Luke Cage is the third Marvel Netflix show I'd watched, being supremely impressed by Daredevil, and sadly let down by Jessica Jones. So, as it stood, my opinion could have went either way for Luke Cage. So what impression did it make on me?
Luke Cage is an ex-convict, who after gaining immense strength and impenetrable (and therefore bullet-proof) skin and escaping prison, went to build a new life for himself, ending up in Harlem, New York. Trying to live quietly under the radar, he is forced to use his powers to protect those around him when organised crime threatens the lives of ordinary citizens. Can he stop the forces at play making his neighbourhood dangerous, or will the enemies he is making find the truth about his past, and a way to kill a man who is bulletproof?
Since Jessica Jones, my expectations were low, but I think that allowed me to appreciate this show more. Not only does it have a musical score twice as good as Jones', but also a lot more of a personality, leaving a much deeper impression once you finish. Cage lives in a world where he is the exception, and as a result just wants a quiet life, but the more he goes after the illegal operations of Cornell Stokes (AKA Cottonmouth), the further he is thrust into the spotlight of publicity, something that makes his story far different from the previous two. This makes him a great lead character, with the right amount of charisma, gravitas and confidence, mixed with a slightly jaded personality that makes him always fun to watch.
The supporting cast is hit and miss, though, sometimes very well done, other times feeling like they are trying too hard. Also, the use of common Marvel Netflix tropes have become extremely noticeable here, showing the formula of detectives, corrupt cops, dark tones and violence have indeed started getting stale, lessening my enjoyment of Daredevil breathing new life into the Marvel franchise, and the relatively fresh take on the concept and format of a superhero story. Also, the longwinded pacing issues of this show get to a rocky start, and never really get any better, resulting in a a patchwork story that when added together doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, with threads starting halfway through taking precedent over longstanding ones, and villains and characters just sort of showing up with relevance despite them not adding anything previously.
What I will commend this show for, however, is the nuance in dealing with complex issues, not falling for the obvious and easy choices of one sided racial politics, instead building up characters willing to exploit incidents for their own ends, and others with motivations far more complex than 'who has what skin colour', making it, more or less, something that everybody can get on board with. The writers were smart enough to know not to patronise the audience, and I can respect that immensely.
So, where does it compare with Jessica Jones and Daredevil? Well, I wouldn't put it quite to the high standard of the latter, but it definitely surpasses Jessica Jones with its nuance and layers, even if it can feel derivative. I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10
6.5 OUT OF 10
SPOILER SECTION
Personally, I can't understand killing off Cottonmouth so quickly. He was portrayed as the main antagonist of the series, but there was no physical standoff between him and Cage, leaving him replaced with Diamondback halfway through. I thought that the actor was reasonably compelling, and he had layers of his past that were only touched on the very episode of his death. I think it was done to shock the audience and create a new shift in the villainous powers at work, but to me it just undermined Luke's conflict, making it interchangeable with any other villain that could end up showing up. Besides, both he and Misty Knight know Mariah Stokes and 'Shades' are guilty, so what revelations could there possibly be in the next season to keep the audience invested?
This is a problem I have with the Netflix Marvel villains; they are always presented as not just vulnerable, but teetering on the edge of destruction from episode one to the finale, and with little to no visible shift in power between them and the hero, the audience has no sense of who is winning, who is in control or what the stakes are, making the whole thing pretty unpalatable. I think season one of Daredevil works as it seeks to establish the characters of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk both coming into their own for future narrative payoffs, but beyond that in instances in which the villains are taken down and killed, that can't be the case.
Once again, Rosario Dawson is very good in this show, becoming the lynchpin that ties each one together, but other supporting characters like 'Shades', Mariah Stokes and Misty Knight all don't really sell it for me, albeit not quite as disastrously as the Jessica Jones cast. Diamondback, while he is there, is alright, except for his final suit that looks really goofy, with a terrible finale that makes both he and Cage look stupid punching each other while a small audience stands around, and Mariah and Shades getting off scot-free to carry on their criminal activities, and Cage going back to Seagate, where he is obviously only a phone call from Matt Murdock or Foggy Nelson away from being released. Claire's connections should really have started paying off by this point...
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