With Luke Cage unconscious and buried under rubble, it seems as good a time as any to do a flashback episode to get a more in depth look at how Luke came to be the man that he is today. Admittedly, it is a little strange to have two flashback-centric episodes back to back (from two different shows entirely, no less) but that's just the way it works sometimes.
As Luke noted in the first episode, he was wrongly imprisoned and became the subject of an experiment. Such is the case, though the plot doesn't quite play out like you would think. For one, his imprisonment seems more political than anything. The exact reason isn't made clear, but a guard surmises that he pissed off the wrong people and he himself says that he trusted the wrong people and talked when he shouldn't have. Given that it's noted that he was a cop, it's possible he wanted to expose some form of corruption, but that's just speculation on my part.
Even Luke's participation in the experiment isn't what I expected. I figured it would be more "suicide squad"esque, where he's strong-armed into being a subject. I won't give away the specifics, but it isn't quite that nefarious.
Luke is press-ganged by the head guard at one point, but that centers on having him participate in a prison fight club. At first, it just seems like a reason to have some fight sequences, but it actually does end up playing a significant role in Luke's overall story arc.
The way they introduced Reva was handled well. After a significant amount of talk surrounding her, it was nice to finally see who he was talking about. The two had solid chemistry and she was written well enough that she lives up to Luke's image of her. It was hard to miss that close up shot of the USB drive that played a rather big role in 'Jessica Jones'. It was a nice, somewhat subtle way to tie the two shows together.
I think the real breakout (no pun intended) character was Squabbles, Luke's friend and quasi-mentor. He and Luke had some good banter going. While you could probably say his fate was sealed, it was still a shame to see him go out the way he did.
The guard worked well enough as an antagonist for this episode. I do have a sneaking suspicion that he's Diamondback, though. It looks like he died, but this is a comic based show, remember. It is a common trope to have a character who appeared to be dead come back later to settle the score. Considering we see Shades in prison too, it only lends credence to the idea.
While I'm not terribly well versed in the Luke Cage comics, being more of a DC guy, I did appreciate the nods to the comics. Luke utters his catchphrase and we even see him wear the old outfit that he used to wear, headband and yellow shirt and all. It's quite possible that there are more specific ones, but I wouldn't have noticed.
As the flashbacks take central focus, the present day plot doesn't advance too much. We see Misty and Scarfe investigating the explosion and Luke does eventually get both his landlord and himself out from under the rubble. His line about being "kind of strong" was funny, but I think the real highlight moment was Luke outing himself to the media, taking off the hood and giving his name on live television. Granted, it isn't widely known that he's a meta-human, but considering how much he's tried to stay under people's radar, it's still a pretty big deal.
Overall, this was a strong episode. It takes a break from the story line, but it gives us a much better picture of Luke. You'd think that Stokes' absence would be a noticeable flaw, but with everything else going on, having him sit this one out worked out fine.
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