Luke heals at Dr. Burstein's and learns the truth behind the experiment, while Mariah continues to build support against him.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Almost Kiss: Luke leans close and runs a hand down Claire's arm...and takes the car keys from her pocket.
- Artistic License – Chemistry: A double whammy in the opening. They need to lower the pH and they need to break down abalone shell, so they... add table salt to make the water saline. Neither sodium nor chloride would alter the pH in any way, and abalone is a salt water animal.
- Berserk Button: Similar to Cottonmouth, Luke goes completely ballistic when Dr. Burstein repeatedly calls him "Carl."
- Broken Pedestal: Luke is devastated when he finds out that Reva was fully involved in the experiment and the underground fight "trials", thereby tarnishing his innocent image of her. Luke realises he was Loving a Shadow and never knew the real Reva.
- Computer Equals Monitor: Luke smashes Burstein's laptop, but he's able to salvage the hard drive and get it working again.
- Continuity Nod: During Mariah's rally at Harlem's Paradise, she brings up that Hell's Kitchen woman who broke a man's neck because he "mind controlled" her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mariah is all for mass-production of the Judas, but Diamondback killing a cop is too extreme for her, because she genuinely cares about Harlem and is aware of the police backlash and racial tensions that will ensue.
- Failed a Spot Check:
- While Luke and Claire are in the old Baptist church, Luke realizes all the telltale clues that he'd overlooked that would've told him that Willis was his half-brother.
- Misty follows Diamondback upstairs to the club's office after seeing him in the private box. She fails to notice him standing behind her when she's standing by the window.
- Facial Recognition Software: Misty uses this to pull Diamondback's face and ID from under the hoodie of the fake Luke Cage.
- Frame-Up: Diamondback kills a police officer under the guise of Luke Cage. He keeps his disguise pretty basic—a hoodie, a powered glove to replicate Luke's super-strength, and he shouts, "I'm Luke Cage!" to the witnesses afterward.
- From Bad to Worse: Luke's surgery is successful and he heals, but the people of Harlem rally against Luke thanks to Mariah's political misdirection and Diamondback's actions against the police.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Luke has gained infamy due to the footage of him throwing a cop through a windshield, and Mariah framing him for the murder of Cottonmouth.
- Hypocrite:
- During her rally at Harlem's Paradise, Mariah suggests that Jessica Jones lied about Kilgrave's powers and his raping her with them, the exact kind of victim blaming that caused her to kill Cottonmouth.
- Luke's father preached self-righteousness, while carrying on an affair with his secretary, and behaving neglectfully—if not borderline abusively—towards his wife, and both his legitimate and illegitimate sons.
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: When Diamondback is telling Mariah the basics of his plan to sell the Judas bullets to the NYPD, Mariah counters, "I'm a politician, not a gun dealer." Diamondback simply replies, "Well, what's the difference?"
- Internal Reveal: Luke tells Claire that Willis Stryker is his half-brother. Likewise, Luke recognizes the telltale signs he missed that would have told him this secret years ago.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Mariah mentions Kilgrave's death from the season 1 finale of Jessica Jones (2015).
- Mad Scientist: Burstein, though he lacks the usual Large Ham and Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. He asks them to Just Think of the Potential! of his work, and offers to make Claire his protégé, impressed with her intelligence and willingness to risk everything on her gut. Claire tells him to stay away from Luke but, as he notes, doesn't say she'll never see him again.
- Parental Favoritism: Luke realizes that Willis hates him because of perceived parental favoritism, like Isaac and Ishmael in the Bible. "Perceived" being because Willis doesn't seem to realize that James Lucas didn't really like Luke either.
- Police Brutality: The manhunt for Luke makes the police act increasingly violent, to the point where an interrogator tries beating answers out of an uncooperative minor (which Mariah exploits for publicity).
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Claire's parting words to Burstein:Claire: Be thankful I'm not the one with the powers, because I'd kill you if you did half the shit that you did to him to me. Not just ruin your barn.
- The Reveal: Reva was no innocent prison psychologist. She was fully aware of the heinous experiments going on.
- Sequel Hook: Burstein digs his undamaged hard drive out of the wreckage of his computer. Thanks to Netflix cancelling the Marvel shows and Marvel Television being shut down, this will probably never be explored.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Willis Stryker was born as the result of an affair between Luke's father and his secretary Dana Stryker.
- Shout-Out: After coming out of the acid tank, Luke messes around with Claire by asking who she is, faking amnesia. Given the aesthetics of the barn, it's easy to see this as a reference to Wolverine—especially since he is on the run from a guy named Stryker who has bullets that can pierce his skin.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Mariah's popularity has risen due to the death of her cousin and the Police Brutality against Lonnie, an innocent young associate of Luke Cage.
- We Need a Distraction: Misty visits Domingo and tries to get him to slip up by showing him a photograph of Diamondback. She explains that the increased focus on Luke Cage means no one's talking about the fact that the heads of the other crime families have all gone missing (having been killed by Diamondback). Domingo, who is no fan of Diamondback, doesn't outright admit to witnessing those murders, but does tell Misty that Harlem's Paradise is under new management.
- Worst Aid: Since there is no defibrillator around to revive Luke, Claire throws a portable electric burner into the acid to cause a short circuit.Claire: Sometimes you have to forget the science and go with what you know.
