I'm using the final episode of Season 2 of "Luke Cage" to comment on it as a whole. The battle for Harlem continues from Season 1 with Luke in jail and Mariah Stokes / Dillard seemingly in control, with the slippery Shades at her side, in more ways than one. Misty gets a new arm, Claire clears off and there's a new menace in town, the Jamaican powered big-baddie for most of this run, named Bushmaster who uses the native plant nightshade to give him super-strength the equal of Luke's. There's a surprise appearance by Mariah's daughter Tilda and more is revealed about the past relationship between Comanche and Shades. Also, the new, older, black senior cop cuts Mariah a lot of slack as they apparently go way back...
Okay, so there's more than enough there to play out a 13 episode series and indeed some of the episodes actually clocked in at more than hour. I appreciated that almost every main character was of non-white origin, but the converse of this welcome diversity is that I had to listen to a lot of rap music, especially in the closing episodes which does nothing at all for me. I also tired of all the hip, gangsta' language which wasn't helped by the heavy patois of the Jamaican insurgents either. And if I'm forced to look at that awful Basquiat painting of the Notorious B. I. G, I think I'll vandalise it myself.
Luke's character proved big and bad-ass enough to carry the sometimes over-extended plot through episodes 1 to 13 and it was good to see Danny Iron Fist Rand make a guest showing near the end. Some of the blues and reggae music played by real artists at the Harlem Paradise was entertaining too.
These are just some of my impressions taking in what was a long and sometimes gruelling series. I loved the New York locations, the acting standard was consistently high but I still feel that getting rid of the Cottonmouth character halfway through Series One was a mistake from which the series never quite recovered.
Still, I was sorry it wasn't picked up for a third season but the story seemed to complete its natural arc and if nothing else I was pleased in the end that Luke at least got to replace the Basquiat with a dynamite poster of Mohammed Ali, another Black Superman, instead...
