Luke Cage - General Discussion

[The Crazed Spruce]

With tension building in the streets of Harlem thanks to ruthless club owner Cottonmouth, Luke finds it increasingly difficult to lead a quiet life.

[Primetimer]

Does it feel just like you're walking on broken glass? There's a reason for that.

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[AimingforYoko]

Nice world-building, everything looks and feels authentic. Interesting relationship between Cottonmouth and Mariah. Their both crooks, but only one thinks of themselves as one. 

On a shallow note, Simone Missick. Damn.

[AimingforYoko]

Gonna miss Frankie Faison, and Pop's. They really nailed the black barbershop.

[AimingforYoko]

Damn, business really picked up. Of course we got our obligatory Netflix/Marvel hallway fight. Or in this case, hallway beatdown. The Wu-Tang definitely added to the scene.

[dkb]

"I'm going back to Hell's Kitchen, where its safe." LOL.

Mr.Barrett looks familiar, I guess he's from Daredevil.

[PatternRec]

On 9/29/2016 at 9:20 AM, EricJ said:

A question for current New Yorkers - does "Harlem" actually still exist? That is, is it really still an organic, predominantly African-American community, or is it like Little Italy, a few soul-food restaurants and gospel brunches primarily for tourists surrounded by more recent immigrant populations and waves of gentrification?

I moved out of NYC over 20 years ago, but I was curious and did a google search for Harlem 2016. An article about gentrification was the third hit. It looks like it is starting. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-black-harlem.html

[dkb]

Wow, was not expecting that from Scarfe although I should have. That scene with Chico was scary. Poor Chico, went to the wrong detective ?

[dkb]

This episode is my favorite so far. Nice to get Luke's back story and his relationship with Reva. All the good people in Luke's life end up dying: Pops, Squabbles,

Spoiler

Reva

Not cool!

Edited September 30, 2016 by dkb

[Capricasix]

3 hours ago, dkb said:

"I'm going back to Hell's Kitchen, where its safe." LOL.

Mr.Barrett looks familiar, I guess he's from Daredevil.

Yup; he may have also had a cameo in Jessica Jones, and the actor played a deputy sheriff in stranger Things.

[AimingforYoko]

I knew from the trailers he would get the headband and the gauntlets from the bath, but after his escape, when he got the yellow shirt and the chain belt, I literally let out a whoop of joy.

I hope we do get the full Reva backstory, 'cause it looks like she was into some shady shit. I still really want to know

Spoiler

how Kilgrave found out about her.

[Bama]

Isn't Turk the gun dealer from "Daredevil"?  

Going to miss the Pop character - I love Frankie Faison.  I hope we see the magazine stand man from episode 1 again - I loved him as Butchie from "The Wire".

Loving this show so far, even if the lead is a bit wooden.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Now where the HELL was this Luke Cage when he was on Jessica Jones??? Sheer magnetism and charm! Loved every bit of it. Well, except for when he and Misty met. For some reason, though the chemistry is there, the conversation/dialogue between them was so...stilted.

I love Cornell Stokes a.k.a. Cottonmouth.

But really, I got the heebie jeebies when Shades appeared and it was Diamondback this, and Cottonmouth that, that it brought to mind poisonous snakes. And Snakes give me the heebie jeebies.

TURK!!! Does this guy have nine lives or what?

Awesome to see Alfre Woodward! Playing a baddie, too! I've only watched the first three, but I love this show better than Jessica Jones. Daredevil is numero uno, this is second.

I really can't wait for our heroes to team up. Will Iron Fist show up?

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 hours ago, dkb said:

"I'm going back to Hell's Kitchen, where its safe." LOL.

Mr.Barrett looks familiar, I guess he's from Daredevil.

That was hilarious! So I hope this means we'll see Turk in Daredevil in season three, yes?

Oh no! Not Pop!!!!!!

Actress who plays Misty was much better. She feels and sounds more natural now.

