Luke Cage, Season 1, Episode 2: Moment of Truth
After a very slow and unimpressive first episode, Luke Cage finally gets things moving with a very well-written and engaging second episode. It goes through the same paces as any superhero origin story goes, with a death that kickstarts the hero's sense of justice and calling to be someone better, but the way the show is structured makes the scene feel fresh in a way that can only be possible with the slower start that helped to build up the supporting characters Cottonmouth and Pops so their actions in this episode actually resonates.
The episode starts and ends with the same scene, with Luke Cage in a hoodie confronted by a random gangster and a harsh discussion about the N-word, with the ending scene extended to show how the confrontation (predictably) panned out. Unlike Daredevil, Jessica Jones or any of the other heroes, Luke Cage isn't going to do things stealthily. His invulnerability might help his decision a bit, but the fact that Luke doesn't bother with all these fancy-ass superhero codenames and costumes paints him as a different, more 'street' kind of hero. Luke, Pops and Mariah have a couple of separate discussions of black culture which I admit flew over my head, but I get the gist of it. Despite the racial stereotyping and the sate of the neighbourhood, they definitely can be better. Mariah's an interesting bit that she's a corrupt politician that's happy to be hanging out with her crimelord cousin, but she truly believes in the whole rebuilding Harlem for a better future thing. Pops rose through his jaded past and maintains an air of heavy professionalism in his barbershop. No swearing, all uniforms, and all that.
The B-plot revolves around the policewoman from episode one, who we find out here is named Mercedes "Misty" Knight, who, of course, is a superhero in the comics. I know nearly nothing about her other than her existence, but she serves the dual role of the reasonable authority figure we can root for, and the civilian character who's starting to notice that Luke Cage is actually a superhero. I'm not sure if Misty Knight will actually pull a Punisher/Elektra/Luke Cage and don a costume halfway through the season, but here she shows that she's a competent detective (compared to her more laid-back partner, who has the misfortune to be named Scarf) able to do some Sherlock crimescene recreations, noting that with Chico's vomit found on-scene, Chico isn't likely to be the one to have killed Dante and Shameek. The detective bits are pretty decent, even if it's definitely the least interesting subplot. Did we really need to have that long, long basketball scene? Cool that Misty is established to be a member of the community and not just some idealist cop trying to save Harlem, but did it have to take so long?
Meanwhile, Pop plays the role of the supporting parental figure, knowing that Luke Cage did his superhero business at the end of the previous episode, beating Cottonmouth's thugs up. There's a bit of a backstory from Pop, who tells the story with all the grace of a grandfather telling you a story... making the introdumping moments not feel too shoehorned. We (and Luke) get to learn that Cottonmouth and Mariah's mutual grandmother, Mama Mabel, used to run the casino. We also learn Pops' backstory, and despite being this chill grandpa in the present, he used to be a gangster himself, and the Pop nickname actually came from the sound of him beating up people's faces. Pops used to hang out with Cottonmouth and Chico's father when they were kids, and it's this old 'roots' and relationship that Pops tries to appeal to Cottonmouth later on in the episode. But let's not preempt ourselves. We also get a bit about Luke's backstory, how Pops was Reva's adoptive father or something (Pops is like everyone's adoptive father) and didn't question anything regarding Luke Cage showing up or having powers.
The early scene in the barber shop is very cool, with Cottonmouth showing up at the barbershop with his two main flunkies, Shades and Tone, all badass like. Pops shaves Cottonmouth and there's definitely a pretty cool tense moment when Luke gives thinly-veiled threats with "Pops, there are a coupe of dirty towels and I can take them all out now." There's no real reason for them to fight at the moment, not without proof beyond Cottonmouth's 'shaving accident' in his knuckles, but Luke's definitely antsy with Shades around. Shades seems to have no idea who Luke Cage is, even when Luke snaps his broom accidentally, or he might be just playing coy.
Cottonmouth is definitely a very smooth villain that you wouldn't think is a huge crime boss with how he talks to Pops, laughing off jokes and reminiscing about the past, but the tension in the room is definitely there when Cottonmouth asks about Chico. And all the while in the background new character Bobby Fish and good ol' Turk Barrett continue to play chess, oblivious to whatever's happening. And Luke doesn't want to take shit from Cottonmouth, even if it's something as trivial as getting him to pay Pops for the shave.
