Luke Cage

Season 1:

Already introduced in Jessica Jones, the titular character is given an opportunity to become far more three-dimensional. With the emphasis heavily reliant on race, Luke Cage was released at an important time within US racial tensions, and was an excellent addition into a rather uniform Marvel universe.

Against the backdrop of Harlem, issues are split by the villains, of which there are multiple, and general life effected by race. Perhaps not to be fully appreciated by the entire audience, but at the very least understood by virtually all.

The standard of villain does fluctuate across the season. Cottonmouth is perfectly played by Ali, and provides an adversary without powers, just power. Equally evil and engaging, he provides an instant arc whilst Cage's backstory unwraps. Dillard is a very different character, irritating and at times infuriating for an audience, she gives a different direction and reflects the real world all too well. Diamondback is frankly a bit daft, everything seems a little over the top, and whilst Cottonmouth is slick and cool, his associate feels a little goofy. These are all surrounded by an entourage which fill the gangster-gaps well.

Other characters are given glimpses to flourish, notably Temple who finally gets more of a limelight after her introduction in the other Defender series. Detective Knight is at the forefront of many episodes, and whilst a decent addition, does fall back on cliche and stereotype a little too often - such as showing how tough she is and her origins from the streets by gaining information from youths by beating them at basketball. It's good that nothing ever strays too far from Cage - no matter how incompetent/corrupt the cops may get.

There are great references to the comics in his origin story, and whilst Cage is given far more depth, he does get stuck as the figure of a black man trying to do right, without getting developed a whole lot further.

Season 1: 8/10

Season 2:

Continuing on from The Defenders, Luke Cage seamlessly slips back into the same Harlem with the same approach. However, unlike the first season, emphasis on race, whilst remaining at the forefront of everything, is shallow, crass dialogue being the reference point rather than anything deeper.

Dillard is front and centre and ranges from a decent to a terrible character; from realistic to a figure fueled by stereotypical dialogue. At every opportunity she's referring to 'black this' and 'black that', usually being someone's 'black ass'. Her relationship with Shades becomes cringeworthy, although he is given more room to develop in this season. The addition of another in the Stokes bloodline is unwelcome as the wide eyed doe repeatedly gets manipulated until you lose all sympathy. It was clear by the last episode that should the series have continued, it would have been a third series again revolving around a Stokes. Bushmaster, however, is an excellent villain with depth, relatability and excellently played by Shakir. The choreography for his actions scenes are excellent.

Temple is far less involved in the second season, which isn't a negative as she sadly starts to fall into the category of poorly-written female characters in the Marvel-Netflix series. Self-righteous and preachy, she falls in line with similar disappointments in Daredevil (Karen), Jessica Jones (Trish) and Iron Fist (Colleen), who could be good characters unfortunately sullied in certain arcs by insisting their approach is superior to the way the lead actually conducts (more interesting) actions.

Dialogue is really heavy-handed (no pun intended) at times; you hear "can I give you a hand" or similar all too often in the opening episodes when taunting someone with a missing limb, suggesting that everyone in this universe is either too thick or unoriginal to come up with anything else better than a playground insult. Plus, while race is obviously key to the series, it also becomes a crutch as everyone uses it as an excuse for their behaviour one way or another.

Seemingly every episode has a musical performance in it, which works well in some cases and poorly in others. Shoehorning this repeated section in turns the season into a weird musical.

Overall, quality rises and falls, but the latter half of the season has a lot of solid plot to engage with. Violence gets a whole lot more graphic, but choreography in fight scenes are far advanced. The ending is somewhat predictable, but not unwanted.

Season 2: 7/10.

