Review: Luke Cage "Just To Get A Rep"

Who represents Harlem’s soul? Is it native-born Cottonmouth, who sees Harlem as a Darwinian playground that creates the best of black culture through violence? Or is it newcomer Luke Cage with his unstoppable forward momentum, a man who sees Harlem as a community that must be protected so that all may flourish? 

Cottonmouth harkens back to an old-school version of Harlem and respect that he grew up with. And while he revels in control, money and power, Cottonmouth truly believes that he is preserving the soul of Harlem. Even though he needs the money, he recoils at the thought of selling off his grandmother’s brownstone or Harlem’s Paradise. As he says late in the episode, “This place is my reputation. My blood. My legacy.” 

Cottonmouth is out to destroy Luke Cage because he threatens that legacy. It’s not so much the money, but that Cage represents foreign forces interfering with what makes Harlem special. Early on, Cottonmouth kills a man in cold blood for suggesting that Harlem could be divided between Cage and Cottonmouth. The killing is a power play, sure, but it’s deeper than that. Cottonmouth believes his presence and his legacy to be the soul of Harlem — you can’t cut a soul in half anymore than Solomon could an infant.

To recoup his losses and teach Harlem a lesson about real power, Cottonmouth squeezes the neighborhood harder than ever. Shades warns Cottonmouth that this makes him look panicked and weak, which it does, but Shades doesn’t understand that nothing could be more dangerous than letting Harlem see Cage as an alternative.

All of this leads to Cage taking up the fight against Cottonmouth. As mentioned last episode, Cage doesn’t really do much besides react to others’ moves. One exception to that rule is when Cage comes through the doors of Harlem’s Paradise to confront Cottonmouth head on. Not much comes of the moment, but it’s all worth it just to see the rage that dances across Mahershala Ali's face when he sees Cage physically invade his club, his legacy, his Harlem.

Almost every scene in this episode is related in some way to the dual threads of Harlem and legacies. Aisha is upset that Cottonmouth’s henchman broke into her store, but she’s more upset that they took away her father’s pin that represented a better time. Later Aisha’s father has a long talk with Luke Cage about what Harlem used to be and how Luke’s name is popping up as a symbol of a new kind of Harlem. Cottonmouth wants the Judas bullet to kill Cage but is unwilling to let Diamondback have any part of Harlem.

All of this leads up to the climactic funeral for Pop who himself is a mixed legacy of Harlem. Cottonmouth remembers Henry Hunter as “Pop”, who got his name from his fists. He remembers how violence is intrinsic to Harlem and how violence is what solved Pop’s murder.  Finally, he tells the crowd “I promise you, I stay true to what we have right here. Because that’s what Pop would’ve wanted.”

Cage, on the other side, stands for the little people of Harlem, the ones getting squeezed by Cottonmouth and, before him, Pop himself. He talks about how Pop changed, how he didn’t even like cursing. Once again, instead of Cottonmouth’s braggadocio and fast money, he says that Pop believed, “These kids need to see a man go to work every day and to be in the presence of men in uniform - putting in work.” 

This was my favorite episode of Luke Cage by far. That being said, there were a few missteps, the main one being that we don’t really know Harlem very well with Pop gone. Instead of actually exploring the neighborhood in past episodes, we’ve mostly been treated to lots of broad conversations between Cottonmouth and Mariah or Luke and Pop about Harlem. This is largely what I was complaining about in past reviews. It’s not that the episodes were slow, but they were repetitive and didn’t actually let us explore and understand the world. 

Therefore, “Just To Get A Rep” has the tough task of introducing a bunch of new characters and making us instantly care about them enough for Cage to step up and protect them. I would argue that the episode mostly fails this test. I found Aisha irritating in the extreme and utterly incompetent. Why wouldn’t she call the police? And, to use a (pretty bad) analogy, if my brother were to punch me in this face and tell me to take it up with my mother, I wouldn’t be angry at my mother, I’d be angry at him. Why is Aisha so angry at Cage? All he did was try to stop the guy who extorted her every day. 

And it’s not just Aisha’s actions, it’s how the show introduces her. One of the most important rules in storytelling is “show don’t tell”. Here, Aisha just disgorges a bunch of backstory about her father every other line, trying to make us care, without showing us why we should. At one point in the episode, some random woman walks up and gives an entire six line speech about Aisha and how tough this is for her. Don’t tell us, Luke Cage, show us. The lack of world-building really weakens this episode and the overall message.

That major weakness aside, this was a good hour of television. The eulogies in particular were the best writing the show has done. I also want to mention how good Simone Missick was throughout the episode. Her reactions shots were perfect and her character was well used in the final confrontation with Luke. Because as much as I’ve discussed the competing powers of Cottonmouth and Cage, Misty Knight provides a third way. Not violence, which is what Cottonmouth and Luke, for all his pretty notions about who should be receiving it, are offering, but law and order. 

A strong, focused hour with good lines, good music, and good themes. This is the Luke Cage I want to see. And while this felt like the penultimate episode of the season in many ways, I hope that the series can continue this kind of storytelling. 

Grade: A- 

MEMORABLE MOMENTS 

• That’s real life Dapper Dan who provides a suit for Luke! There was literally no reason for why Luke would wear a suit all episode, much less to several gun fights, but who cares: Colter looked good. Also, all those bullet-holes were neatly covered up by his sport-coat, so that was kind of sweet of the henchman.

• Speaking of sweet, maybe my favorite moment of this episode was when Shades and Cottonmouth watched the Judas bullet explode. The childlike glee on both of their faces was, frankly, adorable. 

• Love how Shades is slowly becoming the only sane character in this show. His patient explanation for why Cottonmouth is being an idiot and his quiet sigh right before Cottonmouth shoots an underling are both fantastic. 

• Worth noting that Aisha’s father undercuts Cottonmouth’s notions of brutal violence and control as being standard back in the day. Claims things are actually worse now. Also, if that man stops drinking after one throwaway line from Luke Cage, I am going to chuck something at the screen. Really, that’s your big moment of revelation?

• Forgot to mention that Rosario Dawson also showed up in this episode. She had a well-written conversation that was from another show entirely. I like her. She’s pretty. 

• Luke finally explains why he doesn’t like the police! It’s a very standard vigilante answer (the law takes too long, criminals get away etc.) and I’m surprised they didn’t tie in his prison sentence to this explanation, but at least it’s something. 

• Great final shot of the barber shop. Detective Misty Knight standing outside may have great ideas about law and order, but it’s Cage who is getting the lights turned back on.

Photo Credit: Netflix/Marvel

Review: Luke Cage "Step In The Arena"

“Step In The Arena” is an origin story. In the flashbacks that make up this episode, Carl Lucas is locked up for a crime that he didn’t commit. He is assaulted by those in authority, forced to fight other prisoners in a ring, and experimented on against his will. But one thing that Cage doesn’t really do, even after he takes a new name, is change. 

It’s a shame we didn’t see Lucas as a cop, because Lucas enters the prison effectively broken. He asserts that he is innocent but doesn’t seem interested in proving it or fighting his charges. When fellow inmate Squabbles presses him, Lucas says he pretty much deserved prison anyways. He is a man resigned to his fate, alone in the world. When the warden instructs his lackeys to test his mettle, Lucas fights them off, yelling, “I’m just trying to survive”. Lucas doesn’t chase after them. He doesn’t even get particularly angry. He endures. 

All of this to say something the series has been saying since the beginning: Luke Cage is not a hero, he is a survivor. 

In my review of the pilot, I wrote the following: “We know that Cage is going to embrace his powers at some point so the tension isn’t there.” This episode made me reevaluate the earlier entries. Perhaps Luke Cage wants to examine a man who truly doesn’t want to be a hero, who just wants to be left alone. He was provoked into attacking Cottonmouth after Cottonmouth shot Pops, but that’s just the thing: he was provoked. The same goes for Lucas in this episode. He fights and fights and fights, uncaring about the morality of it, until Warden Rackham provokes him by threatening Reva. 

This is a really interesting character choice. It’s also nearly impossible to pull off for a TV series. Reactionary characters aren’t all that endearing. We like our characters to have principles of some kind, even if those principles are wrong or misguided. We like them to be proactive, even if we disagree with their methods or goals. Characters who are dependent on the actions of those around them are deadweight. 

It’s also just plain difficult to film one man’s internal struggle over and over again, week after week, and make it watchable. And yet that’s what Luke Cage has been so far. Cage trying week after week to rouse himself to fight. It could work in a book, a comic book, or even a short film —  but for TV, you need action and variety. On many levels, Luke Cage just wants to take his ball and go home. I actually kind of love that idea, but how the hell do you film it? 

“Step In The Arena” doesn’t provide many answers, but I still found it a very interesting episode. The plot made sense on paper, but the execution was uneven. The tone varied wildly from scene to scene, to the extent that I thought perhaps the episode was edited slightly out of order. The pacing was also completely out of whack, with the plot randomly stopping for jokes or flashing to Scarfe doing something villainous. 

For example, Questlove Carl Lucas and inmate Squabbles joke about Jet Li and Bruce Lee, but this is in-between brutal fights between inmates, set up for the enjoyment of the white Warden. The prison is literally making money off his body and later they experiment on him, both situations which have disturbingly real precedents in history. These switches between blaxploitation film and gloomy self-reflection caused a lot of tonal whiplash. 

Speaking of which, social commentary was practically nonexistent this episode. The minute that the über Aryan Warden Rackham practically goose-stepped into the room, it was hard to place anything that came later in a recognizable reality. The Warden was so cartoonishly villainous that any chance of nuance and discussion was thrown right out the window. However, that isn’t exactly a bad thing. It certainly allowed a lot of scenery chewing — much needed in the absence of Mahershala Ali. It also allowed the show to focus on telling a complete, focused story. 

I actually enjoyed the Warden's ridiculousness more than the other big character introduced in this episode. Reva did not come off very well to me in “Step In The Arena”. We are introduced to her as the prison psychologist, and she immediately declares (to a room full of criminals) that Carl Lucas is an ex-cop. Later, she professes no knowledge of the underground fighting ring or experimentation by the doctors. I don’t want to slam Reva too hard, but I don’t know how we can reconcile either of these instances with the smart, insightful psychologist that the show wants her to be. I also just didn’t quite feel the chemistry between Colter and Parisa Fitz-Henley.

But as I mentioned above, I thought the general story ideas worked out alright. The show did a good job setting up the thematic parallels between the present day and the flashbacks, with Cage escaping the cages that others had made for him. Unlike the previous episodes, the themes of freedom and escape come from the actual plot of the episode and the character of Luke Cage. Instead of name-dropping a black figure or leveraging a historically black location (like Crispus Attucks) to start dialogue, “Step In The Arena” allows it to arise organically from the situation. 

The last scene with Carl Lucas changing his name to Luke Cage also did a good job wrapping up these larger issues in a relatable human package. Names have a special power on this show. Whether it is Cottonmouth demanding to be called Mr. Stokes, Mariah losing it on being called Black Mariah, or even Squabbles refusing to be called his real name, identity is something to be carved out through struggle in Luke Cage. “Step In The Arena” had Luke really earn his new identity in a way that felt truthful. 

There was a lot to get through in this episode. I haven’t even mentioned the experiment that gave Lucas his powers (which I enjoyed both symbolically and in simpler mad-scientist/comic book craziness ways) or the events outside of the flashbacks. But this episode is about Luke’s fundamental character — how he chooses to define himself. Early in the episode, Squabbles tells Lucas “strength has its limits” and “Step In The Arena” makes that clear. You need to be strong, but you also need to care enough to fight. 

Grade: B

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Original costume gags always get me. This one definitely didn’t disappoint. 

• I mentioned in an earlier episode that the kung fu blaxploitation elements appeal to me. Here we learn that Luke literally learned to fight from kung fu flicks. 

• You know, I made fun of you a lot, but I missed your sweet face Shades. Glad to see you back. And actually doing things!

• Lots of Easter Eggs referencing the larger Marvel Universe. Most notably, Reva’s thumb drive plays a pivotal role in Jessica Jones. 

Photo Credit: Netflix/Marvel

Review: The Good Place "... Someone Like Me As A Member"

I'm not going to lie, this review was pretty close to just being quotes from Adam Scott's Trevor. The writing team has a lot of fun giving him the worst possible words and language. He consistently refers to Eleanor as “trashbag” and casually swears to Bieber. He refers to his toenails as “dudes”, asks Chidi if he went to “pound town” and uses the words “horndogs”, “vibing” and “mofos” all in one sentence. Also, I laughed so hard that I had to pause the episode after Scott just nonchalantly let food fall out of his mouth at dinner. A more obnoxious person than Trevor can't be imagined, and I can't wait for him to come back to The Good Place.

The other major new arrival, Real Eleanor (Tiya Sircar), is not nearly as funny, but is nevertheless a welcome addition. Her doe-eyed empathy is played straight, providing a true counterpoint to Kristen Bell's Eleanor. She could have easily came off as sickly sweet, but Sircar gives her a warm, humble air. Also, her wish for a clown nook (and recognition of college improv as the worst hell imaginable) instantly grounds her and endears her to us at home. Real Eleanor also does a good job of making Fake Eleanor look like the fake she really is, lending real stakes to the plot.

The title of this episode refers to an old quote attributed to Groucho Marx: “I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have someone like me as a member”. And that's what the plot is really about: Fake Eleanor finally choosing to belong. This hasn't been a issue in the other episodes, but “... Someone Like Me As A Member” does a good job setting up the dilemma as a real choice.

The trouble starts after the break, when Michael tells Fake Eleanor: “I truly believe The Good Place is where you belong. You're part of our team”. This leads to some well-deployed flashbacks that aren't particularly funny, but establish that Fake Eleanor has always been “solo” to use her (and Jason Derulo's) preferred term. Fake Eleanor being a loner makes intrinsic sense, and Bell does a good job showing that Eleanor's awfulness is both a cause and a result of being alone her whole life. Real Eleanor hilariously undercuts Bell's reasoning for why she turned out that way (“Anyways, orphanage burned down – yadda yadda yadda...”), but that doesn't lessen the emotional impact that The Good Place has generated for Bell through the flashbacks.

It also creates real stakes when Trevor shifts from obnoxious douchebag to true devil's advocate, telling Fake Eleanor that she doesn't belong in The Good Place. The battle for Fake Eleanor's soul thus comes down to Fake Eleanor's choices and that is a marvelous bit of plotting and storytelling. All this allows it to feel like a real victory when Eleanor finally chooses to believe in herself, perhaps for the first time. Harper and Bell really sell the journey from reluctant co-conspirators to true friends this season, with Chidi willing to stick with her even after Real Eleanor has shown up.

In the B-plot, Michael has to learn how to deal with the other denizens of The Bad Place. This is funny, but his big cathartic speech at the end of the episode, telling them to “get the fork out of his neighborhood” rang a little hollow. We don't truly understand the relationship between The Good Place, The Bad Place, and, of course, Shawn (“Wise, eternal judge who sits on high – Shawn”). It follows that it's hard to generate any emotion for Michael here because we don't know what his stand has cost him (if it cost him anything at all). Something can't truly be a victory if there are no obstacles to overcome or consequences to follow. However, the whole plot line was hilarious and that's all I really need. The Bad Place people lip syncing along to the Nixon tapes (as opposed to the Mel Gibson rant or Mussolini speeches) had me cackling uncontrollably.

Following up with the mythology behind the show, this episode seemed to imply that the confusion between the Eleanors was a one time deal due to special circumstances. However, that doesn't account for Jason's entry into The Good Place (unless the Eleanors broke the system for everyone). With this week's cliffhanger, I'm sure this will be explored in more detail in the next episode.

“... Someone Like Me As A Member” didn't didn't leave me with too much to talk about, but that's not a criticism. This week, The Good Place satisfied the first (and most difficult) rule of being a sitcom: be funny. Hope everyone else is enjoying this show as much as I am and I'll see all you ding-dongs in January when The Good Place picks back up.

Grade: A-

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Jason has a bittersweet little moment with Janet that I neglected to mention. It doesn't really have an impact anywhere in the plot, but it does tie in with the themes of not belonging. This show is so good at making sure we understand the deeper feelings that belie the bright surface of The Good Place.
• Trevor on being gifted a unicorn: “Might be fun to – skin it alive, eat it's raw flesh. Maybe break off the horn, grind it up, snort it.”
• Loved the childlike delight that D'arcy Carden evinced when clapping along with the Bad Placers who called her an idiot. I'd watch a spinoff with just her and Jason.
• “I know what I have to do. I just have to be more accommodating. Offer them everything they want, give in to all their demands and then they'll have to respect me”
• “How do you guys eat without listening to hardcore porn?

Photo Credit: NBC

Review: The Good Place "Most Improved Player'

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. - Matthew 7:1

“Most Improved Player” wastes no time in setup. Picking up almost directly after last week, this entire episode is devoted to a single purpose: judging Eleanor Shellstrop. Bell and Danson are fantastic as Eleanor’s ultimate fate is decided.

This episode was funny, clever, and the cliffhanger left plenty of space for new stories. The twists were well-timed, the guest star casting of Adam Scott (channeling his character from Step Brothers) was spot-on, and the flashback was surprisingly good. But despite all of that, I didn’t find myself really loving “Most Improved Player”. 

As a reviewer, sometimes it is difficult to separate what you wanted from an episode and the merit of what you were shown. As I said above, this episode had intelligent plotting and there were some hilarious exchanges —  Janet repeatedly assuring Michael that she had Eleanor’s file only to hand him a cactus was a perfectly executed classic bit. But what this episode wasn’t (and I think this was a big missed opportunity) was a more serious indictment of the utilitarian morality displayed in the show. 

In the words of Eleanor herself, “I want to say… this whole good-bad system is bullshirt.” And that really is the crux of this episode: it is not easy to judge. People are endlessly complicated and they can learn, change, grow, improve. This episode pays lip service to that idea, but refuses to really engage with it in a meaningful way. 

The Good Place wants us to believe that the Good-Bad system makes some kind of sense. And on many levels, it does. Perhaps Eleanor and others should be judged by what they did during their lifetime. This is the tenant of several major religions and makes instinctive sense to us. Bad actions should receive justice, and good actions should be rewarded. The entire premise of the show hinges on this and a large chunk of this episode is dedicated to Eleanor’s flashback. While the dress stuff is funny, it’s also useful, underlining that Eleanor was a Bad Person. 

The show has also been clear in the past that there are flaws in that system. Eleanor may have been a Bad Person in her lifetime, but in this episode we see her show genuine remorse for her past actions. She also refuses to give up Chidi or Jason to Michael. She even thanks Tahani for her friendship! By and large, this is also in keeping with what we know. Justice should be tempered with mercy, trusting people with second chances can be rewarding, comprise isn't inherently bad. Eleanor's actions help muddy the waters, introducing a lot of grey area into the overly simplistic Good-Bad framework. 

Where this episode missteps, in my mind, is that it treats all of this as too much of a joke. It wants us to be seriously invested in Eleanor’s moral improvement and the overall system of Good vs. Bad, but it also wants to make jokes about the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Bachelor. The Good Place wants to have it’s cake and eat it too — have us believe that Eleanor should be judged by Michael, but also show his judgement to be pretty worthless (through silly jokes and throwaway lines). 

This balance has worked in the other episodes, but it felt off to me here because of how serious the situation was. At it’s heart, “Most Improved Player” was an Old-Testament style judgement and that just doesn’t gel with a bunch of jokes about churro dogs and cacti. 

That being said, this is a sitcom, and while I would have liked something a little different, “Most Improved Player” was very good at what it set out to do. There was a lot of good lines (see below) and Adam Scott was great as Trevor, head of The Bad Place. The cliffhanger was also fantastic (although I don’t see why they can’t just keep both Eleanors). Overall, another good episode from Michael Schur and company. 

Grade: B+

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Tahani is hilariously terrible throughout “Most Improved Player”. Calling Eleanor an “imposter who soiled our paradise with her moral turpitude,” implying that she would be generous with Eleanor, but the inferior (angelic) Michael should probably send Eleanor to hell, and name-dropping countless celebrities. 

• “You’re a giant chunk of spinach in the teeth of the universe” 

• Jason backs Eleanor up when she says that snitches get stitches: “That is true. I read that once on the back of my boy Peanut’s tricep.”

• After Jason’s interview, you can spot him using the fountain to water his new cactus. 

• “Well that’s the risk you take when you keep your clothes clean” 

• Love The Bad Place people. One has a selfie stick, another has a Bluetooth headset, all have huge obnoxious sunglasses. They’re not so much evil as extraordinary annoying and juvenile.  

Photo Credit: NBC

Review: The Good Place "The Eternal Shriek"

Wow! An escalating plot, a bunch of hilarious lines, and a brilliant final moment. All of this, and more, make this my favorite episode of The Good Place so far. 

But let’s talk about that last reveal. Faced with Chidi’s imminent confession and Michael’s headlong fall into eternal damnation, Eleanor finally stands up and admits that she doesn’t belong. A powerful character moment and a selfless act, it’s also a fantastic (and ballsy) choice for the show. 

We are only seven episodes into the season and the initial premise, evil Eleanor learns to be good while hiding her identity, still has some mileage in it. I expected for Eleanor to get caught eventually, but perhaps at the end of a season. A lesser show could easily stretch out that premise for a few years. So how wonderful to blow up what we know and move into the next phase of The Good Place. I’m very impressed with this decision. 

So Eleanor stepping up is a great choice for future episodes, but it’s also a great choice within this episode. Trouble starts when we learn that Michael isn’t so much retiring, as... well, I’ll let him explain it: 

“My soul will be disintegrated and each molecule will be placed on the surface of a different burning sun. And then my essence will be scooped out of my body with a flaming ladle and poured over (unlovely) hot diamonds. And then what’s left of my body will be endlessly beaten with a titanium rod for eternity. Like the piñata — except you have the string around my waist and it will most definitely be around my genitals.”  

Danson delivers these lines so well and the reactions from the cast, especially Harper as Chidi, are spot-on. Last week, I mentioned that Michael was a little too bland, but this week he gets to play with a few new emotions: bitter and resentful. He careens between his love for his humanity and his resigned despair that he will be torn from them and tortured for all time.

The plot has real stakes here on both a plot level and a personal level. On a plot level, who knows what will happen with Michael gone, and Eleanor knows that she can’t be a good person if she allows Michael to be murdered for her mistakes. On an emotional level, Michael has really come to mean something to both the principal cast and us as viewers. As Tahani notes, he’s been the loving family she never had - a warm embracing sun (“Like the one I kicked the dog into or the one I will burn on for all eternity?” he peevishly replies).

This leads to a great escalation as Eleanor determines that she has to kill Janet to save Michael, a fact that was neatly set up in the teaser. The entire bit with Janet begging not to be killed was hands-down the funniest moment of the series (Her repeated “LOOK AT THEM” had me rolling on the floor). D'Arcy Carden has shone as Janet throughout The Good Place, wringing laughs from little lines, and here we learn that you can't have too much of a good thing. She owns this episode from start to finish.

William Jackson Harper as Chidi also has a standout episode. The only negatives for this episode were his flashbacks, which dragged on to make a simple point and a single joke (lies are bad, those boots are ugly), but Harper sold them as best he could. I also didn't quite buy that lying would be the moral sticking point for the episode where the plot revolved around killing Janet. However, after Janet re-awoke (“Hello!”) the theme made a lot more sense.

Overall, the episode did a really great job intertwining the emotional arc with the narrative. “The Eternal Shriek” uses all the character traits that have been built up over the show: Chidi’s inflexibility, Eleanor’s growing conscience, Tahani’s need for affection, and makes real use of them.

For example, Tahani exercises her primary skillset, throwing galas, in an attempt to help Michael feel better. The Good Place also makes it clear, though, that this is also something of a selfish act. Even though Michael expressly asks her not to, she throws a party anyway in bullheaded belief that if she just does this one thing perfectly, Michael will shower her with the affection she craves. Unsurprisingly, this backfires and the gaity only makes Michael upset. Her emotional consistency, built up over the last few episodes, is therefore directly responsible for pushing Michael to comc clean about his retirement.

This is truly wonderful character work. And it is true of other castmembers as well - later, Chidi’s emotional reaction to keeping his secret leads directly to Eleanor’s decision to stand up and declare herself the problem. It’s difficult to dovetail the emotional with the plotting, but “The Eternal Shriek” really pulls it off. 

Easily my favorite of the season, “The Eternal Shriek” was great in its own right, but the final moment is what really impressed me. Burning down your initial premise takes chutzpah that most shows don't possess. We will see how it pays off going forward, but the "The Eternal Shriek" has easily earned my first ever A-grade. Keep it sleazy, folks!

Grade: A 

Memorable Moments

• Enjoyed Harper's reading on the Chinese parable and Bell’s pronunciation of the word “cigars” in the first scene. 

• Eleanor’s reasoning that killing Janet did not comprise murder reminded me quite a lot of Descartes Animal Automatism theory. 

• “Why do bad things always happen to mediocre people who are lying about their identities?” 

• “Listen, man. I’m dead, you’re dead, we all died. And now we’re killing her. Pay it forward.”

• “Pretty dry. And too salty… Well, going out on a real low note here. Goodbye, everyone.” 

• Like Eleanor’s return to Machiavellian form here. It’s a good detail that when the alarm pops up declaring that Janet has been murdered, Eleanor says, “Chidi, you just killed Janet. We have to flee your crime scene.” Note the “you” and “your”. 

• While everyone else is dressed casually, Tahani wears a fancy funeral gown complete with veil for Janet’s sendoff. Because of course she does.

