luke's half-brother hates him so. I get a definite Jacob and Esau type vibe from their relationship. Also revealed, first in an off-hand remark by Luke and then more explicitly by Diamondback, is that Luke served in the Marines and was in Force Recon,

Shades has a great line which is a call back to Different Strokes, although he delivers it very differently from how it was delivered on the classic sitcom.

The assistant ADA from the Season 2 of Daredevil, Blake Tower, shows up for the first time since that season. According to imdb, it looks like this is his one and only appearance in this season of Luke Cage. There was a Blake Tower in the comic books but he was white. He first appeared in Daredevil (1964) 129. He also had a few appearances in Power Man and Iron Fist, including the final issue of that series, 125. Most of his appearances in comic books were in the 1970s and 1980s.

Despite my nitpicks I really enjoyed this episode. I loved the tension, not knowing exactly how things would turn out.

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.

Luke Cage 1.09

DWYCK

- Luke escapes from the trash truck; eventually he makes his way to Claire but along the way he has a run in with a couple cops who try to take him in; even though he is still suffering from being shot twice with special explosive rounds he is more than a match for the two police officers; the incident is caught on video and the recoding soon goes viral; Claire and Luke head to Georgia to find Dr. Burstein, who experimented on him at Seagate prison
- Misty spends the entire episode being interrogated, mostly by a police psychiatrist; she opens up a little bit, tells a story from her past about a friend of hers who was raped and murdered; she also reflects on the moment when Diamondback almost killed her with her own gun; later Inspector Ridley talks to Misty in the interrogation room
- Mariah takes Shades advice and organizes a sit down with Domingo and four other gang leaders about transitioning operations to them; Stryker interrupts the meeting; before it is over most of the gang leaders are dead and Diamondback has a new found respect for Mariah

- DWYCK = Do What You Can Kid
- I miss Cottonmouth; he was a much more psychologically complex character than Diamondback
- Overall not bad but this felt like another inbetweener, like the show is building to something big and taking its time getting there; it all feels important and relevant but it is just moving a little more slowly than I would like it to; maybe if there were some good milestone moments or the episode felt like it had its own arc instead of being just a piece of the arc of the season then I would have felt more satisfied after watching this one

Luke Cage 1.08

Blowin' Up the Spot

- Misty Knight and other police officers come to investigate the death of Cottonmouth; Shades does what he can to help Mariah overcome her shock and cover up her part in her cousin's murder; the evidence clearly doesn't match up with Mariah's story or the story provided by Candace, an employee of the club, but Misty is forced to investigate Candace' allegation that Luke Cage murdered Cottonmouth
- Claire tries to get Luke to safety after he took an explosive, high powered round to the gut at the end of the last episode; she gets an ambulance to tranport them to a clinic but before they can get to the clinic the sniper, Diamonback aka Willis Stryker, strikes again and the pair are forced to flee on foot
- Misty and Diamondback, separately, trace Claire and Luke to the clinic; Luke finally gets to face his assailant face to face; he is still injured but even injured he is much stronger that Stryker; Stryker gets the jump on Misty and for a moment it looks like he is going to kill her; Luke trails Diamondback to an old abandoned theater; they duke it out; Diamondback escapes; Luke passes out
- Misty has taken Claire into custody and she is questioned at a police station; Misty goes a little too far, Claire isn't being cooperative, and doesn't seem to get any useful information out of Claire; Misty still doesn't know about Luke's past; the way things are going I get the impression that Misty is going to be off the police force before the end of the season
- Luke awakens the next morning and goes looking for Diamondback again but Styrker finds him and shoots him with the high-powered rifle, knocking him into a trash truck

- once again the music is quite impressive; love how it is used; I especially like the music and the way the scenes are shot in the old movie theater
- this was a bit of an in betweener but I like how it is setting things up for things to come
- one reveal is that Luke and Diamondback have a past; they grew up together; possibly in the same household; Luke's father was a minister; Luke took the fall for something that Diamondback did; that's how he wound up in Seagate, that's my read of the back and forth conversation between Luke and Willis; Luke admits to not being the friend he should have been but it is still unclear why Diamondback wants to kill him, especially if Luke took the blame for something that Stryker should have gone to prison for; I get the impression that it is a personal score, and that Stryker's feelings toward Luke go beyond the bounds of rational thinking; it maybe that he is and has for quite some time been jealous of Luke

- in one of the scenes where Stryker is stalking Luke and Claire there is a very obvious reference made to The Warriors (1979)
- in one scene where Luke and Claire are alone talking he mentions how his father used to call him Power Man; I'm not sure if the anecdote cones from the comics or is something that was made up for the series

Luke Cage 1.07

Manifest

- lots of focus on Mariah and Cottonmouth in this one including some flashbacks to when they were younger and growing up in Mama Mabel's house; Cottonmouth seems to finally get under Luke's skin by threatening to reveal his secret, that he is an escaped convict; it might have worked if not for Claire showing him that what he perceives as a weakness is actually a strength in Harlem
- Luke takes Claire's advice and tries the vigilante role, like Daredevil whom she refers to in passing when she is giving him a pep talk; Luke goes after and recovers the guns which are currently in in the possession of Domingo. another boss man who was seen earlier in the season; he turns the guns over to Misty but refuses to tell her everything; Misty does not know about his former life or name, she only knows him as Luke Cage
- Shades isn't happy with Cottonmouth's method of dealing with Cage and turns to Mariah; he helps to remind her of how things used to be and who she was which leads to her confronting Cottonmouth and in a fit of anger killing him; I wasn't expecting that; I loved the argument they were having before she went a little nuts; it showed them as both being very real and three-dimensional, as people who aren't just driven by one thing or one emotion
- Diamondback, a new villain is also introduced and plays a crucial role in the final scene; what information there was given about him through dialogue went past a little too quickly for me to catch; he has been mentioned before and has a past history with Mariah and Cottonmouth which was probably best described at competitive
- a definite transition episode as Cottonmouth and Captain Audrey both exit the story in this episode Diamondback and Inspector Ridley are introduced
- not a perfect episode or a great one but it had some moments that I really liked (the flashbacks, the scene I mentioned above); I loved the music in this one especially how the tone of it changed in the flashbacks