Jump to content

Luke Cage II - No Spoilers


The BlackBear

Recommended Posts

Watched episodes 10 and 11 last night.

People refer often to The Wire when discussing this season.  But there is at least as much going on in this season of Luke Cage that could -- almost -- be in conversation with Treme and its focus on the culture and music of New Orleans.

Spoiler

 

One cannot avoid noticing this in the episode of Brooklyn's annual Labor Day weekend Caribbean parade.   Which is why I say 'almost' in conversation with Treme, because shooting and recording live audio simultaneously of such parades is really, really, really difficult.  I've never seen anything on screen that has rivaled the brilliance of how Treme did it.

Luke Cage has some stock shots of the Brooklyn Festival, and thin decor of a few figures trailing across the screen in feathers with music dubbed in.

This makes me wonder how much of what is supposed to be in Jamaica in the show is also stock shots and then recreations?  If recreation in the studio, etc. they did do that a bit better than those scenes in Boardwalk Empire that were supposed to be in Miami and Cuba, which were so blatantly fake, and neither Florida nor Cuba.

It kind of tells me that the team of Luke Cage is continuing to learn, and they are learning from the best, both the right things and the wrong things the best accomplished.

I'm a little less pleased with making at least two women -- Mariah and her grandmother, Mabel -- the worst of the worst villain-wise, ratcheting up our hatred of them, while our sympathy is racheted for both Bushmaster and Shades.  It's that non-considered binary so central to writing super 'verses, both annoying and phony.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished watching 12 and 13.

This was not the expected finish, at least for me (recall I do not read the comix, I do not know the history, other than what I pick up now and again via here and so on).

Spoiler

I really hope next season won't be too much Dark Knight shyte goin' on here.

Also, Claire -- forever sundered?  while Tilda rises?  O dear?  And what happens to Bushmaster, who committed all those incredible crimes at least equal to Mariah's?  It seems like all that is forgotten as a really heavy night out under the influence of the most smooth rum evah will become a blank slate.  Not right, not fair.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked a lot, and I liked it a LOT more than the first season.

But I got really tired and irritated with the mannerisms Alfre Woodward pushed beyond the limit, to the point I wanted to skip over her scenes by the middle of the series, but she's in almost all of them. 

But then I'm judging, comparing against other kinds of acting in different sorts of works that aren't comix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Much better than season one so far and there hasn’t been the decline in quality that occurred after Cottonmouth won an Oscar last season. However I do find the ‘secondary’ characters far more interesting than our titular hero. Misty and Colleen together was great and Misty in general has had a great season. Mariah has been interesting as a villain but started off stronger a strong a character when they allowed a bit of nuance. Now that she’s full on irredeemable villain she is much less interesting. Though I liked the Mable/Pete hallucinations. And the shoot up of Bushmaster’s family...horrifying and brutal.

Why did Danny show up only to disappear without a trace between episodes?

i do like how much this season references the other shows though. But damnit Karen don’t endanger poor Ingrid like that by saying there’s a survivor, you are supposed to be smart.

Season needs more Claire.

oh and the music is superb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/28/2018 at 9:54 PM, Martini Sigil said:

I liked this more than S1... Alfre Woodard was great 

I am absolutely bemused by this comment. I think she may be the worst actress I've ever seen. If someone hadn't told me in the previous thread (it might have been Mormont) that she was an award winning actress I'd never have believed it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I am absolutely bemused by this comment. I think she may be the worst actress I've ever seen. If someone hadn't told me in the previous thread (it might have been Mormont) that she was an award winning actress I'd never have believed it. 

I found her acting to be a bit all over the place. There are scenes were she is very good, like the one where

Spoiler

 

she tells her the daughter the truth of her birth

 

and there are scenes where she is bad, most of those whenever she is in her office, being pissed about something. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unpopular opinion:

I found the performance of Mariah's character teeth-grindingly irritating and skin-itchingly miserable.  I just couldn't bear watching it.  If she'd dialed it back about 90% it would have been good, maybe?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/3/2018 at 10:29 AM, HelenaExMachina said:

Why did Danny show up only to disappear without a trace between episodes?