I knew Tome was TOAST the second I saw his face with the machine guns and smiling with glee as he shot up the place. And Cornell"My name is NOT Cottonmouth!" Stokes didn't disappoint. Though I wish he had beat the shit out of him first.

I just wish the lighting on the show wasn't so dark.

[SnoGirl]

7 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Damn, business really picked up. Of course we got our obligatory Netflix/Marvel hallway fight. Or in this case, hallway beatdown. The Wu-Tang definitely added to the scene.

Did Jessica Jones have a hallway fight? Or just Daredevil?

I really want to see Matt and Luke in a fight together. I just see Matt jumping around fighting guys while Luke just walks through them.

[Bama]

Turk Barrett in "Daredevil" -

Quote

Turk first appears in the first season of Daredevil, where he is an enforcer engaged in human trafficking, and is also an arms dealer who has a love of semi-automatic pistols and takes personal pleasure in criminal activities. In the episode "World on Fire," Wilson Fisk pays Turk Barrett to reveal to Vladimir Ranskahov that his brother Anatoly was killed by Fisk. In the season 1 finale, Turk is among those who are arrested by the FBI for his association with Fisk's empire. Prior to the start of season 2 of Daredevil, Turk is paroled from prison and quickly returns to arms dealing. He is briefly seen selling shotguns to a gang. However, Daredevil intercepts the deal and interrogates him on weapons stolen from Fisk, suspecting them to have been used in the recent massacre of a faction of Kitchen Irish mobsters. Turk provides information that leads him to the Mexican Cartel and is knocked unconscious. In the episode "A Cold Day In Hell's Kitchen", Turk Barrett is among the victims saved by Daredevil that are abducted by the Hand to lure Daredevil into a trap after stealing the files about it from the New York City Police Department's 15th Precinct. It turned out that Turk was on house arrest at the time where he is quietly advised by Karen Page to reactivate his ankle monitor. At the warehouse, the police arrive as the Hand Ninjas suspect Turk for his ankle monitor being reactivated. Before the Hand Ninjas can cut off Turk's foot, Daredevil arrives and fights the Hand Ninjas as Karen helps to get an injured Turk and the other hostages away from the Hand and towards the present police officers.

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 hours ago, dkb said:

Wow, was not expecting that from Scarfe although I should have. That scene with Chico was scary. Poor Chico, went to the wrong detective ?

And I was hoping he'd be a good cop! Though I was getting some bad guy  vibe from him in the last episode.  And he and Misty are so good together. DAMMIT.

HOLEEEE SHIT! I was hoping that Cornell would see Luke walk out of that fire without a scratch on him!

[AKA...CJ86]

Addicted to the show as soon as it started...and agreed...where was this Luke on Jessica Jones...

The music...though...addicted...I need it...

[starri]

On 9/29/2016 at 0:20 PM, EricJ said:

A question for current New Yorkers - does "Harlem" actually still exist? That is, is it really still an organic, predominantly African-American community, or is it like Little Italy, a few soul-food restaurants and gospel brunches primarily for tourists surrounded by more recent immigrant populations and waves of gentrification?

Depends on the part.  I (half of a white male/male couple, the stalking horse of gentrification) used to live in Harlem.  I was trying to spot the locations, and a lot of it seemed to be filmed around 125th St, where the Apollo Theater is.  That area is pretty touristy, but there are still vendors selling bootleg DVDs (just no footage of the Chitauri attack) and the like, so it's not completely sanitized.  The further north you go, the less gentrified it is, although that's starting to change.  There are a lot of really beautiful old brownstones in the 140s.  I'm pretty sure the storefront of Pop's is in my old neighborhood.

[dkb]

Nice speech by Luke at the funeral.

Wondering what Scarfe is up to now; he didn't send the text for the weapons. Also Claire! I love her.

[ribboninthesky1]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Now where the HELL was this Luke Cage when he was on Jessica Jones??? Sheer magnetism and charm! Loved every bit of it. Well, except for when he and Misty met. For some reason, though the chemistry is there, the conversation/dialogue between them was so...stilted.

