REVIEW -- Marvel's Luke Cage (Netflix) - Season 1

Marvel's Luke Cage, or simply Luke Cage, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the third in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, with Coker serving as showrunner.

Mike Colter stars as Carl Lucas / Luke Cage, a former convict with superhuman strength and unbreakable skin who now fights crime. Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Erik LaRay Harvey, Rosario Dawson, and Alfre Woodard also star. Development of the series began in late 2013. In December 2014, Colter was cast as Cage, to appear first in Marvel's Jessica Jones, with Coker hired as the showrunner in March 2015. Filming began in New York City in September 2015 and concluded in March 2016.

The series premiered on September 28, 2016 in Harlem, with the full series of 13 episode releasing on Netflix on September 30.

Cast:

Main

Mike Colter as Carl Lucas / Luke Cage
Simone Missick as Mercedes "Misty" Knight
Theo Rossi as Hernan "Shades" Alvarez
Erik LaRay Harvey as Willis Stryker / Diamondback
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard

Recurring

Frank Whaley as Rafael Scarfe
Ron Cephas Jones as Bobby Fish
Jacob Vargas as Domingo Colon
Darius Kaleb as Lonnie Wilson
Jade Wu as Connie Lin
Deborah Ayorinde as Candace Miller
Justin Swain as Bailey
Jaiden Kaine as Zip
Sean Ringgold as Sugar
Dawn-Lyen Gardner as Megan McLaren
Jeremiah Richard Craft as Dave Griffith
Michael Kostroff as Noah Burstein
Tijuana Ricks as Thembi Wallace
John Clarence Stewart as Alex
Karen Pittman as Priscilla Ridley

Guest

Frankie Faison as Henry "Pop" Hunter
Brian "Sene" Marc as Wilfredo "Chico" Diaz
Clem Cheung as Jin Lin
Warner Miller as Tone
Parisa Fitz-Henley as Reva Connors
Rob Morgan as Turk Barrett
Chance Kelly as Albert Rackham
Craig Mums Grant as Reggie "Squabbles"
Thomas Q. Jones as Comanche
Manny Pérez as Perez
Sônia Braga as Soledad Temple
Sonja Sohn as Betty Audrey
Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker
LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Mama Mabel
Danny Johnson as Benjamin Donovan
Curtiss Cook as Pistol Pete
Clark Jackson as Damon Boone
Natalie Paul as Dana Stryker
Joniece Abbott-Pratt as Esther "Etta" Lucas
Stephen Rider as Blake Tower
PJ Marshall as Mario Green

Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance through an on-set photograph, the same seen in previous Marvel/Netflix series, while Raphael Saadiq, d-Nice, Faith Evans,Charles Bradley, Jidenna, Dapper Dan, The Delfonics, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, Sway Calloway, Heather B., Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and Fab Five Freddy appear as themselves.

Episodes:

