Luke Cage FULL SEASON ONE Discussion (NO SPOILER TAGS NECESSARY)

[Kane52630]

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[DarthSkywalker]

Spoiler to future me. It was good.

 

[TheVileOne]

Can we really discuss the whole season without spoiler tags here? I don't want to take any risks talking about the show.

 

[flickchick85]

Can we really discuss the whole season without spoiler tags here? I don't want to take any risks talking about the show.

Yep! All spoilers allowed in here.

 

[TheVileOne]

Overall, I'm very happy with the show and the first season.

That being said, the final episode dragged quite a bit IMHO and it was a bit of a sloppy finale. Too many cliffhangers and they won't even be resolved in the second season. The major one has to get resolved in Defenders.

IMHO, it doesn't make sense for Claire to keep talking about knowing Matt Murdock and never you know actually calling him when he could actually help. Didn't call him after Cage's first arrest. Didn't call him after Cage went in at the end.

I kind of feel that Cage going to jail again at the end was the wrong note to strike Because you have Cage going to jail, Diamondback becoming a test subject for Burstein, and Black Mariah and Shades now control Harlem. Think about this.

Luke Cage lost. Yeah he might've given hope and a new folk hero to Harlem. But Pop's place was destroyed again. Cottonmouth was replaced by someone who is just as bad if not potentially worse. Candace is dead. A lot of Harlem gangster got killed off, but Mariah now gets to just move in and assume control of almost everything. She's got Harlem's Paradise.

Now all we get is Luke Cage in prison with the vague hope that the file Bobby Fish has will get him off. But is that really enough considering a prison guard died and he escaped? Whether the guard was racist or corrupt or not, I doubt being framed for prison stay is grounds to exonerate you for involvement in killing a guard and escaping from prison.

Now essentially, Defenders has to begin with Murdock legally getting Cage out of prison. That can't get resolved in season two now because Defenders is next. Hopefully he can put that file to good use.

IMHO the finale lost all its momentum after the Diamondback fight. There was no momentum after that fight and it moved very slowly when you could see they were just luring Candace into a trap to kill her after Shades got Misty's phone It took too long to get to that point.

Here is how I feel season 1 should've ended.

OK, maybe Mariah stays out of jail for now and gets Harlem's Paradise. But we know Luke Cage is still out there. He has the love and support of Harlem, and he's out there to stand against her and foil her plans for the future. So it sets the stage for chapter 2, Black Mariah vs. Luke Cage.

Instead of sending Luke Cage to jail, Matt Murdock intervenes after getting the file from Bobby Fish and Claire, and basically does a slam dunk quick and easy thing that keeps Cage from going back. Everyone says OK because they don't want the Seagate experiments being exposed because they still have the thumb drive and threaten to give it to WikiLeaks or whatever.

 

[BlueLanternKal]

Man, **** Seagate. They were using inmates as guinea pigs. That's Tuskegee all over again. And if Seagate hadn't been illegally tampering with the human genome Luke wouldn't have escaped in the first place.

Killing a dirty ass CO that was moonlighting as Igor is worse for Seagate than it is for Luke.

 

[TheVileOne]

One other thing I want to add. I thought Cottonmouth was a much more compelling villain than Diamondback. I didn't dislike Diamondback, but Cottonmouth seemed like a more layered character. He seemed cut more from the Netflix cloth in a villain you sort of had empathy for.

Diamondback was more like a human reptile. I get that he has a bit of a tragic backstory, but he came off more like your typical villain. Cottonmouth I thought had the better dialogue and speeches to work with. Meanwhile, they make Diamondback a bible-preaching, Warrior quoting bad guy. And look, who hasn't seen that before. Even as a gangster character, Cottonmouth seemed to have his own flavor and style. Diamondback felt like more of a B-movie villain.

I get there is this pain behind all his actions, but I would've liked to see more of that pain come out instead of just pure cruelty.

Just by comparison, I feel like in Daredevil, a lot of Fisk's actions are still rooted in pain and anguish. Pain of his sort of mental frailty in that he's still that little kid under the boot of an abusive father who ended up killing his own father to protect his mother. I feel like in everything we see Fisk do, you can see a little bit of that pain of his past coming through.

 

[Herolee10]

So for those that have seen ALL of the episodes, does the finale ruin the entire series then? Is it even worth watching if the ending is that bad?

 

[flickchick85]

So for those that have seen ALL of the episodes, does the finale ruin the entire series then? Is it even worth watching if the ending is that bad?

It's totally worth it, imo. I equate this season to DD S1, in that it's a very well-made if fairly straight-forward/generic crime/superhero origin that falters a little bit at the end, but is overall VERY solid.

 

[TheVileOne]

So for those that have seen ALL of the episodes, does the finale ruin the entire series then? Is it even worth watching if the ending is that bad?

Not at all. I don't think it ruins it, it's just a bit of a clunky downer ending. I'm sure many will probably disagree with how I feel, just my personal feelings on the ending.

I feel like the pacing of the back half of the season is stronger than it was for Jessica Jones even though they remove the main villain midway through.

 

[Kane52630]

I enjoyed the 2nd half much more than the first, but overall it's a decent season. I like how the fight between Cage and Diamondback is basically a overblown WorldStar video

 

[PT9357]

One other thing I want to add. I thought Cottonmouth was a much more compelling villain than Diamondback. I didn't dislike Diamondback, but Cottonmouth seemed like a more layered character. He seemed cut more from the Netflix cloth in a villain you sort of had empathy for.

