Luke Cage: Who's Gonna Take the Weight?
October 1, 2016 7:33 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe

In the aftermath of a chaotic event at a favorite Harlem hangout, Luke heeds the call to action and hits Cottonmouth where he'll feel it most.

AV Club binge review - An exhilarating Luke Cage brings the ruckus

Luke: You should know that about me by now. I like to get things done.


*Luke and Cottonmouth cross paths at the funeral home while making arrangements for Pop's ceremony. Cottonmouth tries to put all the blame for Pop's murder on Tone, but Luke isn't having it.
*Bobby Fish and Luke talk in the shuttered barber shop. Fish says it will take $80K to get the shop in the clear from the banks.
*Misty & Scarfe interview Chico in the hospital and try to convince him to testify against Cottonmouth, and Misty meets Luke in the hallway and voices her suspicion that he somehow brought all this trouble onto Pop.
*Chico tells Luke all the details about Cottonmouth's organization from Dante; Luke hits a few stash houses, leaving behind twisted guns and a broken-open safe full of money.
*Mariah & Cottonmouth talk on a park bench outside the Crispus Attucks Center, where he has decided to move all of his assets for safekeeping from further raids.
*Back at the police station, Misty tells Scarfe about her history with Pop, and her suspicions about Luke's involvement in the raids.
*Domingo comes to the club and tells Cottonmouth he wants a refund or his merchandise from the failed gun sale, and Cottonmouth refuses.
*Luke invades the 'Fort Knoxified' Crispus Attucks Center, shielding himself with a ripped off car door and the sound of Wu-Tang Clan's "Bring Da Ruckus," leaving behind a trail of only-injured men and nearly all of Cottonmouth's criminal assets, just taking a duffel-bag's worth of cash to be put to good use.
*Back at the station, Misty & Scarfe view pictures of the crime scene. Misty is sure that Luke must be the man in the hoody. Scarfe says he's happy to let superhero vigilantes do his job for him. He gets a call from Chico and goes to meet him under a bridge; when Chico says he's ready to come forward against Cottonmouth, Scarfe strangles him to death with his tie and brings the body to Cottonmouth to dispose of, telling him that Luke is responsible for the day's raids and where to find him.
*Cottonmouth fires a rocket launcher at Luke inside Genghis Connie's.
posted by oh yeah! (19 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I'm not even sure why, but I didn't see Chico's death by Scarfe (and tie) coming. Also not sure why it didn't occur to me that someone was on Cottonmouth's payroll.

Also was not expecting the rocket launcher.
posted by dinty_moore at 9:22 AM on October 1, 2016 [5 favorites]


I'm not even sure why, but I didn't see Chico's death by Scarfe (and tie) coming.

Me neither - it makes sense in retrospect, given his cynicism, but before that scene it just seemed like he was going to slot into the generic 'jaded partner to idealistic/wonder-cop' or 'token white guy' role. Poor Chico.

Loved the conversation between Mariah and Stokes on the park bench. I kinda wanted to transcribe some pull quotes, but their dialogues are all so good I'm afraid if I pause too much for them I won't finish the binge-watch by Sunday.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:50 AM on October 1, 2016 [3 favorites]


I don't want to give myself too much credit, but as he was taking off his tie I thought, "Oh no..."
posted by ODiV at 9:55 AM on October 1, 2016 [5 favorites]


I think that scene was the first time the show had bothered with what Scarfe is doing when Knight isn't nearby, which for me was the biggest warning of what was about to happen.

Rocket launcher I had to rewind to watch that again, it was so out there, though.
posted by RobotHero at 10:16 AM on October 1, 2016 [3 favorites]


Cops on the payroll was such a big part of Daredevil that I was hoping that Scarfe would be clean, but I had a terrible feeling about that meeting under the bridge as he started undressing.

The assault on Crispus Attucks was worth the price of admission by itself. If the next 10 episodes are just a static picture of Luke Cage's gravestone, having been killed in the explosion, I still won't complain.

Between this & Jessica Jones, I'm really going to need a Marvel Netflix "Fuck Doors" supercut now.
posted by Jugwine at 4:56 PM on October 1, 2016 [11 favorites]


I don't want to give myself too much credit, but as he was taking off his tie I thought, "Oh no..."

Yeah, me too. I knew it was coming when Chico started talking about 'doing his part now.' There was no way Stokes was going down so fast, ergo Scarfe was going to ice him. Made his conversation with Misty about how great Cage was so much funnier in retrospect.

Rocket launcher I had to rewind to watch that again, it was so out there, though.

I loved it. Reminded me so hard of Buffy vs. The Judge. (Also, it's totally appropriate, given that Stokes is a gun runner with access to Justin Hammer-grade weapons tech.)
posted by mordax at 6:22 PM on October 1, 2016


When Luke kicks ass in the Crispus Attucks Center, I expected the song from the trailer to play. Up tempo, with the rhythm suiting the action. But the episode had some other, slower song. Was that what everyone else heard? Is the song unique to the trailer, or is the episode region dependent? e.g. The theme music for House M.D. changes depending on region you watch it in.

What I don't understand is the money. Cottonmouth's dozen gym bags are reported to hold $7 million and make up 80% of his cash.

That directly contradicts the first two episodes where he's giving one bag of cash at a time to Mariah to pay back a loan. He clearly had much more money available. Sloppy writing, or am I missing something?

I saw the tie thing the second he started loosening it, without his partner present, with just the two of them, no other witnesses, under a bridge.

What I have no idea about is episode 4. Does Connie Lin (Restaurant owner) survive? I hate to see her go the way of Pop. But then again maybe she's written out as an antidote to vigilantism.

Enjoying it immensely.

