Luke Cage, Season 1, Episode 11: Now You're Mine
Well, after the clunkiness of episode 10, this one is a fun and very energetic one, at least. It's just full-on action as we trash the set of Harlem's Paradise, with the good guys and bad guys on a faceoff against each other in the club, with a hostage situation and Diamondback's unhinged insanity and the offscreen threat of Mariah Dillard campaigning the arming of the policemen with her Judas bullets.
And the biggest problem that really keeps this episode and really the second half of this series to reach a really satisfying conflict is Diamondback as the villain. Yes, it is interesting that he's someone with close and personal ties to Luke's mysterious past, but we were introdumped this last episode so it doesn't quite have the same impact of learning about, say, other personal antagonists Elektra or Killgrave over the course of half a season and the entire season respectively. Plus other than his penchant to threaten his subordinates and a real love to quote bible verses and just be crazy, Diamondback really doesn't feel like a villain. He would've fit fine as like just an episodic hammy villain if this was a villain-of-the-week style series, but one of the biggest strengths of Daredevil and Jessica Jones are their very powerful and well-crafted villains in Kingpin, Killgrave and Punisher (not so much Nobu). The thing is, Diamondback didn't really feel like that big of a step-up from Cottonmouth, not without anything really, to threaten Luke with. Yeah he's got the Judas missile... which immediately is revealed to have only one shot left. So yeah.
Anyway, I'm harping on a bit too much on why Diamondback is a bit of a one-dimensional entity. Shades (who actually would've been a far better antagonist -- it would make sense if he suddenly revealed himself to be Diamondback, having shown up very early on and actually having an interesting personality) even points out that Diamondback is being irrational, which is quickly shut down with "obey me or I shoot you"... so why does Shades still follow the dude and not just put a bullet hole in his head? Jeez.
Anyway, Diamondback uses the confusion to make up a cover story of Luke Cage holding the club patrons (including Claire) prisoner, while a wounded Misty has her hand tourniqueted by Luke and hidden in a basement that he knows from his days of working as Cottonmouth's dishwasher. Luke quickly gives Misty the cliff-notes version of the whole history between him and Diamondback, so he, Claire and Misty are working together.
Claire gets a very good showing that's simultaneously awesome and still realistic, unlike the cartoonishly Mary Sue "I can do everything science because I'm a nurse" last episode. She quickly gains the trust of Candace, the hostess who gave a false testimony and caused Luke to be suspected for the Cottonmouth murder, and fakes an emergency with her going into diabetic shock, whacks the head of the thug that supervises her as she goes for medical supplies, and meets up with Misty and Luke.
Meanwhile, Boone is captured by Diamondback, who gives no shit about negotiations or whatever. He pours his heart out to Boone in one of the introdumpiest scenes regarding Diamondback, which is basically more of the same old same old. He quote the bible all the time. He want to be noticed by daddy, who only cares for his legitimate son... despite said legitimate son actually being good buddies with him. Diamondback tells Boone about how he and Luke jacked a car one time and how Luke ended up going to the marines while Willis was thrown into jail, nearly killed, and didn't get to meet his mother before she died. And then this long random introdump to Boone, who isn't even a character we've seen more than two short scenes, gets killed by a power glove punch.
Oh, and while all of this is going on, we get the very cool return of ADA Blake Tower, who notes that after the whole Punisher business over in Daredevil, he's trying his hardest to stop super Judas bullets from ending on the street. It's a cool cameo that is very standalone as Tower notes how Mariah is (off-screen) lobbying hard to get the Judas bullets approved.
