Luke Cage Review: The Monsters We Become (Season 2 Episodes 10-13)

Luke Cage Season 2 crosses the finish line with four strong episodes, Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 10, “The Main Ingredient,” Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 11, “The Creator,” Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 12, “Can’t Front On Me,” and Luke Cage Season 2 Episode 13, “They Reminisce Over You.”

The tone of these last four episodes feels slightly different from earlier episodes as dynamics have shifted and roles have evolved. It’s a bit jarring at first.

Despite an initial disorientation that pulls the viewer out of the narrative, things quickly settle into a new groove and by the end of “The Main Ingredient,” viewers are re-engaged as the show begins to reconnect with its season-long themes.

As has been the case for the entire season, Mariah (Alfre Woodard) once again makes the biggest impact as we see her not only embrace her Stokes identity but take it further than even her grandmother Mabel did before her.

Any thoughts of Mariah finding redemption or pulling back before being completely consumed by what her Stokes name represents are quickly done away with. In one exceptionally brutal scene midway through Episode 10, they make emphatically clear Mariah Dillard is no more and all that remains is a Stokes.

She not only embraces her darkness, she revels in it. The ease with which she moves as Mariah Stokes versus the nervous tension she starts the season with makes it unclear if any part of that Dillard identity she clung to early on was ever real, or if it was just a lie she told herself.

Her violent, ruthless, choice on Episode 10 seals everyone’s fate. Mariah’s story end the only way it could but it has a ripple effect that impacts every other character she’s come in contact with, including Luke (Mike Colter).

It’s not just Mariah who grapples with moral ambiguity and questions of means versus ends during Season 2. All of the main characters face pressure that forces them to decide who they are and what they’re going to be.

Season 2 of Luke Cage asks hard questions about good and evil, and about heroes and villains.

It asks how long can you live amongst monsters and how many moral compromises can you make in the name of fighting them before you become one? What toll does moral ambiguity take on your soul and are you really that different from the thing you seek to vanquish?

For character’s like Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir) and Mariah, who are already at least straddling that line between righteousness and villainy as Season 2 begins, this season is about showing where that path leads and what each compromised choice takes from their humanity, no matter how noble their intentions.

But we also see characters like Luke, Misty (Simone Missick), and Tilda (Gabrielle Dennis) walk that path and struggle with that pressure. Characters that begin the season with moral integrity flirt with darkness and blur moral line as they face situations that seem un-winnable any other way.

When Season 2 ends, it’s only Misty who seems to come out the other side morally unscathed. She’s the only one who walks right up to that line and makes the intentional choice to step back even if it means letting a monster escape.

For Luke and Tilda things aren’t so clear. The ending implies that these characters are starting down the disastrous path Bushmaster and Mariah took. But it’s left ambiguous.

It’s fair to assume that Luke will find his way back and that he’s not a Walter White figure in this story. How close he’ll come to losing himself and what will happen to Tilda are both questions for a third season, a season the creators have more than earned.

Luke Cage Season 1 was good — great even. Luke Cage Season 2 is better. Everything that was special about Season 1 is still present in Season 2 but with more confidence and depth.

The characters in Season 2, right down to the smallest supporting cast member, are complex and never easy. Each one has something to say and some role to play in the exploration of the season’s themes.

After a slow but beautifully executed start, the season gains focus, clarity and mounting tension that explode on Episode 9 and reverberate in Episodes 10-13. It’s an intense emotional ride that lives up to already high expectations and exceeds others.

Stray Thoughts

• Danny Rand makes an appearance in Episode 10. While I’m still not a fan of this version of Iron Fist, I did appreciate that they tried to incorporate the more of the lovable charm of the comic book version. Maybe they can find some of that for Iron Fist Season 2 as well.
• It’s unclear whether Claire (Rosario Dawson) and Luke will reconcile, but given that Luke and Jessica are the lasting couple from the source material, I’ve been worried about what that might mean for Claire’s character. I was relieved when they avoided clichés that made both Luke and Claire unsympathetic or Claire some sort of tragic motivator for Luke (at least for now). Their break felt believable and worthy of both characters. Whether this is the end for this couple or not, I was satisfied.
• I was very sad to see at the end of Episode 13 that Reg E. Cathey, who plays Luke’s Father, had passed since filming his part in Season 2. I was also disappointed that it meant we likely wouldn’t be seeing James Lucas again. He was an excellent addition to Season 2.
• As with most of the Marvel shows on Netflix, the fight scenes in Luke Cage Season 2 were excellent. Fights between Luke and Bushmaster and team-ups with Misty were especially well done.
• The final scene between Misty and Luke is a direct reference to the Godfather. It is less than subtle but still nicely played. If anyone watching the series didn’t know that the Godfather was an inspiration for the season, they did by the end of that scene.
• Alfre Woodard left some big shoes for the next Luke Cage villain to fill. As much as the series is about Luke Cage, this was Woodard and Mariah’s show all the way.

What did you think of Luke Cage Season 2 Episodes 10-13? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Luke Cage is currently streaming on Netflix

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