Luke Cage: The Main Ingredient
June 30, 2018 8:32 PM - Season 2, Episode 10 - Subscribe

Danny Rand insists on helping Luke hunt for Bushmaster--the Iron Fist way. Mariah sets out to reclaim her empire. Misty pursues a traitor. (written by Akela Cooper, directed by Andy Goddard)

AV Club review - A playful Luke Cage feels unbalanced, out of place this late in the season

*Luke walks to Pop's, and is harangued by various people for being beaten by Bushmaster. At Pop's, D.W. shows off his array of Luke Cage t-shrts, but laments their lack of sales. Danny Rand arrives (having tracked him down with the 'Harlem's Hero' app) and says that since they agreed to defend Manhattan together, and Harlem is part of Manhattan, he's going to help him recapture Bushmaster. Luke reluctantly agrees to accept his help.

*At the precinct, Misty looks at old photos of Nandi on her computer. Later, she brings Bailey into the interrogation room where he finds Ridley waiting. They ask if he knows where Nandi is, but he says no, and they tell him that her keycard records show that she was in the viewing room of interrogation at the exact time that Misty revealed the safe house location to Ridley.

*At Harlem's Paradise, Mariah and Shades arrive with Ben Donovan, who tells her he has restored her ownership of the club and reversed the transfer of all her funds, as he got the transfers declared invalid due to Pirhana's death revealing that he was under duress when he exercised his power of attorney.

*At Pop's, Luke suffers through Danny meditating until D.W. interjects. Danny asks Luke about the fight with Bushmaster, prompting Luke to realize that an injured Bushmaster would have sought medical attention from an 'off the books' doctor. They go to Tilda's show and find it empty and somewhat ransacked. They find a book with notes on nightshade, and Luke finds a scrap of cloth from Bushmaster's shirt, and realizes he's going to have to ask Mariah where Tilda is.

*At the club, Shades returns Mama Mabel's gun to Mariah, now that he believes he can trust her again. Her henchminions bring Anansi into her office.

*At the precinct, Bailey scans security footage for Misty and finds Nandi's exit from Harlem's Paradise. Ridley authorizes them to check her credit history, and they find her Uber booking. Later, they catch her at the airport before she tries to sneak away on a private jet. Back at the precinct in interrogation, Misty reminisces with Nandi about the time she reported a fellow teammate for stealing an iPod, but reveals she learned it was a setup to get the best player kicked off the team so that Nandi would look the best to the scouts. Nandi insists she did no wrong by claiming the bounty on Mariah, that it was giving Mariah the immunity deal that was the true crime.

*Luke and Danny arrive at Harlem's Paradise and speak to Mariah, but she has no idea (and doesn't care) where Tilda is. Danny advises Luke to balance his chi, and Luke thinks of another source of info. The duo find Turk, who is running a head shop now. He tells them that the word on the street is that all the gangs are pissed at the Jamaicans for driving everyone out of the weed business. Luke and Danny invade a grow house, beat up a bunch of guys, and find a special greenhouse where they're trying to cultivate nightshade for Bushmaster, but the flowers won't bloom properly without the Jamaican soil. Danny sets the building on fire, but tells Luke he's had Rand Industries buy the property.

*At the precinct, Nandi is walked out of the building under the disapproving eyes of all the cops. Ridley calls Misty into her office and tells her she wants her to take command permanently once Ridley returns to Police Plaza.

*Shades tells Mariah about the grow-house building fire, as they are walking a blindfolded Anansi down the street. Sugar tells another henchman that this isn't what he signed up for, and he's quitting, and walks away despite the man pulling a gun on him.

*Mariah, Shades, and her crew enter Gwen's restaurant and Mariah has her men shoot every person in the restaurant, to Shades' horror. Anansi's blindfold is removed, to show him the carnage. He curses Mariah, and she sets him on fire. Later, she celebrates at the club.

*At Genghis Connie's Too, Danny admits that Claire asked him to check up on Luke.
posted by oh yeah! (6 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm never going to be enthusiastic about an Iron Fist appearance, but I guess that was... tolerable? The 'patty cake' punch was neat, at least. But I agree with the AV Club that it's jarring to have the 'Power Man & Iron Fist' buddy comedy plot in the same episode with Mariah going on a mass-murder spree that ends with setting a man on fire.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:34 AM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yep, this just the right amount of Danny Rand.
posted by Pendragon at 1:34 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


ON the one hand, the restaurant massacre was genuinely horrifying. Black Mariah is truly toxic, killing innocents all around her.

On the other hand, and actual Fastball special! On screen! The X-Men will sue!

...Yeah, that is some major, MAJOR tone whiplash.
posted by happyroach at 11:03 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


I did not like the Iron Fist series one bit, but I actually liked Danny in this episode. They got his Zen goofiness just right.
posted by homunculus at 2:21 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I did not (and will not) watch Iron Fist, but Danny in his "Sweet Xmas" hoodie was pretty great.

Looks like Shades has finally figured out that Mariah is a monster.
posted by minsies at 5:25 AM on July 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


I did not (and will not) watch Iron Fist, but Danny in his "Sweet Xmas" hoodie was pretty great.

When Danny appeared in this, I hit pause, and went to rewatch PARTS of Iron Fist S01. The trick is to Fast Forward through 80% of the dialog, and just groove on the set-pieces. And Colleen. They could have saved the whole thing if they focused on her more than the brother/sister/dad/hand/blah-blah-blah...
posted by mikelieman at 9:20 PM on July 20, 2018


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