Re: Bechdel test. The "Strung Out Girl" is credited as that, no name.
posted by ecco at 7:06 PM on October 1, 2016


When Luke kicks ass in the Crispus Attucks Center, I expected the song from the trailer yt to play. Up tempo, with the rhythm suiting the action. But the episode had some other, slower song. Was that what everyone else heard? Is the song unique to the trailer, or is the episode region dependent? e.g. The theme music for House M.D. changes depending on region you watch it in.

It would be pretty unusual for a teaser trailer to use the same music/score as the actual scene, I don't think the difference has anything to do with region-coding, more to do with the teaser being a shortened version of the raid and that the Wu-Tang Clan song used in the full scene has language too explicit for a wide-release trailer.

(Loving all the music in the series, but I'm pretty ignorant on the subject, hoping filthy light thief comes through the threads at some point and posts about it.)
posted by oh yeah! at 7:43 PM on October 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Loved the conversation between Mariah and Stokes on the park bench.

Yeah, their dialogues feel like the cerebral core of the show. Mariah seems to believe what she's saying, but there's a kind of jaded edge to her that makes me think she used to be more idealistic until the world ground her down.

This episode also established a very clear Breaking Bad-style colour motif with the two of them. Luke's fight with Stokes' crew in "Fort Knox" takes place through and endless series of lime green hallways. Then he suddenly breaks through into Mariah's red/umber office. And then we see that Stoke's nightclub has walls of the same umber colour, with lime green lowlights under the bar.

Looking back, I noticed that the hospital and police station both have a muted version of the lime green colour on their walls (with the police station being decorated in beige, but featuring a green colour cast applied in post-processing), while Pop's barber shop is decorated in a more soothing teal.

When Colon meets with Stokes, it's in a part of the latter's bar where the walls reflect yellow light that overpowers Stokes' burgundies. This echoes an earlier scene where the cops invade Stokes' stash house, which is bathed in yellow sunlight.

I don't have any theories about what the colour code is meant to signify yet, but I'll be keeping an eye out for it in future episodes.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:30 AM on October 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


I don't think the difference has anything to do with region-coding, more to do with the teaser being a shortened version of the raid and that the Wu-Tang Clan song used in the full scene has language too explicit for a wide-release trailer.

Oops, just listened to more of the teaser trailer song and Ol' Dirty Bastard would be contributing to Pop's swear jar as much as the Wu-Tang Clan. So, just a timing and intent issue then.
posted by oh yeah! at 1:00 PM on October 2, 2016


I really liked how Luke started playing the hero, Robin Hood style and how quickly it backfired on him. He did the "right," yet morally questionable thing in stealing from Cottonmouth, but he didn't think it through at all. So Genghis Connie will probably die because of good intended actions and he'll have to confront some things about himself and how far he wants to go with all this.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:27 AM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


this show, such a slow burn, all this stuff about love of fathers, meditations on honor and power and death, and then...hallway raid, garrote, or rocket launcher

you knew that kid was going to get it once he started talking platitudes, but i did not see the crooked cop coming
posted by eustatic at 10:16 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I figured he was a crooked cop from the beginning. Not sure why, I don't think they telegraphed it at all - but I wasn't surprised.

Beyond that, I love the acting in this show, the music is phenomenal, and the slow-burn approach is working for me. I'm fighting the urge to look up "Crystal Night." Her name is familiar, but I have no idea if she's a super hero, has her own comics, or is just a well known character. Don't tell me! I'm looking forward to whatever the reveal is, if there is one.

I was worried from the trailer that the soundtrack would be non-stop hip hop. I like hip hop, mind you, but it's too much of the stereotypical action-movie soundtrack whenever a black guy is on-screen.

Between this show and Atlanta I am discovering a world of new artists. We don't get music like this on the radio in my corner of the world! With that, this episode's nightclub scene was Charles Bradley - 'Ain't In A Sin
posted by kanewai at 2:25 AM on October 6, 2016


I didn't see Whaley turning out crooked before that underpass scene either, but the moment it started I thought "aw man, don't be dirty..." I'm a little disappointed that he seems garden-variety on the take too; I would have rathered we continued the morally complicated stuff and had him be skeezy in a more Vic Mackey sort of way - someone who thinks they're greasing the skids in the pursuit of an overall better life for most people, a cop counterpart to Mariah. But that's not how his scene in the bar - or his killing Chico - play out for me.

I'm fighting the urge to look up "Crystal Night."

She prefers Misty, remember?
posted by phearlez at 9:34 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm a little disappointed that he seems garden-variety on the take too...

I'm still not convinced that's completely the case. I mean, if so, then where is the money?
posted by ODiV at 9:47 AM on October 6, 2016


Was anyone else thinking, when Luke Cage told the owners of Genghis Connie's that "I got you," he was making promises he had no possible way of keeping? He can't watch them 24/7. Even standing in the same room, he couldn't save Pops from getting shot.

I've always thought it was unfortunate that Marvel's premier superteam was stuck with the name "Avengers" instead of something more noble-sounding like "Justice League." But really, Thor, Hulk, Vision, Scarlet Witch, etc. probably can't stop someone determined to kill people or blow up a city. The best they can do is hope to deter violence against the innocent with promises that they will be avenged.
posted by straight at 12:21 PM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm fighting the urge to look up "Crystal Night."

She prefers Misty, remember?


I knew something was wrong with that sentence.
posted by kanewai at 12:24 AM on October 7, 2016


SIGHTLINES AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!!!
posted by snofoam at 5:22 PM on October 7, 2016


My Charles Bradley brag: I saw him when he played here in Philly a few months back. He has this bit where he throws roses out into the audience while singing the virtues of all of the colors of all of the flowers...and I caught one of them.
posted by desuetude at 8:06 PM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


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