History YMMV / LukeCage2016

** Pirahna in Season 2 [[spoiler: just ups and leaves a sanctuary just so that he can call someone (his momma) and tries to leave town. Predictably, Bushmaster and his men capture and kill him.]]

** In Universe, Mariah crosses it with [[spoiler:her paramour Shades]] in Season 2. The individual in question has a breakdown after watching [[spoiler:her burn a man alive after slaughtering a restaurant full of innocent people]]. Candace even gets brought up, with the character saying she was an acceptable target the moment she took the money and then snitched.

** Luke Cage takes out a group of Mariah's thugs trying to extort money from an elderly couple who own a Chinese restaurant. He seems to inflict an unneeded amount of damage on the restaurant himself by smashing one guy through a window and throwing another into a mirror, shattering it.

** After the epic shot of Mariah replacing her cousin's Notorious BIG poster with one of her own at the end of Season 1, she apparently just put it right back up by the time of Season 2.

* MagnificentBastard: Shades, with his charisma and ability to remain in a position of power even as leadership changes, feels almost like the MCU's answer to [[Series/GameOfThrones Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]].

* EvenBetterSequel: Many find season 2 to be a significant improvement over season 1.

* ContinuityLockout: Since Luke was introduced on ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', the first season of that show is almost required viewing to understand references (Reva's death, the shotgun injuries, etc.)

* AuthorsSavingThrow: For Season 2, Cheo Hodari Coker [[https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tv/marvel/luke_cage/luke-cage-season-2-major-new-details-revealed-about-the-villains-a-heroes-for-hire-spinoff-and-more-a159405 went to great lengths]] to avoid the sorts of issues that season 1 had.

** Most obvious between Misty/Luke, even if they're technically on the same side - just have different approaches on tackling crime. Hell, they had a one-night stand on the first episode, which Luke gleefully references as he tells her that she "knows where his apartment is" when attempting to take him in for questioning.
** Likely one-sided but this short exchange between Luke Cage and Mariah Dillard says it all. Notably, this is the first time they met:

** The metal headband and wrist shackles Luke's wearing [[spoiler: as he escapes Seagate Prison]] make him look hilariously similar to Wonder Woman. Luke himself at least feels the same way when he sees his reflection.

** There's a lot of references to ''Literature/TheBible'', when putting aside half of Diamondback's dialogue [[AsTheGoodBookSays with religious references]] to the point that it's a tad ridiculous. However, it starts to make a lot more sense when Luke Cage and the BigBad's pasts are tied to the same man [[spoiler:who happens to be their father, and a preacher]], and with the themes of betrayal, salvation and redemption.

* PortmanteauCoupleName: [=ShadyMariah=] for Mariah and Shades. [[https://twitter.com/Theorossi/status/982614585403498499 Even Theo Rossi endorses the pairing]].

** Luke/Claire vs Luke/Jessica. On one hand Jessica is Luke's wife in the comics, so them getting hitched in the MCU is seen by some as a ForegoneConclusion, but their relationship hasn't progressed to that point yet and it's unclear if it ever will, since there's baggage between the two of them that isn't present in the comics, and of course there's the fact that ''much'' of the MCU is different from the comics, personal relationships included. Meanwhile, Luke has undeniable chemistry with Claire.

** The metal headband and wrist shackles Luke's wearing [[spoiler: as he escapes Seagate Prison]] make him look hilariously similar to Wonder Woman.

** When henchmen empty their guns at Luke, bullets bounce off of him. What do they do? [[MoreDakka Light him up like the Fourth of July]]. And it takes a while for gangsters to spread the word or even warned Cottonmouth about the bulletproof issue.
-->'''Luke:''' [[SarcasmMode It's called deductive reasoning.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Luke has a tendency to come off as self-righteous, such as when his female friend shows up at Pop's funeral with a gun in her purse after her store was roughed up by Cottonmouth's goons; he crushes it to tell her that she shouldn't need firearms to feel safe. Because how DARE a woman living in a rough neighborhood take some measure of self-defense?