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Moment of Truth"	Paul McGuigan	Cheo Hodari Coker	September 30, 2016
Luke Cage is keeping a low profile as a sweeper at a barbershop owned by ex-gangster Henry "Pop" Hunter and as a dishwasher at the "Harlem's Paradise", a nightclub owned by crime boss Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes. Two men, Shameek and Chico, bust up one of Stokes' arms deals with help from Dante, a bartender at the Harlem Paradise. After shooting and leaving Dante for dead, they make off with the money. NYPD detectives Misty Knight and Rafael Scarfe are tasked with the investigation. With help from "Shades" Alvarez, who works for Stokes' supplier Willis "Diamondback" Stryker, Stokes tracks and kills Shameek and retrieves his share of the money. Scarfe and Knight decide to question Cage, who had replaced Dante during his absence at the club. Meanwhile, Cage beats up and fends off street thugs, who attack his landlady's restaurant demanding contribution for the "New Harlem Renaissance" initiative spearheaded by Stokes' cousin Mariah Dillard, a councilwoman. The episode features musical performances by Raphael Saadiq ("Good Man")[41] and d-Nice.
2	"Code of the Streets"	Paul McGuigan	Cheo Hodari Coker	September 30, 2016
After Stokes' enquiry, Cage locates Chico and brings him to the barbershop for protection at Pop's behest, while Pop lies to Knight and Scarfe about Chico's whereabouts. Pop sends Cage to parley with Stokes on Chico's behalf, but one of Stokes' men, Tone, is tipped off to Chico's location by Turk Barrett and performs a drive-by shooting, killing Pop and critically wounding Chico while Cage shields a young boy. Knight becomes suspicious when Cage remains unharmed despite getting shot. Angered by Pop's death, Stokes kills Tone for his actions and gives Dillard the money. When Cage finds out about this, he decides to retaliate. The episode features a musical performance by Faith Evans ("Mesmerized").[59]
3	"Who's Gonna Take the Weight?"	Guillermo Navarro	Matt Owens	September 30, 2016
Stokes pays for Pop's funeral and warns Cage to let go of the matter. Cage finds out from a regular customer, Bobby Fish, that the barbershop is facing closure due to unpaid bills, and begins targeting Stokes' business to manipulate Stokes into transferring his assets to Dillard's secure office, "Crispus Attucks". Stokes has a falling out with his associate Domingo Colon, whom he blames for the attacks. Cage attacks Crispus Attucks, steals a share of the money, which he gives to Fish, and leaves the rest for the police to find. After agreeing to testify against Stokes and revealing Cage's involvement in the attacks, Chico is killed by Scarfe, who is on Stokes' payroll. Stokes tracks down Cage to his landlady Connie Lin's restaurant and fires a missile, causing an explosion. The episode features a musical performance by Charles Bradley ("Ain't It a Sin").[60]
4	"Step in the Arena"	Vincenzo Natali	Charles Murray	September 30, 2016
While trapped in the rubble, Cage reminisces about his past as Carl Lucas and his incarceration at Seagate Prison, a private detention facility run by C.O. Albert Rackham. He befriends fellow inmate Squabbles, develops an attraction to psychologist Dr. Reva Connors, and is forced to engage in illegal ring fights by Rackham, and crossed paths with inmates Alvarez and Comanche. Lucas and Connors plan to expose Rackham's activities, but Rackham learns of this by torturing Squabbles and has Lucas brutally beaten. Connors then convinces Dr. Noah Burstein, a scientist conducting experiments on the inmates, to perform the procedure on Lucas. Rackham sabotages the experiment, and the resulting accident gives Lucas his powers. He then escapes and adopts the identity of "Luke Cage". Cage manages to pull himself and Connie out of the rubble and reveals his abilities to the media.
5	"Just to Get a Rep"	Marc Jobst	Jason Horwitch	September 30, 2016
Stokes begins extorting the citizens of Harlem to cover his debts and Cage confronts him to demand he stop. Shades recognizes Cage from Seagate and offers to lend Stokes a prototype weapon stolen from Hammer Industries that could kill Cage on Diamondback's behalf. Realizing this would cost him control of Harlem, Stokes decides to sell the weapons from the botched exchange to Colon and use the money to buy Diamondback's weapon. Scarfe is assigned to retrieve the weapons, but steals them for himself. Meanwhile, Knight begins investigating Scarfe at the behest of her superiors and Claire Temple arrives in Harlem to visit her mother, Soledad Temple, to whom she confides about her experiences with enhanced people. During Pop's memorial, Cage delivers an eulogy and humilliates Stokes in the process, leading Knight to warn him that war against Stokes could destroy Harlem. The episode features a musical performance by Jidenna ("Long Live the Chief").[59][50]
