Luke Cage First Impressions
And so begins the third Marvel Netflix series and the first Marvel project with a black lead Luke Cage. While the latter rightfully gets more attention, the real quality comes from the former. After two spectacular shows following two other Defenders, Luke Cage kicks off another story with a unique superhero. From the first episode, it’s clear that there’s yet another successful addition to the Netflix lineup as well as a hero worth any recent Marvel movie.
The pilot follows Luke Cage months after his leave on Jessica Jones. With his bar destroyed (slight spoiler), he moves to Harlem and takes up different jobs. One is sweeping hair off the floor of a local barber shop while the other is washing dishes at a club owned by Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes whose cousin Mariah is running for councilwoman. In order to keep up Mariah’s campaign, Cottonmouth deals in some shady arms dealing, resulting in neighborhood friends being caught in the crossfire. When danger comes to the people in Harlem, Luke steps up to protect his home, coming in conflict with the investigation of local detective Misty Knight.
For once, the plot is actually simpler than a description may give. That’s not to say there’s any harm in a basic plot, especially when it seems so rare in a Marvel project. With the story revolving around a general hero’s origin story, it’s easier to follow who’s good or bad, throwing away any presumptions and allowing us to just enjoy our heroes. Though that does lead to some scenes dragging on with lines a bit too on-the-nose, it’s surprisingly a breath of fresh air for this world of Marvel heroes. I suppose it helps when parts of the show take place during the day.
However, there is a distinct flavor of pilotitis that wasn’t as severe in the other two shows. The first scenes with Cottonmouth are chocked full of exposition, and, other than a less than gruesome shootout, the story moves along with little action. Even the conversation between Luke and Pop is a basic recap for those only watching Luke Cage, giving an example of his super strength. Now, all of that would be a problem if it weren’t for those last five minutes. With Cottonmouth being just as charismatic though not as threatening as Kingpin or Kilgrave, we’re given a taste of his brutality in beating man to death in the first episode. And Luke shows off the reason he’s the hero for hire.
If we consider Daredevil the Iron Man of the Netflix world, I could easily consider Luke Cage the Captain America. He’s the most determined in his justice with the power to back it up against the criminal world. He honestly cares about the people around him even if they casually throw out the n-word. He’s unsure about being a hero but honestly feels at peace when acting as one. Matt Murdoch and Jessica Jones have their own paths and misgivings about being superheroes, but Luke seems to be the only character who seems to be a hero in word, deed, and attitude.
The characters that surround him also have their own sense of complex simplicity. Or, if we’re using fewer oxymorons, they’re just people. That sounds like an insult, but the opening for this episode contained probably some of the most realistic dialogue when it’s just a group of guys talking about sports. It had next to nothing to do with the storyline and it never comes up again, but the people in this world feel like actual human beings, ones that would be worth protecting. Sure, that makes the villains a little unbelievable in wondering what on earth motivates people to be so desperate to murder and shoot people even for just money, but that’s what thirteen episodes are for watching.
A special shout-out to the character Misty Knight who has easily become one of the top MCU women in her pure awesomeness. She’s bold without being an idiot. She’s social without being soft. She’s driven to justice but not so innocent as to not lie about her job to her one-night-stand. Though it’s a wonder where she may go or what she may do in the future, it’s great to see Misty emerge as the standard decent character in an indecent world. At this point, the only downside to her will be the gradual wait for her to be brought into the superhero fold. The waiting game is just as bad at thirteen episodes.
As a final note, the season, this episode, already has plenty more references to the MCU than the other shows, and Claire Temple hasn’t even appeared yet. Sure, that comes from exposition, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a black market for blu-rays of superheroes who actually exist in that universe. Seriously, would that even be good footage? I suppose getting shots of them at all would be impressive. We may think that’d be cool, but did people die to get those? That may be the darkest thought in the Netflix universe, or at least the darkest thought in Luke Cage.
Those are the first thoughts behind the pilot of Luke Cage. Though somewhat basic, the show looks like it will be surprisingly lighter and a more hopeful take on the downtown hero for hire. Of course, being on Netflix with a sad backstory, things are bound to go downhill for our heroes, but this twist can add a satisfying development into the superhero origin, a milestone in representation, and a good soundtrack.
