What to Watch: Luke Cage Season 2

by Mike "Sweet Christmas" Lunsford, Editor-In-Chief

Ahhh, back to the classics: a superhero-themed show on Netflix! I had taken some time away from capes and superpowers to explore some of the other genres that streaming television had to offer, but comic book heroes hold a special place in my heart.

I wasn't a huge fan of the first season of Luke Cage but it was pretty good. I wasn't super familiar with the character, but, with the exception of the Punisher,  I wasn't very familiar with any of the Marvel/Netflix characters. Luke Cage seemed like an interesting enough dude. I figured with this being the first black TV super hero series would make it a different enough show to catch my attention. The first half of the season was great, however the back half felt like a slap in the face to what was created up to that point. Don't remember how bad it was? Here's the main villain for the 2nd half of the season.

that is a sweet hockey helmet you got there!

I am well aware that some of you have not seen the newest season of Luke Cage and you might want it to be unspoiled but you're still curious what I thought. Here ya go: it's pretty good. It is an improvement over season 1. However, the show still feels like it's missing something. Perhaps this is on purpose, but Carl "Luke Cage" Lucas is still finding himself as a hero. His motivations for being a hero seem to be thrust upon him instead of his choice, but he is still trying to find his feet. The show is still fun to watch and honestly, if it wasn't I would have bailed. As new GGR contributor James Rambo has said on our podcast

"Don't waste your time on bad media."

There are more great things about season 2. The characters are fleshed out, we learn more about their motivations and we get some Kingpin-from-Daredevil Season 1-level backstory that makes you sympathetic towards the villains. In fact, there are times where you almost root for them and against the heroes. Luke has some moments that make you question whether he made the right decision. This juxtaposition is well done and makes this season much more interesting than its predecessor. It is beautifully shot, the choreography is top notch, and the music that made season 1 so innovative is just as good for season 2. I give Marvel's Luke Cage Season 2 4 out of 5 tiaras. Read no further than the picture of "Power Man" with his sweet tiara if you want this review spoiler-free. 

Wear what you want Luke, no one is gonna make fun of your tiara...to your face.

What I Liked

 

Character Depth

Season 2 is a vast improvement over the first season. One of the biggest reasons is a level of depth that the heroes didn't get in their first go-round. To expand upon my spoiler-free review above, the heroes of Marvel's Luke Cage have some less-than-admirable moments. Luke himself, in a moment of unbridled anger and rage, smashes a hole in the wall of Claire's apartment. They were having a heated argument and Luke's response ends the disagreement in the worst way possible. It is an unsettling scene to watch, and a credit to Mike Colter and Rosario Dawson for playing it incredibly well. This event fractures Luke and Claire's relationship but starts Luke on a path of self-reflection. It also forces Luke to reconcile with his father (the late Reg E Cathey in one of his final roles) and come to terms with parts of his past. He is definitely not the same person as he was when this season started. I'll get to whether that's a good thing or a bad thing later in this article.  

We also see Misty Knight (Simone Missick) have her issues with doing the right thing. She attempt to frame a suspect but ends up stopping herself before going through with it. Now, these particular moments do not ruin the characters or make them less heroic. These moments of weakness show that they are human and flawed, but redeemable because of the way they respond to their poor decisions. 

Speaking of Misty Knight, her arc took this character to another level. Before this season, Misty was a capable detective and good in a fight. After losing her arm in the finale of The Defenders, she has to deal with some serious adjustment issues to her new disability. Not only must she find a way to adapt, she is also dealing with the fallout of her corrupt partner. With the help of Rand Industries, Misty gets herself a pretty badass prosthetic that can pack a wallop. In fact, she works with Colleen Wing from Iron Fist and the two kick some serious butt in a bar fight, one of the more exciting action scenes of the series. We can only hope that this means we'll see a "Daughters of the Dragon" spin-off. 

 

The Villains

The best movies, comics, video games and TV series all have one constant: a very strong villain. The hero is nothing if they don't have to step up their game to take out their antagonist. Luke Cage Season 2 is no different.  Mariah Dillard and Hernan "Shades" Alvarez are up to their same old dirty deeds from season one, desperate to get and retain power in Harlem by any means necessary. In fact, their relationship together went to another level as they became romantically involved.

Some have said that the romantic element was awkward and uncomfortable to watch. I felt it was a perfect microcosm of who these characters truly are. Shades is attracted to power and Mariah is the physical embodiment of power to him. Her "by any means" gangster mentality, is an attractive feature in his eyes. Mariah just wants to rule Harlem, and will do whatever it takes to get it. You almost wonder if she is simply leading Shades along as he is a valuable asset.  Does she actually feel something for him? Does she feel anything for anyone? 

We also learn that Mariah has an estranged daughter named Matilda or "Tilly." She reaches out to her in what seems like a political move to improve the perception Harlem has of her as a mother.  Their relationship in this season comes with a few startling revelations that are too shocking to reveal. You have to watch for yourself. Mariah Dillard was already an interesting character, but with the backstory and her actions in this season, she is one of the best villains in the Marvel Universe.

