Luke Cage, Season 1, Episode 7: Manifest
Well, that was a surprising plot twist. After Cottonmouth getting apparently taken down with a decidedly final comment by Luke Cage about how his work is done, he gets freed almost immediately at the beginning of this episode, because Scarfe is dead and the scribbles of a dead man doesn't exactly make particularly damning evidence, especially not when you're a powerful gangster boss with connections. So even with the opening scene where Luke very confidently busts up poor Zip trying to sell guns and just drives the gangsters away by simply showing up, Cottonmouth himself slithers out of jail to continue fighting Luke Cage...
Until his untimely and very surprising demise at the end of the episode. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. This episode took significant pains to highlight Cornell Stokes and Mariah Dillard, with a pretty surprising flashback that tells us just what makes Cottonmouth tick. Cottonmouth quickly tries to build up his ruined reputation (both to the audience and the people around him) that he can still be a Big Bad, taunting Misty Knight and all but calling her a bitch, trying to throw his weight around with Shades and the ever-mysterious Diamondback, the former thinking that it's way too 'hot' to use the Judas missile.
Meanwhile, the good guys aren't being all fun and games either. Claire is all optimistic and naive, and honestly considering she somehow survived three seasons of Netflix Marvel series without powers and only the power of plot armour, I don't think much can faze her, least of all Luke moping about how him staying around caused Pops and Chico's deaths. Claire notes that Luke is in a unique position where if he mans up, he can actually do something because he's not bound by regulations like the police to bring Cottonmouth in (with a lot of Daredevil references, too). And we did get scenes of said police, where Misty Knight is frustrated turn and again. The old chief lady is fired, no one really seems to give a shit about bringing down Cottonmouth, and we get a new police chief, Priscilla Ridley, who seems reasonable, just kinda with a different POV on the whole thing, where he notes the only thing tying everything the police had encountered being Luke Cage himself. There's a bit later on of Misty and her new unnamed partner finding out that Luke Cage doesn't have anything but a social security number, noting that it's more consistent with a persona that's created.
The focus on the episode is still on Mariah and Cornell, though, with Mariah handling reporters very deftly with "well, they let my cousin go, so obviously there's nothing wrong with him!". But a combination of her party letting her go due to her tarnished image, and her political rival Damon Boone showing up to mock her with overly-nice dialogue and 'way outs', it's clear that Mariah is at her wits as well. Which is when Shades shows up in Mariah's house, proposing a deal. Shades talks about how the name Mama Mabel used to mean something (this, in the episode, is shown a scene or two after the first flashback sequence which I'll cover later), but how now the two of them are kind of shit. Mariah tries to resist, because, we have to remember, she still tries to do the right thing most of the time, and doesn't want to quite embrace the criminal legacy of her family. Extortion and association is the only crimes she want to be tied to... but when doors slam shut in her face, her options become significantly limited.
Luke confronts Cottonmouth, who has since given up on siccing any bullets on him. Cottonmouth reveals to Luke that he knows all about the Carl Lucas story, and how they're at a stand-off. Cottonmouth cannot touch Luke at all, but Luke can't bring Cottonmouth in because Cottonmouth will blab about the whole Seagate thing, which will cause Luke to be re-arrested, and Luke does not want to return to hell, a surprisingly heartbreaking moment as he confesses this to Claire. It reeks of desperation on Cottonmouth's part, of course, as he notes how there's "honour among thieves, but you're not a thief -- you're Harlem's Captain America". This, and him flipping out to Scarfe last episode, is a stark contrast to how he was all about style and rules to this shit back during Pops' death.
Shades isn't happy with this development at all, because it's apparently something that Diamondback expressly didn't want Cottonmouth to spill at all. Now if we have more hints of just who Diamondback is other than this mysterious backer...
Luke then tries a different tactic, hunting down Domingo. It's fun and we get some superhero action as Domingo's people don't know about Luke's power, and him just tossing people while being unfazed about any of the violence around him is good fun. "You think you can go after everyone?" Domingo asks. "I do", says Luke, and it's an awesome exchange because he quickly makes good use of being a big muscular bulletproof super-strong dude by threatening to throw Domingo into a river. Unlike Cottonmouth, Domingo doesn't quite know Luke's no-killing rule, and it works.
I think this is a good time to talk about the flashbacks, and how powerful they are. We see young pre-Cottonmouth Cornell and young Mariah, and we see that even at a young age Cornell is already a very, very talented piano artist. It's a nice thing to highlight in previous episodes because we've seen Cornell on his keyboard or just appreciating the singers of the nightclub, and apparently he truly had a passion with music. Mariah, meanwhile, is told to study and become a lawyer or some shit, while Cornell is expected to continue the family business.
