'Luke Cage' Season 2, Episode 7: 'On and On'

 

The show's strong streak continues, as this is a jam-packed powerhouse episode.  Looking back on it, I'm surprised how much ground this one managed to cover, so let's just get right to it.

It opens with Luke sinking into the river, paralyzed after his fight with Bushmaster.  As he is unable to rescue himself, it's up to Namor to save the day.  No, that doesn't happen, though how cool would that have been?  The powder wears off rather quick.  It's unavoidable plot convenience, but at least Luke is still reeling, even when he does make it back to his father's church.  The subsequent power nap is enough to negate it, but at least there was some aftershock to the ordeal.

To add salt to the wound, Piranha left in Luke's absence, rendering him vulnerable to capture by Bushmaster's gang. While Piranha does comply with his captor's demands to transfer all of Mariah's assets to Bushmaster, it's only a matter of time before they have him head off to sleep with the fishes.  Why yes, I did word it in that specific way for a reason, why do you ask?

Really, with his nickname, it shouldn't come as a surprise how things turn out.  Some of Bushmaster's goons even poke fun at the name and you can tell by the look on the broker's face that he realized that it was a bad pick in hindsight.  

Luke does join forces with a newly resigned Misty to try to come to his rescue, but obviously, it doesn't work out.  Though, again, we see that the two work really well together.  The byplay between the two is still strong and Misty shows that she can hold her own in a fight with Bushmaster's mooks.  While the robot hand does prove useful, you can tell that she didn't really need it just by the way she was fighting.  Even Luke seemed impressed.  Again, the partnership only goes for a portion of the episode before the two part ways, but it was still fun to see.  Could have done without Luke's line about how it was his show when Misty pitched the idea that he was her sidekick.  That was a little too on-the-nose meta for me.  

Piranha isn't the only one who bites it this episode....what?  Misty's boss and Comanche are also killed off after Shades discovers the latter's informant status.  Seeing the two working well together last episode just makes it that much more brutal to watch.  That was likely intentional on the writers' part.  Shades himself admits that the bond the two shared blinded him to the idea of the possibility.

I think Alfre Woodard comes away the MVP this episode.  This chapter gave her a lot to work with and she did it all well.  Seeing her assert her authority in the first act when she realizes that she has a mole was compelling to watch.  She also has rather intense scenes with both Misty's aforementioned boss, as well as Bushmaster.  You can tell she's legitimately rattled at points, but she is still able to bring strength and anger to the table when the situation calls for it.

Bushmaster himself has some standout scenes.  Sure, he falls into the traditional villain monologuing trope, but he does it pretty well.  The latter instance also has the added benefit of giving us more information about the feud.  We knew the basics before, but it turns out that there was more to the story, giving Bushmaster more reason to maintain his grudge, even after he had taken all of Mariah's assets.

The episode tries to make a parallel with Luke's resentment towards his dad, but I'm not sure how well that worked.  If the arcs had played out differently, maybe something could be done, but the two situations aren't exactly the same.

Speaking of the Luke/dad relationship.  It managed to move in some capacity.  It's clear that the reverend has some regrets, and there is a point where it seems like the two might mend fences, but the two are both quite stubborn.  There is an initial wedge drawn between the two, but by episode's end, it does seem like they are taking the first steps towards patching things up.  You have to give Luke's dad credit, even though his son is bigger, stronger, a trained boxer and fighter, and superpowered; he isn't cowed and even says that he's not afraid to break his foot up in his son's behind.  The threat falls flat on Luke's end naturally, but still, props for standing up.

The episode ends with Luke coming to Mariah's of all people's rescue. She says she wants to hire him.  Her offer is understandable given her situation, but it does put Luke in a weird spot.  The fact that she's basically broke and Piranha never even ended up paying him for that protection gig only makes matters worse.

That is, of course, fodder for the next episode.   

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'Luke Cage' Season 2, Episode 6: 'The Basement'

 

Bushmaster's gruesome maneuver from the last episode sends shockwaves, as it puts just about everybody on high alert.

Even Mariah herself is clearly rattled, not so much by the macabre, but by the fact that her dream seems to be crumbling just as soon as she got it.  It seemed like she was starting to spiral, but Shades manages to snap her out of it.  It was nice to see, but seeing Mariah start to lose it seems like it could have been a compelling arc as we move into the second half of the season.  

