Luke Cage: Season Two
Matt
Posts: 4,457
Did anyone else watch this season? I’ll avoid spoilers, but I thought this season was superior to the prior one. Part of that could be I’m more familiar with the character then the first season. Another part would be the villain.
Positives:
Mustafa Shakir was amazing. He had this commanding presence Diamondback lacked. They gave Bushmaster more depth, too. I completely bought the Jamaican accent...until I watched some of the presser and found he doesn’t have an accent.
Misty Knight has become one of my favorite characters in this corner of the MCU. There were several moments Simone Missick delivered. They handled her amputation excellently.
Favorite dialogue “how do you know YOU aren’t MY sidekick?!” To which Luke replied “it’s my show!”
I can’t wait to see how her story arc continues.
Negative:
Still probably could’ve trimmed an episode or two.
I think they layed too hard on the “police won’t trust us/can’t be trusted.” Luke even comments that as a bulletproof black man, his testimony won’t mean anything. That’s weird coming from a former police officer & someone working with a lead detective.
The biggest issue I had was the language. There are two words I actively try to avoid hearing; one of them is the N word. I’ve had to buy ‘clean edit’ versions of songs just to avoid it. I find the “we own the word” notion as ridiculous as the “they use it, so it must be okay if I do” notion. I don’t recall it used in season one, but they went all in with this one; specifically Mariah.
Positives:
Mustafa Shakir was amazing. He had this commanding presence Diamondback lacked. They gave Bushmaster more depth, too. I completely bought the Jamaican accent...until I watched some of the presser and found he doesn’t have an accent.
Misty Knight has become one of my favorite characters in this corner of the MCU. There were several moments Simone Missick delivered. They handled her amputation excellently.
Favorite dialogue “how do you know YOU aren’t MY sidekick?!” To which Luke replied “it’s my show!”
I can’t wait to see how her story arc continues.
Negative:
Still probably could’ve trimmed an episode or two.
I think they layed too hard on the “police won’t trust us/can’t be trusted.” Luke even comments that as a bulletproof black man, his testimony won’t mean anything. That’s weird coming from a former police officer & someone working with a lead detective.
The biggest issue I had was the language. There are two words I actively try to avoid hearing; one of them is the N word. I’ve had to buy ‘clean edit’ versions of songs just to avoid it. I find the “we own the word” notion as ridiculous as the “they use it, so it must be okay if I do” notion. I don’t recall it used in season one, but they went all in with this one; specifically Mariah.
Comments
Was Luke Cage previously a cop on this show? I remember someone mentioning something like that but I didn't recall him being a cop in the comics, but maybe I'm mistaken. You make a good point about the show's use of the N word. While these shows seem to be designed for teens and up, I'm sure there are a lot of young black kids who watch the show. I'm sure the creators of the show would argue that the use of the N word makes the dialogue more authentic and the show more "realistic", but that's a crock when the streets on the show are usually remarkably devoid of people hanging out (and I'm speaking as a NYC native) and they've turned Luke Cage into the most (IMO) ridiculously noble character. So much so that he can't even stomach the idea of also using his powers for profit or personal benefit. If they'd let him start his own Heroes for Hire from the start, he'd be a lot more relatable and human to everyone watching, white or black. I presume they made that change for the kids.
I’m hoping this gets a third season, especially with Jessica Jones getting another season and that one feeling like a chore to get through. It’s reminds me of the Shield. There was always a blurred line of who was the villain & heroes in that show.
SPOILER
Foggy's insistence that he wouldn't get a fair trial was highly implausible even if he hadn't been a cop. He may be a black man, but he's also the beloved Hero of Harlem (on the cover of newspapers and there's an app with all his fans tracking him!) and he was beating up a wife batterer with a criminal history!
I’m not certain how jury duty works in the 5 boroughs. Would residents of the Bronx only serve as jurors for matters in the Bronx? If so, chances are seeing Luke as a ‘witness’ should hold weight because of his hero status. It’s not like with Batman, a masked urban legend (or at least he was when I last read the title).