Diamondback was more like a human reptile. I get that he has a bit of a tragic backstory, but he came off more like your typical villain. Cottonmouth I thought had the better dialogue and speeches to work with. Meanwhile, they make Diamondback a bible-preaching, Warrior quoting bad guy. And look, who hasn't seen that before. Even as a gangster character, Cottonmouth seemed to have his own flavor and style. Diamondback felt like more of a B-movie villain.

I get there is this pain behind all his actions, but I would've liked to see more of that pain come out instead of just pure cruelty.

Just by comparison, I feel like in Daredevil, a lot of Fisk's actions are still rooted in pain and anguish. Pain of his sort of mental frailty in that he's still that little kid under the boot of an abusive father who ended up killing his own father to protect his mother. I feel like in everything we see Fisk do, you can see a little bit of that pain of his past coming through.

Not going to lie, this ordeal is what sunk the series for me. It's not bad any typical standard, quite remarkable actually to witness a live action superhero story focus on the street life in a non-satire fashion.

But I just love well thought-out villains who make you interested in the story. Cottonmouth was so intriguing, it was like watching a gangsta film in the 70s seeing how he was mob boss with humanized emotions. Not to mention how everything was against him for the most part, it was hard not rooting for the guy. Once they got rid of him (in quite a disrespectful way I might add) I could never gain the same interest I had in the show no matter how hard I tried. I felt as if it would be similar to Nuke killing Kilgrave half way through the first season of Jessica Jones. Sure Nuke has some motives, but he's just not as fascinating/more of a cliche.

That said I still enjoyed the series and have no regrets scheduling Friday off work

 

[Kane52630]

 

[flickchick85]

A few other random thoughts on the season:

-I don't have a problem with Luke/Claire, but I still can't help but root for Luke/Jessica. Especially now that he's not viewing Reva through rose-colored lenses anymore, I feel like he'll probably be able to forgive her.

-Didn't love it how, in one episode, we're told the Judas bullets are super duper ridiculously expensive, just for one or two. And a few episodes later an entire NYPD squad is armed with them.

-As I said, to me, this was on par with DD S1, both good and bad. They both told a somewhat generic superhero/crime story to me, but it was very-well made. Except for a bit of a clumsy finale. DD had the better villain in the Kingpin, but Luke Cage had the better aesthetics/style, so they about evened out for me. I still prefer DD S2 and JJ S1 over both.

-Misty Knight is my hero! Seriously, I love her. She's probably my favorite supporting character of all the Marvel/Netflix shows. She was extremely flawed, but in a totally understandable and relatable way, imo. And such a badass. I was kinda hoping she would lose her arm like the comics so she could get her bionic one, but I appreciated the nod anyway. Glad she's confirmed for Defenders and can't wait to see her interact with Danny Rand.

 

[PT9357]

Did anyone else really enjoy the prison flashbacks? I'm usually not one praise exposition/filler flashbacks but those won me over. I actually understood now why Luke Cage was so ticked at Jessica Jones for killing Reva, when before the idea of her being a good person or having a strong history with Luke was sorta just word of mouth.

 

[zenith16]

hah yeah love that tribute to his 70's look. The full on beard was a bit weird, but I'm ok with it ether way. I haven't it all but I'm digging what I'm see of it so far.

 

[flickchick85]

Also, regarding the Reva/Kilgrave question, I believe that connection should be more appropriately explored in JJ S2. Kilgrave had nothing to do with Luke's story here, whereas both Reva and Kilgrave factor into Jessica's story, so it makes more sense to be addressed in that show, imo. And I agree with the suggestion that IGH is the most likely connection between the two.

 

[Herolee10]

It's totally worth it, imo. I equate this season to DD S1, in that it's a very well-made if fairly straight-forward/generic crime/superhero origin that falters a little bit at the end, but is overall VERY solid.

Not at all. I don't think it ruins it, it's just a bit of a clunky downer ending. I'm sure many will probably disagree with how I feel, just my personal feelings on the ending.

I feel like the pacing of the back half of the season is stronger than it was for Jessica Jones even though they remove the main villain midway through.

Well that's a relief to hear. I mean, it's just that with a lot of people saying on how the villains pretty much win in the end that it defeats the entire purpose of Luke's journey..so I was worried that it would make everything that was built up to then worthless....

 

[TheVileOne]

Also, THIS WAS FALSE!

http://screencrush.com/luke-cage-iron-fist-finn-jones-appearance/

 

[Marvolo]

Also, THIS WAS FALSE!

http://screencrush.com/luke-cage-iron-fist-finn-jones-appearance/

Elmaybe wrong? Nahhh.

 

[TheVileOne]

What is it with people on Collider always getting these cameos wrong?

http://www.cinemablend.com/televisi...Up-Jessica-Jones-Here-What-We-Know-95647.html

What sources are giving them misinformation?

 

[Loki882]

Yeah I have to echo the "they fumbled the ending" sentiment Not as much as DDS2 imo, but it was noticeable nonetheless. I get what they were going for wit it, but I don't think that they stuck the landing personally.

And yeah, I also agree that offing Cottonmouth so early on took some of the wind out of the show's sails. He was really interesting and, while Diamondback wasn't bad per se, he wasn't nearly as effective a villain imo.

Also we're getting close to Defenders and they still haven't done much of anything to try and set up any real connection between them outside of Luke and Jessica (and even that is up in the air still).

It's not a BAD season mind you, but it isn't as good as it could have been imo. Also Misty Knight is awesome.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

Am I the only one who really liked the last episode?

 

[Kane52630]

I loved it.

 

[jokesonm3]

This season had more Justin Hammer references then Iron Man 2