* StrawmanHasAPoint:
&&Scarfe is a DirtyCop, but when he makes remarks in episode 3 about why he celebrates [[CopsNeedTheVigilante a vigilante helping cops out]], after years of investigation with no payoff, his argument makes a lot of sense. ''Especially'' when corruption is InherentInTheSystem and DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals exist everywhere. It helps that there were no deaths, so even if he wasn't trained like Misty complained, he was able to go in a place full of armed gangsters without any real danger. Sure, he's corrupt, and he basically advocates giving up and HoldingOutForAHero, but until they find a secret MugglePower, it's not like they can do anything about it.

** Cottonmouth and Mariah Dillard are basically Wilson Fisk/Kingpin split into two people, the former being the crime lord with numerous cops on his payroll and an unnerving HairTriggerTemper, and the latter the public face who does everything to help their city.

** Mariah Dillard, Cottonmouth and Diamondback's plot parallels Valentin Narcisse, Chalky White, and Dunn Purnsley's in ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'''s fourth season. Cottonmouth's office in his club has the same layout/overlooking view as Chalky's (and that Mahershala Ali has a similar appearance to Michael K. Williams), and that Erik [=LaRay=] Harvey appeared in both shows, as Purnsley and Diamondback.

** Shades is Cottonmouth's equivalent to [[Series/Daredevil2015 James Wesley]]: the [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] HyperCompetentSidekick to the BigBad. The [[{{Foil}} key differences]] between the two is, Shades knew where to draw the line when he was out of his league, while Wesley remained full of himself and underestimates his enemies which is how Karen Page was able to kill him.
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Notable for being the first Netflix Marvel series to ''avert'' this. Luke spends the first half of season one utterly gutting Cottonmouth's criminal operations, and the latter's victories ultimately prove ineffectual and fleeting [[spoiler: before he's ultimately killed by Episode 7]]. When [[KnightOfCerebus Diamondback]] ultimately steps up to the plate and proves a real threat to Luke, the odds aren't stacked against him nearly as badly as [[Series/Daredevil2015 Wilson Fisk]] or [[Series/JessicaJones2015 Kilgrave]]. [[spoiler: Which makes the SuddenDownerEnding to the series hit that much harder. Even then, Bobby Fish is able to find the files proving Luke's innocence, meaning he won't be back in prison for long]].

** After watching ''The Defenders'', try watching Candace's death knowing that her brother Cole will be murdered by The Hand also for snitching to Luke.

** The DJ at Cottonmouth's club in "Manifest" is [[Series/KeyAndPeele D-Nice (tragically he is not a white girl).]]

* ReplacementScrappy: Many viewers loved Cottonmouth as a character, especially thanks to Mahershala Ali's ''brilliant'' performance and were not pleased to see him [[spoiler: get killed by Mariah [[DiscOneFinalBoss halfway through the season]] and hastily replaced by Diamondback as the true BigBad.]]

* SignatureScene: Luke plowing his way through numerous goons to rob Crispus Attucks with [[Music/WuTangClan "Bring Da Ruckus"]] blasting on the soundtrack has gotten quite a bit of press for summing up everything great about the show. And the crew seems to have known full well they had something special here, as the first teaser was made up almost entirely of bits from this scene.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Scarfe is a DirtyCop, but when he makes remarks in episode 3 about why he celebrates [[CopsNeedTheVigilante a vigilante helping cops out]], after years of investigation with no payoff, his argument makes a lot of sense. ''Especially'' when corruption is InherentInTheSystem and DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals exist everywhere. It helps that there were no deaths, so even if he wasn't trained like Misty complained, he was able to go in a place full of armed gangsters without any real danger. Sure, he's corrupt, and he basically advocates giving up and HoldingOutForAHero, but until they find a secret MugglePower, it's not like they can do anything about it.
** Another instance occurs in the final episode with Misty. Inspector Ridley [[NiceJobBreakingItHero slams her for not trusting her fellow officers enough]] to [[spoiler: protect Candace]], and the show seems to paint Misty's poor judgement as the reason [[spoiler: Mariah]] goes free. However, this seems to ignore the fact that this was the same police department recently revealed to be mired with {{Dirty Cop}}s, one of whom was ''Misty's own partner''. Coupled on with the fact that it's only been a matter of months since it was uncovered that [[Series/Daredevil2015 large numbers of NYPD officers were on Wilson Fisk's payroll]], it's not hard to see why Misty would've had reservations trusting her colleagues.