I'm glad others are enjoying this but If not for Misty and Bushmaster, I'd stop watching.
It’s humorous that people keep shooting Luke, but as one dude said this season “we at least have to say we tried.” It’s like people shooting at Kent, even though it’s pointless. In Luke’s case, how much less action would there be if your red shirt criminal didn’t try to attack him.
So I finally saw episode 10 and Danny Rand showed up just in time to help me stave off boredom whenever Misty or Bushmaster are off screen. Not that I was a huge fan of the Iron Fist season either but at least with the two of them together it's a change. Danny also seems to be acting a little less oblivious than he did in his own season: "But I am Danny Rand! Why won't anyone believe me just because I say so!!?"
Unfortunately I hated a chunk of their fight scene with the goons:
So on the tv show, it seems like Danny can keep his iron fist perpetually "on" like a flashlight where it just glows pretty consistently. How lethal it is at any given time also seems to be a function of whatever the writers/director needs it to be at any given time. At one point he punches a regular guy with it and apparently he can hit Luke's hand as hard as he can and it won't affect Luke at all.
In the comics when Danny used the fist it was something he reserved for emergencies and its power was accordingly impressive. Using it tired him out as well.
I wonder if Jeph Loeb is signing off on these bad decisions to make Iron Fist and his power much less impressive than he should be?
SPOILERS BELOW
Overall I liked it. I agree with some of the above comments that the season dragged on a bit in the second half.
I never really bought the Shades / Mariah relationship.
There was a little too much "grey area" in the characters overall; they tried to hard to make us sympathize with the bad guys. I think it was warranted with Bushmaster but not so much with Shades or Mariah.
Bushmaster was amazing. Series regular please.
Misty is a straight up ass kicker. Damn she's good. I wasn't aware of her character from the comics and didn't know about the Daughters of the Dragon... please make that series!
I have very little background with Luke Cage from the comics. One thing I love about this show is every time I wikipedia character there's a ton of backstory about them, and the show seems to be honoring them.
Not a big fan of Luke Cage becoming a crime lord. Didn't think it was justified. Basically he didn't take down the Italians because they threatened to kill a bunch of people... what was he supposed to do there exactly?
More Hero for Hire please!
I remember watching and thinking he’s trying to maintain Harlem by holding it in his fist. Just like a Justice Lord...and Fisk. That could create an interesting Defenders Season 2 story.
And then when he has to make a morally grey decision his friends treat it as though he was now a gangster or something.
There was just a dissonance between what we saw happen on screen and the way Luke's friends reacted to it.
Punisher I’d say ranks at the top with the 2 DD seasons. Especially if you go back and watch his stuff in DD S2 afterward.
The best thing I think about the season is the literal "smack down" Cage put on various thugs. He'd wait until they were done doing what they needed to, like shooting at him, then he'd go up and grab them by the arm and then bop 'em on the head a la Little Bunny Foo Foo. I chuckled every time.
And Iron Fist season 2 was much better then one. And how do these get cancelled and not Jessica Jones? Season 2 for that wasn't great.
I for one, would much prefer a Daughters of the Dragon show over another season of Fist or Cage. I would also prefer that somebody fresh was put in the position of show runner because the shows are all too same-y in their approach (a storyline stretched for way more episodes than necessary; a lot of repetitive conversations and ideas passing for character development; minimal action; nowhere near enough use of the hundreds of C-list super-powered characters in the Marvel universe; villains are far more interesting than the hero) I started watching the new season of DD. Dear god it is as glacially paced as always. And once again whenever Matt's on screen it drags. I watched desperate for the Kingpin.
@Matt, agreed on liking the ending to IF Season 2 a lot more. Not only did the last 20 minutes suddenly make all the characters' storyline potential far more interesting, but the ending to Luke Cage made little sense. It climaxed with the idea (which they kept repeating throughout the season where it also made no sense) that somehow Luke Cage might be becoming a criminal in Misty's eyes, even though the show never gives any signs at all that that's ever the case. Like Mariah kept telling him, and the show kept showing, he was always going to do the right thing.