Pops, meanwhile, begs (and later calls in a favour) to get Luke to find Chico. We see the selfless, hopeful nature on Pops' part, how he truly wants to save Chico because it's not too late for him. Luke is pessimistic about Chico's odds, and neither are the other characters in the show like Misty and Scarf. And even if Cottonmouth is in a forgiving mood, who honestly will think that Chico will do the smart thing? He went along with the whole 'rob Cottonmouth' plan, after all. But Pops sees what's good in people, even when they make mistakes, and, yeah, old friends with the gangster boss and all, but Pops is willing to stick his neck out and cut a parlay with Cottonmouth to smooth things over without people needing to die. Luke quickly uses his people-finding skills to track down Chico quickly, and while Chico refuses to come with Luke, Pops' teachins and his conscience ends up causing him to show up at the barbershop anyway, proving Pops' optimistic attitude about people right.
It's pretty cool, and we get a short story about why Pops was such an obvious father to Luke, Chico, Misty and everyone their age in the community. After he was arrested and imprisoned in jail, he knew he had a son, but has no idea what he looks like, and there's actually a pretty tear-jerking moment where he laments that his son might just show up and sit for a shave and Pops won't even recognize him. (Who knows, Luke might even be Pops' son!) It's a bit of a suddenly sad story that adds a layer of depth to Pops, which, of course, all adds up to the climax of this episode.
But let's talk about the villains now. We don't see Cottonmouth's business partner Domingo at all, and the focus is mostly on Mariah and Cottonmouth. Mariah needs all the money, and we get a bit of an introdump telling us that Mariah 'borrowed' from charities and donations to lend money to Cottonmouth for him to renovate the club and get money from the guns deal, and Mariah isn't exactly a saint for allowing Cottonmouth's people to extort old Chinese couples for even more donations and votes, but she's not entirely evil, outright questioning Cottonmouth when he kills someone in this episode, and actually seeming to believe in the whole 'a better Harlem' she preaches, unlike Cottonmouth, who just sees it all as an opportunity. In addition to developing two of the main antagonists, we also learn that Cottonmouth isn't in exactly a good spot, and he desperately needs all the money that Chico stole. There's also a debate between the two cousins, where Mariah wants respect and recognition, while Cottonmouth is more concerned about power and money.
Of course, our favourite little wannabe big-shot, Turk Barrett, manages to see Chico and tips off Tone. This happens at around the same time that Luke using the cover of working in Cottonmouth's club to inform Cottonmouth of Pops' attempt at parlay. And Cottonmouth actually buys it, although not before firing Luke out of spite. Cottonmouth seems quite willing to talk to his old friend and smooth things out in the next day, but he neglects to tell Tone, who decides to take matters into his own hands.
Tone recruits Shades and they go to get Cottonmouth's money. Shades advises caution, waiting for Chico to come out of the barbershop, but Tone just goes all gangster style, taking two machineguns and shooting up the store. We get a pretty heroic moment where Luke shields that one little kid that was getting a haircut (didn't he get one last episode?), but a bullet hits Pops and, of course, in true Uncle Ben style, he dies, but not without imparting the recurring words to Luke, "always forward", and still fussing over the swear jar, showing that even in death he's still a man of principle. It's tragic but it's not negligence on Luke's part -- he did all that he could considering the circumstances (compare it to Spider-Man refusing to apprehend the gunman that killed Uncle Ben because he isn't quite responsible yet) but rather it's Cottonmouth that could've benefited from more control over his power.
While Luke grieves (and Misty noting how strange it is that Luke is unharmed from the shooting)... Shades and Tone shows up to meet Cottonmouth and Mariah with the bag of money. Cottonmouth is absolutely surprised and furious that Tone did something without his knowing, and that was when he thought that it was only the place that got shot up. Cottonmouth has a code of honour, at least ("believe me, there are supposed to be rules to this shit"), noting that he would reimburse Pops for the damages done to his establishment and all that stuff... but the moment that he was told that Pops is dead, Cottonmouth straight-up throws Tone off the highest floor of the building.
Can you blame him? In addition to killing Cottonmouth's old friend (differences they may have), Tone was also a huge dick going all 'yeah this was like Django Unchained bang bang bang' and calling Cottonmouth, well, Cottonmouth instead of Mr. Stokes. Mariah is not okay with all the killing, but they do have the money and they do need it.
All this is given some light-hearted banter with Turk, who shows up to the meeting halfway through and just wants to be paid for delivering the information, before deciding, without fear after seeing Cottonmouth kill Tone, that "all you Harlem niggas crazy, I'm going back to Hell's Kitchen." Oh, Turk. I like to think this particular incident happened before Daredevil's second season, and Turk buggers off from this benign craziness only to be kidnapped by insane ninjas and nearly having his leg sawed off.
Of course, the episode ends with Luke finally embracing his role and responsibility as Harlem's new superhero and protector, because all of Pops' lessons to him, that everyone has good within them, and how he has to keep looking forwards, resonates with Luke a lot. We get scenes of everyone from Luke to Cottonmouth to Misty grieving over Pops' death, and that was definitely a well-told mentor death story. Definitely builds up interest to see what's going to happen next.
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