Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 7

Ready for a villain flashback? It doesn’t matter if you are, that’s what we’re getting. Don’t worry, these are still pretty good. But, these had better be the last flashbacks for a while. Flashbacks are like explosions, used well, they’re awesome, overused and this turns into a Michael Bay film. And nobody wants that that. Well, nobody that matters. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Fit him with some adamantium fangs, and we've got
ourselves a supervillain.

If Luke Cage thought that things would calm down the second that he had Cottonmouth arrested, he was very sadly mistaken. The next day he had to scare off Cottonmouth’s #2 Zip while trying to sell the Hammer Tech guns. Zip is under the impression that while his boss is down, he’s far from out. And sadly, he’s pretty much spot on.

At the police station, Cottonmouth is represented by the same lawyer that works for Wilson Fisk. I wonder if this guy specifically sells his services to rich criminals? Probably, but we’ll wait to say it definitely until Iron Fist’s show. If this lawyer reps Danny’s baddy, then yes, yes he does. Using his evil lawyer powers, he gets Cottonmouth released. Claiming that the evidence was too circumstantial or some such nonsense. This, unfortunately, works, and Luke is forced to fume as Cottonmouth struts out of the precinct. At Harlem’s Paradise, Cottonmouth acts like he’s walking on air. Imagine how angry he gets when Shades still refuses to get him the Judas bullets. He claims that there’s too much heat on Cottonmouth right now, and he’ll recommend Diamondback get him the Judas bullets after things have calmed down. In response, Cottonmouth demands a meeting with Diamondback, to which Shades agrees to set up. A day or so later, Cottonmouth calls Luke for a parley. Luke, still fuming, does agree.

Meanwhile, Mariah is having career problems. Obviously, Cottonmouth’s recent troubles have reflected poorly on her. A Colleague arrives at her home and basically tells her to step down from her position on the city council and he’ll make sure things transition easy for her. She, obviously refuses. Just before the parley, Cottonmouth plays the piano and reminisces about his childhood. He grew up with Mariah, raised by their Grandmother “Mama” Mabel, and their paternal Great-Uncle Peter. In their youth, a teenage Cornell Stokes dreams of being a musician. This dream is fostered by his Uncle Peter, but stifled by Mama Mabel. She’s got a criminal empire to run, she doesn’t have time for musical aspirations. She forces Cornell to help Peter dispose of a goon that violated their rules. Apparently, Mama Mabel deals in a LOT of criminal enterprises, but she never ever condoned selling drugs in her territory. Even crooks have principles, I guess. Cottonmouth’s flashback ends when Luke walks in. Luke remarks that “Even though I hate your #$%, I’ve got to admit you’ve got talent,” as he heard the ending of Cottonmouth’s piano playing. Once the parley commences, Cottonmouth gives Luke an ultimatum. Luke starts working for Cottonmouth, doing when he says, when he says it, or he’ll reveal that Luke Cage = Carl Lucas. He lets Luke leave to think things over.

Luke tries to run, to protect himself from Cottonmouth’s retaliation, but Claire convinces him to stay and fight the good fight. Cottonmouth and Shades meet up. Shades is rather upset that Cottonmouth revealed he knew Luke’s secret. Apparently, Diamondback wanted to keep this a secret for a little while longer. We get another flashback to Cottonmouth’s childhood. Mama Mabel is quite upset her grandson missed an appointment to protect one of her other goons. Her anger is somewhat abated, or perhaps redirected, when Cornel reveals he and Uncle Peter were at a music audition for him, and then Spanish Harlem. Mama Mable is quite displeased to learn her Brother-in-law is dealing with their biggest rivals, but thanks Cornell for being honest.

Finding beauty in broken places.

Luke, starts targeting Cottonmouth’s allies, since he can’t attack him directly. For now. He tracks down Domingo, and shows his displeasure at their illegal dealings. The police start looking into Luke, at their new polices chief’s insistence. A forensic guy notices that Luke’s too clean, as in, other than a driver’s license and social security number, he doesn’t exist. No email, no social networking page. It’s just too weird to be normal. Back with Mariah, she officially loses her spot on the City Council. There’s a pretty great scene of how she reacts to it, she’s visibly shaken by losing everything.

Another flashback, with Mama Mabel and Peter. We learn that they have some pretty weird history. They used to “date” before Mabel moved on to Peter’s brother. So weird. She confronts Peter about the Puerto Ricans and Spanish Harlem. He admits he was working with them, trying to set up a deal to expand outside of Harlem. Mabel isn’t interested, claiming “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.” Mabel forces Cornell to be the one to take him outback and shoot him. It’s also revealed that Peter was abusing Mariah. So yeah, Mama Mabel’s house was a pretty messed up place.

Mariah meets with Cottonmouth at Harlem’s Paradise. She begs him to drop the Luke Cage vendetta once and for all. This causes things to boil over. Cottonmouth explodes, releasing I’m assuming decades of repressed anger at Mariah, who got to liver her dream while he was forced to be Mama Mabel’s successor. He does the absolute worse thing imaginable and claims that Mariah “wanted” Uncle Peter’s abuse. She snaps, defenestrates Cottonmouth, and then beats him with a mike stand. All the while screaming “I never wanted it!”

Is your Grandma so intimidating that she can make you
                 kill a man?

Shades walks in, and praises Mariah for killing her cousin. Apparently, he’d been planning for this, and is now going to sets it up to look like Luke Cage was the murderer. Given what we later learn about Mariah’s relationship with her cousin, this isn’t the best thing to hear.

Luke drops off the Hammer Tech guns with Misty, where they argue the ethics of vigilantism. A short time later, Misty gets called about Cottonmouth’s death.  At the same time, Luke and Claire go on an evening walk and bond. Luke reveals that his father is still alive, but doesn’t know Luke is alive. Before we can delve deeper into this, a mysterious gunman hits Luke with a Judas bullet. He starts bleeding, and the bullet explodes.

This was a very strange episode to process. While I knew that Cottonmouth would be dealt with, I assumed that it’d be at the season finale. Cottonmouth has been almost another main character throughout Luke Cage’s run, so seeing him axed off in episode 7 is pretty nuts. I assume that this is to make room for Diamondback, but again, I thought we weren’t going to see him officially until season 2. At least he starts out with a bang. Yes, Diamondback is the shooter. The background with Mariah and Cottonmouth’s past is very interesting, I am one of those guys that is always interested in seeing how villains are shaped, so seeing how the despicable duo got their start is interesting. Physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive paternal figures usually lead to pretty awful people too. It’s a very chicken/egg situation. That being said, I think that they went a little overboard with Mariah’s freak out. Granted, I have never (to my knowledge) had a long conversation with an abuse victim about said abuse. That being said, I do know that the phrase “you wanted it,” should never never never never never come out of one’s mouth during that conversation. But, since they seemed to be going with a crime of passion explanation, they let the rage go on a little too long. I could see someone flipping out and pushing someone out a window. I could see someone flipping out and beating someone to death. I can’t see someone flipping out, pushing someone out a window and then beating them to, while still being on the initial rage buzz. Just saying. So, in summation, an interesting episode, Cottonmouth’s departure was abrupt and early, but good insight into the baddies. Next time, we’re taking a quick break from Luke Cage and having a look at Dr. Strange. It’s gonna be cool!

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