OMG, that’s scary :shudder:
They live in an alternate universe where an alien invasion wrecked most of Manhattan which turned it into a crime ridden hell-hole. I think they mentioned that in Daredevil.
Well that is basically necessary to make any superhero movie or show work. They are vigilantes, the only way they are not seen as bad guys is if the real justice system is ineffectual or corrupt.
Well, you can. The first Avengers movie, there aren’t any corrupt cops, and they’re “ineffectual” only because they’re faced with a threat vastly beyond what they’re trained and equipped to handle. But they’re still useful in the big climax, rescuing civilians and keeping them clear of the battle. Likewise with, say, Man of Steel. Or the first Captain America movie. Heck, Green Lantern is a literal space cop.
Avengers are playing at a much higher level, but they are most definitely dealing with ineffectual/corrupt authorities who end up nuking new york. Street level heroes have to be a superior alternative to cops, world class heroes have to be better than armies and governments.
The crime is not the only thing that makes it seem like the '70s. The whole style of the setting feels like it’s in some time warp.
I don’t agree with that. It’s merely the easiest way to create a superhero setting.
I’m about 6 episodes in and I still find it mainly a disappointment.
Some stuff is OK, but not enough Luke Cage doing cool stuff and saving the day. I thought this was a superhero show. About a dude who is strong and impenetrable.
But ‘saving the day’ isn’t Luke’s thing. He said so explicitly in Jessica Jones, and the flashbacks to his origin in this make the why clear. I’m only about 6 episodes in, too, but it seems to me that the course of the series will be getting Luke from a guy who keeps his head down until he needs to defend himself and his, to a hero…probably for hire.
Watched it through. The overall arc’s predictability was a bit too apparent, but I have to say, the last 15 minutes just tied everything together and capped the tpwhole to e of the show really well.
And when Claire/Rosario Dawson comments on his corny line about Cuban coffee, and then fixes him with her smokiest, sexist gaze, my TV about exploded. I haven’t seen a gaze like that since Lauren Bacall taught Humphrey Bogart how to whistle in To Have and Have Not. A force of nature.
So I’m watching episode 10 right now, and haven’t read the thread; I’m liking it so far, but man, given how well-cast this show is, especially regarding the title character, I really find the performance of the actor playing diamondback excruciatingly hammy. He just seems to be trying way too hard. Did anybody else have that impression, or is it just me?
My husband did. I agree he wasn’t the best realized character considering how well developed the other villains are but he was still creepy af.
We finished tonight and so far this is my favorite among the three Netflix shows. It has an entirely different feel but I think deals more with real social issues facing urban black communities. You see how community trauma perpetuates itself. It’s very well acted and cast. And Luke is hot as hell. Good stuff.
I don’t know what the OP and some of the rest of y’all are on, but I loved this! Luke Cage is the superhero series that I never even realized that I’ve been waiting my whole life for! There was hardly a single aspect of this show that didn’t resonate with me on some level, and I’ve never even been to Harlem.
In my own personal ranking of the Netflix series, I’ve got this a bit ahead of Jessica Jones, and way the hell ahead of Daredevil.
I finished it a couple nights ago. I thought it was great. Great use of music, and I’m now a fan of Jidenna.
The only thing that bothered me was that, here’s a dude with superhuman strength and is pretty much indestructible (at least bullet-proof) walking around Harlem in broad daylight for much of the series. So where’s SHIELD? Where are the feds? They just had a huge battle in NYC with super-powered people tearing shit up, but Luke Cage can just do what he pleases? The local police are after him, but no one else?
The connection between the MCU and the Netflix Marvel universe is tenuous at best. They pay lip service to being in the same universe on the shows but their version of New York doesn’t have the Avengers tower anywhere, and the movies sure as hell don’t acknowledge anything regarding any of the TV shows, Agents of Shield included.
I know that, but SHIELD does exist elsewhere in TV land, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to have an agent step in when a superhuman is walking around in broad daylight, featured on the news, etc., in one of the biggest cities in the world.
The connection between Agents of Shield and the Netflix shows is even more tenuous, as far as i know they don’t intersect at all. Nothing about inhumans has ever been mentioned on any Netflix show, and they are a well known world wide phenomenon on AoS.
No, I get that it’s not happening, I’m just saying I wish they would connect the shows better. Because there’s plenty of references to Avengers events in both AoS and Netflix, so it’s obvious they share one universe but then they apparently have two different rules of engagement. Because on AoS, a teenager in a South American jungle could fart with a little extra force and the Agents would swoop down to investigate before the stink clears the room, yet there’s a giant indestructible man walking the streets of Harlem and…crickets. I’m just saying I wish there was a little more continuity.
Eh, I prefer giving the writers more freedom of movement by keeping them largely unshackled by cross-media continuity.
Agents of Shield and the Netflix shows share a world the same way the Wire and the X-Files do, while technically true they are both better off doing their own thing.
We just finished this tonight, and loved it.
I can understand the disappointment of those who came to this show hoping for a slam-bang action fest, but I am tired of superhero shows where the actual character development and dialog are just filler between big set-piece action scenes. Luke Cage is more of a drama/cop procedural with some superhero elements added to it. And that’s fine. A little superheroing goes a long way with me.
I really liked the character of Shades. Right until the second-last episode he could almost have passed as a deep undercover cop or someone who could be redeemed. All through the show he was counselling people away from violence, while being completely menacing himself. So I had myself half-believing that maybe he wasn’t the scary monster we thought he was, but then… nope.
Shades turns out to be a perfect example of someone who is coldly calculating and completely amoral. He doesn’t kill people for fun, or out of vengeance, and when they are a real problem he looks for an alternative to killing them. But that’s not because he’s a nice guy, but because he’s really, really smart and understands that murders bring the kind of heat you really don’t need. But if it’s absolutely necessary to kill someone, he can do it quickly and efficiently and without a care in the world. Great character.
We finished it last night. I really liked the acting–even Diamondback’s over-the-top jive-villainy was pretty fun, an almost surreal break from the show’s somber gritty mood. Speaking of which, the atmosphere was fantastic.
The dialogue was sometimes a bit clunky and didactic IMO. Jessica Jones addressed its issues of sexual assault in a much less didactic manner; in this show I sometimes felt that the narrative was taking a break so the scriptwriters could turn toward the audience and expound on their views. I didn’t care for that.
Overall, I’d put this between Daredevil and Jessica Jones.