Luke Cage Review: A Dillard or a Stokes (Season 2 Episodes 7-9)

The first half of Luke Cage Season 2 has been a strong, character-driven story and the second half looks to be even better.

Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 7, “On and On,” Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 8, “If It Ain’t Rough, It Ain’t Right,” and especially Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 9, “For Pete’s Sake” have, by far, been the best episodes of the season.

Just like the first half, the second half of Luke Cage Season 2 is full of rich visuals, a stellar soundtrack, and fantastic dialogue. Only now we’ve gotten to know the characters better and as different stories come together plot points from earlier in the season are starting to pay off.

The story has become more cohesive and the characters’ relationships more defined.

Much of Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 7-9 centers on Bushmaster’s (Mustafa Shakir) single-minded pursuit of the Mariah and his obsessive grudge against the Stokes family. We also learn more about Mariah and her daughter and how their past informs current events.

One of the most intriguing relationships explored in these episodes is that of Luke (Mike Colter) and his father, James. This fraught relationship and history is one of the central stories of the season and it culminates in these episodes.

When Luke’s father first approaches him with a desire to reconcile, Luke rejects the offer. Now, though, circumstances have forced them to together and all those truths Luke wanted to avoid start making their way to the surface.

Luke is forced to see his father as more than the image in his memories and James must contend with his past mistakes. It’s a painfully difficult process that comes in fits of anger and then moments of understanding as both men grapple with their past.

It should also be mentioned that Reg E. Cathey, who plays James, is fantastic in this role. He brings a mix of humanity and ego, defensiveness and regret.

Cathey’s performance makes it as difficult for the viewer to decide whether or not to forgive James as it is for Luke. James isn’t perfect but he isn’t the monster Luke thought he was either and because of that we go through the same emotional conflict that Luke does.

Luke and his father aren’t the only ones dealing with the repercussions of their past. Shades’s (Theo Rossi) relationship with Comanche (Thomas Q. Jones) comes to a head in heartbreaking fashion and we learn more about the history fueling Bushmaster’s drive for revenge.

All of these stories are thoughtfully written, beautifully acted, and executed with excellence but once again it is Alfre Woodard’s Mariah that steals the show.

Episodes 7-9 see Mariah start to unravel and force her to decide who and what she is.

For the entire season, Mariah has been trying to reconcile two versions of herself, Mariah Stokes the gun runner and criminal and Mariah Dillard the community leader.

In early episodes, she seems to be trying to transform her family legacy and escape her past, or at the very least find a way for those two identities to co-exist. But it never feels natural.

For most of the first half of the season, there’s a tension and conflict within Mariah that viewers can feel. It’s an energy that makes her seem unsettled, maybe even unstable, because those two identities are not compatible.

At first, it appears to be outside forces of some sort that keep tying her to the Stokes legacy. Everything she does to move forward seems to fall apart and she finds herself being pulled back into a world she’s trying to move beyond.

What becomes clear as the season progresses though, is that it is not some sort of fate or curse. She refuses to fully let go and as a result, she can never completely embrace the identity that her Dillard name represents.

One interesting way this dichotomy plays out is through relationships and choices that pull Mariah in different directions. Most notably in the contrast between her relationship with daughter, Tilda (Gabrielle Dennis), and her lover, Shades.

Tilda clearly represents the Dillard identity and possible redemption. Mariah’s relationship with Shades on the other hand, while sincere, is toxic and represents the unsavory darkness she claims to be trying to clean up.

As a viewer part of you wants to see her make the moral choice and do the right thing. But the Mariah Stokes that starts to emerges more forcefully as each line to her Dillard identity is cut is ultimately far more interesting.

Watching Mariah’s transformation as she begins to embrace her Stokes identity more completely is hands down one of the best parts of Season 2. That uneasy tension that Mariah starts the season with gives way to a blunt honesty that completely engrossing.

The writing is, of course, superb, but it’s Woodard that’s pulls everything together. Every choice she makes is perfect, every note she hits is sublime.

It cannot be stressed enough the power and nuance that Woodard brings to every scene she’s in and especially scenes where she drops the Dillard facade.

A particularly impressive example of Woodard’s craft comes on “For Pete’s Sake” when Mariah reveals some long-hidden secrets to her daughter. Woodard in this scene is nothing less than mesmerizing.

She is completely raw but never out of control. It’s a scene that can be watched multiple times and always reveal some new tick or choice Woodard makes that complicates her character.

She manages to make Mariah the monster her daughter sees her as but never loses the audience’s sympathy. There is more tragedy at this moment than malice, and it comes down to how Woodard chooses to play the scene.

There are still four episodes left of this season. There is still a lot of Mariah’s story left to tell.

It’s unclear just how far into that moral nihilism Mariah will descend but there is little doubt that both the character and the actress will continue to be the best part of a season filled with a lot of really good things.

What did you think of these episodes of Luke Cage? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Luke Cage is currently streaming on Netflix.

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