Luke Cage, Season 2, Episode 2: Straighten It Out
The second episode of Luke Cage's second season is still strong, although this episode does feel more like a "things happen" episode, which these Netflix shows tend to be able to get away with thanks to their whole deal about viewers being able to view an entire season in one go. It continues the previous episode's slower pace as we continue to build up the action, but I defintiely am in favour of taking the time to focus on the characters' motivations and personality.
One of the bigger speech moments in this episode is Claire trying to tell Luke to reconnect with his dad, because Claire herself suffers from a significant amount of regret for not being able to make up with her own father before her father's death, but at the same time it does feel rather pushy and repetitive to hear Claire say the same thing a couple of times in the same episode, and this is a plot thread that could easily be exhausting if repeated ad nauseam throughout this season. And while I don't agree with Claire's breach of privacy in trying to force Luke to deal with his dad NOW, I do appreciate Claire trying to keep Luke human.
Because after the events of the previous episode, as badass as it is, Luke's starting to finally cash in on a god complex. This isn't something quite as world-shaking as, say, Superman deciding to be mankind's saviour or Iron Man deciding to take the policies of the world into his own hands. No, Luke Cage is basically sold on his own hype and his invulnerability that he starts actively showing off. No, he's not being a huge showman about it in the way that the Tony Starks of the world would, but he definitely ends up garnering attention from the ongoing joke of the Harlem Hero App and that showcase of his superhuman strength, speed and endurance in the middle of town. This leads to him having a pretty big head so that when he confronts Cockroach and his (honestly pretty badass) six-barreled shotgun, he was blindsided while shit-talking and gets shot out of the window and dislocating his arm.
And after a bit of an argument with Claire, he ends up closing the episode by beating up Cockroach in front of his wife and kid. Did Cockroach deserve it? Absolutely, especially since the reason Luke arrives in the apartment is because the little old lady neighbour decided to call Luke when Cockroach's beating his wife and kid. And don't get me wrong -- it's still a pretty damn badass scene to see Luke Cage bursting in to stop Cockroach before the fucker can beat up his kid. But the way the proceeding beatdown is framed is definitely done in a "what have I done?" way. We'll see if this affects Luke's popularity in Harlem.
Speaking of which, while it would be easy to dismiss Claire's ranting about invulnerability as that of a worried girlfriend character in a superhero show, Claire does name-drop Matt/Daredevil, who, as far as the cast knew, died in Defenders and Daredevil was a man who's convinced of his invulnerability in the same way that Luke died. Nice way of the show to make use of that continuity, for sure.
Meanwhile, poor Misty Knight definitely isn't doing well in the department. Good ol' Bailey is still on her side, but everyone else either treats her with pity or, in officer Nandi Tyler's case, with outright derision for what she perceives as Misty trying to play up the sympathy marks. We get to see Misty cut out of investigations, and that scene where she shows off her stump to everyone is definitely a well-earned one. Poor Misty. To make things worse, she even has to see Arturo Rey walk out of the police department when the lawyers come (featuring the return of "Big Ben" Donovan, Kingpin's prison buddy from Daredevil season two).
Speaking of antagonists, one of the biggest complaints about last season's big bad, Diamondback, was the lack of proper backstory and the fact that beyond his (admittedly entertaining) scenery-chewing bluster, there's not much to Diamondback as a person. Especially when compared to other villains in Luke Cage like Cottomouth and Mariah Dillard, both of whom have a relatively large amount of character work put in. I have a feeling that they're trying to do the same for Bushmaster by having him be a presence in the show from episode one. This time around, we get to see Bushmaster as he wanders around Harlem, meeting with people from the Jamaican community (in a restaurant apparently named after his own mother) and talking to kids to get a sense of what this "Luke Cage" fellow is. It's clear that Bushmaster stands opposed to Mariah Stokes, and that he wants to take the fight to Mariah... but only to take Harlem for himself, and he despises the fact that Luke Cage has its heart. Also, I absolutely love the offended expressions on everyone in the Jamaican restaurant when the TV reporter says Luke Cage is faster than Usain Bolt.
We also get to see the source of Bushmaster's maybe-mystical, maybe-mundane superpowers. He's using some nightshade to perform an Obeah ritual, which is why he's apparently able to withstand bullet wounds. This brings Bushmaster into the proximity of Mariah Dillard's daughter, Tillda, who runs a herbal drug store, and who Mariah tries to reach out to for some good PR. We're still in the mysterious-villain stage with Bushmaster, though at least we do get a somewhat definite goal (take over Harlem -- not just the streets, but also its heart) and a great actor. So yeah!
Meanwhile, while Bushmaster is taking his time in scoping Harlem out, the other villains are not quite so happy to take things slow. Mariah is kind of desperate to regain her power (although she draws the line at selling the ever-so-valuable painting Cornell was so fond of) while at the same time distancing herself from the crimes that consumed her family. There's the whole reconnecting with her daughter thing going on, of course, which Alfre Woodard portrays amazingly well. The obvious parallels of Mariah reconnecting with her daughter and James Lucas trying to connect with Luke isn't lost on me, but I do appreciate the show from resisting the urge to have the Luke/James and Mariah/Tilda scenes shot back to back or anything.
Shades and Comanche are now this duo of bros and I absolutely love their dynamic more than I should. Last episode established how Comanche is Shades's good buddy, and this episode shows that while also keeping Comanche as this confused, beleaguered outsider to Mariah and Shades's very close relationship. And apparently Shades is in love enough to straight-up murder Arturo Rey for insulting Mariah one time too many. It's interesting how a good chunk of this episode and the previous one involves setting up Arturo as this character whose gun deal will set Mariah up for life, and in the space of a single episode the poor dude ends up being freed from jail and subsequently shot in the head by Shades.
Tilda's arrival at Mariah's doorstep near the end of the episode is interesting because I'm not sure if it's motivated by her fear of Bushmaster or out of some genuine desire to reconnect, but as Comanche points out, Tilda did just "take his seat". Whether this would lead to the pairing of Shades and Mariah to fray, or if Shades already did it by his emotion-driven murder of Arturo remains to be seen. Overall, another fun episode of Luke Cage for sure. It might not aim for some epic overreaching storyline, but I think that's a huge part of Luke Cage's appeal -- its simple storylines are bolstered and empowered by very strong performances and character writing.
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