6	"Suckas Need Bodyguards"	Sam Miller	Nathan Louis Jackson	September 30, 2016
Scarfe attempts to blackmail Stokes, but is critically wounded instead and escapes to Pop's for help, where he gives Cage a ledger with incriminating evidence on Stokes. Cage contacts Claire, who treats Scarfe's injuries, while another of Stokes' men, Lieutenant Perez, is ordered to find and kill Scarfe. Knight finds out Perez is also on Stokes' payroll and tricks him into implicating himself, records his admission before arresting him. Cage, Claire and Scarfe are ambushed by mercenaries hired by Stokes on their way to 1 Police Plaza to turn over the evidence, and although Cage fends them off, Scarfe dies from his injuries. Meanwhile, Dillard has an interview with the media. The reporter exposes Dillard's possible involvement in Stokes' actions. Stokes is arrested with the evidence from Scarfe. Knight's supervisor expresses concerns about another disclosure of police corruption after Wilson Fisk's case.
7	"Manifest"	Andy Goddard	Akela Cooper	September 30, 2016
Scarfe's ledger is found inadmissible and Stokes is exonerated. He threatens to expose Cage's real identity if challenged again. Cage decides to leave Harlem; but Claire convinces him to stay and fight. Stokes reminisces about being raised by Dillard at the behest of their grandmother, mobster Mama Mabel. As a child, Stokes' musical talents were encouraged by his uncle Pete, whom Mabel later forced Stokes to kill after learning Pete had made side dealings with her rivals, and molested Dillard. Meanwhile, Knight is investigated by the internal affairs bureau while Dillard is put under pressure by her party to resign from the council. Cage attacks Colon and takes the weapons, giving them to Knight. Dillard visits Stokes to convince him to let go of his obsession with Cage, which leads into an argument that ends with her killing him when he says she flirted with Pete. Alvarez praises her and reveals his plan to frame Cage for the murder. Knight finds out "Luke Cage" is an alias just as he meets Claire to reveal his true identity and is shot by Stryker with the Judas, the Chitauri bullet, leaving him badly wounded. The episode features a musical performance by d-Nice.
8	"Blowin' Up the Spot"	Magnus Martens	Aïda Mashaka Croal	September 30, 2016
Claire gets Cage in an ambulance to a hospital; but they are attacked by Stryker en route. They take refuge in a women's clinic, where Claire examines Cage's tissue to find a way to take out the Judas shrapnel. Candace, a waitress and hostess at Stokes' club, tells the police that it was Cage who killed him, making Knight suspicious of Dillard. Knight calls Cage and informs him of the accusation, while another officer triangulates his location. She arrives at the clinic, attempting to arrest him; but they are attacked by Stryker again. Cage recognizes him from his childhood, with Stryker blaming him for leaving him to "rot". Cage follows Stryker to an empty theater and overpowers him, but he manages to escape. Dillard secretly pays Candace for testifying against Cage. In custody, Claire insists that Cage is innocent, making Knight so angry that she assaults her before the inspector intervenes and has Claire released. Stryker confronts Cage in an alley, reveals himself as his brother and shoots him with the Judas again, throwing him in a garbage truck.
9	"DWYCK"	Tom Shankland	Christian Taylor	September 30, 2016
A police psychologist is tasked to examine Knight. Cage is detected by two policemen, whom he beats up before escaping. Stryker blames Alvarez for Stokes' death. Dillard meets Colon and convinces him to arrange a meeting with all the local crime bosses. Cage reunites with Claire, who convinces him to let her take him to Burstein for treatment. The inspector releases Knight and tasks her to find Cage, who arrives at Burstein's with Claire. They give him the drive containing the data he needs. Stryker interrupts Dillard's meeting with the crime bosses, killing all of them except Colon. She tells Stryker that the video of Cage attacking the policemen has made him an enemy of the city; and Stryker can now sell the Judas bullets to NYPD. Burstein dips Cage inside acid, hoping that it will soften his skin, giving the former the chance to remove the shrapnels. However, the pain of the procedure gives Cage a cardiac arrest. The episode features a musical performance by The Delfonics ("Stop and Look (And You Have Found Love)").[61]
10	"Take it Personal"	Stephen Surjik	Jason Horwitch	September 30, 2016
