Marvel's Luke Cage (Netflix series)

Another thing I liked was the progression of Luke Cage's fights against Bushmaster.

The first time, Bushmaster bushwhacked Luke and kicked his ass. The second time when they had a prearranged fight and Luke wasn't caught unawares, he eventually got the upper hand and then Bushmaster cheated. The third time, Luke knew the paralysis dust was coming, blocked it, and kicked Bushmaster's ass. The fourth time, Bushmaster powered up and initially the new power gulf let him kick Luke's ass but Luke got back on his feet and kicked Bushmaster's ass anyway.

It was good progression.

I agree.

We also got a reminder that Luke can fight, and when up against someone on his level, he puts that skill to good use. He's not on the level of Matt or Danny, but a former Cop, Marine, and trained Boxer knows how to throw a punch.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Jul 3rd 2018 at 10:36:40 AM

Let's not give Luke too much credit for the fourth fight. Bushmaster had to fight off Shades and Misty too and spent a lot of his energy on that door.

In a similar note though, Luke had gotten his ass knocked out a window so it's not like he was fresh as a daisy

Fair point. Anyways, each fight was pretty intense and well choreographed. And even in fight 3, Bushmaster nearly took Luke's eye. He was no pushover either way.

Just finished Season 2.

I expected Mariah's death, and at Tilda's hands. As soon as she kissed her I knew her fate was sealed. Luke becoming "king" of Harlem with his inheritance of the nightclub was unexpected, and I love the Godfather parallels with Sugar whispering in his ear as the door closes on Misty. I'm really looking forward to seeing where Season 3 takes them all.

Yeah, they're three-for-three so far on "let's end the second season with the main cast splitting!", which feels a bit repetitive, but at least I can see them coming back from this one, unlike Jessica Jones.

Edited by Anomalocaris20 on Jul 5th 2018 at 12:16:25 PM

Those are pretty much the reasons why Luke Cage season 2 is my favourite Netflix season so far (which is impressive, considering that season 1 was my least favs of all the season 1).

Seeing Luke Cage gradually shift away from being the Defenders' resident boy scout without completely compromising his morals was interesting. It feels a little artificial, since I know they won't let his gradual corruption take root to any truly damaging extent, but he's got a bit more nuance now, and I'm always about that.

You know, the longer I think about it, I have to wonder, why didn't Misty or Luke consider at any point that one way to go after Mariah would be go after Ben Donovan? He's been the Stokes' family lawyer for 25 years, he got put through law school by Mama Mabel, and he probably has a lot of dirt on him through his dealings with Mariah and with Fisk. These are also, for the most part, not protected by attorney-client privilege (because this does not exist when the attorney is actively aiding his client in committing crimes). So it would make perfect sense for Misty or Luke to dig up dirt on Donovan, then say something along the lines of, "We're perfectly willing to let you continue all this work you've doing for Wilson Fisk if you agree to tell us every crime that you aware of that Mariah Dillard has committed."

Speaking of which, what about that supper club waiter in episode 1 that Shades beat up? Why didn't he ever call the police? What would have happened if he called the police and filed a report about being beaten up by a white man in sunglasses and a black man with dreads? Would Misty use it as leverage to try and get Shades to turn against Mariah?

Part of me is also wondering how the season would've progressed if Claire stuck around after episode 3 and remained by Luke's side for the duration of the season. Would he have still gone down the path he ultimately did if Claire was around, or would he have gone down a different path?

Edited by dmcreif on Jul 8th 2018 at 12:24:25 PM

That is assuming that the lawyer did anything outright illegal at any point. He seems to be too clever for that.

But they should have gone after the secretary or whatever he was of Mariah. He was way over his head from the get go.

I'm pretty sure getting told to spread the word for a mass killing of employees who could potentially reveal something can not be excused away with Attorney-Client privilege.

I'm pretty sure getting told to spread the word for a mass killing of employees who could potentially reveal something can not be excused away with Attorney-Client privilege.

Yes, attorney-client privilege does not apply when you're aiding your client in committing crimes. I mean, that's why Marci Stahl escaped indictment when Landman & Zack went down for aiding Fisk (because she informed on her partners).

But they should have gone after the secretary or whatever he was of Mariah. He was way over his head from the get go.

Yeah, Alex probably looked ready to talk.

Edited by dmcreif on Jul 9th 2018 at 12:06:11 PM

You know, it's amazing how many instances season 2 of Luke Cage rips off Daredevil season 1. Episode 6 of both seasons has a similar premise: the main character (Luke, Matt) is trying to get a criminal associate with very incriminating information (Piranha Jones, Vladimir Ranskahov) to safety, while outrunning a villain's henchmen (Bushmaster's men under Sheldon's watch; the corrupt cops on Wilson Fisk's payroll), and they hole up in an abandoned building for a bit. The villain hunting them down is also nowhere near the action, instead relaying orders by cell phone while watching the news (Bushmaster's watching a soccer game at Gwen's when the news breaks of the severed heads; Fisk and Wesley are in their car giving orders by phone and radio to the cops in their pockets, and keeping up to date by watching the newscast on a TV in the car).

This is in addition to Bushmaster's monologue in the paddywagon in episode 9 that rips off Fisk's "I am the ill intent" speech.

I liked Bushmaster's version because he then blew himself the fuck up

Can't deny that he's determined

It's helps when Crazy Enough to Work is invoked.

And setting off a grenade in a small room (or a truck in this case) whey you yourself are inside said small room...very crazy.

