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.