There's still plenty else to keep viewers satisfied.  It's clear that a gang war is brewing.  We see Bushmaster's men fanning the city in their hunt for Piranha. Shades also starts to gear up, putting aside his differences with Comanche in the process.

That was also nice to see.  After so many episodes of the two butting heads over various things, this episode makes it clear that the two still have each other's backs and are quite tight.  The conversation they have while they stake out the barbershop is one of the episode's many highlights.  

Interestingly enough, Luke and Piranha bond a little.  It's reluctant on Luke's part, as he just wants to wrap things up quickly, but his guard does start to drop over time. Granted, it's clear that Luke's protecting Piranha has more to do with what he can offer as far as stopping both Bushmaster and Mariah, but progress is still progress.  Luke does make a point to drop the guy off at his dad's church, which also allows him to begin the process of mending fences.  

Having Piranha also enables Luke to call out Bushmaster...literally, he calls him on a cell phone and challenges him to a fight.

Considering how the last fight went, you might not have high hopes.  Luke does fare a lot better.  He still gets hit quite a bit, but he's able to dish out as much as he can take.  He is also able to get up more than he was before.  I guess either that sucker punch really did a number on him, or it was another instance of his body adapting to something that had hurt it before.  Granted, Luke still loses, but Bushmaster had to pull a dirty trick in order to get things back in his favor.  It still makes for a potent cliffhanger, but it's clear that Bushmaster is quite beatable.

As enjoyable as the fight was, I also enjoyed the pre-fight banter.  Bushmaster does make another pitch for the two to join forces.  The first time around his tone suggested that it was a joke and not meant to be taken seriously, but this time sounded much more legit. It makes sense, Luke is only an enemy by proxy.  Mariah's his real target and Luke has no fondness for her. Bushmaster even says near the tail end of the fight that in another life, the two could have been brethren.  Common enemy or not, Bushmaster is still a criminal, and Luke is still a hero. It does give their dynamic a bit of added flavor, though.

This was another strong episode.  It was very well balanced.  The episode managed to squeeze in some drama and character development, a decent amount of action, and a few bits of humor to keep things interesting.  As noted before, this shows that the stakes are going up and tensions are rising, so you get the feeling that things are really going to start gearing up going forward.  

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'Luke Cage' Season 2, Episode 5: 'All Souled Out'

 

Luke's assault of Cockroach comes back to hit him hard, as the abusive criminal hits the hero with a lawsuit.  

It's strange, we're supposed to sympathize with Luke, but the way Cockroach was talking, he wasn't entirely wrong about how things played out.  His suit very easily could have been legitimate.  Luke's beat down was severe and Luke is a vigilante who didn't have any legal authority to be there.  Rather than dwell on the moral ambiguity, the narrative pretty much absolves Luke by revealing that Cockroach was faking his injuries.  It's a little surprising, you wouldn't think he would have had to resort to that.

In any event, Foggy (who returns as Luke's counsel) suggests that Luke just settle and pay the money to make the case go away. 

As far as legal settlements go, $100,000 isn't terrible, but it is more than Luke has, forcing him to find some ways to scrape some cash together.  Luke explores several options, and Misty even suggests just asking Danny, but they all fall through for various reasons.  An opportunity does present itself, and while Luke isn't too enthusiastic, he does agree, as it would allow him to earn more than enough to cover the cost.

On the other side of things, Mariah has the opposite situation.  She made a killing with her stock (and blackmail) maneuvers and is ready to put that money to work.  Her first act is to open up a free clinic.  Hearing her talk about how she's going to pump her newfound capital into the community to lift it up was...oddly inspiring?  I mean, yeah, she's a villain and she's not the first one to go on about how she's acting in the greater good, but it does seem like she's turning over a new leaf and focusing on a brighter future now that she no longer needs to rely on crime to bring in money.  It was a highlight of the episode, oddly enough.    I think she also deserves credit for being clearer in her intent.  Fisk talked a lot about how he cared for the city and wanted to bring it to new heights, but Mariah shows it to a much greater extent.

The episode's third sub-plot focuses on Misty.  She gets her robot arm; but spends most of the episode reminiscing after discovering that Cockroach's claim of being arrested under false pretenses was valid.  A lot of her time is spent in flashbacks.  Given that we know of Scarfe's corruption, there isn't much in the way of development, but it was still nice to see him again.  He and Misty still played off each other well, though their friendship and banter do take on a darker light in some scenes.  