Their two parental figures are Mama Mabel and Uncle Pete, who have been name-dropped many times before, and both Cornell and Mariah in the present day have expressed a love-hate relationship with Mabel. Mama Mabel and Uncle Pete runs a prostitution ring right next door from where their kids are playing and studying, but they have a code. They don't sell drugs. God forbid you sell drugs and talk back to Mama Mabel, because he immediately, in one smooth move, clips off this unfortunate punk's finger. So early on in his life, Cornell is told to 'take out the trash' with Uncle Pete, and the shot of a shell-shocked Cornell returning to his piano, his precious music-creating fingers stained with the blood of the violence, is a very powerful one.
And Cornell runs around with Pops (who gets a short cameo) and Wilfredo Senior, and gets beaten up a bit by Mama Mabel for not being around to protect a transexual prostitute. Both present day and past scenes establish Mama Mabel as this huge overlord that has standards that slapped Cornell for talking shit about trannies, says no to drugs and handles wife-beaters. But for all her preaching about how family is first and all that, she sends Cornell to spy on Pete, who's making deals with Salvador (Domingo's father, I think), and the two come into a confrontation. Pete has been the most vocal about letting Cornell embrace the musical talents he has, and to try and shield him from Mama Mabel's insistence that he participate in the family business..
But the confrontation between Mabel and Pete gets ugly, and Mabel forces Cornell to execute Pete. We get a sudden revelation that Pete apparently has done... untowardly things to Mariah, who shows up and tells Cornell that Pete deserves it. Cornell clearly doesn't want to do it, but he ends up shooting Pete anyway.
This comes to blows in the present day, where Cornell sees Pete as the only supportive person, while Mabel, for all her high-and-mighty Family First credo, was the one who ordered Cornell to execute his own uncle. Mariah, meanwhile, having suffered at the hands of Pete sexually (this is kept kind of ambiguous, but not at all subtle) note how Mabel protected her by sending her to boarding school to keep her away from Pete. Cornell begins mocking Mabel and Mariah, noting how he wanted to be sent off to further his career, and begins mocking Mariah and telling her that she enjoyed the abuse she suffered under Pete and was asking for it with the way she dresses.
This is not, ever, an appropriate thing to say to a sexual abuse victim. Mariah absolutely did not enjoy it, and seven episode's worth of exasperation at Cornell's bullheadedness and this little trigger causes her to push Cornell off the second floor down to the stage of the nightclub, before going down and starting to beat Cornell to a pulp. A dead pulp. It's a surprising plot twist and end to our main antagonist, but there are many that the show has built up to take his place. Shades, Mariah, the still-mysterious Diamondback... it's shocking but it kinda makes sense considering how ineffective Cottonmouth has been, so yeah. RIP Cottonmouth. You were entertaining while you lasted. Shades, as this evil mentor figure, shows up and tells Mariah what a good job she did -- basically filling in for the role that Mabel did for Cornell.
Meanwhile, Luke tells Misty to piss off since the police have been kind of incompetent with letting Cottonmouth walk away free. He gives Misty some information about the location of guns or whatever, but won't tell her everything. I mean, not until she becomes a superhero, I think. Luke then goes off to talk to Claire about his father, how he's super-disappointed in him... and then some mysterious assassin shows up and shoots Luke with the Judas missile... and the bulletproof man bleeds.
Overall a very, very good episode. Shame Cottonmouth died, though.
The focus on the episode is still on Mariah and Cornell, though, with Mariah handling reporters very deftly with "well, they let my cousin go, so obviously there's nothing wrong with him!". But a combination of her party letting her go due to her tarnished image, and her political rival Damon Boone showing up to mock her with overly-nice dialogue and 'way outs', it's clear that Mariah is at her wits as well. Which is when Shades shows up in Mariah's house, proposing a deal. Shades talks about how the name Mama Mabel used to mean something (this, in the episode, is shown a scene or two after the first flashback sequence which I'll cover later), but how now the two of them are kind of shit. Mariah tries to resist, because, we have to remember, she still tries to do the right thing most of the time, and doesn't want to quite embrace the criminal legacy of her family. Extortion and association is the only crimes she want to be tied to... but when doors slam shut in her face, her options become significantly limited.
Luke confronts Cottonmouth, who has since given up on siccing any bullets on him. Cottonmouth reveals to Luke that he knows all about the Carl Lucas story, and how they're at a stand-off. Cottonmouth cannot touch Luke at all, but Luke can't bring Cottonmouth in because Cottonmouth will blab about the whole Seagate thing, which will cause Luke to be re-arrested, and Luke does not want to return to hell, a surprisingly heartbreaking moment as he confesses this to Claire. It reeks of desperation on Cottonmouth's part, of course, as he notes how there's "honour among thieves, but you're not a thief -- you're Harlem's Captain America". This, and him flipping out to Scarfe last episode, is a stark contrast to how he was all about style and rules to this shit back during Pops' death.