I thought the dialogue completely negated their chemistry.  It was painfully awkward.  

I'm debating with myself about watching any more episodes.  

[AimingforYoko]

39 minutes ago, dkb said:

Wondering what Scarfe is up to now; he didn't send the text for the weapons.

I believe he's about to double-cross Cottonmouth. He sees which way the wind is blowing.

[dkb]

Claire is the best always! Interesting that Cottonmouth is arrested already.

If I was the media at Mariah's house I would be scared of retaliation. She's scary. Aww, Luke actually thinks this is over.

I know Scarfe was a dirtbag but I felt bad when he died. Man, sucks for Misty, who didn't/wouldn't believe he was dirty. The Lieutenant was dumbass, lol at getting played by Misty. Also TRISH.

Edited October 1, 2016 by dkb
formatting

[Miles]

Well that was a snooze fest for me. The writing feels stilted and the characters unreal by extension. And characters have always been the strong suite of these Marvel shows on Netflix. I just can't find anything interesting here.

I'll give it a few more episodes, but boy is this rough.

[Enigma X]

I really liked it and am in. 

[zxy556575]

28 minutes ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

I'm debating with myself about watching any more episodes.  

I wasn't immediately entranced the way I was for Jessica Jones and Daredevil, but didn't dislike it, either. This episode set up the characters and background okay, but was kind of plodding. I didn't think Luke was fleshed out very well on JJ and don't really have a sense yet of who is he as a person. Maybe I need to adjust my expectations.

[dkb]

"Do I even need to say it," hehe. I like funny Luke.

I know Mariah was someone to be scared of. Holy shit! I need to stop feeling bad for the wrong people. The backstory for Cottonmouth was sad. Shades is totally there to get rid of the Stoke's and get Harlem for Diamonback I'm assuming.
Also a Daredevil shout-out.
 

Edited October 1, 2016 by dkb

[Oscirus]

I finally got around to watching this and I must say that this version of Luke Cage is much better then that silly Harlequinn romance version of him from Jessica Jones.

Cottonmouth is my dude.  

Misty's alright. 

I love that this show makes such great use of it's location.

  It's mighty convenient that the paranoid greedy thug managed to stop at only killing one guy.  He must've read the script beforehand.

[Oscirus]

Good enough episode and Pop's death was a very emotional scene but it feels as if Tome should've known better. Oh well, at least he got his just desserts.

[Oscirus]

There was more chemistry between Luke and Reva in one episode then there was between him and Jessica Jones in that who series.

Quote

 

All the good people in Luke's life end up dying: Pops, Squabbles,

 

 

 

 

Since we've never seen either his dead body or his being killed, I'd say it's a safe bet that he's probably still alive. As a matter of fact I bet that either him or that cop wind up being Diamondback.

[dkb]

Claire is badass! Go Claire.

So Luke's powers are all because of his half-brother? who hates him and was trying to kill him. Irony  Misty IS being stupid right now about Luke. Don't fall for Mariah and Shades bs.

Edited October 1, 2016 by dkb

[dramachick]

Ok, I'm in for the duration! 

Mike Colter is doing a great job.  I like him in this more than I did in Jessica Jones because the character is fleshed out much better for a non-comic reader like me, who is new to this superhero universe.

The entire cast is stellar, and I love the music!

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, I was kind of indifferent to Mike Colter when he was Luke on Jessica Jones, but he seemed to fare a better here.  Time will tell if I will end up liking Luke as much as I like Jessica or Matt Murdock, but even if he isn't the best actor on this show, he is solid enough.  And, if nothing else, he certainly can sell being a badass.  Not a lot of violence in this one, but when he finally beat the shit out of those gangsters, it was great to watch.  Loved how one of them just ran once he saw out outmanned he was (reminded me of that one henchmen in Iron Man 3.)

