Luke Cage, Season 1, Episode 3: Who's Gonna Take The Weight
We move quickly with the Luke Cage striking back at Cottonmouth's organization plot, and surprisingly for a series about Luke Cage, the episode manages to feel like an action episode without actually having much action beyond the huge long one-man raid at the end. I don't think this episode is quite as solid as the previous episode, but it's still a very decent showing. Part of its problem is because of its pacing... which honestly gets a bit of a pass since the various episodes are supposed to be watched in one huge sitting instead of being a week away. While I appreciate the organic storytelling like the reminiscing scene between Luke and Bobby Fish before they get to talking about rebuilding the destroyed barber shop, was it necessary to prolong it for nearly five minutes? On the other hand, it does move Luke's objective from "man, Pops is dead" to "I gotta make Cottonmouth pay and rebuild the barbershop at the same time." without making it awkward that Luke would suddenly trust Bobby, who's basically background dressing in the last two episodes, and without the chess analogies being thrown about in that conversation, he wouldn't have jumped to the 'crush the queen, bishops and rooks' formula. I can definitely appreciate this kind of world-building and character-building. And while I still think that the scenes could've used some rework and repacing, the end result tells a pretty decent story and I cannot begrudge it too much.
Luke's decision might have caused more problems than he bargained for, though. Yes, he got some measure of revenge against Cottonmouth, and yes, he manages to pay off the debts to save the barber shop and to pay Connie for his rent... but in addition to Cottonmouth's very immediate retaliation which may very well kill another likable supporting character. Even before Luke does his one-man raid on Cottonmouth's storehouses, there's already tension between the gangs of Harlem, with Domingo's men attacking Cottonmouth's people as a display of force in one of the earlier scenes in the episode.
Cottonmouth meets Luke at the morgue, where Luke tries his hardest to, well, get a proper coffin for the departed Pops. Cottonmouth foots the bill for everything, and shows up to try and make nice with Luke. He could've been more apologetic, but he makes it clear that Pops' death was not his fault, and the killer is sleeping with the fishies now. Luke still blames Cottonmouth, though, and while he didn't exactly physically harm Cottonmouth yet he makes it clear his displeasure with the gang boss.
A short while after Luke Cage leaves, we get a pretty fun scene where Cottonmouth talks to the undertaker, telling him to prepare all the best for Pops, while Tone's body and its existence can't exist. Definitely getting some cool Godfather vibes from this scene. More Godfather vibes is the juxtaposition of a peaceful singing scene with brutality as a simultaneous raid on various locations occur. It's different than Michael Corleone having his men kill all his competitors while he's at a baptism, but here we have a pretty cool scene of Cottonmouth peacefully watching a performance in his club, unaware that all the while Luke Cage is assaulting his storehouses and beating them up.
It's a pretty cool scene, and the plot is similar to Fast & Furious 5, where Luke tries to spook Cottonmouth to move all his money into his Fort Knox, Crispus Attucks, where Luke can then do a single surgical strike to get at all of Cottonmouth's money. It's pretty cool and definitely insulting to Cottonmouth's ego that Luke's attacks on the lesser storehouses doesn't even involve robberies, just attacks to show that none of his resources are safe. We then have the climax of the episode with Luke Cage proving the impenetrable fortress is, well, penetrable. It's similar, somewhat, to Daredevil's trademark long pan as he goes through an army, but where Daredevil shows off his skill in beating up three dozen enemies with martial arts skills, Luke Cage literally just walks through the building, not giving a flying fuck as nothing at all hurts him. It's definitely cool.
Oh, and the police finds all the money, and Misty notes that despite Luke not taking anything (but a single bag -- no one seems to know about it, though) it does manage to keep the money off the streets, so to speak, so it definitely hurts Cottonmouth. Misty is also confused that not a single person died despite Crispus's security having enough firepower for an army.
The B-plot surrounds Misty Knight and Scarfe, who are trying to get Chico to confess and talk in front of the jury, talking to the scared kid in the hospital. Scarfe gets the whole 'we're letting you go, y'know, but you need us. But you gotta make the decision yourself' cop trick to get Chico to cooperate. Earlier in the episode, Luke gets Chico to reveal everything he knows about Cottonmouth's organization, which helps Luke plan his raid, and it's probably this talk with Luke that caused Chico to remember Pops, and he decides to do the decent thing and talk to the cops abotu everything.
Scarfe meets up with Chico as he gives this long talk about how he's ready to confess and do the right thing... and then Scarfe strangles Chico to death with his tie. Holy fuck that came out of nowhere. Yeah, Scarfe is a dirty cop. It's a very interesting thing considering Scarfe has been nothing but jovial and friendly in all his previous scenes. Quite interestingly, Scarfe and Misty had a short scene arguing over the ethics of vigilantism in the scene immediately before Scarfe meets Chico. Misty is of the opinion that vigilantes has no responsibility or training, but Scarfe shrugs it off, noting how the vigilantes are actually getting the job done without having to deal with all the bullshit red tape. It's an interesting bit that a dirty cop like Scarfe would have such sentiments about vigilantism, which seems to imply that Scarfe isn't just your average dirty cop.
Mariah is also isn't your average dirty politician, and we actually see a longer discussion than the hints we got last episode that Mariah actually cares about the whole 'better Harlem' thing, extortion and criminal cousin nothwithstanding. Cottonmouth argues that it's all a front, but Mariah actually believes in her cause and wants to do it for the greater good. Cottonmouth is more concerned about wealth and money, which is why he's so proud of his glamorous club.
Before the whole attack on his Fort Knox, Cottonmouth gets his authority undermined even more when Domingo shows up, denying everything but making his hostilities clear. Cottonmouth's absolutely angry at Domingo's blatant disrespect, dropping candy wrappers in Cottonmouth's precious club and taunting Cottonmouth that he knows all about Diamondback. Domingo also compares Cottonmouth to a parasitic plover bird to Domingo's crocodile, only taking the scraps left behind from bigger players like Domingo and Diamondback, and Cottonmouth's inability to stop either Domingo or Luke Cage kind of shows how his organization is shattering apart. It's a bit strange to have the earliest arc quickly break down the supposed main antagonist, but it's one that makes me invested in Cottonmouth's story as much as I am with Luke's.
After Luke's big raid on Fort Knox, both Cottonmouth and Mariah are angry as all hell, but Scarfe contacts Cottonmouth, and notes that he has information as to who hit all of Cottonmouth's assets. Luke Cage. And because Scarfe's partner spent the night in Luke's place in episode one, Scarfe knows where Luke Cage lives. And while Luke is talking to Connie about protecting the community, Cottonmouth waltzes up with a fucking rocket launcher and blows up the store. That was unexpected, and in her short scenes Connie has been nothing but fun and a pretty supportive character in Luke's life. Luke's survival is unquestioned, but this shows that villains can and will strike back at less-invulnerable people in Luke's life, and how long until the good people of Harlem suffer as Cottonmouth retaliates against Luke? And that's not taking into account the potential gang war between Cottonmouth and Domingo, and the ever-looming threat of Diamondback... Luke's short-term surgical strike unto Cottonmouth's money might backfire against the good people of Harlem even worse than the quiet weapons deal that Cottonmouth and Domingo has.
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