Luke Cage 1x12 Review: Hero of the Streets

“Soliloquy of Chaos”
Written by Aida Cooper and Charles Murray
Directed by Phil Abraham
 
The Story
Misty insists on a minute with Luke so that she can give him a coded message that sounds like an angry “you’re going down” speech. Luke breaks out of the back of the police van en route, and they chase him with their Judas guns. A cop who knew Pop twelve years catches up with Luke, and after they talk, he lets Luke go do what he has to do. The next day, Stryker hears about this on the news. Turk is there, helping him move his weapons. Stryker chokes out Zip because he fancies himself Shades 2.0 (complete with new sunglasses). Stryker will be bailing Shades out of jail. Turk sneers at Zip, which makes him uncomfortable. Domingo’s men want to do something about Diamondback. Domingo seems worryingly inclined to just rush in without a good plan. Shades gets mug shots. Misty and Priscilla (the I.A. lady) discuss what to do with Shades and the big guy, and whether to go after Luke or Diamondback. Priscilla is being very reasonable about it all, but insists that Misty not overtax herself this soon after almost bleeding out. Mariah is extremely angry with Diamondback that the club got so trashed. Her assistant dude is very willing to help her achieve her goals. Luke spots some guys busting up a shop, so he stops them. It’s fun.
 
Candace calls Misty on a burner. She wants to meet her somewhere safe. Priscilla interrogates an obnoxiously smug Shades. Priscilla points out that even an awesome lawyer can’t get him entirely off for that hostage situation. He flips. Not. She storms out while he laughs. Candace tells Misty everything about Mariah killing Cottonmouth. Misty takes her Claire’s mom’s restaurant...but Mariah’s assistant saw everything. The guy Luke swapped hoodies with in the shop goes on a talk show to explain how Luke is a good guy. He and the hosts agree Luke seems like a good guy. They get the streets on Luke’s side. Cops go to Pop’s, which Bobby just finished fixing up. He shoos the cops away. Luke comes in through the back. Bobby suggests Luke use Turk to find Stryker. Shades gets out. And then Zip tries to kill him in the freight elevator, but he grabs a gun off one of the other guys and shoots both of them and takes Zip up to the roof. He tells him Stryker ordered it. Shades shoots him and steals the sunglasses off him.
 
Mariah’s assistant lost Candace and Misty before they could reach their destination, but Mariah does know a dangerous amount about that situation now. Stryker calls her to inform her he had Shades killed. Also, he’s there at her house, with a present. Money! To fix the club and boost the Harlem Renaissance project. In exchange for her loyalty. Luke snatches Turk, throws him in a dumpster, and squeezes it until he tells him everything he wants to know. Domingo and his goons show up at Stryker’s base, with lots of guns. Lots of goons on both sides die, but Stryker escapes over to where he’s got some kind of glowy mystery substance in a box. Shades shows up at Mariah’s house. He brought her the bottle she hit Cornell over the head with, as a sign of good faith. Shades kind of wants to team up with Luke against Stryker. He has a way for Luke to clear his name. Luke finds a badly wounded Domingo at Stryker’s place. Also the bomb. One minute left. He gets Domingo out just in time, but he’s too badly wounded from the gunfight, and he dies. Luke tells Misty what happened, and where she can find Turk. Shades tells Mariah he was going to kill Cornell if she hadn’t. They go into Pop’s shop. However, Misty’s hiding there, waiting for a chance to arrest Mariah. And then Stryker tosses a grenade down the steps. So much for the repaired front of the shop. Luke stays to fight Stryker in his new super bulletproof suit while Misty stays on Mariah and Shades and Bobby flee.
 
Argh, this show is so good! So many funny moments, so many awesome ones. I’ve been waiting for Shades to switch sides in some way, and this was fantastic. It’s a shame Stryker interrupted before the parlay could get anywhere, but at least it got started. And I’m too psyched for the finale to keep rambling about this one.
 
Things I Liked

• Turk’s reaction to Zip kissing up to Stryker
• Luke’s irritation with the robbers of that shop
• Luke knocking that one guy out by flicking his forehead
• And Luke has a buddy!
• “You a double-XL?” “Way ahead of you, homie.”
• Shades driving Priscilla nuts
• Luke’s buddy and the radio hosts, and the freestyle rap
• The other guy from the shop selling bullet-riddled hoodies to tons of black dudes
• Streets for Luke Cage!
• Bobby Fish! And he just changed the station rooting for Luke to a classical music station! Bahahahahaha.
• Bobby’s plan for what he’d do if he had superpowers, Claire, and a car. I love Bobby.
• What Bobby says to get Turk on the hook
• So glad Shades didn’t die that easy
• Dang, Diamondback actually got Mariah to shudder. I think that’s the scariest he’s been.
• I freaking love Turk
• Luke’s home-made Star Wars trash compactor scene for Turk
• Luke is wearing a black hoodie with a yellow underlay! Those are his colors!

 
Things I Didn’t

• Dangit, Shades’ lawyer wasn’t someone we know
• Bye, Domingo. I liked you. You were cool.
• Stryker’s battle gear looks really lame. He should’ve painted that crap.

 
The Characters
One of the things I love about Luke is how lighthearted he can be when he’s doing his thing. Jessica has a permanent scowl (which is fun in a different way), and Matt can crack jokes, but he’s never what I’d call lighthearted. Luke is fairly similar to Steve Rogers in personality. It’s too bad they’re in separate categories of the MCU and are unlikely to ever interact, but at least someone made that comparison in the show.
 
Wow, Claire actually wasn’t in this one, and I just now noticed. That’s a major mark of the quality of the episode that I didn’t notice my favorite character wasn’t in it.
 
Shades is incredibly interesting. I kind of hope he survives the season so he can continue being a slippery, pragmatic, smart villain in S2. He’s a Ravenclaw villain! He’s cool-headed, thinks things through very carefully, doesn’t make mistakes, and adapts very quickly to new situations. He doesn’t let pride get in his way like a Slytherin would, he’s not loyal to a fault like a Hufflepuff, and he isn’t reckless like a Gryffindor. It’s fascinating.
 
Okay, Mariah has basically embraced that she’s become the new Mama Mabel. I hope there will still be time for us to see that play out, because I’m pretty sure she’ll be behind bars by the end of the finale.
 
Overall Rating
5/5