That said, my favorite is already Cottonmouth, due to Mahershala Ali.  He is awesome in everything he is in, and he was equally awesome here as well.  I liked how smooth and in charge he was, but when he finally got his hands on one of the thieves, it got brutal real quick.  Looks like Marvel Netflix show might have once again did what the Marvel films failed to do.

Hope we get more of Luke's barbershop gang.  Loved Frankie Faison as "Pop" and Ron Cephas Jones as the other guy.

Not sure what to make of Misty or how she plans on hiding her relationship with Luke from the detective played by Frank Whaley.  I guess she is hoping Luke will play along.

Alfre Woodard!!

Really like the music in this one.

[thuganomics85]

Aww, shit!  Pop is already gone.  Should have known they were going to do something big in order to have Luke be unleashed.  I will miss Frankie Faison though.  He really made the most of his screen time.  Not surprised Tone paid for it thought.  No way was Cottonmouth going to let that slide.  Partially because Tone went against his orders (he said only go after him if he was in the streets), but also because I do think Cottonmouth truly did respect Pop.  Definitely got the since that while Cottonmouth is a horrible guy, he is one of those guys who has a certain twisted code or honor, and what Tone did would be against it.

Turk showing up here was hilarious.  I love that the ending freaked him out so much that he actually wanted to go back to Hell's Kitchen.

Seeing more of Misty as a detective was nice, although Scarfe/Frank Whaley seems like a major dick.

I feel like that while Cottonmouth is going to be a major threat, it's going to be Alfre Woodard that really ends up surprising everyone.  She just strikes me as someone I can see suddenly dropping a bomb in the proceedings and causing chaos.  She is definitely someone who shouldn't be underestimated.

It kind of felt like both this and the first episode were a two hour pilot for the show, and I'm pretty much sold.

[Kel Varnsen]

How did the cops know that Chico was the 3rd guy in the stick up crew when they found the second guy's body?

I liked it though, even though this episode seemed like all set up. Hopefully Shades won't remind me too much of Juice from Sons of Anarchy.

 

Also curious to find out why Luke was in jail.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Kel Varnsen

[dwmarch]

19 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

The Wu-Tang definitely added to the scene.

What was driving me crazy about that scene was the censored remix of Bring Da Ruckus. This show is violent, bloody, sexy, bullets and n-words flying everywhere... but Wu-Tang can't bring the MF ruckus as background noise over a scene of ass-kicking that definitely calls for it? Stale, although I've enjoyed pretty much everything else so far.

[AimingforYoko]

Always up for a little Trish Talk. Of course she's on his side.

Scarfe wanted a golden parachute and all he got was an anvil.

[AimingforYoko]

Damn, Mariah. She's definitely a Stokes. Shades really intrigues me, he looks like he started as a common thug, I wonder how he found his calling as a "Gangster Consultant".

So if Cottonmouth is out of the picture, who put the hit on Luke? Mariah, or Diamondback?

[tennisgurl]

So happy this is finally here! I really liked Luke over on Jessica Jones, and I found him to be even more interesting here. I like the cast, I like the plot that I feel like they're setting up, its a promising start in general. 

The music and the cinematography gives the show a kind of 70s vibe, while still clearly being set in the modern day. Its a nice call back to the 70s origin of Luke Cage, but with a more modern spin. I like it. 

[tennisgurl]

I swear, Turk is the cockroach of the MCU. He always manages to scurry away from trouble. Tell the magic ninjas in Hells Kitchen I said hi! 

Man, I knew Pops was doomed, but I had hoped he would stick around a little bit longer.  Frankie Faison was great, and he made the most of the part in the two episodes he had. But I get why they had to kill him, they had to spur Luke on, and I guess its for the best. Lets get to superheroing! 

I like Misty a lot. The actress really loosened up this episode, and I liked the focus on her as a detective. 

I knew Tome was gonna be real dead real soon as soon as he started shooting into the barbershop like a lunatic. Even Juice from SoA was like "holy crap dude"! Tome was lucky he just got thrown off a building, and didnt end up with his face all over Harlem. 