Everything kind of unravels for the bad guys, as Shades recognizes Candace (who miraculously survives the fight!), while Luke Cage just unleashes all his power as he takes down all the goons in a very cool action scene. Diamondback dumping Boone's corpse causes Priscilla to send in the death squad, while simultaneously Shades tracks down Claire and ends up being taken out in a very cool moment by Claire and Misty. After a brief fight, Diamondback manages to escape with Zip, while Luke Cage gets surrounded by the policemen death squad and gets arrested. Misty begs Priscilla to let him go, but while Priscilla isn't quite General Ross Thunderbolt level of shoot-first-ask-questions-later, she's going to want to take Luke Cage to the police station to testify and itnerrogate.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
And the biggest problem that really keeps this episode and really the second half of this series to reach a really satisfying conflict is Diamondback as the villain. Yes, it is interesting that he's someone with close and personal ties to Luke's mysterious past, but we were introdumped this last episode so it doesn't quite have the same impact of learning about, say, other personal antagonists Elektra or Killgrave over the course of half a season and the entire season respectively. Plus other than his penchant to threaten his subordinates and a real love to quote bible verses and just be crazy, Diamondback really doesn't feel like a villain. He would've fit fine as like just an episodic hammy villain if this was a villain-of-the-week style series, but one of the biggest strengths of Daredevil and Jessica Jones are their very powerful and well-crafted villains in Kingpin, Killgrave and Punisher (not so much Nobu). The thing is, Diamondback didn't really feel like that big of a step-up from Cottonmouth, not without anything really, to threaten Luke with. Yeah he's got the Judas missile... which immediately is revealed to have only one shot left. So yeah.
Anyway, I'm harping on a bit too much on why Diamondback is a bit of a one-dimensional entity. Shades (who actually would've been a far better antagonist -- it would make sense if he suddenly revealed himself to be Diamondback, having shown up very early on and actually having an interesting personality) even points out that Diamondback is being irrational, which is quickly shut down with "obey me or I shoot you"... so why does Shades still follow the dude and not just put a bullet hole in his head? Jeez.
Anyway, Diamondback uses the confusion to make up a cover story of Luke Cage holding the club patrons (including Claire) prisoner, while a wounded Misty has her hand tourniqueted by Luke and hidden in a basement that he knows from his days of working as Cottonmouth's dishwasher. Luke quickly gives Misty the cliff-notes version of the whole history between him and Diamondback, so he, Claire and Misty are working together.
Claire gets a very good showing that's simultaneously awesome and still realistic, unlike the cartoonishly Mary Sue "I can do everything science because I'm a nurse" last episode. She quickly gains the trust of Candace, the hostess who gave a false testimony and caused Luke to be suspected for the Cottonmouth murder, and fakes an emergency with her going into diabetic shock, whacks the head of the thug that supervises her as she goes for medical supplies, and meets up with Misty and Luke.
Meanwhile, Boone is captured by Diamondback, who gives no shit about negotiations or whatever. He pours his heart out to Boone in one of the introdumpiest scenes regarding Diamondback, which is basically more of the same old same old. He quote the bible all the time. He want to be noticed by daddy, who only cares for his legitimate son... despite said legitimate son actually being good buddies with him. Diamondback tells Boone about how he and Luke jacked a car one time and how Luke ended up going to the marines while Willis was thrown into jail, nearly killed, and didn't get to meet his mother before she died. And then this long random introdump to Boone, who isn't even a character we've seen more than two short scenes, gets killed by a power glove punch.
Oh, and while all of this is going on, we get the very cool return of ADA Blake Tower, who notes that after the whole Punisher business over in Daredevil, he's trying his hardest to stop super Judas bullets from ending on the street. It's a cool cameo that is very standalone as Tower notes how Mariah is (off-screen) lobbying hard to get the Judas bullets approved.
Everything kind of unravels for the bad guys, as Shades recognizes Candace (who miraculously survives the fight!), while Luke Cage just unleashes all his power as he takes down all the goons in a very cool action scene. Diamondback dumping Boone's corpse causes Priscilla to send in the death squad, while simultaneously Shades tracks down Claire and ends up being taken out in a very cool moment by Claire and Misty. After a brief fight, Diamondback manages to escape with Zip, while Luke Cage gets surrounded by the policemen death squad and gets arrested. Misty begs Priscilla to let him go, but while Priscilla isn't quite General Ross Thunderbolt level of shoot-first-ask-questions-later, she's going to want to take Luke Cage to the police station to testify and itnerrogate.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- Blake Tower appeared in Daredevil's second season, and references several events that happened in said season, name-dropping Punisher.
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