Age Rating: Violence
Cast:
Mike Colter as Luke Cage
Simone Missick as Mercedes “Misty” Knight
Theo Rossi as Hernan “Shades” Alvarez
Gabrielle Dennis as Tilda Johnson
Mustafa Shakir as John “Bushmaster” McIver
Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard
Reg E. Cathey as James Lucas
Created By: Cheo Hodari Coker

After clearing his name, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) has become a celebrity on the streets of Harlem with a reputation as bulletproof as his skin. But being so visible has only increased his need to protect the community and find the limits of who he can and can’t save. With the rise of a formidable new foe, Luke is forced to confront the fine line that separates a hero from a villain.

Note: Features spoilers for Luke Cage Season 1

My last tv review was of Iron Fist Season 1, ever since then, The Defenders, The Punisher Season 1 and Jessica Jones Season 2 have all come out and I’ve watched them but I haven’t reviewed them (I may end up reviewing those seasons later on). I recall the first season of Luke Cage well, the first half was really good with great characters and storylines and was a gritty crime drama, and the second half had a massive quality drop and tonal change, becoming really silly and goofy. As whole it is solid but still felt like a mixed bag. So I was really not sure what Season 2 would bring us. On the whole, Season 2 it works quite well and is a noticeable upgrade over the first season, for the mere fact that it is a lot more consistent in quality. Like with most of the other shows, it can still feel drawn out, and on top of that Luke really wasn’t as good here as he was in Season 1. But Season 2 is still a pretty good season and well worth a lot of praise, and it’s a shame that this is the last season of the show before it was cancelled.

Season 2 has yet another one of the Netflix marvel issues, with it being 13 episodes long and once again it does feel drawn out. However, even if the episodes pacing slow down quite a bit, usually they end up making up for it by having great character and acting moments or something similar like that, so you don’t feel like your time is being wasted or anything. There’s lots of storylines going on at once and they all interwoven well, some are more interesting than others but I generally liked them all. The supporting characters were quite interesting and had their own stories going on while Luke was having his. A theme I noticed that was constant throughout this season is the relationship between parents and their children, with Luke Cage reuniting with his father and Mariah Dillard reuniting with her daughter. As for how this season ends, it’s not bad but it’s a really weird way to end the season, bit of a cliff-hanger. The end of the season puts Luke in an interesting position that makes me interested in what direction he’ll go in next time we see him on screen. And I don’t mean next season because as I said, Luke Cage got cancelled, so I’m not sure how or where his story will continue next.

Luke Cage as a character in the first season actually worked well even if some of the supporting characters shined a little more than him, it still felt like his shot. Unfortunately, he has downgraded from the first season. Mike Colter still plays the role as best as he can, but he can’t help but feel rather uninteresting and at times annoying and downright unlikable, especially early in the season. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really get much better as the season progresses, he doesn’t go on a noticeable character arc. Danny Rand/Iron Fist in his second season has managed to improve upon all of his faults and became a better character than the first. Luke did the opposite here. Simone Missick as Misty Knight is once again a highlight in this show, here she’s dealing with the aftermath of the events of The Defenders where she got one of her hand cut off (and yes she eventually gets a robotic hand to replace it). She’s also really good in this season as well. Another standout from the first season is Theo Rossi as Shades and he’s also great here. He’s one of the most interesting characters in the show and you don’t really know what he’s going to do next, it’s hard pinning down his character. He has a lot of scenes with Mariah Dillard (who I’ll get into a little later). In terms of new characters, the biggest standout is the late great Reg E. Cathey as James Lucas, Luke Cage’s father. The two of them have a rocky relationship and it was interesting seeing how their relationship was developing. Cathey does give a final great performance and the scenes between him and Colter are really good. We also get some brief but solid appearances by Finn Jones as Danny Rand and Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing (from Iron Fist) and they all feel like they should actually be there and they serve a purpose, it’s not just a reminder that all these shows are connected.

Season 1 had one great villain in Cottonmouth and one really poor villain with Diamondback. This time, the two villains this season were both great, them being Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir) and Mariah Dillard (Alfred Woodard). It does feel like the show switches between the two villains in terms of focus at times, like one would be the one that Luke Cage has to deal with and then it switches to the other. Bushmaster is a great villain, and like many of the Netflix marvel villains has his own backstory that explain his action and motivations. On top of that, he’s also is a physical threat to Luke Cage and he doesn’t need a goofy suit like Diamondback to do it, so that adds another threatening aspect to him. Mariah Dillard was established in the previous season and she was good, it established her as someone going on a darker path once she kills Cottonmouth (which coincidentally signalled the drop of quality for the rest of the season). In season 2 however, she’s on another level. She goes into way darker territory this time, and Woodard is fantastic in the role. She’s a complicated character and you see that in scenes with her daughter, and it’s just interesting seeing what she would do next. Woodard’s performance is among the highlights of this season, she has some truly fantastic scenes here. I know some people however didn’t really find her character all that great so if you didn’t like her in the first season, just a heads up that you’re going to see a lot of her in the second season.

Like with the first season, Luke Cage does well to separate itself from all the other Marvel Netflix shows with its style, and much of its style has continued over to the second season. Generally the show is directed rather well. The action in Luke Cage is some of the weakest of the Netflix shows. Not that I blame the show too much, it’s hard to have the main character feel like he’s vulnerable against enemies while also being invincible. Jessica Jones has abilities but most of the show is her using her other skills instead so she isn’t involved in too many fighting scenes. With Luke Cage however, some of the ‘fight scenes’ are usually obligatory, to show off that Luke is bulletproof. The reason that it is rather poor is that it usually ends up being Luke walking into a room, people try to fight or shoot him (obviously failing), he knocks them out or gets them to give up information, rinse and repeat. To their credit, they do spice it up with some fights between him and Bushmaster, which are entertaining because Bushmaster can actually hold his own against Cage (in fact its usually Cage who has the more trouble during these fights). Also like in the first season, the fights are all filmed pretty well, you can actually see what’s going on. However, I think its pretty clear that the show’s highlights are more with the characters and the story than the fight/action scenes.

Season 2 of Luke Cage still does have its faults, it can be slow and drawn out, there isn’t much tension in the fight scenes (again), and Luke has downgraded as a character. However, it is much more consistent than Season 1, the supporting characters are great and it just felt better and was solid overall. It’s unfortunate that we aren’t getting another season, it was getting better. I’m not sure when or where we’ll see Luke Cage or the rest of the characters again but hopefully it’ll be soon.