** When the mooks' bullets bounce off of him time after time, what do they do? [[MoreDakka Light him up like the Fourth of July]]. And it took a while before gangsters spread the word or even warned Cottonmouth about the bulletproof issue.
** Zip trying too hard to play the tough guy ends up with [[spoiler: him trying to strangle Shades while his henchmen pretend nothing is happening, only for Shades to take one of their guns and kill them all.]]

** When Amos first meets Luke, he shatters his wrist punching him. Fastforward a few episodes and Amos is one of Cottonmouth's mooks at The Paradise when Luke comes around. Amos has his arm in a cast, knows full well what would happen if he punched Luke again, but still tries to fight him anyway.

** Some fans are split if whatever or not it was an good idea to have Alfre Woodard play two different roles in the MCU, since she appeared previously in the MCU as Miriam Sharpe in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' before her appearance as Mariah Dillard, there are some fans that are fine with this, since it's unlikely that Mariah and Miriam will interact anyway, and this isn't the first time an actor in the MCU has ever played more than one role,[[note]]Tony Curran played Bor in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', and later appeared in season 2 of ''Series/Daredevil2015'' as Finn Cooley, Matt Gerald played White Power Dave in ''[[Film/MarvelOneShots All Hail the King]]'' and Melvin Potter in ''Series/Daredevil2015'', Laura Haddock played a fan of Captain America in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and Meredith Quill in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and Enver Gjokaj played a cop in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and Daniel Sousa on ''Series/AgentCarter''[[/note]] while others see this as an wasted opportunity, feeling that this would've been the perfect way to connect the Netflix shows with the movies, and that by having her be the same character from ''Civil War'' could have been a factor in her villany after losing her son in the aftermath of the battle against Ultron (though the show actually takes place before the film).

** Shades is the Series/LukeCage2016'' equivalent of Wesley from ''Series/Daredevil2015'', the [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] HyperCompetentSidekick to the BigBad. The [[{{Foil}} key differences]] between the two is, Shades knew where to draw the line when he was out of his league, while Wesley remained full of himself and underestimates his enemies which led him to get killed.

** In an example within the series, in "Code of the Streets" Pop mentions he had a son he lost connection with, and how over the years, he could have sat down in his chair and he never would have known. It's one of the reasons he tries to play surrogate father to so many young men. Come Pop's memorial service in "[[Recap/LukeCage2016S1E5JustToGetARep Just to Get a Rep]]", [[spoiler:and his son is the first person we see speaking, mentioning how he knew where his father was, and he wanted to reach out to him, even tell him about his grandchild, but he never did.]]

** After seeing ''The Defenders'', [[spoiler:Misty got a grand total of one more year with that arm after Claire saved it, precisely because she saved Claire's life.]]
** After watching ''The Defenders'', try watching Candace's death knowing that her brother Cole will be murdered by The Hand also for snitching, and knowing that her mother will lose all of her children.

** In an example outside the series, Charles Bradley announced he has stomach cancer just four days after the show's release, where he had a cameo performing at Cottonmouth's club, at the same time that Ron Cephas Jones (Bobby Fish) was also playing someone with the disease on ''Series/ThisIsUs''.