I was surprised by how much humor was in this episode.  There's usually a couple of good jokes, but this put quite a bit of emphasis on it.  Given that each character is doing their own thing, it adds to the "breather" feeling.  It also lowers the viewer's guard for what happens at the end.  Sure, the episode's quite old at this point, but I'll still avoid spoilers as I think the shock helps make that scene work. 

All in all, it was a very solid episode.  All of the plots worked well, the characters each had their shining moments and things moved at a pretty brisk pace.  The one time I checked the clock was more out of curiosity than boredom.  It's a solid 48 minutes of television.  

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 4, Episode 11: 'Seance and Sensibility'

 

It's fitting that I finally get around to this episode so close to Valentine's Day, as there is a heavy romantic element. The thought occurred to me that this did air around Valentine's Day, but that did not turn out to be the case, so there went that theory.

In any event, a lot of emphasis is put on love.  It is only fitting, then, that the historical figure du jour is none other than Jane Austen. She's not put in any mortal danger like so many others, but the works of a mystical fugitive do cause her to forego her writing career, prompting the Legends to go back and set things right like they do.

Interestingly enough, said fugitive isn't malicious in nature.  He's a (sort of) manifestation of the Hindu god of love, who is using his abilities to allow people to pursue their passions regardless of inhibitions.  It does have negative consequences at times, but his intent is well meaning enough.  He also has enough charm to win Zari over. 

Given the hinting of a brewing relationship with Nate, you'd think that this would create a love triangle, but Nate has his own things going on, and Zari breaks things off with the god before things get too far.  Now, if she had gone through with the wedding, that could have made things more interesting long term, but the resolution works well enough.  

The influence of the god goes beyond that, as he is able to influence Ray and Nora and their growing romance.  

To Nora's credit, she actually tries to make her case by talking to Ray via magical spell and explaining that she didn't kill Hank.  Why she didn't do it when everything first went down is a mystery, but at least she's trying to communicate and clear things up.    It also puts her on the Waverider, as Ray agrees to hide her, and this is where things start to go down.  She's still in seclusion by episode's end, but it's only a matter of time before the rest of the team finds out.  

Nate's aforementioned things mostly revolve around his dad's funeral.  He struggles to come up with a fitting eulogy given what he had learned.  The fact that Hank's ghost is lingering around doesn't faze Nate as much as you'd think (same goes for Jane Austen who doesn't even flinch when an enraged and wolfed out Mona attacks her.)  While he has no interest in what Hank has to say, John goes and does it anyway.

This does allow John to learn that Neron is tied to what's been happening and gives more context to how their arrangement was meant to work.

It also gives a twist regarding Hank's motives.  Up until now, it seemed like Hank wanted the creatures to be used as weapons.  I, myself, thought this, assuming that he was trying to use them in a defensive capacity, given the growing threats in the Arrowverse.  It turns out that he wanted to tame them so he could feature them in an amusement park.

I get what they were trying to do, send him off in a more positive light and show that he was a flawed but loving father, but this really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  You could have played up Hank's nobility and well intentions, but still remained consistent with what we had seen prior.  On top of that, did he not read or watch "Jurassic Park"?  C'mon man.

Now, from what I read, the original idea was to have him be straight up evil and willingly in league with Neron.  I don't think that would have worked either, to be honest. It's a little too one note. Playing him as a sort of anti-hero (something akin to Amanda Waller or Nick Fury, which is what I had envisioned at the start of the arc) probably would have been the way to go.  Show a shade of grey.  This is, of course, moot hindsight.  Still, every so often, you can't help but armchair quarterback.

Overall, I'd say this was an average episode.  There've been funnier episodes, ones with stronger character arcs, and bigger action.  I think the only two things that stand out here are Zari's threesome dream and the Bollywood number.  Even that will probably blend in, as the show has done zanier.  Also, the lampshade hanging was starting to get to be a bit much.  The dream did it, the dance number did it, and the forced inclusion of the Bechdel test did it.  Some self-awareness can work, and has worked for the show on several occasions, but when used repeatedly in a short time span, it loses some of its spark.

We're actually a lot closer to the end of the season than I thought.  There's only five episodes to go.  It should be interesting to see how things play out in the time that's left.

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