As March gets closer, Netflix has dropped a new trailer for the last Defender (unless rumors about the Punisher turn out to be true). This one gives us a better look at Iron Fist Danny Rand, and his return to New York. It looks fantastic. I admit I’m biased, as Iron Fist is my favorite…
Luke Cage reaches the penultimate episode with “Soliloquy of Chaos,” which is one of their more poetic titles. Things start building up towards a major showdown for the finale, and they move the pieces around really well. They are setting up for what should be a really impressive last episode. They continue their trend of…
Luke Cage episode 11, “Now You’re Mine,” picks up right where episode ten, “Take It Personal,” left off. The gunfight is raging at Harlem’s Paradise, and people are wisely running for their lives. Cage is crouched behind the bar, shielding Misty as best he can with his bulletproof body. Cage signs for Claire to stay where she is, out of harm’s (at least immediate) way, and Shades is out on the street looking surprised. I keep thinking of Shades as Wile E Coyote and his succession of bosses (Stokes, now Diamondback) as the ACME products: Shades has things under control until something blows up in his face. I almost feel bad for him.
Luke Cage 10, “Take It Personal.” is a bit shorter on action than some of the other episodes, but makes up for it with surprise reveals and plotting. You can see things building up for what will likely be the big final conflicts. For someone who showed up so late in the story, Stryker is becoming a very central player to the various plots.
Luke Cage’s ninth episode is the somewhat confusingly titled DWYCK. They never explain this during the actual show, so I had to go hunting around a bit before I found out that means, “Do What You Can, Kid.” I don’t know where that’s from, but I’d never heard it/seen it before this. EDIT: Apparently the initials are from a song that had a somewhat shady meaning, and, as Cage tends to do, he gave it a better meaning.
Luke Cage’s eighth episode is “Blowin’ Up The Spot,” and opens where the last one stopped, with Luke and Claire both very surprised that he got shot. He gets taken away in an ambulance, which Claire says is being driven by a friend of hers who is “discreet.” It doesn’t matter how discreet he is, as the shooter follows them and uses some kind of explosive to knock the ambulance over. The shooter stalks them, and apparently knows Cage from his early life, as he calls him, “Carl.”
“Manifest” is the seventh Luke Cage episode. It starts off with an amusing scene of Zip trying to do a gun deal. Cage walks up, and everyone runs off to his, “Do I even have to say it?” Zip makes an ominous comment and then runs off after his clients while Luke makes short work of the guns.
“Suckas Need Bodyguards,” the sixth episode of Luke Cage, opens with a nice bit of a crossover. There are a lot of divided opinions over Luke’s recent actions, and they are being discussed on “Trish Talks.” That’s the radio talk show hosted by Trish Walker, best friend of Jessica Jones and a big part of her series, as was Luke in Season One. With this much public comment about Luke, I do wonder how long it will be until SHIELD comes knocking about Registration for the Sokovia Accords. A lot of the scenery under this is Luke jogging through the streets. Even supers need to work on their cardio, I guess.
I’ve enjoyed all the Netflix series so far. I can’t point even a bad episode of any of them. But I have to say that “Just To Get A Rep” might be the best of all of them so far. It was an impressive piece of writing and acting. There was some action, but what was much more striking was the clash of ideas that took up the end of the episode.
The fourth episode of Luke Cage, “Step Into The Arena,” jumps back and forth between the present and the major portions of his origin. The present isn’t looking so good, since last episode ended with Cottonmouth launching a rocket attack on Genghis Connie’s with Connie and Luke inside. I’m guessing Cottonmouth doesn’t believe in the concept of overkill. They do make the title work on two different levels, which is a nice job.
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