The first episode of Luke Cage had little to no action and I liked it that way. The exposition was rich with Harlem history as if Luke and Pops were speaking against a pervasive gang culture that still holds true in Black and Hispanic NYC today. As the show progresses, Luke becomes a symbol of African American excellence. One scene in particular stands out. When Cage is staring out at the Crispus Attucks complex, he lectures the young African American boy about the history of the N-word and the pride that comes with being a black man. These are subject matters I know very little about and don't feel equipped to discuss, but damn it's powerful. And just like that, in episode two, I was committed to watching the show. I expected it to follow in the steps of Fruitvale Station by talking about inner city culture and conflict, while also appeasing a white voyeuristic audience. But it seems the latter part (and I believe to its detriment) of that demographic won out because the ending of the show exists merely to remind you its a marvel comic. The flurry of deaths and deep rooted corruption with an oversaturation of backstory and potential love interests muddle the amazing race/inner city work Luke Cage does/could do.
On top of that, all that extra shit is god awful. Wildcard characters like Diamondback, who would have been served better by a slow drawn out reveal, are arbitrarily thrust into the action, completely making all former adversaries sort of meaningless. Luke's relationship with the wise Latina doctor, whose existence serves as a connecting thread for the extended Marvel universe, actually takes away from the Luke Cage universe. She could have been introduced at the end with all the other nonsense. We didn't need alien guns or any of that stuff in the middle of season 1. All we needed was The Wire-esque gang banging operations that are thwarted through a combination of the efforts of Luke and Misty. The symbolic power of an African American vigilante character, finally being able to put his differences aside when approached by a cop who is actually germane to the neighborhood she serves would provide an alternate template and narrative for the current hostilities we see today. Instead we get some weird ass vendetta that I didn't completely understand or bother to care about. There's still nuggets of a good show in the second and third act of Luke Cage. The back story concerning Cottonmouth and the blind rage over sexual assault were incredibly powerful (I felt the sexual assault mention was completely mishandled). Yet the moment the random lackey comes in and begins to steer Cottonmouth's cousin as if she had not been an established politician for years seemed unbelievable and frankly a bit unsettling. The house of cards built in the first act is destroyed far too quickly with little to no mourning period. The message is "all that stuff about race and culture that was just to cover our bases cause we're touching a minority super hero," now it's time to get to the real stuff. And I mean let's face it, the original source material, while progressive for its time, was still created by three white comic geeks who were far more wrapped up in universe building, than any facet of minority issues.
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