Claire and Burstein manage to revive Cage and take out the shrapnels. Cage finds out that he was chosen as an experiment subject long before he was injured in Seagate. He and Claire look at Connors' files and find videos of her, proving that she was the person who chose Cage, upsetting him. Stryker kills a policeman, framing Cage. The police get angry and get more aggressive to find Cage, with one detective beating a teenage boy. Dillard shows support for the boy and arranges a ceremony in Harlem's Paradise. Cage threatens Burstein not to replicate the experiment and leaves with Claire and the drive. However, Burstein is revealed to have a copy of the data. In the ceremony, Dillard insists on Cage's fault and the need to arm the police against him. Her fellow party member however secretly tells her about their knowledge of the truth. Cage and Claire arrive at Harlem's Paradise while Knight arrives too, attempting to arrest Stryker, who shoots her before Cage interrupts and tries to escape with her; but they are surrounded by the mercenaries.
11	"Now You're Mine"	George Tillman Jr.	Christian Taylor	September 30, 2016
Cage escapes to the kitchen with Knight while Stryker takes Claire, Candace, the servant who testified against Cage, and the remaining civilians hostages. The police surround the club; but inspector Ridley does not authorize any assault. Cage and Knight escape to the basement using a secret entrance in the kitchen just before Stryker's men storm in. Claire tends to Candace's wound, with the latter revealing the truth to the former and telling about where Cage and Knight might be. Claire escapes and joins the pair, tending to Knight's wound. Stryker uses the loudspeakers to demand Cage to meet him by threatening to kill the hostages. Cage leaves to meet him. Alvarez finds the secret entrance and confronts Knight and Claire, who manage to overpower and lock him. Stryker kills Dillard's fellow party member Boone. Cage arrives and frees the hostages, excluding Candace, whom Stryker uses to cover his own escape just as the SWAT team storms in and forces Cage to surrender using the Judas bullets provided by Dillard. Cage, Alvarez and some other mercenaries are put in custody.
12	"Soliloquy of Chaos"	Phil Abraham	Akela Cooper & Charles Murray	September 30, 2016
Cage manages to escape from police custody, while Knight works hard to locate Stryker and clear Luke's name. Stryker has Alvarez released, then orders Zip and his thugs to kill him, but Alvarez prevails and kills them. The tide of public opinion begins to turn back to Cage, although the NYPD is still determined to bring him down. Candace meets Knight and says that she will testify against Dillard if Knight protects her. Knight takes her to Soledad's. Alvarez approaches Dillard and suggests they get Cage on side by giving him evidence of Lucas's innocence, and that they all work together to defeat Stryker. Cage finds Barrett, who is working for Stryker, and forces him to reveal Stryker's location before locking him in a dumpster. Colon and his men attack Stryker and his mercenaries. Stryker manages to defeat them and escape. Cage arrives and saves a wounded Colon. As the parties converge on Pop's to parley, Stryker attacks, wearing a powered suit which allows him to match Cage's strength and invulnerability. Cage tasks Knight to go after Dillard and Alvarez while the former engages Stryker. The episode features a musical performance by Method Man ("Bulletproof Love").[28]
13	"You Know My Steez"	Clark Johnson	Aida Mashaka Croal & Cheo Hodari Coker	September 30, 2016
In flashbacks, Stryker helps Lucas become a boxer, eventually leading to the latter winning an important match. In the present, Cage and Stryker continue their fight inside and outside the barber shop. In the confusion, Knight drops her phone and Dillard loses the files which prove Lucas's innocence. Cage tries to reason with Stryker, but eventually knocks him out when the suit's power system fails. Alvarez uses Knight's phone to lure Candace out of hiding and kills her, without whose testimony Dillard walks free. Ridley blames Knight for keeping Candace at a private place instead of protective custody. Federal marshals arrive to arrest Cage for his escape from Seagate. Claire kisses him before he leaves, promising to call a skilled lawyer she knows. Fish finds the Lucas files in the barbershop. Dillard re-opens Harlem's Paradise with Alvarez by her side; and Knight goes undercover in the club again. As Stryker recovers in hospital, Burstein enters his room. The episode features a musical performance Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings ("100 Days, 100 Nights").