Shades isn't happy with this development at all, because it's apparently something that Diamondback expressly didn't want Cottonmouth to spill at all. Now if we have more hints of just who Diamondback is other than this mysterious backer...
Luke then tries a different tactic, hunting down Domingo. It's fun and we get some superhero action as Domingo's people don't know about Luke's power, and him just tossing people while being unfazed about any of the violence around him is good fun. "You think you can go after everyone?" Domingo asks. "I do", says Luke, and it's an awesome exchange because he quickly makes good use of being a big muscular bulletproof super-strong dude by threatening to throw Domingo into a river. Unlike Cottonmouth, Domingo doesn't quite know Luke's no-killing rule, and it works.
I think this is a good time to talk about the flashbacks, and how powerful they are. We see young pre-Cottonmouth Cornell and young Mariah, and we see that even at a young age Cornell is already a very, very talented piano artist. It's a nice thing to highlight in previous episodes because we've seen Cornell on his keyboard or just appreciating the singers of the nightclub, and apparently he truly had a passion with music. Mariah, meanwhile, is told to study and become a lawyer or some shit, while Cornell is expected to continue the family business.
Their two parental figures are Mama Mabel and Uncle Pete, who have been name-dropped many times before, and both Cornell and Mariah in the present day have expressed a love-hate relationship with Mabel. Mama Mabel and Uncle Pete runs a prostitution ring right next door from where their kids are playing and studying, but they have a code. They don't sell drugs. God forbid you sell drugs and talk back to Mama Mabel, because he immediately, in one smooth move, clips off this unfortunate punk's finger. So early on in his life, Cornell is told to 'take out the trash' with Uncle Pete, and the shot of a shell-shocked Cornell returning to his piano, his precious music-creating fingers stained with the blood of the violence, is a very powerful one.
And Cornell runs around with Pops (who gets a short cameo) and Wilfredo Senior, and gets beaten up a bit by Mama Mabel for not being around to protect a transexual prostitute. Both present day and past scenes establish Mama Mabel as this huge overlord that has standards that slapped Cornell for talking shit about trannies, says no to drugs and handles wife-beaters. But for all her preaching about how family is first and all that, she sends Cornell to spy on Pete, who's making deals with Salvador (Domingo's father, I think), and the two come into a confrontation. Pete has been the most vocal about letting Cornell embrace the musical talents he has, and to try and shield him from Mama Mabel's insistence that he participate in the family business..
But the confrontation between Mabel and Pete gets ugly, and Mabel forces Cornell to execute Pete. We get a sudden revelation that Pete apparently has done... untowardly things to Mariah, who shows up and tells Cornell that Pete deserves it. Cornell clearly doesn't want to do it, but he ends up shooting Pete anyway.
This comes to blows in the present day, where Cornell sees Pete as the only supportive person, while Mabel, for all her high-and-mighty Family First credo, was the one who ordered Cornell to execute his own uncle. Mariah, meanwhile, having suffered at the hands of Pete sexually (this is kept kind of ambiguous, but not at all subtle) note how Mabel protected her by sending her to boarding school to keep her away from Pete. Cornell begins mocking Mabel and Mariah, noting how he wanted to be sent off to further his career, and begins mocking Mariah and telling her that she enjoyed the abuse she suffered under Pete and was asking for it with the way she dresses.
This is not, ever, an appropriate thing to say to a sexual abuse victim. Mariah absolutely did not enjoy it, and seven episode's worth of exasperation at Cornell's bullheadedness and this little trigger causes her to push Cornell off the second floor down to the stage of the nightclub, before going down and starting to beat Cornell to a pulp. A dead pulp. It's a surprising plot twist and end to our main antagonist, but there are many that the show has built up to take his place. Shades, Mariah, the still-mysterious Diamondback... it's shocking but it kinda makes sense considering how ineffective Cottonmouth has been, so yeah. RIP Cottonmouth. You were entertaining while you lasted. Shades, as this evil mentor figure, shows up and tells Mariah what a good job she did -- basically filling in for the role that Mabel did for Cornell.
Meanwhile, Luke tells Misty to piss off since the police have been kind of incompetent with letting Cottonmouth walk away free. He gives Misty some information about the location of guns or whatever, but won't tell her everything. I mean, not until she becomes a superhero, I think. Luke then goes off to talk to Claire about his father, how he's super-disappointed in him... and then some mysterious assassin shows up and shoots Luke with the Judas missile... and the bulletproof man bleeds.
Overall a very, very good episode. Shame Cottonmouth died, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment