# Luke Cage - new Netflix show

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 1, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324 "2016-10-01T00:35:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/61 "2016-10-05T10:35:27Z")

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> [@TonySinclair](#):
>
> I’ve only watched the first ep (can it really be called a pilot when the whole season is released at once?)

It’s kind of hilarious to think that, AFAICT, whenever Netflix does this, it can go for a Primetime or Daytime Emmy based solely on when they release the whole season.

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**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/62 "2016-10-05T13:03:15Z")

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> [@hogarth](#):
>
> No, it takes part afterwards. Pops the barber refers to Jessica Jones as Luke’s rebound girlfriend in the first couple of episodes, for instance.

Also, Claire mentions Luke’s gunshot headwound to her mother, _and_ talks about her getting laid off from the hospital after fighting zombie ninjas. Pretty clearly establishes that this happens after both Jessica Jones and Daredevil season 2. Also, Luke makes a mention that bartending is his favorite job, even though he obviously hasn’t been working as a bartender as the series starts.

And I think the place that Jessica was spying on Luke was a different apartment, since there’s no brownstones with iron fire escapes nearby Genghis Connie’s for her to have spied from.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/63 "2016-10-05T13:51:52Z")

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Yeah, Jessica was spying on him in a flashback. That was Hell’s Kitchen, this series is in Harlem.

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**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/64 "2016-10-05T14:20:41Z")

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> [@Lightray](#):
>
> Also, Claire mentions Luke’s gunshot headwound to her mother, _and_ talks about her getting laid off from the hospital after fighting zombie ninjas.

Luke having survived that point-blank gunshot to the head also comes up in one of the first episodes, well before Claire shows up.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/65 "2016-10-05T15:38:16Z")

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Re the soundtrack, all that’s been made available so far is the rap Method Man makes up for him, streaming [here](http://smarturl.it/lukecagesndtrckws) or download [here](http://http://smarturl.it/lukecagesndtrck).

You can always badger Netflix with requests 😃 “The free song is all right but I’d actually pay for the full soundtrack!”

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/66 "2016-10-05T16:16:08Z")

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That nightclub must’ve gone through the Power Man treatment as well. How else could it quickly and perfectly recover from all the damage it suffers?

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/67 "2016-10-05T19:11:11Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> This series is more of a “choral work”

Ensemble piece?

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**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/68 "2016-10-05T20:43:47Z")

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Finished. The last two episodes moved this show from a “meh” to a “generally good” category for me. I liked the way this first season ended, yes we got the cliched hero vs. villain mano-y-mano fight scene but they made good use of the next 30 minutes to really bring the season to a satisfying conclusion and set-up future storylines.

As to the soundtrack, I’d definitely love to buy that if it contained all the performances from Harlem Paradise. The Method Man track and scene was a hoot too. I’d really like to know who the rap artist/song that was in the scene in Harlem Paradise. I have no idea how to describe the music but the scene (I think) had Cottonmouth looking down from above as the artist rapped in an empty club like it was a sound check during non-business hours.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/69 "2016-10-05T21:01:12Z")

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Jidenna - Long live the chief.

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**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/70 "2016-10-05T21:14:31Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> Yeah, Jessica was spying on him in a flashback.

Aha, I forgot that. Actually, all I remembered from that scene was the lingerie, and its contents.

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/71 "2016-10-06T00:14:03Z")

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> [@DSeid](#):
>
> Second, I find the overuse of Black stereotypes cringeworthy. Okay, this is not real Harlem so real current demographics need not apply.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical with the first few episodes where Harlem is equal parts “Shaft”, “New Jack City” and “Barbershop”, but it evened out over time, I thought.

> [@Fenris](#):
>
> I’m only up to episode 3, but so far, my big ‘concern’ is there’s not enough…super-hero…stuff. Daredevil had Kingpin, Jessica Jones had The Purple Man, and (as of episode 3) Luke has a…low-rent Kingpin wannabe punk-ass bitch. Bleh.

I liked that the villains in Luke Cage were a little more realistic. Kingpin and Kilgrave cranked up the tension ludicrously high (there could be suicidally loyal infiltrators everywhere!!!) and then I thought they kind of fizzled in the end.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/72 "2016-10-06T00:16:14Z")

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Fifty quatloos to whoever spotted the extensive _Back to the Future_ reference.

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**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/73 "2016-10-06T06:56:03Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> Re the soundtrack, all that’s been made available so far is the rap Method Man makes up for him, streaming [here](http://smarturl.it/lukecagesndtrckws) or download [here](http://http://smarturl.it/lukecagesndtrck).
> 
> You can always badger Netflix with requests 😃 “The free song is all right but I’d actually pay for the full soundtrack!”

I just might have to. The Method Man rap was my least favorite 😕

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/74 "2016-10-06T07:16:21Z")

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> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> Ensemble piece?

Thank you, it’s one of those expressions that I know I’m getting it wrong but I can never remember the correct one. Maybe this time it will stick.

I hear you on the soundtrack, **kiz**.

