Where the last episode touched on social relevance and making nods to current events, this episode fleshes it out into a bona fide subplot. The results on this front are mixed.
The show doesn't clearly take one side and bash the viewer over the head with it, so kudos for that. So often, writers fall into that trap. Here, the cops are clearly shown to be overzealous in their attempts to catch Luke, going so far as to beat up a young child during an interrogation, but we also see that they aren't really targeting one group of people, despite what a few characters suggest. You also get a clear understanding of why they're going all out. Nuance is always best in situations like this and the episode makes efforts to present that.
This does put Mariah in a very weird spot, though. Being a politician, she, of course, uses the frenzy to score political points and to boost her profile. Which, to her credit, she does rather well. However, her being aligned with Diamondback and having a plan to arm cops with alien bullets means that she also has to sell the idea to her constituents. This results in a speech where she goes from saying that the people of Harlem aren't going to be bullied around by cops to saying that we need to better arm them so that they can hold their own against "freaks".
In a world of metahumans, alien invasions, and inhumans; arguing that the cops are ill equipped is valid, but putting the pitch to give them more powerful weapons in a speech about excessive police force makes for a juxtaposition that's wonky as hell. You'd think that somebody in the crowd would have picked up on it, but they all cheer enthusiastically about it.
Oddly enough, Luke himself is largely unaffected by any of this. His plot is largely outside of Harlem, so it isn't until the show's final scenes when somebody informs him that he's public enemy number 1.
Said witch hunt is also somewhat wonky. Considering Luke was already a fugitive, Diamondback's actions seem redundant at first glance. At the same time, though, as we see, killing a cop really gets under the police force's skin. In any event, his frame up is probably one of the lazier ones you're likely to come across. At least Shades put some thought and effort into it when he pinned Stokes' death on Luke. All Diamondback does is put on a hoodie, punch a cop with a mechanized power glove, and yell out "I'm Luke Cage!"
Even Misty points out that this makes no sense. It doesn't fit Luke's established MO and he has no reason to yell out his name the way he supposedly did. The cops do manage to get surveillance photos of the attack, but even with only a partial look at the facial structure of the assailant, it's pretty clearly not Luke. Considering that the two also have completely different body builds, you have to wonder what the thought process was there.
Anyway, Luke has quite a lot on his plate. There is, of course, the matter of getting healed. We knew it was going to happen, but you can't say it was easy. He was already dunked in acid, but here he gets electrocuted and boiled to boot.
There was surprisingly little shrapnel in him, all things considered. For all of that, there were only three pieces. I guess the acid did take care of some of it. Either that or the bullets don't break as well as it originally seemed. But Claire does succeed in removing it and Luke's powers remain intact, so it seems like it was a good day all around.
Alas, he gets hit with two pretty heavy revelations soon after. One concerning Diamondback and the discovery that he is, in fact, Luke's half brother. Luke's memory being jogged was a bit abrupt. Screen time is a factor, but it would have been nice to see more subtle hints being tossed out before Luke finally put all the pieces together.
I think the build up would have also made for a more powerful moment to Luke as well, as we see his whole world being turned upside down. Here, he just walks into a church and goes "oh yeah, that happened."
Oddly, Luke's earlier suggestion that he knew why Diamondback is after him is replaced by Luke not knowing what his half brother's beef is. Maybe his earlier apology was just a way to placate Diamondback as opposed to genuine guilt? I guess it would have to be.
On top of that, his reverence for Reva is shown to be entirely misplaced as most of their relationship is shown to be a facade to help induct him into whatever program was operating at Seagate.
It makes for a decent, albeit, minor crisis as he questions himself and who he can trust. Really, though, it's a nice way to close that chapter and allow Luke to move forward.
Again, we have a cliffhanger. I get it, this is a Netflix show that people binge watch and you want to play to that strength, but much like with the musical performance montages earlier in the season, we get a diminishing return when the same trick is used again and again and again. At least it isn't Luke who's in trouble this time. Now, it's Misty, who gets shot when she tries to apprehend Diamondback. I'm pretty sure she's pretty safe, but at least they're trying to change up the formula?
There's a lot the episode does well. It's pacing is effective, there's solid character development all over the place, and it does seem like things are amping up as we move closer to the season finale. You can see what the episode was trying to do in many respects, but there are several notable kinks that stop it from becoming the powerhouse episode that it could have been.
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