The Verdict:

The general reception of this Marvel Netflix series that most people are split into two parties about it - either you really loved it or you absolutely hated it. I'll be honest after binge-watching it after the premiere, I was more into the later but now that I have had time to weigh in on my thoughts I'm a little more in the middle now. That being said, without a shadow of a doubt, I feel like this is easily the worst out of the Marvel Netflix series to date.

For those wondering how I would rank the series, it's as follows from best to worse: Daredevil (Season 1), Jessica Jones (Season 1), Daredevil (Season 2), and Luke Cage (Season 1). The measuring stick for qualifying as the worst of the bunch were by a very narrow margin between DD S2 and Luke Cage were small, but the Punisher content eclipses the great things that were done well in Luke Cage as both series have stumbling points in their narratives - the Hand/Elektra subplot in Daredevil S2 and the rise of Black Mariah and Diamondback in the last half of Luke Cage.

Just because I knew that I wasn't going to rush to write this review immediately following my initial viewing of this series, I took down a lot of notes on stuff I noticed throughout the series. I'm going to start off this review with that.

Misc. Notes and Tidbits (I jotted these down while watching)

1. Episode 1 - This introduced the show along a string of stereotypes and cliches in African-American culture. All of these elements rubbed me the wrong way, despite the amazing soundtrack to this show, heavily influenced with Harlem's own musical talents. Marks the first occasion where I recognize the MCU used the N word in this continuity. Once it was said it's thrown around as much as an episode of The Boondocks.
• Cottonmouth is established as the impromptu main antagonist of this series. A very poor one if I may add, especially in the wake of Daredevil's Wilson Fisk and Jessica Jones' Kilgrave. Also establishes the "wannabe Empire/Power" archetype to this show that I honestly really don't care for.
• Vendors selling bootleg DVDs of "The Incident" - the attack on NYC during the climax of the original Avengers film
• Right off the bat, establishes Misty Knight as a prominent woman in Luke Cage the same way as in Jessica Jones - a random, meaningless sexual encounter.
  
  
2. Episode 2 - Pops is killed. I tire of these cliches and archetypes already, between the gang members and pawns to the minor characters. To say that this show was said to be "different" than what is presented as a representation of black culture on TV this is just more of the same, encouraging the same negativity and stereotypes that Hollywood is known for depicting of this culture and race.
• The club owner who is secretly the crime lord, the crooked politician girlfriend whose getting her campaigned backed by said criminal, rival gangs beefing over stolen money which was an inside job, the elderly black figure established as a mentor in barbershop that acts as the focal point of positivity in the community.
• Misty Knight revealed to be a detective instead of an auditor.
  
  
3. Episode 3 - First major fight scene but ultimately underwhelming as it's just Cage throwing guys around like ragdolls and shrugging off everything thrown his way. Hence why this is a hard character to get behind. He lacks any real "obstacles" and his power set allows him to endure anything thrown his way to the point that it's laughable. His only "big" antagonist was the Purple Man but Jessica Jones already beat this show to that punch so we had to settle for a D, no F tier villain in this case.
• "Do you see a nigga in front of you?" Kinda not surprised that they went this route to give a powerful message on what it means to a man of color and not be disrespected by using that derogatory term to describe himself.
• Detective Scarfe shows his true colors as being in Cottonmouth's back pocket.
  
  
  
4. Episode 4 - Serves as a trip down memory lane as Cage recalls how he got his powers. Serves more as an insider joke for older Marvel fans as Cage is sporting his older comics appearance in these flashbacks while in prison.
• "You choose Jet (Lee) over Bruce!!?? No, you can't oversee my trainin'..." - I would've fired that guy as my kung-fu trainer too after that shit.
• First time his catchpharse of "Sweet Christmas" is used. Believe it was used once in Jessica Jones as well. Honestly can't remember.
  