I don't know why he disappeared, but I took his involvement in Luke's story as him honoring Matt's last words, to protect the city. He tells Luke that each of them have a side of the city to protect, but Danny may keep an eye on all things, and intervene when necessary. 

Edit: Can we use spoilers now? It's been more than a week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/6/2018 at 8:52 PM, Corvinus of Teranga said:

Edit: Can we use spoilers now? It's been more than a week.

It's been two weeks, actually, and I think that's a fair point BUT I'm going to give people some warning before turning this into a spoiler thread. 48 hours should suffice.

I have some thoughts about specific stuff in the season that I'm going to leave until then, but for now some nonspoilery thoughts:

- I'm not sure if this is better than S1, but it's very good indeed overall. I liked that they moved the focus onto the ensemble more, Misty in particular. Simone Missick is great, and very easy on the eyes too. I would have liked to see more of Colleen, so long as no-one ever speaks again of the boneheaded plot twist of her being a Hand agent and they just let her get on with being awesome.

- I felt there were really strong acting performances all through the season, though nothing can touch Mahershala in S1. I doubt anything in the Marvel Netflix series ever will. Still, Missick, as noted, was great: I'm still a big fan of Mike Colter's interpretation of Luke: Reg E Cathey, it need hardly be said, is fantastic: Mustafa Shakir has the presence to put Bushmaster over: and there are a slew of small parts that I enjoyed. Ridley, Piranha, Anansi, Comanche, all excellent.

- That said, there are as usual pacing problems. It's really almost a 12 episode season with an epilogue, much as The Punisher was a 12 episode season with a prologue. And most of episode 11 was unnecessary, at least in terms of advancing the plot. There's an argument about allowing a break before the climax, but there are smarter ways to do that.

- But overall, it's a genuinely interesting exploration of the themes and characters set up in S1 and progresses them well. Really enjoyed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So I finished S2 a few days ago on a long flight. A guy a row over from me asked me what I thought of it and I let out a sigh. Before I could speak he said, "Too repetitive, huh?" Yep. There was way too much CW level heel dragging and melodrama this season. We both agreed the final act of the final episode was intriguing though--enough to bring us back for S3. Not sure if this writing team can really pull it off, but maybe. Maybe.

S2E1-7 spoilery stuff:

Spoiler
*Anyone else feel like that "surprise gift" from Danny Raynd to Misty came waaaaay too late in  the show? She should've never gone back to work w/out the prosthetic arm, but I'm guessing the writers wanted to use her trouble adjusting t life with one arm as a part of why she quit the force. This is one of the examples of CW melodrama type writing I mentioned earlier. Ditto for that scene where there are suddenly twenty people in her small office and she does the whole "get a good look at my stump" speech. 

*Loved the Scarfe flashback and how that character is still having an affect on Misty.

*That breakup (?) scene with Claire and Luke. Gawdamn! Memorable scene. Curious to see if Claire makes it back from Cuba before the season is out. Will Jessica Jones sneak back in in? Eh. Doubtful. 

*I really liked how the circumstances unfolded for him to become a hero for hire. I don't even mind how the writers are emphasizing the word "hire" in super corny ways--like Mariah's final line in S2E7. RIP Piranha.  Luke ain't ever gonna see his $300k.

*Really dug the twist they put in with the Shades storyline and his snitch buddy. I did not see that coming. That was a great little B-plot line throughout the first half of the season.

*Also, I hope we get some more clarity on Bushmaster's powers going forward. I feel like the first 7 episodes revealed just enough to explain how he knocked Luke on his ass, but I'd like some more backstory on how he got this healing factor, tough skin, and strength. I'm guessing Mariah's daughter is gonna be crucial in that regard.

*Also, is anyone else wanting to say "walk good" or "me gone" now instead of goodbye?

S2 E8-13 spoilery comments:

* Fuuuuuck. Episode 10 and the bulk of the Defenders made me actually consider watching IRON FIST S2. Somebody talk m out of it!