Photo Credit: NBC

Review: Luke Cage "Who's Gonna Take The Weight"

OK, Luke Cage. I tried to be nice last week. I believed that you had a plan after killing Pop and wrapping up the weaker storylines. But we are on the third episode now, and it’s time you decide what you want to be. “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight” isn’t a terrible episode perse, but it is an alarmingly schizophrenic one. 

When you break down this episode, you really come away with two different ideas of what Luke Cage can be. This isn’t so much a comment on the plot, which is disappointingly banal, but more on the tone. On the one hand, we have a poor man’s The Wire. This version of Luke Cage is filled with bad procedural banter and halfhearted gestures towards themes of crime, systematic violence, and vigilante justice. There’s a lot of exposition and discussion about shady political dealings.

In the other version of Luke Cage, we have a crime boss threatening another crime boss with Milky Way wrappers (the second crime boss later climbs on a rooftop to shoot a rocket launcher through a restaurant window, presumably to re-establish his bonafides). In this version of Luke Cage, Luke makes elaborate threats through chess metaphors and listens to a clean version of the Wu-Tang Clan’s “Bring Da Ruckas” as he beats up thugs. One can almost imagine Luke chasing after RZA and Ghostface Killah with Pop’s curse jar. Also, crooked detective Scarfe strangles a man with his tie (after explicitly telling his partner that he is going to meet said man) and then takes a bite of his delicious burger.

Now, I mock because I love and I don’t really care about plot holes. But by straddling the line between serious think-piece and campy superhero show, Luke Cage does disservice to both ideas. It’s possible to imagine a show that could marry both together (Black-ish isn’t a bad reference point), but Luke Cage is not that show. Not yet, at least. 

The writing just isn’t there for Luke Cage to be social commentary. Two important ingredients for delving into serious issues are focus and specificity. Luke Cage not only doesn’t seem to be able to focus on a theme, but it seems delighted to throw up roadblocks. As a stellar example of this time wasting, the first three scenes of this episode merely repeated things that we already knew. We learn that Pop was killed, Cottonmouth and Luke are sad, and Cottonmouth and Luke are enemies. Not only is this not necessary (especially on a Netflix show, which is to say a show meant to be binge-watched), but this doesn’t really serve the theme of this episode.

The theme, and I’m reaching here, is probably vigilante justice. Scarfe and Misty discuss vigilante justice and working outside a broken system, Cage pursues Cottonmouth without help, and Chico says “the streets will settle it”. These themes wouldn’t be out of place on Daredevil or even The Wire, but without setup or follow-up it doesn’t mean much. Until Scarfe’s heel turn, the system hadn’t even been shown to be broken yet! One could argue that for a show about a black protagonist (one with bulletproof skin, natch), corrupt police are a given, but we have Misty representing the police force. Misty Knight, arguably the best acted and most competent character on the show. 

I, for one, prefer the more campy, blaxploitation side of Luke Cage that intermittently came out tonight. It’s not going to be winning many Emmys, but it’s a whole lot more fun. The Wire-lite version comes with a lot of dark detective rooms, preachy lines, and terrible banter. Give me the rocket launchers and Wu Tang Clan any day.  

Now let’s talk plot for a second. This was a pretty standard heist plot and the minute that Bobby Fish floated that the barbershop would need money to stay afloat, we knew what was going to happen. It’s a little disappointing how straightforward everything proceeded, with Cottonmouth being manipulated into doing exactly what Cage expected. It’s also disappointing that Cage’s solution to money trouble is to steal Cottonmouth’s money. This is exactly the plot that we saw in the first two episodes, and the consequences are almost exactly the same. And this is after Cage’s whole chess speech about how he’s not going to hit Cottonmouth directly. I suppose he meant physically? I’m still unsure what to make of his plan.

The tension was also missing as we knew that Cottonmouth didn’t have anything that could stop Luke Cage. Without the possibility of defeat, I’m not sure why there was so much setup and attention paid to the layout of Crispus Attucks. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a heist plot considering that brute force was used to get the money. All that said, the fight was pretty thrilling. Luke Cage methodically pushing down the hallways with a car door or a pipe he just ripped out of the wall was a whole lot of fun (a pipe that luckily carried “tastefully lit mist” instead of say, sewage). His fighting style is the perfect personification of Pop’s “Always forward.”

As a whole, this episode was alternately a little dreary and a whole lot of fun. We are only three episodes in, so there is plenty of time for Luke Cage to tinker with it’s formula and distill the perfect mix of issue-oriented TV and superhero shenanigans. The dialogue is slowly improving — I’m hoping the rest of the show will catch up. 

GRADE: C+

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Can we talk about how spot on I was last week? Not only is Scarfe crooked, but Shade didn’t even show up! Batting a thousand, baby. Ten bucks Scarfe dies before the finale.  

• Apologies for saying that Chico was dead. I should have known better, especially in a superhero show. 

• Chico’s speech was a perfect personification of the tonal problems in this episode. For a moment, Chico sees himself as the hero that he always could have been. There is some weight to that. But the subpar acting followed by completely ludicrous murder make the entire scene laughable.

• The conversation between Domingo and Cottonmouth was ridiculous, but I really enjoyed it. Unlike other Marvel villains, Cottonmouth is a very small fish in a very big pond. It’s interesting to see his ambition and caution fight it out. 

• The whole Misty and Scarfe basketball back-and-forth was spot on. Especially the “Pistons?!?” from Frank Whaley. I think it’s their only dialogue that I’ve really enjoyed so far — and you can take that for the backhanded compliment that it is.

• On the topic of conversations, we get more Cottonmouth and Mariah repetition. The next time they discuss power and money in broad stroke platitudes, I am taking that episode down a whole letter grade. You were warned, Luke Cage. 

• Did like Alfre Woodard’s reaction to “Black Mariah”, though. As well as “That’s my shit to break!”

• As briefly mentioned above, the hallway fight was great. Loved the human car-door burrito. The way he did the little kung-fu “come at me” with his fingers was very in line with both Wu Tang and blaxploitation as a whole. Great choices.

• “Virginia Slim” is so good that I might have to refer to Scarfe as such in all future episodes. 

Photo Credit: Netflix/Marvel

Review: The Good Place "What We Owe To Each Other"

On this week's The Good Place, some good jokes help disguise some pretty hoary old sitcom tropes. In the A-plot, Eleanor wrestles with her conscience as she and Michael hunt for the true cause of their paradise's dysfunction. Meanwhile, Jason enlists the help of Chidi in wooing his soulmate, Tahani.

