I have to say, although I’d rate Jessica Jones above Luke Cage, the entire Method Man cameo was pure gold - the bodega bandits, the radio interview, and the whole montage during his rap. Actually, the way they worked the music to set the setting was really good, too; the musical numbers were usually one of the highlights of the episode.
The show is self-conscious about what it’s doing. By which I mean that it’s not merely a show about a black superhero, it’s a show about being a show about a black superhero. Which I generally thought was good, asking the audience almost directly to think about black history and black people’s roles in the super hero genre. But it got heavy handed, especially closing out the last episode.
There is a complaint that gets to the heart of the problem with blacks in film and TV that even when they aren’t simply cast as criminals or put in as tokens, the good roles tend to be about being black in America – they get cast as slaves, civil rights workers. I considered that it might be fair to level this criticism at Luke Cage. It’s all about being black. But it also seems to me that an important part of the criticism about blacks being cast in movies about the black experience is that generally those stories are told from a white perspective, with whites cast as the heroes, as if the message is “white people save the negros once again”. So, I think they would really be missing an opportunity if they didn’t make dealing with black problems the domain of black heroes.
Most casting assumes white people as a default, with minorities cast for specific reasons. So to cast an entire show with mostly blacks is necessarily very against the current. I kept expecting the force of network notes to assert itself. “Hey, can we make this show about a black hero dealing with black villains in the context of black history in a storied black neighborhood less, you know, urban?” But I’m glad they made the right choice.
I give up. What?
I just finished watching this. I thought it was good, not great. Most of the dialog and acting, along with the general feel and setting, were top notch. But I do feel like the plot was a bit awkward at times. In particular, was there something other than pure coincidence that caused Luke and his half-brother to end up crossing paths again in an extremely contrived way? Did Willis even know about Luke until Shades recognized him?
It really bugged me that Luke didn’t even bother trying to rip the power pack off the back of the suit during his big climactic showdown.
And I agree that it was odd that no one from SHIELD or any other government agency seemed to express the slightest interest in a superpowered individual openly wandering around Harlem. This was very different from either JJ or DD, in both of which it’s basically a secret that there’s a super-powered vigilante.
Episode 10. Misty is looking through microfiche records, researching Luke Cage’s past. Next to an article with the headline “SON OF LOCAL PREACHER CHARGED WITH GRAND THEFT AUTO Two Youths Jailed After Police Pursuit” is one with the headline:
MARTIN BROWN COMMENDED
Local Inventor Receives Civic Award
It’s about Brown being recognized for his invention of what “he calls the ‘Thrust Capacitor,’ a device that desalinize ocean water for repurposing. It also is the device that could one make time travel possible.” The article, which you need to carefully freeze-frame to read, has several other BttF allusions, including the future availability of plutonium and how Brown “went under fire in 1985 for including a teenaged boy in his experiments.” The boy was Mac Fly, from the neighboring town of Mill Valley.
It’s not just a recap of the BttF movies, it’s the article from the second film that originally showed the Doc being carried off in a straight jacket, before Marty fixed the timeline.
Except they changed the name for some reason: it’s Emmet Brown in the original. Marty was Michael J. Fox’s character.
Doc Brown.
Doc Martens.
Martin Brown.
Finally finished this. Seemed like work for the last few episodes. The finale was very weak and I didn’t find it satisfying at all. Overall, I think this show was very inconsistent.
Yeah, I thought the first half was best. I didn’t like the introduction of Diamondback. His motivations never seemed plausible to me.
And of course the show is racially self-conscious. It’s Luke Cage. Luke Cage isn’t a superhero who happens to be black, he’s a black superhero.
Ok, so my girlfriend and I are just about finished with the series and we’re liking it as much as the others.
One question I have though regarding Cage’s powers, and this may be answered more by comics, but his skin - it’s bulletproof, I get that. So why did the thugs fist crunch and break after that first punch in the early episode. That was awesome for sure, but it seems more like something that would happen if you punched someone like Colossus. Or is the skin on Cage pretty much like the flesh of Colossus?
Too kind. I thought the show was boring and a total misfire.
[Matt Murdock]
“Wait, so Luke Cage is black?”
[/Matt Murdock]
“C’mon, man, don’t be disingenuous.”
“No, really. I don’t see color.”
Ehhhhh… well his skin cells are supposed to be like abalone shell right? So they compact upon impact making them harder and impenetrable. So I can touch him and his skin feels normal… poke him harder and the skin will feel tighter… I shoot him, his skin is hard as rock. Maybe that punch was such a hard punch is caused his skin to react and tighten that it was like the guy was punching a solid wall.
Where’s my no-prize?
Also… the show was not good, but I get that it was important.