Netflix Retrospective - Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 11-13 review

It’s December, so here are the final 3 episodes of season 2 of Luke Cage, and of Luke Cage in general, spoilers to follow (obviously)

The Creator

We see again the bloodbath in the restaurant as Luke Cage stands over it, horrified by what he’s seeing and blaming himself for not letting Mariah burn and/or not killing her himself. Misty’s there to console him. Tomas, remember him? No? Me neither, but he’s in this scene, questioning whether it really is Mariah and how they intend to prove it. Luke spots a blood trail, implying there may be a living witness who could be the end of Mariah, and could be a major target for her too, roll credits.

This opening would sound really nice, if it didn’t sound like a car alarm was going off in the background. Anyway, we’re back with Bushmaster, and he’s still in a bad way, their artificial nightshade ain’t doing sh*t to help him. Whilst he’s struggling, he flashes back to the ‘Mid 80’s and we see him delivering pool towels whilst the Dillards are relaxing by the poolside.

He overhears a legal debate between Ma Gwen and Mama Mabel, Bushmaster and Mariah’s respective mothers. Gwen wants her share of Harlem’s Paradise and the Bushmaster rum and his lawyer is citing an agreement on a napkin, I am dead serious. Mama Mabel has a young Ben Donovan helping her out and laughs this all off.

Back in the present, Mariah is being shown a new panic room underneath the club, with tech and materials from Atreus plastics. Shades is noticeably shaken. Misty is still reviewing the crime scene, seeing the gory details of the crime scene. Thanks to some timely news about the restaurant being named Gwen’s and the connection to Bushmaster, they work out the survivor is and Luke goes to find her, with Misty cautiously telling not to mess up her case.

He begins shaking down the other crime families and confirms none of them were responsible for the attack, so this accomplished nothing since everyone of importance knew it was Mariah. News of the attack has spread and Misty is called upon to give reassurance to the public. Which she kind of does, to her credit. Thanks to Karen Page being the moron of the week, the idea that there’s a survivor to the massacre has been made public, although Misty will not answer questions on it.

Luke begins checking out hospitals looking for Ingrid, their living witness, one of the staff at the hospital recommends he check out local clinics that might see her if she doesn’t have papers. Even so, news reaches Mariah, but she has other problems as Shades is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the events at Gwens. For now though, he does what she asks.

Mariah notes that Anansi was killed by .38 pistol, this is important to her as Candice was also killed with such a weapon. Bushmaster was injected with something as a child, and was the only one to survive whatever it did, we never really got clarity on that.

Gwen’s threat of a lawsuit forced a response from mama Mabel, who had her house set on fire, with Bushmaster barely able to escape in time. She didn’t hide it either, came up right next to him and threw papers into the fire. For reasons that escape me, Mariah meets with the Chinese Triad leader about allowing drugs through her territory, and they come to an agreement.

Luke finds a couple of Mariah’s men at the clinic and easily takes them down, he finds Ingrid and they head into the Indian Parade hoping to lose them in the crowds, but Shades manages to grab her because Luke Cage is sh*t at his job. Shades though is having a crisis of conscience and decides to leave. Ingrid is not so willing to talk to the police, hoping Luke will just kill her. He takes her to a restaurant owned by a friend.

Tilda gives Bushmaster more nightshade as we proceed into the next flashback, 2 years after the death of Ma Gwen. Bushmaster’s running a market stall but he’s shot in the stomach twice by an assailant friend of Buggy Stokes, Pete, the rapist scumbag. It was explained in another episode that Buggy and Quincy McIver (Bushmaster’s father) opened the paradise but when law enforcement came in, they convinced Buggy to kill Quincy so he can still profit from the place, Quincy shot him back, and gave him an agonising death that took months.

Thanks in no small part to Anansi and the use of Nightshade, they manage to heal the gunshot wounds. We see this in conjunction with Tilda healing him with nightshade in the present. The bullet from the .38 also had leads to other cases, an unsolved homicide from the 80s, the murder of Peter Stokes, a connection to the Stokes family Misty can use.

Mariah is having a talk with Mabel in her head, Pete too comes into this, it’s fairly clear that she is losing it. Bushmaster is living on borrowed time and then has to deal with the news of the massacre. Misty thinks she has something but since Scarfe was involved with the Pete Stokes affair, and Ingrid is refusing to testify, it’s all for nought. 

Bushmaster returns to Gwens to see the aftermath of the bloody massacre that took place, the bodies are gone but it’s still obvious what happened and Bushmaster is devastated, he decides to let Tilda go and it’s clear that she’s just as appalled by all this as he was.

Shades returns to the Paradise to find Mariah and Alex together? It doesn’t matter because Shades is done with Mariah, even going to strangle her when she brings up Comache. He stops himself, saying she’s not worth the effort and leaves, right as Tilda walks in to ask if she was responsible, since Mariah has no interest in hiding her involvement now, Tilda tells her she’s done and walks out.