  
5. Episode 5 - Claire Temple makes her first appearance in this series. As per her, this show takes place AFTER Daredevil Season 2 as she mentions the ordeal with Nobu's soldiers in the hospital.
1. "Oh you readin' now? (Laughs)" - ignorance to intelligence from black community, something the Boondocks cartoon was notorious for exploiting for comedic purposes
2. benign neglect referenced here
3. "I plead the eight" "You mean the fifth."
4. Hammer tech used on prototype armor piercing rounds
5. "Shading" and "spilling the tea" at Pop's funeral that Misty describes as a pissing contest
   
   
6. Episode 6 - Opens with "Trish Talk" from Jessica Jones' Patsy "Trish" Walker.
1. Claire meets up with Luke Cage again after the events of Jessica Jones. REALLY doesn't make sense how this takes place AFTER JJ when Cage had his own bar at that point. The two work together to try to get Scarfe proper medical treatment for he can testify against Cottonmouth and shut his operation down for good. Ultimately, Scarfe dies during the chase but they still manage to get Cottonmouth arrested.
2. Coffee joke pointed out - GTA reference of course
3. Misty can't be THIS stupid to not see the writing on the wall about Scarfe. I'm literally throwing my hands up at this point.
4. Big whoop she could see through the other Cottonmouth pawn but not her own partner? Get the fuck outta here.
5. I'm not even mad that they killed off Scarfe here because as important as that character is to the comics continuity the Netflix Marvelverse killed off Ben Ulrich in Daredevil without giving a damn either to his significance so I'm like whatever at this point
   
   
7. Episode 7 - Claire: "There's NOTHING that can hurt you, so what the HELL are you afraid of?"
1. Am I the only one who got Mariah (Cottonmouth's cousin) confused with the woman who asked Luke Cage for "coffee" in Pop's barbershop (Patty?)  on the first few episodes? I keep going huh? almost every other time she'd be seen with Cottonmouth.
2. So if Cage is still seeing/talking to Jessica Jones then why the fuck he's banging Misty Knight on the side? Oh wait, we're playing up the whore status quo here. Tony Stark's doing it. His dad Howard did it. Jessica Jones did it and it was labeled her as a "victim" and I guess that's the same excuse they'll write up for Cage.
3. "I got white folks in the front room. I don't wanna scare 'em off." -- Similar childhood of being damaged by deraged parents much like Kingpin - recycling past goods
4. "You're Harlem's Captain America... Negro please." -- Exactly how I feel about this show at this point.
5. Allowing Cottonmouth to dig up the dirt on his past life -- That was stupid on Cage's behalf. He should've been trying to clear his own name on the previous charge since the second he recognized Shades from Seagate. Dude, you KNOW Jessica Jones! You could use her fucking legal connections to clear this shit ASAP. Ugh... the fucking piss poor writing on this show is KILLING me.
6. "There's no Facebook. Hell, NO PORN!" I'm sure the ladies watching this are mad at that news... Then again, the first episode had enough softcore porn of Colter to satisfy them for the time being.
7. Cottonmouth kills his own father figure (Uncle Pete) in a flashback in the same manner as Kingpin in Daredevil. Seriously, this show is written like the writers' never bothered to watch the other Netflix shows.
8. In a fit of rage, Mariah kills Cottonmouth over their past. (Rolls eyes) I thought this was a little surprising but conveniently gets Luke Cage off the hook... until he's framed for the murder.
9. Ends with Cage being shot with prototype HammerTech bullet that Shades and Cottonmouth mentioned a few episodes back. Shit, why not load up on a ton of these to kill this dude from the get go?
   
   
8. Episode 8 - We see the new villain who I'm guessing who is Diamondback who looks like an UGLIER Wesley Snipes.
1. Oh NOW Misty Knight is being smart? She can deduce how Cottonmouth was killed just by analyzing the crime scene but she couldn't tell her own partner was working the other side? This is like saying that Batman is smart but can't tell Dick Grayson and Robin are the same person and they live in the same house and work together.
2. Claire owning Misty Knight had to be my favorite moment of this entire series to this point. That was a mic drop moment there. She only has herself to blame for being punk'd out by Diamondback.
3. Diamondback vs Luke Cage was almost laughable to a point. These poor fighting scenes aren't doing anything for me. To say Cage had police and hand-to-hand combat training you don't see any evidence of that in his fighting style. He's like a caveman with a club just flailing around.
   
