I'm going to rate this show an 8.5. The strengths of the show far out weighed the bad for me, but the flaws of the show were significant for me to shave off 1.5 points.
The good:
1) Great lead - Luke cage is a very interesting character, with a nice backstory, a strong acting from Mike Colter, and overall an easy person root for. Luke Cage is the only character out of the three Netflix shows so far where he never did anything that frustrated me as a viewer at any point. I like Matt Murdock, and Jessica Jones, but Luke is my favorite defender so far.
2)Supporting Cast - I loved most of the supporting players in this show. Cottonmouth and Mariah were great antagonists and both interesting in their right. Misty Knight was very strong character in both portrayal by her actress, and by the way she was written. The majority of characters had good chemistry with Luke, especially Claire Temple.
3)Setting- The setting of the show felt more true to life for me since I live in a NYC neighborhood similar to what's depicted in the show. It's easier for me to accept the need for a superhero to defend the people there more so than Daredevil defending hell's kitchen (not to say that it's a negative for DD).
4)Soundtrack is great, nothing else to add.
5)Story is very good for the most part save for finale couple episodes, which felt slightly stretched out. There was never a completely boring episode in this season.
Bad:
1) This show had two season ending climaxes for no real reason. The last 3 episodes could have been condensed into 2 while shaving off the lull in between. The final climax was weak and reminded me too much of Rocky V. The show would have finished stronger during the first climax. A 12 episode season rather than 13 would have made this show a lot better.
2) While most of the characters were great there was one villain who was hyped up earlier in the season that disappointed me because he acted nothing like he was supposed to be. Without the pre-hype, he's actually pretty good, though not as good as the other antagonists. Long story short, I expected Gustavo Fring, but I got Tuco instead. People who watched breaking bad know what I'm talking about.