Monday, October 3, 2016

Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 2

I haven’t watched Luke Cage all the way to the end, but I have noticed a pattern of how the episode go. They show a scene from the end of the episode at the beginning. Not the first show I’ve seen do this, but worth noting I think.

The episode opens to Luke with a gun to the back of his head. The young punk holding the firearm calls Luke the N word, which sets him off a little. “Young man, I’ve had a long day. I’m tired. But I’m not tired enough to never let nobody call me that word.” Really like that opening few lines and the longer speech that follows. Despite the grammatical errors. We then jump back and over, to Misty Knight figuring out the shooting. She mentally replays what she thinks happened, which is pretty darn accurate.

Tony Stark and Hank Pym really need to
figure out those unstable molecule costumes.
For Luke's clothing budget's sake.
We then jump over to Luke at the barbershop. He learns from Pops how Cottonmouth and Mariah operate. While operating in two distinctly different circles, both use intimidation tactics to get what they want. Their discussion is interrupted by none other than Cottonmouth and Shades. The snake themed criminal wants a shave. While Pops shaves Cottonmouth, Cottonmouth seems to covertly asks Pops if he knows where Chico is. Pops plays dumb, but Cottonmouth doesn’t push the issue. Which is smart, when a guy has a razor to your throat. After the shave, when it looks like Cottonmouth is going to leave without paying, Luke none too subtly asks if he should lay the smack down on them. The situation is tense, but end without anybody getting their butts kicked. Once the baddys go, Pops begs Luke to find Chico. Luke wants to keep out of it, but Pops calls in the favor that Luke owed him. Payment for Pops not asking too many questions when Riva and Luke came to Harlem. While frustrated at being forced to get involved, he starts looking.

Meanwhile, Cottonmouth drops off Shameek’s half of their cash off with Mariah. She’s rather upset with the fact that it’s only half of what was missing. She embezzled funds to pay for renovations to Harlem Paradise, and needs to redeposit the entire amount to avoid suspicion. Another tense moment, but the cousins separate before they kill each other. Back with Luke, he finds Chico hold up in a crappy apartment. He offers to help the scared kid, after pointing out that the guy doing this pro bono found him in 4 hours and that Cottonmouth is going to be paying his search teams handsomely, but Chico refuses. Because he’s stupid. Luke goes back to Pops. He’s disappointed to hear about Chico’s choice. Pops fills Luke in on some of his past. Back in the day, Pops was a thug. He got the nickname Pops back then, as it was the sound his fists made when he hit folks. He ran with a young Cottonmouth, and Chico’s dad. He was eventually locked up for ten years, and after he got out tried to make a difference in people’s lives. He also tries to look after Chico, as his Dad got in bad with drugs. After story time, Chico shows up, having changed his mind about running. They just barely hide him from Misty and her partner Scarfe, who arrive looking for info.

Evil rarely looks so suave.
Pops, knowing that the cops will be watching him for a while, asks Luke to go to Cottonmouth and ask for a parley. His barbershop is in general considered neutral ground in Harlem, and hopes that he can get Cottonmouth to see reason. Luke goes, and offers Cottonmouth the deal. Cottonmouth is very hostile, but agrees. Despite all of the apparent bad blood between them, Cottonmouth clearly still has a great deal of respect for Pops. He also fires Luke, but Luke counters by saying he quit before walking in. Meanwhile, one of Pops regulars sells Chico out to Cottonmouth’s goons. Shades and Cottonmouth’s #2, Tone, go to kill Chico. Shades insist that they wait for Chico to walk outside, but Tone is impatient. He fires a couple of hundred rounds into the place. Luke shields the one patron, Pops is hit in the neck and Chico is hit a few times. Luke plays dead while Shades and Tone grab the money and run. Luke tries to save Pops, but he’s drowning in his own blood. His last words are spent reminding Luke to move “forward, always forward.”

Shades and Tone drop the money off with Cottonmouth. Tone, expecting to be rewarded, happily tells his boss how he mowed down the barbershop and killed those guys that disrespected Cottonmouth. He also uses the actual name in front of his boss, which is a no-no. He’s Mr. Stokes when you’re in his presence. Enraged that Tone not only killed his former friend and used the nickname that he despises, Cottonmouth tosses Tone from the roof. We return to the opening scene, where Luke takes his anger out on the punk’s gun. He swears to step up like Pops did, and sees Mariah walking with Chico’s bag. He swears “Always forward, Pop,” before the credits roll.

Like his former girlfriend Jessica Jones, Luke is very much against the idea of being a hero. Throughout the episode he’s fighting tooth and nail to stay out of the problems that are popping up with Harlem and Cottonmouth. But, also like Jessica, he keeps getting pulled in. It is particularly satisfying to see him start helping people and do it incredibly well. Again, tracked down a guy in Harlem in four hours, that’s impressive.


I knew that Pops had a target on his back from the get go. He’s the father figure, they almost never last to the end of the story. That being said, I was expecting to see a little more of him before he got the ax. Just saying. But, seeing Cottonmouth’s extreme reaction to Pops murder does characterize this particular baddy incredibly well. He’s a criminal, no two ways about it, but history, loyalty means a whole hell of a lot to him. Even years later. If I had to choose the thing that Netflix has done better than anyone else, its characterizing its villains. At least Kingpin, and now, Cottonmouth. A hero is only as good as their villain, and those two are given plenty of time to develop. Which is great. A great continuation to a great series. Next time, part 3.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322314/mediaviewer/rm4227270656
https://twitter.com/themcuexchange/status/775738048126578688

No comments:

Post a Comment