Netflix Retrospective - Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 9-10 - For Pete's Sake/The Main Ingredient

We’re back with more Luke Cage, and things are beginning to pick up. In the last set of episodes, Bushmaster stole all of Mariah’s money and the club, leaving her on the run without a lawyer as he prepares to finish the job. Misty’s head of police but with the station compromised, her only option is to call in a favour from Danny.

For Pete’s Sake

Damn it, you’re making this too easy again!

Danny provides them the entry code to a pharmaceutical building that’s yet to be opened. Gonna be interesting what the other members of his board have to say about this. Anyway, Misty’s worried about how many entry points there are, whilst James tells them to form a prayer circle. Bushmaster is not happy that Tilda took all the nightshade and has the bounty on them upped to $3m each, but wanting them alive.

Tilda helps out James as he bruised his knuckles with that one punch he threw. Tilda gets a little unnerved when he asks about the nightshade. Mariah is refusing point blank to go on record about Bushmaster, unless she gets total immunity regarding the gun deal. Misty refuses but Luke manages to talk her around.

She heads back to the station where things have been shaken up, top brass have sent a new chief for them, Riley, who Misty needs a word in private with to set things up. Meanwhile Luke and Mariah are talking about Harlem in platitudes. It’s not quite the level of the Spirit talking about how he wants to have sex with his city, but it’s equally as pointless.

You’d think Rand wouldn’t be so cheap as to have pay-for coffee machines. Mariah’s looking for a phone, I think, but is frustrated. Luke and Frank begin talking and of course it comes to Claire, albeit briefly. DA Tower got the paperwork back to Riley in record time but Misty remembers how she lambasted Riddenhour for doing a much lighter deal than this. But once again she’s reminded that Bushmaster is serving war in the streets and this is the only way to end it. Unbeknownst to both of them, Officer Nandi Tyler is watching, they gave the location away during their talk.

Luke comes to talk to Tilda. Who reveals that Bushmaster is indeed using herbs she provided to enhance himself. She wants to see his bloodwork to work out exactly what he’s inhaling and possibly stop him, even though, if you capture him to gain the blood sample, you effectively have stopped him. She’ll tell Luke everything, but wants to know everything about Mariah in return

Bushmaster has his folks loading up with the stolen Hammer-tech weapons readying for war. He pleads with his uncle for Nightshade but is turned down. Nandi arrives at Harlem’s paradise, wanting the bounty. Mariah and Frank make small-talk about their respective kids. It’s actually a nice scene,  but Mariah was trying to steal his phone and call Shades, who being undercover at the moment, doesn’t answer.

But now Mariah has some hard truths for Tilda, Howard Dillard was not her father, in fact their relationship was for show, to convince his family he wasn’t gay, he was. His actual father was Uncle Pete, the man who raped her. She admits to her about killing Cornell, and admits that she can’t love her, because of her conception. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but calling her a monster is an odd response all things considered.

Mariah signs the forms to give Ridley the go-ahead to raid Harlem’s Paradise, unfortunately for her, they’re already gone. All of them are heading to the Rand Building for a massive assault. Luke bursts out the building and begins attacking the forces outside, whilst Misty’s left to cover the others. Also, for f*ck’s sake, a bat manages to stun him and Bushmaster kicks him in the face. I remind you, Bushmaster’s out of Nightshade at this point. This is Defenders all over again.

Mariah sees a gun dropped by one of them and manages to reach it, killing the assailants coming after her. A knife against Luke? Really? Luke manages to knock Bushmaster out as the cops arrive, arresting all the survivors of Bushmaster’s crew. With all the evidence against Bushmaster, Mariah’s deal is effectively worthless so that’s in the trash now.

James offers him to come with him back home, but Luke wants to see things through. James gives a warning not to let his anger and fear push others away, be better than he was. Bushmaster is being transported to prison, telling a story that ultimately means very little, he reveals he was carrying a Hammertech bomb the whole time and manages to escape. Tilda returns to find Bushmaster waiting for him, her life is on life if she doesn’t save his.

Mariah gets picked up by Shades, who’s decided to embrace her Stokes side, and we see that Shades as abducted Bushmaster’s uncle

Despite this being essentially a bottle episode, and a slow one at that, the character interaction is interesting, several long-standing character arcs come to a head and we get a hell of a resolution. I liked it

Rating 8/10

The Main Ingredient

Ladies and Gentlemen, the only crossover episode in the entire Netflix Marvel Universe (at least that I know of, and I’ve yet to see s3 of Jessica Jones) considering the MCU is built off inter-connectivity and crossover it’s kinda disappointing to see, the closest we get is Daredevil and Iron Fist setting up elements of the Defenders.