Eleanor's role as Michael's assistant finally comes into play, but the result is extraordinarily tame. The constant references to Friends here were very appropriate as this felt very much like a plot from that show. Basically, Michael hunts the answers while Eleanor stays close to prevent him from learning that she has the answers. This is all dressed up in talk of lying and social contract, but there is no real danger that Eleanor will crack and reveal her secret. A fun story, but the lack of tension in this storyline is disappointing and I would point to the character of Michael as the reason why.

Michael is a fun character and Danson plays him with such hopeful befuddlement that you can't help but smile at his giant vase full of paper clips or share his excitement over a cheese grater. However, despite apparently “seeing in nine dimensions”, he lacks any dimensions himself. Michael's alien nature has manifested in shocking ways before (we saw him punt a dog into the sun in the pilot), but his do-gooder attitude never really wavers here. Seeing a darker side of Michael would have really lent some stakes to this story, but his lack of common sense makes Eleanor's escape predictable.

In the B-plot, we have the even more hackneyed Roxanne-esque sitcom trope of “friend helps friend get the girl, figures out he's better for the girl”. Chidi and Tahani show some sparks talking about Degas, but, ultimately, Chidi is too honorable or shy to do anything but help Jason. Without exploring Chidi and his motives more, this entire storyline fell flat for me.

There isn't too much to discuss this week, honestly. I found the jokes funny, but the plots were disappointingly tensionless and run-of-the-mill. The one-liners are consistently good and the cast is game for anything, but I'm looking forward to more meat in my story. I doubt Michael will actually leave, but I'm interested in whatever the show throws my way.

Grade: B-

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• “She's so pretty, like Nala from The Lion King and she talks so smart like – Nala, from The Lion King.”

• As Eleanor points out, Ross and Phoebe are an odd-pairing. They seldom had plot-lines together (as far as I remember).

• Danson attempting to fist pump after discovering a clue was fantastic. He has good line readings, but his physical comedy is just aces. See also: putting on a grey hoodie and toppling over.

• “Oh really? I once posed as a hot prom date for my cousin – both helping him and, later, according to his therapist, not helping him.”

• The flashbacks were extra useless this week. And The Good Place had been doing so well with them lately!

• Also wanna give some props to D'arcy Carden as Janet. Whether she is correcting Chidi's definition of a couple or confirming that the tone of a meeting will be "moribund and devstating," her chipper demeanor makes everything work.

Photo Credit: NBC

Review: Luke Cage "Code On The Streets"

“Code On The Streets” continues to build the world we saw in the pilot. The show is still slow, but it seems much more focused here, hanging its themes around a simple plot and really fleshing out Cottonmouth, Pops and, of course, Luke Cage. 

I thought last week was the origin story, with Shameek’s death being the inciting incident, but this week rehashes the idea and makes it much more personal. Even though Luke Cage admits that dealing with Cottonmouth’s extortionists at the diner was satisfying (“I heard it was four guys”) he is still unwilling to take the next step and become a force in his community. He’s decided not to run, but he’s not yet willing to step out of the faceless crowd. 

Once again, the episode directly ties this to the black experience and black masculinity in particular. As Pop later tells Cage, “Boys run, men stand. You’re a man.” What makes this ring true is the fact that they both have run, many times before. These are two black convicted felons talking about making amends - they know the consequences of running away. Pop's backstory and his lament about not recognizing his own child was also a great bit of acting (as well as casting: young Pop looked very much like Frankie Faison) that really sold the emotions here.

 

Of course, for those familiar with superhero conventions, that backstory might as well have been a flashing neon sign announcing that Pop was a goner. What is amazing is how affecting his death was regardless. Despite only appearing in two episodes, Frankie Faison did such a good job selling his character, and I really believed Luke’s grief at his pointless death. The killing of Pop is what gets Cage on track to be the superhero we all know he is, and hopefully the next few episodes will be a little more action packed now that the setup is finished. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s look at the plot for a quick minute. 

The first half of this episode revolves around the hunt for Chico, the young man who stole all the money last week along with Shameek and Danté. The last surviving robber, Chico is being pursued by the cops, Cottonmouth and Luke Cage (at Pop’s behest). 

Let’s start with the cops. We get a little bit more of Misty Knight here and she is fantastic. Whether she is Will Graham-ing her way through a crime scene (I haven’t forgotten you, Hannibal) or schooling kids on the basketball court, Misty is fantastic. The same cannot be said of her partner who seems imported from a completely different show (a procedural with awful, awful banter). If Rafael isn’t either killed or revealed as crooked by the end of the season (or both, I’m not picky), I will give up this whole TV reviewing career. 

While Misty is kicking butt and taking names both on and off the court, Cottonmouth is hunting a little more quietly. The scene with Pop shaving Cottonmouth was surprisingly chilling and, thanks to last week, we know that Cottonmouth’s threats are not toothless. He certainly terrifies Pops, which makes it all the more moving when Pop demands that Cage find Chico and help him.

That brings us to Luke Cage, who hunts Chico for Pop and only for Pop. As mentioned above, this episode has a lot to do with stepping out of the crowd and being hero. This is explicitly said at the end of the episode in the Crispus Attucks speech, but it’s also peppered throughout the episode. Cage himself alludes to it when he mentions Walter Mosley novels being his favorite. Mosley’s most famous creation is “Easy” Rawlins, a factory worker who is forced into a life of unlicensed PI work after he loses his job and, in the tradition of noir, can never just mutely stand by as things unravel. He may not exactly be a hero, but he’s willing to stand out from the crowd. Sound familiar? 

The second half of the episode brings the actual character progression, after Cottonmouth’s goon murders both Pop and Chico. Obviously Pop's death gives Cage the will to move forward, but it also deeply touches Cottonmouth. We get a sense of his character when he hears about Pop’s death and sadness and disbelief dance across his face. This is a ruthless man, but one one who believes his word is good and doesn’t condone killing innocents. As he says: “Believe it or not there’s supposed to be rules to this shit.” 

Overall, this episode was by no means perfect, but I’d consider it a clear improvement over last week. Everyone, excluding Councilwoman Mariah and Shade, had clear intentions and motivations. The plot made both logical and emotional sense and cleared away a lot of the loose ends, allowing Cage to really fill the center of the show now that the robbery plot is over and Pop is gone. 

On the negative side, the dialogue was still very clunky in places and the editing room is really not helping with that. For an example of this, see the scene where Rafael tells Misty that he needs her for the “one, two punch”. After he says it, there must be a good four seconds where nothing happens. C’mon now editors, I know the dialogue isn’t great, but you can definitely work around it. 