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**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/75 "2016-10-06T11:59:41Z")

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> [@DigitalC](#):
>
> Jidenna - Long live the chief.

YEAAASSSS!!! Thank you very much.

_does middle-aged white guy dance_  
_throws hands around all hard-core like_

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**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/76 "2016-10-07T21:05:15Z")

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I’m only through episode 3 and I won’t be reading this Thread until I’ve finished the series.

I just popped in to say that I am excited that Frank Whaley\* is officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe now because I really want there to be a chance for Nick Fury to say “Check out the big brain on Brett!!!” or, at the very least, a scene in which Detective Scarfe displays his knowledge of the metric system.  
\*I do see that he’s listed as being in only 6 of the 13 episodes and I fear that 6 episodes in he may possibly say “what” again.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/77 "2016-10-07T23:00:39Z")

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Someone at work complained yesterday that there weren’t enough white people in the series.

:smack:

Seriously? It’s set in _black Harlem!_ (there are some token white folks, as well as other ethnicities for those who haven’t seen it yet). It would be appalling if it was white-washed!

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/78 "2016-10-07T23:20:43Z")

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Watched episode one, which was sort of like watching a queue for the local bus, but without the excitement. Not for me, I guess.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/79 "2016-10-08T01:38:25Z")

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Just finished watching the season and I have some general thoughts off the top of my head:

— Overall, I liked it. I would rank it above _Daredevil_ and below _Jessica Jones_. One of the things that made it better than _Daredevil_ was that it didn’t have interminable fight scenes in every episode. Seriously, I get bored with the endless blind flipping fights.

— I think I’m never going to bother to watch a full-length feature film with Marvel characters again. They’re doing it right on television. That movie stuff has been making me yawn for years. Television is where the good stuff is happening.

— I’m really glad that Marvel made the “mistake” of licensing out its most popular characters—the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four—to Fox and Sony because it seems like that has forced them to dig up some real gems from their bench. Okay, Daredevil wasn’t exactly an obscure character, but I never expected that Jessica Jones (who? seriously, who?) and Luke Cage (oh, you mean Power Man, that guy with the headband who hung out with the karate guy?) would become two of my favorite superhero characters.

— The music on this show is just great. I just might buy the sound track album …

— … _but_, and this is a big **but** , the way that music was called out in the course of the show was embarrassing, starting with the very first conversation that Luke and Misty have about Raphael Saadiq. I mean, come on, it was just too “Hey, look how cool the writer of this show is because he/she likes such great music!” It seemed like there had to be a conversation about every performer at Harlem’s Paradise to make sure we didn’t miss who it was. Very clunky.

— It was definitely more “comic-y” than the others. A lot of the dialogue was plain corny. Strangely enough, the dialogue that was called out as “corny” by the characters wasn’t really the corny dialogue.

— This show—and _Daredevil_—seem to live in some alternate universe that is kind of 2016 but has a very strong feel of the early or mid 1970s when Manhattan was a crime-ridden hell-hole. I can’t really figure out exactly where I am when I’m watching this. That’s not necessarily a criticism, though. In a way, I kind of like the surreal effect of being in a not-a-real-time setting.

— I really love how this is a mainstream show that completely lives in an African-American world. The white people are the folks on the margins. However, I get the weird feeling that at the same time it is too often reinforcing negative stereotypes about black people. It’s a comic book world, but some of the characters are just too stock, no?

— I am seriously troubled by the overall theme (or one of the overall themes) that our justice system and our society are so broken that we need super-powered vigilantes to set things aright. This is not the lesson that we need to be reinforcing in our day and age.

— The casting for this show is just damn perfect. Wow, every character played by pretty much exactly the right actor.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-cage-new-netflix-show/767324/80 "2016-10-08T02:04:49Z")

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> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#):
>
> I’m only three episodes in, but it seem that there is already a massive plot hole. Cottonmouth and Mariah are frantically searching for the stolen money because Mariah stole from the development donations to rehab Cottonmouth’s club, and if they don’t get it, she can’t cover her tracks. She explicitly says, we need all of the money or we both go to jail. By the third episode, Cage is raiding their safe houses, and exposing their cash reserves- Cottonmouth says he has lost seven million dollars. So I guess they really didn’t need that stolen money, and could have been much more careful about the whole thing.

This is referred to later …

Mariah realizes that Cottonmouth made her contribute money just to keep her involved in the criminal side of their business.

> [@WotNot](#):
>
> I’m not sure who you mean, but if you’re referring to Diamondback… he [pretty much looked like Diamondback.](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Willis_Stryker)

No kidding, and actor Erik LaRay Harvey’s grimace —

[http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/i/2016/10/02/erik-laray-harvey-1.jpg](http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/i/2016/10/02/erik-laray-harvey-1.jpg)

[https://nypdecider.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/luke-cage-diamondback.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=600](https://nypdecider.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/luke-cage-diamondback.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=600)

— looks remarkably like a comic book villain’s grimace —

[![](https://dev.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uCB2F35kPhYmzV3DVpU53J.jpg) ](https://dev.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uCB2F35kPhYmzV3DVpU53J.jpg)

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