Hunkered down in a makeshift safe house, Luke and Misty butt heads over how to handle Mariah. Meanwhile, long-buried family secrets come to light.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: We get a lengthy one as Mariah explains to Tilda the truth about her heritage.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Bushmaster and his minions have the Rand Industries facility in Queens (where Luke, his father, Mariah and a few others are in) under siege after Nandi tips them off.
- Bait the Dog: Mariah pretends to have a nice talk with James about their respective children just to snatch his phone.
- Batter Up!: Bushmaster engages Luke with an aluminum baseball bat.
- The Beard: It turns out Mariah was this to Jackson Dillard, who was gay.
- Bottle Episode: Much of the episode takes place in their hideout at the clinic.
- The Bus Came Back: Priscilla Ridley returns, now a Deputy Chief, and takes over the 29th Precinct in light of Ridenhour's murder.
- But Not Too Black: Tilda believes Mariah has always been disappointed because she wasn't born with a mixed race complexion. Mariah also opens up about some of the abuse and teasing she dealt with as a child due to her own dark skin.
- Break the Cutie + Break Them by Talking: Mariah brutalizes Tilda in her explanation of her paternity.
- Child by Rape: Uncle Pete was Tilda's father, not Jackson Dillard. Mariah passed Jackson off as Tilda's dad to give her a better role model to look up to.
- Continuity Nod:
- Bushmaster's escape from custody is practically identical to Wilson Fisk's escape from custody at the end of Daredevil season 1, right down to the camera angles, to Bushmaster telling a darkly ominous story to the ESU officers riding in back with him.
- Mariah tells Tilda of the night she killed Cottonmouth and what caused her to do so. She also goes in depth about the sexual abuse she received at the hands of her Uncle Pete.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Mariah hates being called Black Mariah because what children would call her to tease her when she was young. She was also sexually abused by her Uncle Pete and her daughter, Tilda was the result of said abuse.
- Dirty Cop: Nandi sells out Mariah's location to Bushmaster for the reward.
- Evil Feels Good: By the end of the episode, Mariah has come to accept her Stokes heritage and is proud of her villainous deeds.
- Failed a Spot Check: The ESU officers that search Bushmaster do a singularly bad job of it, missing the high tech grenade in his pockets.
- Flipping the Bird: Before revealing his detonator, Bushmaster does this to the cops.
- Heroic Rematch: This time, Luke finally beats Bushmaster, though it is a close one.
- I Have No Daughter!: Mariah all but says this to Tilda.
- I Have Your Wife: Shades kidnaps Anansi.
- Invulnerable Knuckles: Averted, James's knuckles are bleeding after beating down one of Bushmaster's goons last episode.
- Let Me Tell You a Story: Before detonating his grenade, Bushmaster takes a page from Wilson Fisk's playbook, and tells the cops escorting him a story about the Jamaican Maroons and how they dealt with the British.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Averted. The Dillard family overlooked Mariah's race if it meant they could deny Jackson Dillard's homosexuality.
- Meaningful Name: The song name picked for this episode is appropriate given how we learn that Pete was Tilda's father.
- Mythology Gag: Mariah tells her daughter how kids used to tease her by calling her Black Mariah, her name from the comics.
- Parting-Words Regret: Misty deeply regrets what how she insulted Ridenhour for making a deal with Mariah since all he wanted was to give her a reduced sentence (which Mariah didn't take anyway), as she is being forced to make a deal to give Mariah immunity.
- Punctuated Pounding: Mariah as she takes a shotgun and shoots her way through the Styler thugs.Mariah: Kiss... my... black... ass.
- Settled for Gay: Turns out Jackson Dillard was gay and married Mariah as a cover.
- So Proud of You: James says this to Luke.
- Took a Level in Badass: During the raid on the Rand facility, Mariah takes one of the Hammer shotguns and proceeds to kill a number of Stylers to escape.
- You Should Have Died Instead: Mariah basically tells Tilda she never wanted to have her, as we know why.
- You Monster!: Tilda tearfully calls Mariah a monster after she reveals that Tilda was a product of Uncle Pete's rape and admits that, because of this, she was never able to love Tilda.
- Villain Respect: Bushmaster goes so far as to allow Luke and everybody else to leave in peace, as long as he gets Mariah. Of course, Luke declines.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: It's obvious Luke just wanted to hear his father say he was proud of him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Misty is not happy about Luke wanting to broker a deal with Mariah, though she eventually agrees to go through with it.