Several characters including Shade, Mariah and the aforementioned Rafael also continue to clutter up a relatively simple story. It's not that I believe they won't be valuable in the long run. It's just that they should not have been introduced so early in the series. I haven’t talked too much about Councilwoman Mariah, but that’s because we don’t really understand her. We know she wants respect, but her motivations aren’t at all clear at this moment. Hopefully, all these issues get resolved in later episodes. 

Essentially a second pilot, “Code On The Streets” achieves what the first episode only aspired to. In superhero stories, the murder of a loved one is often the set-up to a revenge plot, but Colter’s reaction makes it clear that he’s not out for blood. He’s just finally fulfilling the role that Pop saw for him. It’s not about revenge. It’s about no longer running away.  

Forward, always. 

Grade: B

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• In addition to Mosley, Cage shows some love for George Pelecanos. Very appropriate this week as Cottonmouth essentially played Avon Barksdale to Tone’s “no rules” Marlo Stanfield. 

• Cottonmouth: “Jesus saves, I don’t.”

• “I thought you was innocent Shawshank” 

• If Cage had a rehash of his plot from last week, that’s nothing compared to Cottonmouth and Mariah who have, not one, but two conversations that are identical to the one last week. Cottonmouth believes money is the way to power, Mariah counters that political power and respect are more important. Cottonmouth asserts that money is political power. Repeat.

• The music is still great. It’s not something you notice at first, but when you watch this episode several times, you come to really appreciate all the little jazzy transitions as well as the big musical numbers at the Paradise club.

• After Cottonmouth tells Luke he’s fired from the club, Luke responds: “No, I’m not. I quit before I walked in.” A great bit of dialogue.  

• Shade almost justified his existence with the line delivery on “I suggested — we wait.” Almost. 

Photo Credit: Netflix/Marvel

Review: The Good Place "Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis"

In my past reviews, I’ve spent a lot of words talking about plot and mythology. I have questioned whether The Good Place is truly paradise after all, wondered whether Eleanor is really a mistaken entry and questioned Michael’s true purpose. Mostly, though, I worried about how they would walk the thin line of making Eleanor a good person without taking away her edges. 

The beginning of this episode confirmed a few of my fears. In the teaser, Eleanor performs an unprompted selfless act for the first time. Of course, she forgets Chidi’s yogurt (“Fully Charged Battery” would have hit the spot, I’m sure), but we are seeing Eleanor progress and no amount of Bell’s hilarious wide-eyed scramble home could assuage my belief that the show was already eroding its most predictable source of both plot and comedy: Eleanor’s awfulness. 

Well, the rest of this episode tackled my fears in an interesting way. And what it did, essentially, was focus on different characters and highlight emotion instead of mythology. Instead of grappling with Eleanor’s moral progression, it expanded its outlook and focused on two neglected characters: Chidi and Tahani. 

The sinkhole that Eleanor created in the middle of The Good Place, giving the episode its name, is the impetus to tell both stories. For Tahani, she follows Michael after he is visibly upset upon hearing that the sinkhole is growing (Michael: “Tahani dear, could you show us to a private room where no one could see or hear us even if I were to yell very loudly out of fear?”). After Michael leaves his angelic technological doodad open, Tahani discovers that she is next to last in a ranking of The Good Place residents. 

Of course, as viewers, we are going to take these rankings with a grain of salt, after seeing both Eleanor and Jason near the top of the list (my theory is that the rankings are of people most detrimental to The Good Place), but for Tahani, the rankings dredge up some of her worst fears. In a series of flashbacks to her family life, we learn that Tahani has always tried her best and has always been out-shined by her elder sister. 

These flashbacks have plenty of laughs such as Tahani’s parents accidentally spell her name “Tahini” (“like the sauce”) in the will, but they’re also deeply and unapologetically sad. Being a perfect cartoon giraffe isn’t an example of Tahani’s arrogance. Rather, it’s her prison. A brilliant piece of writing, really.  

The A-story with Chidi is a little more lightweight but still affecting. As shown by the yogurt trip, Eleanor has been getting better (“I didn’t even try a dozen samples I didn’t want just to spite some jerk who was holding up the line!”), but Chidi is strangely upset over her progress. The sinkhole forces them into close quarters and causes tensions to boil over. 

Eleanor isn’t emotionally sophisticated enough to figure out what is wrong with Chidi, she later notes, “I say we [swing]. It’ll get them to stop asking questions.” Once the marriage counselor and identity theft detective see them arguing, we get to the bottom of things. Chidi is upset about helping Eleanor because if she gets to stay in The Good Place, he’ll never meet his real soul mate. There’s some real emotion in there, especially because the show isn’t committed to making them a couple. After their rift is mended, the sinkhole closes up and allows the town to return to semi-normalcy. 

The focus on other characters besides Eleanor may seem obvious in retrospect, but it took me by surprise and I can’t wait for the inevitable Michael episode. Danson was in fine form this week, with his “normal walk” out of Tahani’s room and his small-talk attempts, but the real award this week probably goes to William Jackson Harper who makes Chidi lovable even as his concerns are undeniably selfish. Overall, this was a very funny episode that departed from the others in intriguing ways.

Grade: B+  

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• I mentioned both Eleanor’s dash home as well as Michael’s stiff panicked walk, but some love needs to go to Jason’s skip out the door when class was dismissed. Monty Python has got nothing on these funny walks. 

• Speaking of Jason, his one story this episode starts with a “black market alligator dealer with a pierced jawbone” and only gets better from there. The writing is great and the delivery is better. Manny Jacinto is a treasure and I’m upset I have never heard of him before.

• Want to give a shoutout to my old Biomedical Ethics professor. I don’t remember his name, but when Utilitarianism came up, I turned to my dog and said “John Stuart Mills!” He was unimpressed.

• Tahini describing her sister: “The youngest person to ever graduate from Oxford University, she’s a world class painter, a social activist, iconoclast, Olympic gold medalist for archery, BAFTA award winner for a documentary on her Grammy award album, and person most likely to be Banksy.”

• Love Harper’s forced repetition of the word “Cool” after hearing the marriage counselor describe her book.

• It’s consistently great how quickly Eleanor defaults to sex to solve problems. There’s always this undercurrent of sexual opportunism to many of her interactions and it always gets a laugh from me. Reminds me very strongly of Jerri Blank from Strangers With Candy. 

• “My brain is horny.” 