The question is, is it a rip-off or an intentional homage?

I suspect that a person giving a speech before escaping a police van isn't actually unique to Fisk

It isn't. "Makes a speech before escaping police custody" is a pretty old trope. It's part and parcel of the whole "unfettered criminal" idea.

Also, keeping a witness away from murderers who wish to do them harm - and subsequently failing - is somthing that literally every Marvel Netflix show besides Iron Fist has done. Repeatedly, even. They like that "one last hope" narrative.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 9th 2018 at 8:10:55 AM

"Dramatic speech before escaping a police van" isn't new ground, no, though even the camera angles and the meter of his speech feel very reminiscent of Fisk's. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, just an interesting parallel to draw.

At the very least, I feel like it'd have been hard for the director/writer of that episode to do that part and not think "Hey, this is kinda like what Daredevil did in its first season".

I'll add that coming at different points of the season means those similar scenes serve very different roles in the villain's arc

Edited by Bocaj on Jul 10th 2018 at 3:19:29 PM

I suspect we will see more repetitions going forward. I mean, there is only so much you can do with the premise of a street level Superhero.

I have btw decided that my favourite moment is Danny Punching Luke's hand. That whole fight was pretty cool.

So this is interesting. The guy who played Bushmaster? He also initially auditioned for the role of Cottonmouth and also tried to get the lead role on Black Lightning.

https://shadowandact.com/luke-cage-star-mustafa-shakir-auditioned-for-this-marvel-film-role-and-this-dc-tv-role-before-landing-role-of-bushmaster

I am glad it went this way. He looks to rough around the edges to play the (initialy) suave cottonmouth. Bushmaster fits him way better in my opinion.

You know, I'll say this, compared to the other second seasons, Luke Cage season 2 definitely keeps its footing from wire to wire and feels like a big improvement on season 1.

Daredevil season 2 had good moments, but after the first four episodes it becomes a mess between trying to establish Elektra, set up for two spinoffs (The Defenders and The Punisher) rather than focus on the immediate story, and tell several stories at once. I think Frank overstayed his welcome and should have been written out of the show once he got out of prison^note the end stuff of his arc in season 2 and the reveal that he was specifically targeted that day in the park, should've been put in his own show, and probably would've made The Punisher season 1 a little bit more tightly paced, all the Elektra / Hand stuff needed to be more clear, and the handling of basically everything related to Matt/Karen/Foggy/Elektra/Hand became messy and contrived (a lot of stuff involving Matt/Elektra/Karen/Foggy in any capacity in the second season of Daredevil just felt like it was done to force drama and friction between them).

Jessica Jones season 2 admittedly had an issue that Daredevil season 2 also had: a lot of the drama can come off at times melodramatic. Then again, that season seems like it was meant to be strictly character-driven rather than plot driven, and it's a PI noir story, so much of that drama was admittedly inevitable. Although it did go through the same thing Daredevil season 2 did of breaking up the main trio.

Luke Cage season 2? Well, it is a big improvement over season 1, and season 1 was pretty good from start to finish. (I think the hate for Diamondback is overrated, and honestly, I think Diamondback was maybe one or two scenes away from being developed into a pretty good villain on par with Bushmaster) The season admittedly did a much better job than the second seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones when it came to balancing out the storylines. A lot of it may have to do with the care given specifically to Mariah's, Shades' and Bushmaster's story arcs, because a show is only as good as its villains. (The Hand have never been properly handled in Daredevil or Iron Fist; within Daredevil, there's too much "Huh?" that goes on with them and Elektra. With Jessica Jones, I like IGH and Jessica's mom, but I can also see why detractors might not be so fond of them)

Edited by dmcreif on Jul 10th 2018 at 11:30:28 AM

Oh, I agree…it is kind of ironic...I mean, I rank the first seasons this way:

Jessica Jones (which I think was the strongest thematically)

Daredevil (which did mostly a great job narratively, but I think taking out Fisk after so many episodes basically explaining why he is untouchable was a little bit too easy in the end)

Punisher (which would be higher if not for the NRA advertising episode which really, really rubbed me the wrong way)

Iron Fist (sue me, I enjoyed the story overall, the show had its problems especially regarding the fight scenes, but I really, really enjoyed the characters, especially Ward and Colleen, and of all the first seasons I think it did the best job to raise the stakes towards the end).

Luke Cage (which would be higher, maybe even on top, if it had kept up the quality of the first episodes but man was the Diamondback plot terrible).

But regarding the second season so far, they kind of flippe the quality on its head.

Luke Cage is so far my favourite because it does an excellent job continuing the storylines set up in the first season while also introducing interesting new characters. It is evenly paced and know exactly where the focus is. And it sets up an interesting story for the third season. Plus, it addresses more or less every issue I had with the first season. The stupid Judas bullet - gone. Instead they explore other methods to get to Luke or to corrupt him. That is exactly what I wanted all along.

Daredevil started strong with the Punisher arc but then it really lost itself. I hate the way they handled Elektra and frankly, everything they did with the Hand was terrible. I don't get why Iron Fist keeps getting the blame for that one, if anything Iron Fist managed to improve on the nonsense Daredevil set up.

I loathed the second season of Jessica Jones. I really do. Not only didn't I like what they did in the season, I also felt that they undermined what the show did so well during the first one. I have no idea where exactly did they change the people involved, but the strong voice of the first season is just missing. Maybe it is because this story wasn't based on anything.

So, if they continue the trend, Iron Fist should be my second favourite second season….