Bushmaster sees Anansi just as Luke arrives with Ingrid. They talk, with Luke giving him an ultimatum which he turns down. Luke leaves and finds Sugar, and the moral intrigue of the next few episodes is set in motion here. Sugar says things have gotten too far out of hand and someone needs to take over, suggesting Luke. Meanwhile Shades turns himself over to Misty, hoping to bring Mariah down.

It’s another strong episode, focusing on the history of the Blood Feud of Bushmaster whilst keeping the plot moving forward with Mariah’s slowly slipping grip.

Rating 8/10

Can’t Front on Me

We open with dancing in an establishing shot that takes far too f*cking long. We see a couple snorting, presumably cocaine, or something a lot stronger that turns you into a ravaging lunatic. The drug packaging labels it Bushmaster.

One of the patrons comes to Pops and reveals all to Luke. Luke doesn’t believe that Bushmaster’s responsible, which is soon confirmed by Sugar, who’s become Luke’s eyes and ears on the street. Mariah arrives at an auction, meeting in secret with other gang leaders to form a collective, allowing them access into Harlem. Their plan to enrage Bushmaster is working as he’s begun stalking their every move

Misty and Priscilla discuss how to handle Shades, with Priscilla making the requisite calls to legitimise the deal and get Mariah behind bars. Bushmaster finds the Chinese warehouse storing the drugs but it’s a trap. Lucky for him, Luke has also found the warehouse and the two of them combined manage to prevent the assault. With guns damaging the equipment the Chinese break out the hatchets, which are even less effective against Luke, who has to contend with Bushmaster trying to kill them.

Bushmaster tries to burn the evidence with a bomb but Luke stops it and he gets away. Tilda meanwhile visits the grave of Cottonmouth, who she had lingering respect for. Tilda has had an awakening and it’s not exactly good news. Luke walks into Harlem’s paradise and tells Mariah he’s done protecting her from Bushmaster. Mariah’s response is interesting, flirtatious even?

Still, Mariah’s not an idiot an arranges for the club to be packed that night. Tilda has decided her mother is a plague and needs to die and hands Bushmaster the means to do it, telling him about a secret entrance to the club and giving a shot of nightshade that could double his strength, but could have a catastrophic effect on his body and mind.

With Mariah surrounded with Collateral damage, Luke Cage has to attend to protect them, and in doing so protecting Mariah also. Shades isn’t skimping on the gory details of everything he’s been up to, even Misty is shaky from the experience. He talks about Riddenhour and Comanche’s death and whilst the deal lets him off the hook, in theory, the police have another shock for him as they’d brought in Comache’s mother to listen to this part of the confession. The gun is now the key to getting Mariah cuffed.

Luke prepares himself for the fight to come as Bushmaster does the same. So everything starts to converge on the club as Shades is sent in to get Mariah’s .38. He’s wearing a wire, apparently, which the guards who frisked him didn’t discover, their asses are fired. We then get another song that exists only to fill time…

Tilda waits to show Bushmaster a way into the club, she’s still feeling a little shaken by everything. Mariah and Shades head to the bunker, which has been nicely fitted out since we last saw it, a perfect little hideaway to live in in comfort, and it’s here where Mariah draws her gun on him, having figured out about the wire. Bushmaster is the tunnels under the club and injects himself with the nightshade, quickly dispatching the guards, although he ends up having to fight with Luke and Misty. In what I’m sure is supposed to be symbolic or something, he pushes Luke through the window the way Mariah did with Cottonmouth.

Mariah gives Shades the gun but his shot misses, Misty and Luke are tossed around until the Nighshade begins to wear off and Luke gains the upper hand. Mariah tries to get Luke to kill him but Misty gets him to stop, which gives Bushmaster and opportunity to run. Shades gets his hand on the gun and hands it to Misty, giving her what she needs to arrest Mariah for Candice’s murder, and the massacre at Gwen’s.

Misty is happy for the win, but Luke fears it’s not over yet.

It’s weird the pacing kinda slows down for this episode, but the plot-lines are compelling enough to make the payoff satisfying.

Rating 8.5/10

They Reminisce Over You

DA Tower brings the case against Mariah, with Donovan representing Mariah. Misty thinks she’s done but things yet complicated when one of the Jamaicans shouts about how she murdered someone close to her in the ‘Rum Punch massacre,’ the court denies Mariah bail and sentences her to Rykers awaiting trial.

But things have escalated outside, as Mariah’s deals with the other gangs have led to a full-scale War within Harlem. Mariah warns the court if she doesn’t step in, things will get worse, something the judge angrily denies. Roll credits.

And the news gets worse, violent crime as risen and the police are overworked. Misty heads into Mother’s touch, she’s figured that Tilda maybe was involved with Bushmaster’s attack on the paradise. Though Misty has nothing to charge her on, she warns her to stop whatever she’s doing. As it happens Bushmaster is here, but he’s in a bad way after the nightshade and needs to return home to recover.

Back with Luke, Shades has decided that since the world knows he snitched on Mariah, he can’t take over, but he can help Luke do so, giving him information on the various gangs entering Harlem to carve up Mariah’s turf. It also ends up being personal for Shades as an old acquaintance was murdered in the chaos. Given who the other candidates are for the top spot, Luke is probably the least horrible candidate. But we all know that terrible people have come into power after being considered the 'least horrible' option.