Anyway, with Bushmaster escaping, it’s not great for the Jamaican crowd in Harlem, who are being hassled by the cops. They don’t believe Luke's up to the task, one of them said with his powers he should be running shit, which Luke scoffs at, *cough*Foreshadowing*cough*

He heads into Pops, and the TV is on and conveniently tuned into the news about Bushmaster’s escape. And pretty much immediately, Danny walks in. And those who didn’t like Finn Jones as Iron Fist, watch him in this show, because whilst there are still issues, he’s written much better than he was in his solo series (s1 anyway) and in Defenders; my god it’s nice to see him brighten the room with some levity.

Luke is reluctant to take his help for a few seconds because seriously, you know you need help at this point, bite his hand off, Luke. Anyway, the two shake hands and the credits roll.

Misty is at the police station, wondering where Nandi had gotten to. Meanwhile Mariah heads back into Harlem’s paradise with Shades and Donovan. Her fortune and holdings have been restored since it was documented that Piranha was tortured before signing the assets over, which means the contracts he signed were under extreme duress and not legally binding. Mariah’s still not happy with Donovan but since he’s still due to be helping Wilson Fisk, he remains alive. Mariah tells Shades to call in her forces, as they need to retake the streets from Bushmaster.

Luke and Danny are meditating, Iron Fist asks about the fight and whether Bushmaster sustained injuries, with his help they work out he needs off-the-books medical attention and that gives Luke an idea. They head off and Luke and Danny chat, Danny seems lighter and we need to bring this up when we get to Iron Fist s2, and the directions they go there with Danny.

Misty and Ridley call in officer Bailey to ask about Nandi. Misty didn’t reveal the location of the safe-house until she was in the room with Ridley brokering Mariah’s deal, and thanks to internal affairs installing a card entry system, they know Nandi was on the other side of the glass at this time. They tell Bailey to help them clear her, or if she is guilty, she may be a direct lead to Bushmaster.

Luke and Danny arrive at Mother’s Touch to find Tilda but she’s long gone. Danny is reminded of happier memories from K’un-L’un, and recites some philosophies surrounding addiction. They confirm from her notes that Nightshade only grows in Jamiaca, or at least the only with the properties they need. Their next step to finding her is to talk to Mariah.

Back with Misty, Bailey finds footage of Nandi at the club, which provides them probable cause to arrest her. Bailey runs her card numbers and gets an Uber hit. Luke and Danny arrive at Harlem’s Paradise just as Mariah’s having a chat with Anansi. Mariah talks to Luke directly to prevent him going up and finding Anansi, basically Tilda’s not at the club, and she has no clue where he is, this scene was pointless.

They find Nandi about to board a private jet. A brief fight between her and Misty ensues and Misty ultimately wins out. More wasted time with Danny and Luke, which is much less annoying because it’s with Danny and Luke and written well, they play off each other nicely. The confrontation between Nandi and Misty is another well-written and not particularly useful conversation, followed immediately by another between Mariah and Anansi, I would hate this but this episode is really well written. Akela Cooper’s last episode was “Straighten it Out” arguably one of this season’s weaker episodes, it’s good that she’s stepped up.

When this show needs someone to talk about street stuff, it comes down to Turk. After some convincing, Turk reveals that other gangs aren’t happy that Jamaicans are moving in on weed, they’ve bought up one of the biggest grow houses in the city, an abandoned warehouse. Luke and Danny arrive at it and it’s heavily guarded, we’re gonna need a badass fight scene. The only thing is, the Jamaican’s can’t fight for shit. Finn Jones has a few moves now but they really needed to cast someone in this role who had martial arts experience.

The guards are quickly dealt with and they find a greenhouse filled with artificial light, their attempt to grow Nightshade have been thus-far rather unsuccessful. None the less Luke and Danny burn the building down, with Danny purchasing the building to avoid any legal snafus. Back with Misty, Ridley has a proposal to make her the new Commander of the Harlem unit.

Mariah parades Anansi down the street towards the Jamaican restaurant. Sugar makes his discontent with this known and despite some resistance, he pulls out. We see ‘Billie’ at the restaurant, so we all know it’s the end of the line for her. It quickly ends with a shootout, which we thankfully see little of, just the bloody aftermath. Anansi, like us remains blindfolded till the mission is done. Shades is also a little uncomfortable with this but remains still as Mariah burns Anansi alive, Mariah shooting him to so we only see it for a few seconds.

Harlem’s Paradise re-opens and we get another filler pop song. You remember Connie? She owned the restaurant Cottonmouth blew up in s1. Luke and Danny eat there, and another little chat where Danny reveals that Claire sent him to check up on Luke. Though, I think Danny may have forgotten about the vanishing of K’un-L’un.

All in all, a very strong episode, probably my favourite so far this season. It’s a pity that crossovers weren’t more common in the Netflix shows. I mean, we get supporting cast cameos with Foggy and Colleen showing up for an episode, but it’s not quite the same as having the main star of another show come over like this.

Rating 9/10

We’ll be back with the final 3 episodes of the season in December, stay tuned till then.