Shades gets quite a bit more attention in the second season. He shows some incredible depth of character as the season takes shape. In season 1, he seemed very focused on his role and would take out anyone who got in his way. As this season progressed, we see that is not always the case, that he possesses a sense of morality. In fact, he adheres to a strict "code of the streets" sort of aesthetic, almost samurai-esque. He proves himself to be an old-school gangster who, regardless of his personal feelings, is willing to do what must be done to follow those unwritten laws of conduct. His interactions with Mariah are effected by this code as well as with his life-long childhood friend, Comanche. Their friendship and relationship are fleshed out more completely as you come to understand how deep their connection goes. I was quite impressed by where they took this character.

There is also a new villain in Harlem for season 2. It turns out the Stokes family had a history of stepping on their associates and friends to further their name. In doing this, it created a few enemies, one of which harbored a deep hatred and thirst for revenge in the name of John "Bushmaster" McIver. 

Bushmaster was an incredible character and not as much a villain as the season progressed. In the traditional sense, he was going against Luke Cage, which made him an adversary, but his issue was with Mariah Dillard ("STOKES!" he would remind people every chance he got, in something that got old after the first half a dozen times). His father and mother were both killed because of the Stokes family and he demanded vengeance. As Luke Cage finds himself in the middle of this, he also finds himself at the end of an butt-whooping from Bushmaster. 

As Luke regroups and tries to figure out how to stop Bushmaster, he also must find a way to end the war between Bushmaster and Mariah Dillard née Stokes before Harlem is destroyed in the process. 

The Marvel/Netflix team-up series have done an excellent job of finding the humanity in their villains. They gave Mariah some incredible depth, Shades a soul of sorts, and Bushmaster even became a somewhat sympathetic character as the season moved forward. I will admit that there were scenes with him and his Jamaican brethren that I was completely lost as to what they were saying. Their Patois was authentic and difficult to keep up with, but I was proud of myself for being able to identify the use of “bumbaclot.”

 

The Immortal Iron Fist, Danny Rand Shows Up!

I catch hell from a lot of my friends and the other crew here at GGR for my love of Iron Fist. I know that people are not keen with the outdated "white savior/chosen one" trope that was a huge part of the 70s when Danny Rand showed up on the scene. There was a huge outcry for a reverse-white-washing of the character to make him Asian to eliminate that racist past. Marvel ignore this plea, which, in their defense, they very rarely change the race of any of their characters. On top of those issues, there was also the fact that the first season of Iron Fist wasn't that good. It was criticized for poor choreography, a lacking main villain and some very boring office building scenes.

As for me? I was sympathetic to the outcry for inclusivity but I still really enjoyed Iron Fist. And when Danny Rand shows up at Pop's Barber Shop to help Luke Cage and they end up dapping each other, I lost my damn mind. 

I might have said aloud "AWWW SNAP." My wife can confirm.

There's something about the two of them that works well together. Luke is constantly rolling his eyes at Danny whenever the "immortal Iron Fist" thing comes up or the fact that Danny had to defeat a dragon to earn that title. Danny is this constantly positive little-brother type character but sometimes blows Luke away with his wisdom and insight. He was a good balancing point for Luke's rage in this season. And when you team these two up against a slew of opponents, magic happens. I would love nothing more than if this team up grew to a "Heroes For Hire" crossover season with Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Plus, Danny's fighting was vastly improved in this season of Luke Cage.

a little Heroes For Hire collage I put together because I'm a fan boy apparently

Anything Else? 

The fight scenes were exciting to watch, especially when we got to see Luke Cage and Bushmaster duke it out. Throughout the season, we end up seeing the two lock horns 4 separate times and each fight scene is wonderfully planned out. As much as I enjoy seeing Claire (Rosario Dawson) I'm glad they gave her a break this season. Reg E Cathey gave a great performance as Reverend Lucas in one of his final performances. 

What I Didn't Like

The 13 episode format is getting old

In it's current incarnation, every season of these Marvel Netflix shows has 13 episodes. There is a great deal of flexibility with 13 episodes to tell a story. In fact, I enjoy seeing comic book characters with this kind of long-form story more than in film. However, those same lack of constraints that a feature film would produce can be chains of burden for the creators. With each season, there seems to be a few episodes that could have been cut. Heck, the whole second half of season 1 of Luke Cage was such a waste. Now that we have seen all of the Defenders interact with each other, this could be fixed easily. Have more crossover episodes. More Danny and Luke together, Heroes For Hire would allow for more growth and be incredibly fun. Give us some Daughters of the Dragon Colleen/Misty team ups. Nothing against Luke Cage, but when left to his own devices, his seasons have dragged a bit. 13 hours to tell a story is a lot of time, which can be wonderful or problematic. Up to this point, we've got a solid 20 episodes of Luke Cage between the 2 seasons, and that's a pretty good ratio. 

All in all, Luke Cage Season 2 is good TV. It is starting to take shape with some dynamic villains, fallible heroes that are still good people, great music, the fight scenes are dope and it has a bomb-dropping moment (in fact, like 3 bombs were dropped) in the final episode that ensures people will be tuning in for season 3. 

spoilers: Luke gets a new suit. That's one of the bombs. I guess it's not that big of a deal in retrospect.

Thank you all for reading my thoughts on Luke Cage Season 2. Stay tuned. Next, I'll be enthusiastically reviewing Iron Fist Season 2 when they drops in the first week of September. Stay tuned, geeks! And remember, don't be a juicebag.