We come to the series' penultimate episode. You'd think that things would be ramping up, but the episode is surprisingly slow.
Some of it is justified. Luke, for example, is torn as he doesn't know which horse to back. Both Bushmaster and Mariah present their own threats to Harlem. He considers just sitting it out, but that doesn't end up being an option. Even if Mariah didn't throw the big free concert to bring in potential collateral damage from her showdown with Bushmaster, I have a hard time buying that he'd just let him kill her.
Heck, Mariah herself directly says as much when the two have a brief palaver early in the episode. It's one of the episode's stronger scenes. There's mutual disdain, but Mariah also gets chances to taunt her adversary and even toss him a measure of respect, though he doesn't really care for it.
He does briefly team up with Bushmaster to take down one of Mariah's drug lairs. The show had teased the idea of the two being "brethren" more than once, so this was a good way to pay that off. It was a good action beat. I actually thought it popped more than the Luke/Danny raid. The choreography was more impressive, and Bushmaster was something of a wild card. He hits Luke once (though it seems to be more of Bushmaster acting on impulse) and Luke has to stop more than once to keep Bushmaster from killing their opponents.
A lot of the episode is devoted to Shades offering his confession to Misty. It's mostly recalling events from the show. You can see it as a nice refresher, or as padding. Credit where it's due, though, Theo Rossi does a great job with it. The big poop eating grin he has as he's talking about what he did at various points is pretty priceless. We also see how much Mariah's actions affected him, as all that goes away when he talks about what happened at the restaurant.
Things do converge in the episode's final half, as everybody convenes at Harlem's Paradise, each with their own goals and objectives. It was here where the episode picked up and really saved itself. Misty brings Shades there so that he can acquire her gun to be used as evidence, Bushmaster goes to finally take out Mariah after being spurred by Tilda, and Luke goes to keep people from getting hurt.
With an amped up does of Nightshade, Bushmaster is able to regain some of his physical menace that he had before. I thought that the show provided a good enough reason not to have Danny participate in any attack on the gangster, but seeing Bushmaster here, yeah, the Iron Fist would have come in handy. Despite this, the final "Bushmaster vs. Everybody" brawl was a lot of fun. It was exciting, tense, and memorable. It really delivered as far as climaxes go.
The whole "will Luke kill Bushmaster" thing was a weak element, though. Why didn't he just put the guy in a sleeper hold or knock him out? Just letting him go was pretty dumb. It does leave something for the final episode to address, but the point still stands.
The closing bit with Mariah getting arrested was pretty cathartic. She's convinced that it won't stick, and Luke isn't sold either, but for now, it was satisfying to see. I did also smirk a bit when she referred to herself as a "millionaire philanthropist". It's pure coincidence in universe, but that is one of Tony Stark's more memorable lines, so I have to think that the writers did that on purpose.
Compared to prior episodes, this is a bit of a step down. Once it kicked into gear, though, it managed to deliver some solid entertainment.
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