* Alfre Woodard is a damn great actress, but she had a lot of great scenes muffled by the repetitiveness of the story. You pretty much knew her daughter was gonna take her out, but Cersei Lannister kiss of death was a nice way to do it.

* Tilda's character never got really defined for me this season. Who is she as a person? Her becoming a killer like her "mommy" and her anger over not getting the club seemed more like convenient story points rather than action driven by character motivations.

* Luke v Johnny Bushmaster = was + rinse + repeat. After that Bridge fight there were no real stakes left to their brawls, and the fights became kinda boring. There has to be something at risk for the characters in a fight. In the last half of this season Luke was much too like Superman and Bushmaster like Wolverine.

* No resolution with Claire? Really? Pshh.

* The Godfather II reference sin the final episode were a bit heavyhanded, but I still dug it.

* You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. There's real promise for S3 to go in interesting directions, but I hope the writers take a page from the Agents of SHIELD playbook and break the season down into two arcs: King of Harlem Luke then the inevitable realization he can't protect Harlem from crime by being a criminal and either a road to redemption as a real hero, or maybe knocking up Jessica and setting up a real "heroes for hire" business. I find the Jessica hookup unlikely though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/23/2018 at 8:28 AM, Zorral said:

Finished ep 2.

  Hide contents

I really wish a hero, and that includes protagonists who aren't superheroes too, would not destroy the home of a poor woman who has by saving and scrimping and struggling put together the nicest things she could manage.  When they are this strong these guys could at least drag their opponent out into the hallway or the street.  She can't afford to replace her furniture, get a new door and windows, etc.

The music is outstanding.

Not spoiler tagging now, but I think your reaction to this was very much how the audience was supposed to react. I don't think it fully delivered on the "He needs to deal with his anger" line, but it was at least an intended theme and they absolutely followed through on it driving Claire away. I particularly appreciate the rare time a show treats a guy putting his fist through the wall as the violence it is, the face he's a supe only make that more so.

I enjoyed the season on the whole, and unlike most I really dug the Shades arc - something about the actor just works for me since his first scene in S1. The B plot with him and Commanche was one of the most emotionally impactful in the whole season for me, that that conflict drove the entire second half of the season for him made it not cheap or throwaway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/21/2018 at 6:58 AM, PetyrPunkinhead said:

* No resolution with Claire? Really? Pshh.

Well, there's a resolution of sorts. With Luke sending her away, my read is: it's over. 

On 7/21/2018 at 6:58 AM, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Tilda's character never got really defined for me this season. Who is she as a person?

My reading is that she's someone desperately trying to stake out a place of her own, out of the shadow of her mother. She initially tries to do that by emulating her father, becoming a doctor. Then she looks to a more spiritual approach, linking back to her roots, with her holistic healing. But when she finds that her father isn't even her father, that she's 100% Stokes, she stops running from that and embraces it. She feels she has no way out, and if that's the only heritage she has left, she'll just have to take it over. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/4/2018 at 7:58 PM, BigFatCoward said:

Finally finished. Now that Mariah is gone I'm looking forward to subsequent seasons. 

I thought it was meant to be no spoilers. Or has enough time passed now?

I thought the season was OK. But going back to the Stokes family well a second time felt like treading water. And of course the end set things up for that conflict to continue.

Has Luke completely broken up with Claire? I saw a video article saying that Rosario Dawson wanted less time demands because she wanted to be with her family more. Given she is in pretty much every Marvel Netflix series, it was a pretty heavy demand on her. So I guess we maybe expect to see her only occasionally, and perhaps they decide to pivot her to Night Nurse proper, and we might get the added benefit of sparking up the Luke-Jessica relationship again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I thought it was meant to be no spoilers. Or has enough time passed now?

 

Sorry. I've deleted. Thought it was so long that it would be ok now. Should have checked the thread title. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually mormont a month ago said it should be ok to use spoilers.

On 7/8/2018 at 7:40 PM, mormont said:

I'm going to give people some warning before turning this into a spoiler thread. 48 hours should suffice.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...