While this is definitely Luke Cage's show, this isn't the first time we've seen him. Being an integral part of Jessica Jones season 1, this is the continuation of that character and while it doesn't exactly goes the same heights as Jessica Jones or Daredevil, it's a damn good time

Season 1; Fresh off the action packed season of Daredevil season 2, I seen this was where our Netflix MCU story continues, further establishing The Defenders roster. Really glad they explained Luke Cages powers in this season( machine used to heal faster malfunctioned while Cage was in it) Taking place sometime after Jessica Jones Season 1's ending, we see Luke Cage ditch Hells Kitchen for Harlem Which sets the backdrop for the many characters we meet. First we have Cottonmouth; a ruthless nightclub owner who gets a visit from Shades, an associate of Cottonmouths employer Diamondback. Now, before I start talking about the characters, let me first off and say how great some of these scenes in this very first episode was. That entire scene of Cottonmouth giving his "everybody want to be the king" monologue was *chefs kiss*. Anyways, I think Ali did a great performance, and sadly was cut too short midway through the season. Meanwhile we have another character named Detective Misty who becomes a integral part to the entire Defenders roster. And of course, the return of Claire... visiting her mother in Harlem, with a calling to help people with abilities. 2 more characters, Mariah and Shades, are also prominent in this, with becoming some of the best written villains in the show. And finally; Striker/Diamondback. Oh and he happens to be Cages half brother! S**t just got real. The ending fight between Luke and Styker was fun, but corny at the same time, A good season, although some stuff was corny, especially Diamondback, and there was a lot of uneventful episodes, but other than that, a great season.

Season 2: Now, this season is set after The Defender miniseries, so we see Cage becoming more of a celebrity, but he's also forced to deal with not only the partnership between Mariah and Shades, but he also has a newcomer in Harlem. Bushmaster proved to be a pretty convincing villain, with his goal to wipe out Mariah and take what what rightfully was his. While I don't think any of the characters quite matched Cottonmouth's, I think this season fleshed out and made both Shades, Mariah, and Bushmaster a trio of villains that each had their own goals and demons to figure out. Now, the ending was pretty interesting, and would like to see that more in the future, perhaps is a future Luke Cage show???

In all, this 2 season show was pretty cool. It gave this universe a vibe I think it may have been missing, and to see street crime being dealt with with such a charming guy as Luke Cage, you can't complain. Definitely recommended.

While the storyline plods along, the characterization is strong, especially with regard to Alfre Woodard's breakout role. She reminds us of what the complexity of a villain looks like, and she explores every part of what it means to be filled with avarice, love, desire, intelligence, and hate. She makes this show better for its unsure plot at times.

As a huge fan of Marvel I'm a little biased because I pretty much like everything they put out. My bias aside, Luke Cage is terrific. If you don't believe me just read through the reviews here and look at the ratings. Even the critics loved this show. It's about a fugitive who gets super strength after an experiment goes wrong. He moves back home to Harlem to try to rebuild his life and make his home a safe place from all the terrible people try to take over. Now that it's on Disney plus maybe they can bring him back. They've already started to bring back others and recently renewed Daredevil so there's still hope. Even if they don't bring him back for his own show again, at least bring him back into the MCU through another show like the Daredevil revival. If you're a Marvel fan then this is a must watch.

Luke Cage starts off great with a strong classic noire vibe in a modern coat of paint. A strong cast creates a powerful atmosphere and tone that draws you in. Mike Colter clearly looks the part of an indestructible giant and plays Luke Cage in a somber and traditional "tormented, silent protagonist" kind of way, but it is the surrounding cast that truly brings out this jewel: Simone Missick as the honest officer from the street, Mahershala Ali as the tormented gang leader, Frank Whaley as the smart mouth sidekick cop, Alfre Woodard as the congresswoman stuck in both the future and the past, Frankie Faison as the mentor and spot of light in the dark.

Sadly as the story progresses through the season and especially about half way through with some major shake up of the status quo, much of the great character nuances and complex relationships that had started to develop were taken in a very different direction and new characters were given more screen time. This I think was a mistake; not only because in its current iteration replaced focus of interesting characters and arcs with something very straight forward and boring, but also because it happened so soon in the series.

Such a significant shake up would have been much more suitable for a season finally and with a second season dealing with the fallout and changing landscape for our cast to traverse, not as a throw in at the half way mark.

All in all the first half of the series was a clear 8 for me and the second half about a 6 so on average it comes out a 7, Good, but not a must watch.