   
9. Episode 9 - "Black Lives Matter" moment where Cage is confronted by police. Entire altercation is recorded on dashcam where Cage protects officer from irrational gunfire but still takes him down.
1. Misty works through her PTSD from the trauma of being confronted with Diamondback. Seems odd for her to go through this conveniently to keep her out of the way to finish the investigation on Cornell/Cottonmouth case
   
   
10. Episode 10 - Harlem's police force goes out of control questioning civilians for information on Luke Cage with Patty's son getting the worst of the attack that Mariah uses to turn the situation uglier in a mock imitation of the real life "Black Lives Matter" situation as a Malcolm X/MLK speech moment to elevate her campaign.
1. In VERY bad taste making parallels to that moment. It comes off as "friendly" as the Friends of Humanity from X-Men: The Animated Series.
2. Cage finds out the truth about Reva Connor's part in the experiment that gave him his powers, adding another cliche to the tons of "been there, done that" moments in this show in terms of writing.
   
   
11. Episode 11 - Shades: "Whatchu talkin' bout, Willis?"
1. Girl who framed Cage for Mariah conveniently meets Claire who at this point is the unsung TRUE hero of this show. Misty Knight talks a big game but she ain't shit - oh the irony there... Luke Cage is near indestructible, but words hurt him more than fuckin' rocket launcher blast.
   
   
12. Episode 12 - Nothing really spectacular here outside of wrapping up a lot of threads towards the finale
    
    
13. Episode 13 - Cage defeats Diamondback who is wearing some ghetto as hell looking Ironman armor made by Hammer Industries so you know it was bullshit. The banter alone was worth this fight but weak finish. I facepalmed at the people in the street gathered around filming the fight and cheering him on. C'mon can we do anything positive about black people in this show instead of conforming to more stereotypes?
1. Misty Knight once again comes off as a complete moron. They don't pick up the evidence on Diamondback nor does she try to get her lost phone which allows Shades to kill her only concrete evidence to clear Cage's name.
2. Time out... how does Cage get the drawls from Misty, Claire, AND Jessica Jones and no one is calling him out on this shit?
3. "I was in the mood for something hot and dark before ya'll's messed that up..." -- I had to pause and laugh my ass off here
4. Ends with teases of what's to come with the scientist taking Diamondback into his care who experimented on Cage to give him his powers, Misty Knight teasing her future as a vignette going full circle where we found her at the start of this series, Claire Temple considering picking up martial arts training from a flyer billed by Colleen Wing which will obviously lead into Iron Fist, and the documents proving Cage's innocence found among the wreckage of Pop's barbershop.

Characters & Casting

Until Black Panther comes to theaters, I think this will be Marvel's most culturally diverse cast to date in ANY Marvel film or television property to date. Several minorities are represented here in terms of acting talent and Marvel made sure to get some major players to play the key roles in this series. Despite the fact that Marvel recycled Alfe Woodard's casting from Captain America: Civil War to play a completely different character in this series as Mariah Dillard, her acting ability continued to shine nonetheless. She struggled to come into her own in the series' first half before moving into the limelight as one of Cage's main antagonists by end of the second half. I really wanted to like Simone Missick as Misty Knight but as the show went on, I couldn't stand her more and more in this role. Maybe it was the writing or how she does that nervous twitch with her facial reactions in multiple occasions in this series, but that's one casting decision that Marvel got wrong here. I would have been fine with her if she was just no name cop or something but to say that she landed the role of Misty Knight doesn't sit well with me, especially given how important that character is to this corner of the MCU. Mike Colter was able to stretch his legs and shine with the role of Luke Cage here more than the short cameo that he was given in Jessica Jones. It took him a few episodes to get warmed up to the role but once he got going, I could totally buy into him as this character. Thank the stars that they didn't go with the stereotypical "ghetto" iteration of Cage as I was ready to facepalm at that if they went that route. Theo Rossi as "Shades" was an interesting choice but I was anxious to see him come into his own throughout this season instead of being a mere henchman/goon for Cottonmouth, Diamondback, and then finally Black Mariah. I felt that they chopped Mahershala Ali's legs right from underneath him right when he was starting to show some depth with his character. Such a shame that he was only in the first half of this series, when he could have benefited being the focal villain in this premiere season then moved to Mariah and Diamondback later.

