Exit Stokes, enter the reign of Diamondback. Yes, the bigger threat alluded to back in the beginning of the season finally enters the fray. Alas, it isn't the guard from Seagate, though he is someone from Luke's past.
As it is, the results on Diamondback are mixed. He lacks the charm and the nuance of Stokes, but he does appear to have a deeper enmity for our hero. Stokes never really viewed Luke as more than a nuisance that needed to be dealt with. Diamondback is dead set on killing Luke no matter what it takes, spending most of the episode hunting him down in such a fashion that you almost get a Kraven-esque vibe.
Sadly, because this is the first time we've seen him, the hatred does fall flat, though Erik LaRay Harvey does as good a job as one can expect in selling it. I'm guessing it will be elaborated on later, but we only get vague mention of why Diamondback hates Luke the way he does. On Luke's side, he seems more regretful, offering sincere apologies for what went down before. It should make for some interesting character fodder down the line.
Considering Luke was shot in the stomach by an alien bullet, he fares pretty well here. Again, medical care is next to impossible given his...condition? You'd think that just going in and taking the bullet out would be easy, but as it explodes, all that's left is shrapnel that is being pushed deeper into Luke's vital organs by his own body's special ability. Making his greatest strength into his greatest weakness was a clever move on the writer's part, kudos for that. The open wound also gives Diamondback a nice, weak spot to repeatedly attack when he and Luke do get into physical confrontations, making for a fairly level playing field.
That's right, none of this stops Luke from getting into a rather prolonged fist fight with his new nemesis. It made for some cool, very well choreographed sequences, but considering the guy could barely stand up at points, you might find it hard to believe. I suppose you could view it as either a testament to his determination to set things right or a display of the true power of adrenaline, I don't know.
Misty starts off the episode on a strong note, but somehow she veers off the path into a rather bizarre mentality.
When the episode opens, she's investigating the death of Cornell. Despite Mariah's and Shades' efforts, she's still skeptical of the story they cook up that it was Luke who dealt out that particular punishment. I was mentally giving her credit for seeing right through it and finding multiple holes in their narrative (as any cop/detective worth their salt should,) but later on, she's hellbent on bringing him in; even when she finds out that he has a legitimate alibi (having a gunshot wound to the stomach.)
Maybe she just wanted to get it on record so that they could play it by the book, but she never thinks to say this.
It gets to the point where she tries to strangle Claire during an interrogation because Claire won't fill her in on who "Carl"* is. Even "bad cops" aren't supposed to take it that far. A part of me wanted to see Claire fight back, but she was smart enough to know that would just get her arrested for assaulting a cop. At least Misty's superior comes in, chides Misty, and offers Claire the chance to press charges.
Where the last episode's cliffhanger worked really well, this one doesn't quite hit the same heights. It largely suffers from being the exact same cliffhanger. I'm not joking. Luke gets shot with another Judas bullet and gets knocked into the back of a garbage truck. The only thing that's really changed is that Claire is no longer there to administer what aid she can.
Even the wham line about Diamondback being Luke's brother falls somewhat flat. That sort of twist has been done...like, a lot. On top of that, much like Diamondback's enmity, this is an element that falls flat due to the fact that we pretty much just met the guy.
This episode did a good job of turning the page as we move from the conflict with Stokes to the one with Diamondback. There were some kinks in structuring the story this way, but hopefully, those will work themselves out as more details come to light.
*For those curious, no, none of the cops refer to him as "Coral", though now that I think about it; that is totally a thing that should happen.
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