Photo Credit: NBC

Review: Luke Cage "Moment of Truth"

 Before I dive in to “Moment Of Truth”, a word about how I will be reviewing Luke Cage. I am going to discuss each episode as a stand-alone episode and I will not be peeking at later episodes before I write my review. As a Netflix show, one could argue that Luke Cage shouldn't be judged episode-to-episode as that would be like judging each book’s chapter instead of a book as a whole. However, I’m going to be a traditional TV-watcher here and say that each episode should tell a story on its own with a clear purpose.

            All of this to say, that as excited as I was for the premiere of Luke Cage, I found this first episode extraordinarily underwhelming. “Moment Of Truth” did a good job of building the world of Harlem with the ambitions for this show on full display, but the execution is clunky and lackluster. Strap yourself in, this is going to be a very in-depth review. Let’s take it from the top.

            First off, I really enjoyed the Luke Cage credits. It’s a small thing, but it tells us right off the bat that this show isn’t just about Cage, but about Harlem and, by extension, black life. Themes of black power and masculinity are interwoven throughout the pilot, starting in the first scene, appropriately set in a barbershop. For upstart customer Shameek, black power is about quick money and violence. We later hear this idea echoed by crime lord Cottonmouth who calls himself the n-word and says it’s violent people like him that keep his Councilwoman cousin in office.

            On the other side of the fence, we have Cage and his belief in hard work and incremental change. After his temporary promotion to bartender, I love how Mike Colter makes sure to slide the lime all the way around the Cosmo before presenting it to love-interest and detective Misty Knight. This is a man who takes pride in doing a good job even if it’s as a hair sweeper or a dish washer. Pop and the amorous Patricia also support this view with Patricia saying “Nothing wrong with a black man working.”

            

            However, as much as I talked about black pride, black power and black masculinity, these themes are not really fleshed out in the pilot. They tie into the heist plot and Shameek’s violent death, but have no bearing on Cage himself or the ending of the episode. Instead, the pilot indulges in some very half-baked talk of responsibility and change.

            This conflict is also set up early on, with Pop telling Cage to get out there and help people with his super powers and Cage responding that he isn’t ready. This material essentially boils down to “With great power, comes great responsibility” and is not all that interesting despite Herculean acting efforts from both Frankie Faison and Mike Colter as Pop and Cage, respectively. We know that Cage is going to embrace his powers at some point, so the tension isn’t there. If there was a reason why Cage isn’t interested in being a superhero, it would be more understandable, but instead the scene gifts us with a bunch of clunky backstory about prison, his dead wife Reva, and an experimentation of some kind. This naked exposition undoubtedly could have waited for another episode and only serves to muddy the waters.

            Later, Cage has a chance to stop Shameek and his friend Chico from participating in a heist but chooses to do nothing instead. After again standing by when he could have saved Shameek, he justifies his inaction by telling Pop: “You live and die by your choices.” Pop disagrees, telling Cage that he tries to get kids off the streets and into the barbershop where they can be saved. Following this line of logic, doing nothing is almost as bad as participating.

            The thing is, the episode itself disproves this. Shameek was lured into the barbershop and still chose to kill quite a few people, including one of his partners, in cold blood. Here, there could be an interesting discussion about whether Shameek could be saved or whether he was worth saving. What is Luke Cage’s responsibility to young men like Shameek, lured by the siren song of money, power, and respect through violence?

            The episode chooses to not even touch these ideas. Instead, to get Luke Cage back into fighting form, it once again retreats to the confusing backstory of prison and Reva. After a, frankly terrible, speech from Reva about loneliness and prison convinces Cage not to run away, he suddenly decides to save his landlord from the Councilwoman’s group of extortionists.

            

             Adding to these under-cooked themes of blackness and responsibility are a mélange of random ideas and scenes. It feels a lot like this episode just threw a lot of things at the wall and saw what stuck for use in future episodes. First, the sex scene between Cage and Misty Knight was hot but didn’t really add much to our understanding of the two characters. Also, the introduction of Shades was ridiculous and added yet more unnecessary exposition about shadowy things we don’t know and/or care about. To make his presence doubly pointless, Cottonmouth’s underling later says that Chico told them who his conspirator was with his dying breath, so Shades’ entire reason for being there doesn’t make sense. It could be argued that the scene of Cottonmouth playing soulful keyboard was an indication of his closeness with Harlem through music, but I’m tempted to call it even more padding. Finally, the Councilwoman’s motives were too obscured, coming off as a little too hypocritical in needing the money but hating the business of getting it. The dialogue was also all over the map, and I groaned at several lines (I have a list, but the winner, or, more accurately, loser, was definitely “Everyone has a gun, no-one has a father”).

            I’m not saying all of these things to hate on the show, and I actually enjoyed “Moment Of Truth” more than it may seem from this review. It’s just that there is so much potential in this show. For one, the cast is fantastic all-around. Frankie Faison as Pop is a wonder, and Colter plays Cage with a marvelous world-weariness that can’t quite hide his innate pride. Mahershala Ali is a great scenery-chewing villain, and he is legitimately terrifying when he beats Shameek to death. We didn’t see too much of Simone Missick as Detective Misty Knight, but she has a ton of chemistry with Colter and I hope she turns up more.

            I’m just slightly disappointed here because Luke Cage has a real opportunity here to examine superheroes from a unique and unapologetically black perspective. All the pieces are in place, and the talent is there. But for now, the ambition is outstripping the focus and actual ground-level storytelling. With high expectations must come high execution. I truly believe this show can be something special and, despite my criticisms here, I know that I’m already itching to watch the next one.

Grade: C+  

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

•        The music was consistently fantastic throughout the episode. I’m still not sure about intercutting the Paradise concert and the heist, but nobody can deny that Raphael Saadiq kills it on stage.  

•        I liked Mike Colter’s casual lifting of the washing machine. His physicality and magnetism allow him to quietly dominate any scene he is a part of.

•        I really liked Shameek’s little dance after he murders the gunrunners. You can see all the terror and adrenaline and bravado he has in that two-step. Also liked Shameek’s little goodbye wave after Patricia leaves the barber shop. I can only hope that we will be seeing more of Jermel Howard in flashbacks.

•        A moment I didn’t like was Cage’s “Impossible. You stand out in any room you're in.” Indicative of the whole episode, saying too much. Should’ve just went with “Impossible.”

•        Cage is packing “The Invisible Man” by Ellison. Also, “Black Folktales”, “Attica” and “Outliers”.

•        “I’m not for hire” 

Photo Credit: Netflix/Marvel