[blueray]

Well.. that was kind of boring. I struggled to pay attention for most of the episode. While I like Luke as a character (at least from the little bit of Jessica Jones I did see), I didn't connect or care about anyone else. Sure it was just the first episode so that may improve. The characters weren't portrayed as real at all either.

As for "cottonmouth", I can't help but just see Richard from the 4400. It doesn't help that I'm currently rewatching that with my husband who hasn't seen it.  The scene where he was tearing the guy apart was to much like what Kingpin did in Daredevil.

I'll give a few more episodes a try to see if it picks up, but it definitely didn't grab me like Daredevil did.

[Kel Varnsen]

One thing that really surprised me was the councilor associating so openly with gangsters. Why is no one in the press investigating that especially with the kind of stories Ben and Karen were breaking over on Daredevil. 

[tennisgurl]

Holy shit! That was a whole lot of stuff that went down in just one episode, ending with a giant freaking explosion! And I thought the shoot up at Pops was overkill! 

No, Scarfe! I liked you! I liked your partnership with Misty! I am very disappointed in you good sir! Scarfe now has two possible routes. He can either become an even worse monster who will eventually be shot dramatically by Misty, or he will have a change of heart, or show loyalty to Misty, and die after finding redemption.  It better be some good redemption though, because that killing scene was brutal. Poor Chico. 

We have our first big fight scene! I love how Luke's fight style is basically just shoving people around and hitting them with stuff. When you have super powers, I guess its good to work with what you've got!  

[calliope1975]

The music is so great. I had to look up the guy who opened the show (Jidenna) because I am not hip with the current music. 

Loved seeing "Kima" as the police captain. Also nice to see that Justin Hammer is continuing to provide terrible weapons in the MCU. 

[dkb]

"What's up Doc? Always wanted to say that."

Yikes,  Diamondback is crazy. I was right Shades is all about Diamondack but didn't tell him who actually killed Cottonmouth. That look that he gave Diamondback after telling him about the viral video seems like he's starting to get his own ideas on how to deal with stuff.  I guess Reva was up to something shady as well from the sounds of it.

[tennisgurl]

Backstory time! I just love how easy it is to get super powers in the MCU. Its amazing that there are not even more super people running around the place. Not complaining, I really do love it. Its a part of the genre, and I enjoy the full range of super people that are popping up around the MCU these days. Its like that scene in Jessica Jones where he and Jessica casually chit chat about how they got their powers "I got mine in a freak accident! You? Lab experiment! Ah, cool!" Just wait until they meet the guys being powered by demons! 

It was cool to get more of Reva beyond being a Tragic Dead Wife, especially because it seems like she is into some shady stuff. 

So will everyone know that Luke is a superhero now? I mean, people had to notice that he punched his way out of a fallen building, and walked off without a scratch. And now that everyone knows that super powers are a thing, its not like people wouldn't buy it. 

[dkb]

Sucks for Luke that Reva was shady and a liar. But makes sense she would know about the experiments. Burstein is going to do something stupid or be killed for the information. Claire is the best again. Poor Luke, its not his fault he didn't know about his brother. Can't wait for Luke to take down Mariah and Diamondback. The episodes are getting better and better!

Edited October 1, 2016 by dkb

[AimingforYoko]

It was a little disturbing to see Misty get physical with Claire. She's never been that kind of cop, I chalk it up to the head trauma.

Well, Willis (Diamondback) was worth the hype. I was a little surprised to see him doing his own wet work, 'til we got the backstory.

[FoxyBrown]

That Chico/Scarfe scene really threw me. Of course something was gonna happen to Chico once he started talking,  but I didn't expect that!

Woohoo! That final scene! Was he trying to make a statement or what? I'm really enjoying this show.

[dkb]

"What you talking about Willis," "Bye Felicia."

This episode was super intense and super funny. Misty and Claire being badasses was awesome. Love that Claire stepped on Shades shades. Lol