Netflix Retrospective: Luke Cage Season 1 episodes 5-6 - Just to Get a Rep/Suckas Need Bodyguards

 

Just to Get a Rep

We open with some truly awful music being played at the club, good grief, your ears would bleed after listening to too much of that. Misty sees Luke using his super strength and Claire Temple arrives in Harlem… and immediately gets mugged. He chases down her thug and beats him up. Luke Cage retrieves his swear jar because… seriously?

Cottonmouth calls a meeting of all his lieutenants, aside from real estate, petty cash and profits from the club, he’s broke, so he’s really not broke then. More worryingly, people on the street are talking and one of them suggests calling a truce with Cage, Cottonmouth shoots him. Anyway, despite advice against it, I think, from Shades, Cottonmouth orders every business down a street hit for half their money.

He instructs one of them to call a Mr Spurlock for his services. We see the enforcers hitting people for money, including some sports store owner we’re supposed to know. Meanwhile, why is Luke Cage still going to the barber? Anyway, he meets a guy named Dapper Dan to get him a suit for the funeral.

Funeral preparations are underway at the church too, this pads some time a little bit. In fact this entire scene feels like padding. OK, there’s some reminiscing about Pop and Luke gets a new home above a diner. Of course Luke is a bit of an idiot in this scene too when the sports store owner comes in and tells them what happened. You robbed Cottonmouth for all he was worth, you didn’t think he was gonna try and strike back? Idiot!

Meanwhile Claire arrives, wanting things to make more sense, she ends up in Iron Fist so bad luck on that front. But first she’s in pretty much the rest of this season. Luke Cage roughs up a few guys and Misty Knight is an asshole, moving on. Shades tries to get Cottonmouth to act rationally and sell off some real estate but I do see his reputation mattering to him. Luke Cage shows up but is more talkative than active.

Claire explains her motivations for coming back. We also get the closest thing we’ve gotten to MCU references. Claire wants to help people with abilities in a medical profession. I think that’s a great evolution for her character and perfectly in line with what we’ve seen so far, still I think it’ll take a while to get it all together.

So, Shades shows cottonmouth the ‘Judas Bullet’ a Hammertech gun capable of piercing body armour and exploding the target from the inside, it’s invisible to metal detectors and leaves no forensic evidence. It’s apparently reverse-engineered from alien tech. Someone call Spider-man to handle this sh*t. But it’s a goddamn expensive bullet, and the only other option is having Diamondback front him. I'll be ranting about this a lot later

Misty is warned that Scarfe is under investigation for corruption, which she doesn’t believe. But when she leaves for the memorial, he gets a phone call. Luke manages to secure the ring (it was stolen from one of the businesses that was busted up, and belonged to a girl we'll see more of later) whilst Scarfe is warned about him being investigated, and told that Cottonmouth is getting the weapons for Domingo released from lockup via another corrupt cop.

Claire recognises some news footage of Luke, who’s now annoyed about the bullet holes in his shirt. The memorial is finally underway, with Cottomouth and Shades in attendance although with true respect for the dead, Cottonmouth is playing with his phone. Asking about his merch, unfortunately whoever the guy is he’s trusting has decided to run off with it. The girl is carrying a gun, ready to shoot at Cottonmouth. Luke enters and gets everyone’s attention whilst he’s walking in. He returns the ring and crushes her gun.

Cottonmouth makes a speech for Pop, but hides a thinly veiled dig at Luke Cage. Luke Cage makes a speech, flashing back to the gunfire that lead to his death. And of course, his speech hides thinly veiled attacks on Cottonmouth and get everyone’s attention and applause. Misty thinks he may have started a war in and she’s not entirely wrong.

It’s a war of the words and it’s actually pretty interesting. But as Cottonmouth said, don’t confuse the battle for the war, that begins next time.

Rating 8/10

Suckas need bodyguards

We open with Trish Talk? Sorry, am I watching Jessica Jones all of a sudden? I kid, nice to see some unity between the series. Trish is clearly on Luke’s side which makes sense given that she knows Jessica

Meanwhile Scarfe is deciding to blackmail Cottonmouth, ergo he’s an idiot. He wants $100,000 for the guns. Scarfe tries fight but Cottonmouth turns the tables and shoots him in the stomach. Meanwhile, Mariah’s back and Luke’s about to confront her, he says next to nothing and goes to have lunch in the café. They’re discussing Heroes for Hire, before we cut to more Mariah/Cottonmouth sh*t. Mariah comes up with various possibilities to deal with Cage that don’t involve a stupid bullet that actually might be more interesting.

Cottonmouth contacts another inside man in the police force, and tells him he needs Scarfe taken care of. Meanwhile, Claire and Luke reunite but ultimately leave. Meanwhile, Perez is assigned with Misty to be the new partnership in trying to find Scarfe

Scarfe as it turns out, somehow managed to sneak into Pops, kay… He, of course, can’t be taken to a hospital and places a spin on him killing Chico. Rather convenient that Claire is about, isn’t it? Misty and Perez search Scarfe’s apartment, and we hear that his young son shot himself when he forgot to lock up his gun. You lost any ability to make me sympathise with him, when he killed Chico.

Claire manages to remove the bullet, but Luke manages to work out that he killed Chico, and forces him to admit it. Claire manages to convince Luke not to kill him, I think, he prepares to leave but then Scarfe reveals he has some intel that could put Cottonmouth away, details and notes of murder cases he covered up to save Cottonmouth, also a list of names of people involved, it’s at his apartment, which is of course covered by the police because of course this has to be complicated.

Luke uses his hoodie to enter the building undetected and break into Scarfe’s apartment. At least at first, Misty eventually notices the broken door and her and Perez enter. Luke hears them coming and jumps out the window, but he’s seen, and it's also not very subtle when he leaves a crater after making a jump. Luke returns and they use a van provided by Claire to head towards the police station. They have partial plates but so does Cottonmouth and he has a f*ckton of guys going after him. They’re quickly spotted and cornered. The gangstas shoot up the van but they escaped in time, Luke tore a hole in a building. To get them out.

Misty manages to trick Perez into confessing his involvement with Cottonmouth. Meanwhile Mariah’s interview isn’t going well as she’s asked about her criminal family connections. Luke is briefly stopped but some men with guns but is able to stop Scarfe and Claire being crushed by a truck. Misty confronts them but Scarfe dies at the scene. With the ledger, Cottonmouth and a lot of his crew are arrested and Mariah finds herself in deep sh*t.

With Cottonmouth behind bars, Luke’s ready to move on but with 5 minutes left of the episode, I think there’s still some loose ends need hanging, including the fact that the big boys in the police department are very afraid of the headlines, even though police corruption made the headlines only a year ago.

A solid conclusion to what’s ultimately Cottonmouth’s end point of the season, I mean he’s still around for a bit but next time a new main villain will be introduced and… it’s not done well

Rating 7.5/10