This is something Mariah is aware of as well, and speaking of we cut to her in prison as a bunch of inmates kill a guard, a Jamaican and a representative of Mrs Carbone try to kill her but she’s rescued by some other inmate friends, Sunflower, unfortunately she’s not exactly a friend, in fact she’s one of Pete’s girls, who Mariah kills, and pays off her partners so they now work for her, she takes the guard’s phone and calls Donovan for the funds.

Luke enters Carbone’s home, breaking the limbs of everyone inside. He tries to intimidate her by breaking all her associates fingers. He promises to make her life a living hell unless her and her partners keep out of Harlem. Bushmaster and his posse are heading out of Harlem so he can recover.

Donovan and Mariah discuss potential ways to put Shades as the big man behind everything. Mariah says that everyone connected with her needs to be killed, though she does state that Tilda, Donovan himself and Sugar (because his wife gave him clothes) are exceptions. We quickly see the results of this. Alex is the next person on the hit list, and he rushes into Mother’s Touch hoping Tilda might help, she won’t.

With Luke having kicked the gangs out of Harlem, he’s worried that Mariah’s act may weaken his position and needs to confront her. We get a short backstory for Sugar at this point, the details aren’t especially important but it continues Luke’s growth of respect for him. Shades is attacked by one of Mariah’s men, but manages to kill him, no such luck for poor Alex, who was generally not involved in Mariah’s illegal acts.

Shades gets to confront Mariah in prison, it’s ultimately kinda pointless if serving as another blow to Mariah and the final end to their relationship. Donovan tells Mariah that Tilda is ready to see her and Mariah bursts into tears. Misty refuses to let Luke talk to Mariah so Luke gets Foggy to give him Donovan’s cell number. Tilda prepares some kind of herbal concoctions and we see her talk to Mariah.

Mariah tries to get Tilda to embrace her Stokes legacy, like she did. It’s unclear to Mariah whether or not it works, but the use of the word ‘mother’ as opposed to ‘mommy’ convinces her she meant none of it. With that, he instructs Donvan to get a couple of things done ‘officially.’ Tilda does go and look in on Harlem’s Paradise, and there’s no denying that she likes what she sees. She sits at the piano and begins singing, it’s ok singing, but honestly, it’s weak compared to some of the other music in this series.

Luke arrives at prison and they exchange trailer quotes until Mariah begins coughing up blood, realising that Tilda used poison lipstick when she kissed her. Luke promises to stay with her until she passes on because of reasons. With Mariah dead, Shades is in especially hot water, as his deal was contingent upon her successful conviction, he’s even somewhat impressed that she managed to link him to the gun deal and Atreus plastics.

The penny drops to DW about what Luke has been doing, and it makes him uncomfortable to say the least. He tells Luke that if he goes this route, he can’t use Pops as his base of operations any more, Pops is Switzerland and they know it. Luke respects that as Donovan arrives with the convenient news that Mariah’s new will has left Harlem’s Paradise to Luke. Her money set up a Family Fist Foundation charity and Tilda is left with only Cornell’s keyboard. This evidently ruffles Tilda’s feathers as clearly Mariah deliberately had her scope out the place knowing she was never gonna get it. Of course, Mariah’s revenge from beyond the grave is partly going off the likelihood of giving this power and influence to Luke changing him and making him see things the way she did.

Luke fixes and reopens the club, establishing his position as the new ‘sheriff’ of Harlem. Misty is also worried about where this could be leading, but Luke’s kind counting on her to keep him going over the edge. So where better to end this series than another long as hell musical performance, it’s kinda funny that it’s also a little rundown of the series. Claire makes another non-appearance that Luke brushes off. Interestingly we truly end with a reminder of a speech for Carl’s father, who’s kinda disappeared after everything. In part I suspect because of the death of Reg E Cathley.

It’s fairly clear this was written with a season 3 in mind, but it just wasn’t to be as with Disney starting setting up their own streaming service, and Netflix wasn’t having a relationship where they’d be making shows for a competitor. Not to mention the viewership for this show had sharply declined from the first season.

As a finale to the series as a whole, putting Luke in this position feels at odds with his overall arc, and it feels like season 3 may have had to repeat many of the moments season 2 had. That said, it makes sense from a narrative perspective why this came to be, and there are interesting ideas that could have come from it. From Tilda’s continued descent into darkness, to the uneasy alliances breaking, maybe even bringing Claire back in proper to talk some sense into Luke.

I don’t know how I feel about how things went with Bushmaster. His family was killed but he killed too and I feel somewhat uneasy about him getting away with everything he’s done from a legal perspective.  

Whilst season 1 of Luke Cage started out strong and fizzled out near the end, season 2 had a weaker start, improved as things began to escalate, levelling out as the climax approached. It’s a lot harder to get into than the first season but at least has a satisfying payoff to it.

Rating 8/10

We’ll be back after Christmas as we look into Iron Fist.