Narrative

I think I pointed it out thoroughly in my notes above in several occasions that the show's narrative works for the most part but drastically dips in overall quality towards the show's latter half. It makes me sad to see that Marvel has to stretch all of these shows out to 13 episodes on Netflix when it would be a nice short, concise story if they just tell the tale they wanted to tell in a mere 8 episodes, much like Stranger Things did. Luke Cage seemed to suffer from being dragged out for the extra 6 episodes as I thought the season could have wrapped up in a mere seven episodes in my personal opinion. The whole switch in hierarchy of power with the criminal underworld after Black Mariah and Diamondback took charge could have been saved for a second season, where they would have had more time to iron out the details instead of squeezing all of this in the remaining half of this season.

Let's not forget that there's a LOT of moments in this series where I have to question if the creators have seen the other Marvel Netflix shows to date as a lot of things don't add up chronologically, such as Cage's relationship with Jessica Jones and his role in what happened in her series along with a few other moments that detailed above in my notes.

In terms of the narrative as a whole, the show has far too many "convenient" events occurring to take place just for the sake of moving the plot or make the shit hit the fan to add drama. As a result, it doesn't feel natural, but instead, it feels like a laundry list of set pieces and stopping points just to be checked off to set up the Defenders down the road. The biggest culprit of this are those 2-3 episodes where Cage is injured and out of action after being shot with the Chitauri bullet.

Representation

One of the biggest critics about this show is that it's "racist" because there are very little white Caucasian characters to identify with. I'm almost at the point where I firmly believe that film theory should be a required course in high school because it's getting ridiculous with popular media having a much more powerful presence in our everyday lives, now more than ever. This show isn't racist - actually far from it.

Can non-white people call every show on television "racist" because there's not enough characters for every minority to identify with? No, because the thought of that being plausible is absurd despite a lot of work from both DC and Marvel Comics to cater to as many races as possible after introducing multiple new iterations of established heroes to replace or even stand alongside their established counterparts. I suggest anyone who deems this show as "racist" for the lack of white representation pick up a textbook on film theory and educate themselves on the relationship between the spectator and on-screen spectacle by means of identification of visual and aesthetic characteristics and characterizations. To make a long story short, the creator of said media doesn't owe the spectator shit in terms of representation and how they identify with what is going on.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

"Sometimes backwards to move forward... always." - Luke Cage

Luke Cage utters those words at the end of the final episode of this season and I couldn't think of anything better to describe this show in its entirety. Luke Cage makes a lot of steps backward in terms of storytelling - many of which that I thought Marvel Studios would have learned after the feedback on Daredevil Season 2 and Jessica Jones came out, such as pacing and dragging out a season just because they could. I would like to see more Marvel Netflix shows adopt a season format like Stranger Things did, where it was only eight episodes and didn't overstay it's welcome just because the episode order was for 13 episodes instead of half as much which was needed to tell this type of story.

Don't get me wrong. I loved the soundtrack, especially how musical performances integrated into every episode as part of the Harlem Paradise club, and I enjoyed the narrative up until about the halfway point where Mariah killed Cottonmouth and replaced him in a position of power, only to be pulled at the strings by Diamondback. Integrating music into the show was a brilliant touch and really highlighted the "black" feel of the show opposed to anything else these Marvel-based Netflix shows have done to date. That being said, the show comes off like it's trying too hard to be a black show. I don't know if people will get where I'm coming from when I say that as a black male writing this blog but when you've seen a lot of this type of stuff on television and in films produced by Hollywood, you notice a lot of patterns and tropes that made me roll my eyes instead of sitting back and enjoying it. That's why I don't rave for shows like Empire or Power as they've clearly influenced this show in terms of style, but as black shows they tend to highlight more negatives than positives about black culture.

I suggest watching it as it's definitely one of Marvel's most ambitious television series to date, but
ultimately leaves a lot to be desired. With the recently announced season two on the way, maybe they will get things right.