Luke Cage

Starring: Mike Colter (26 episodes), Simone Missick (26 episodes), Theo Rossi (23 episodes), Alfre Woodard (23 episodes), Justin Swain (15 episodes), Sean Ringgold (14 episodes), John Clarence Stewart (13 episodes), Karen Pittman (12 episodes), Ron Cephas Jones (12 episodes), Jeremiah Craft (12 episodes), Mustafa Shakir (11 episodes), Rosario Dawson (11 episodes), Gabrielle Dennis (10 episodes), Kevin Mambo (9 episodes), Jaiden Kane (9 episodes), Peter Jay Fernandez (8 episodes), Thomas Q. Jones (8 episodes), Sahr Ngaujah (8 episodes), Antonique Smith (8 episodes), Reg E. Cathey (8 episodes), Erik LaRay Harvey (7 episodes), Frank Whaley (7 episodes), Danny Johnson (7 episodes), Tijuana Ricks (7 episodes), Heather Simms (7 episodes), Mahershala Ali (7 episodes), Jacob Vargas (6 episodes), Chaz Lamar Shepherd (6 episodes), Deborah Ayorinde (6 episodes), Jade Wu (6 episodes), Tarah Rodgers (5 episodes) Michael Kostroff (4 episodes), Cassandra Freeman (4 episodes), Sonia Braga (4 episodes), Annabella Sciorra (2 episodes), Faith Evans (2 episodes), Finn Jones (1 episode), Elden Henson (1 episode), Jessica Henwick (1 episode), Rachael Taylor (1 episode), Method Man (1 episode), Ghostface Killah (1 episode)
Directed by: Andy Goddard (2 episodes), Marc Jobst (2 episodes), Clark Johnson (2 episodes), Stephen Surjik (2 episodes), Paul McGuigan (2 episodes), Phil Abraham (1 episode), Vincenzo Natali (1 episode), Lucy Liu (1 episode), George Tillman Jr. (1 episode)
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Action, Drama
2016-2018

Seasons Seen:
Tim: 1 - 2

Summary: An experiment gone wrong gives Luke Cage (Mike Colter) incredible strength and impenetrable skin. He uses his powers to defend Harlem from the criminals who seek to use it for their own gain.

Review:
Tim: When Netflix and Marvel announced their Defenders partnership, I was beyond excited. The plan was to recreate the process that led to The Avengers' success. In this case, you introduce four different street-level heroes in New York City, giving each of them a 13-episode season. You follow that up with a combined Defenders mini-series. It was a brilliant, ambitious idea. While it didn't pan out as well as originally conceived, it was still a heck of a fun ride while it lasted. "Luke Cage" was the third Netflix/Marvel series and it put an African-American superhero in the spotlight. While I had some issues with the show, I mostly feel appreciative that this series existed at all. Overall, this is a success.

Luke Cage was the first black superhero to be featured as a protagonist in a comic book. That was groundbreaking at the time and this series was groundbreaking within the MCU for the same reason (although we've had great supporting heroes like Falcon and War Machine). I loved how this film embraced black culture, as that is so essential to who Luke Cage is. It was different from the first two series in that it wasn't set in Hell's Kitchen- this one primarily takes place in Harlem and you got to see that different culture and lifestyle portrayed here. One could argue that Luke Cage's roots were somewhat exploiting black culture, so it was a terrific move for this series to fully embrace that culture and make it a major part of the character and the series. I loved how that felt so different to the typical white (oftentimes rich) superheroes that have made up the vast majority of film and television series thus far. This series featured a surprising number of musical performances from black artists and that alone differentiated it fromt he other series.

It helps immensely that this series cast Mike Colter as Luke. I can't stress enough what a perfect casting choice this was. He physically looks the part, but he embraces the character's beliefs and personality as well. Colter's performance hits all the right notes and was a joy to watch. Simone Missick was also well cast as Misty Knight. She brought a great strength and stubbornness to the character. She emerged as one of the best characters on the show. I love how she stands on her own- she's a compelling, entertaining character whose story is fascinating, even completely disconnected from Luke's story. When she shows up, it feels like her story happens to be crossing with Luke's- never that she was dependent on him. Missick deserves great credit for bringing this character to life and I loved how instrumental she was in this series.

Continuing this theme, Theo Rossi was one of the breakout stars of the show. His Shades was one of the coolest characters on the show and one of my favorite MCU antagonists. I just loved how different his character was, and how Rossi subverted expectations. I oftentimes felt mesmerized by his performance. Alfre Woodard was mostly good as Mariah Dillard. Woodard is a great actress, so it was fun to watch her in such a scenery-chewing role. She embraced this meaty role and really made the character memorable. Now, I wasn't always pleased with how her character was handled. She oftentimes (especially in Season 2) was given too large a role- she's interesting, but not compelling enough to support all the screen time she was given. I wish she was used a bit more sparingly. Still, she gave a remarkable performance. I also have to geek out about how good Mahershala Ali was. Although he's now a 2-time Academy Award winner, in some ways, he'll always be Cottonmouth to me. He was one of the highlights of the first season. It feels like a blessing that this film got this great actor right before he exploded in Hollywood (and his performance here certainly didn't hurt). There were a number of other strong supporting characters, most notably Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, the connective character for all these shows. She got more to do in this series than any of the others, and the whole thing is better because of that.

Now, as much as I enjoyed "Luke Cage", I do have some complaints. The first season was compelling, but it felt like it moved at a glacial pace. The story wasn't involved enough or interesting enough to support 13 episodes. There were way too many dull moments, too many scenes that were unnecessary or unnecessarily drawn out. I felt it during Season 1, but it really became apparent in the second season. All the Netflix/Marvel shows felt like they suffered big quality drops in their second seasons. That happened here. In the first season, Cottonmouth and Mariah made great antagonists. In the second season, Bushmaster just didn't live up to the bar set by them. The first season was really good, yet kind of slow. The second season was oftentimes difficult to sit through. The second season didn't have Ali, or Frank Whaley to boost our attention. It featured too little of Dawson, especially the back half of the season. I still enjoyed the show, but the second season's story wasn't as good. The quality clearly dropped and that was worrisome.

That being said, I still felt disappointed when I heard that Netflix had canceled the series (with just a tiny bit of relief). I wish the adventures of the Hero of Harlem could have continued. Maybe things would have turned around in Season 3- after all, the quality drop here was significantly less than "Jessica Jones". I suppose it's time to move on, and there's always the possibility that Marvel revives the character at some point in the future. For what it's worth, I mostly feel appreciative that we got 26 episodes of "Luke Cage"- it proved that a show could depart from the typical format and still be a compelling entertainment. This was a good series.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Series, We Recommend: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Defenders