Imprisoned but undeterred, Mariah makes the best of her new situation while Luke tries fix the power struggle happening in Harlem. In court, Ben Donovan becomes angered at the prosecutor's "grandstanding" regarding the allegations against Mariah. The prosecution argues that, along with the blood on her hands, Mariah faces financial charges regarding the Atreus Plastics deal. After Luke points out that Mariah's probably getting ready to make a move to escape, Rosalie Carbone enters. A group of Jamaicans cries out that Mariah is a murderer and they are ejected, and though the judge denies bail and and orders her passport revoked, she allows Mariah to speak. Tilda leaves as Mariah declares her love for the people and claims there is a "storm wall" around Harlem, which the Stokes Family has maintained for decades. Intercut with this we see an outburst of crime all throughout the neighborhood and Mariah says no one is prepared for either the hot water or the breaking wall. The judge takes offense to Mariah's Katrina references, but the latter claims they want and need her out there protecting Harlem. With the violence growing, a news report with Professor Jelani Cobb takes place where he states that while Luke is a good man who can protect people from the rain if they're close enough, even he can't weather the storm. Watfching the report, a frustrated Luke laments to D.W. that he didn't think the streets would end up worse without Mariah. Misty pays Tilda a visit to ask about Bushmaster, noting he couldn't have healed himself or gotten into the club by himself. Tilda brings up Bushmaster's attack oner her and Mariah, as well as her mothers burning response, and claims she doesn't know where he is. Misty begins looking around, so Tilda tells her she knows her rights and to come back with a warrant, which Misty says makes her sound just like Mariah. Once she's gone, Tilda calls out to Sheldon, Bushmaster, and Ingrid, hurriedly pointing out Misty isn't stupid and will probably be back. She gives them a concoction to help with his memory, and says he needs therapy and rest. Struggling, Bushmaster tells her evil only festers and that Mariah must burn before collapsing. Back at the barbershop, Luke, D.W., and Sugar struggle to determine who would be causing the violence when Shades walks in. Laughing at their issue, Shades points out the Italians and the Boricuas, and that the latter is only expanding in some areas because of the former, and the Italians also have support from the Koreans. Luke is skeptical, but Shades claims his snitch status means he couldn't take over if he wanted to. He explains that he wants to help Luke "win" because all the old rules are being broken, telling them about a man he knew since childhood who ran a restaurant and had been bludgeoned over the head and just died. Luke delares Shades partially guilty for Tone starting things by shooting up the barbershop, and the latter says Carbone wants to take over Harlem like her father did long ago, and now she has the opportunity. Shades says he'll never like Luke but hands him the pictures of Bushmaster and Carbone from the board, saying there needs to be a third contender. Luke considers while D.W. and Sugar look on, and he finally declares that Shades is definitely done, and that if he ever returns, Luke will kill him. Smirking, Shades points out the violent attitude makes him right and leaves, so Luke tells Sugar to ask drivers about the Italians. Mariah, meanwhile, is being led through prison, only for two Jamaican women to kill the escorting guard and threaten her. Just then, two women led by Sunflower, from Mariah's past, arrive and kill them, with the leader saying Mama Mabel didn't treat her right and that she's in charge. In an enormous lapse of intelligence leading to the stupidest decision I can't think of in the show, Sunflower then agrees to give Mariah a homemade weapon, which she immediately uses to slice her throat. This moment seemed rather ridiculous to me, as even if Mariah seemed to be in a weak position begging for her life, there is no reason to believe a hardened criminal would immediately trust someone she hates enough to give her a weapon. Once she's dead, Mariah is able to make quick work of the other two and takes over because of a terrible decision. Out of sight, Mariah swipes the guard's phone and loses her composure while demanding that Donovan come with payment for the women. Luke has since gone to the Italian headquarters and brutalizes Carbone's men before approaching her, demanding she stay out of Harlem. She notes that she is from Harlem, so he breaks a man's fingers to intimidate her, abut she reveals her Russian partners would become violent if that happened. Claiming he'll raid every warehouse and ruin their business, he suggests they simply keep their crime out of Harlem and he'll allow them to work elsewhere. Tilda follows Bushmaster and the others to a waiting car, where Sheldon reveals they are heading for a ship to Jamaica. Sheldon echoes Anansi's thoughts on revenge and thanks Tilda, who says she's glad she could help at least a bit and isn't responsible for her mothers actions anymore. Donovan meets with Mariah and the two discuss a plan to paint Shades as an aggressor who forced her into doing things. Mariah tells Donovan to "revoke his pass," and that the only people who should be spared are Donovan himself, blood relatives, and Sugar, due to his wife's generosity. We get a montage of people from the club being killed, and see Misty thinking over the situation. While she has done so before and is obviously at the precinct, it is rather comical to pull back from a murder scene to Misty staring with a cup of coffee in hand. She tells Ridley she's worried Shades is also dead, and we cut to Alex at Tilda's shop, begging for help. She says he should have gotten out when he had the chance and tells him to leave, otherwise she will call the cops, ignoring his point that Mariah is evil. Sugar meets with Luke the next day, agreeing that he needs to see Mariah about the killings before she ruins what he just did. He reveals to Luke how he got his nickname and got started with the Stokes family, noting that their help kept him eating and able to continue. Luke takls about how people get power and says, in an unsure way, that his situation is like that of a diplomat. A man tries to kill Shades, but the latter flips the situation and kills him, taking his phone. He calls Donovan, saying he wants to get in to talk to Mariah. While Mariah deals with Alex's mother finding his corpse, Tilda makes her own call, and head to the prison where Shades meets with Mariah. He threatens he can do more to her than she can to him, and she brings up his betrayal, asking if he ever loved her, to which he replies he still does. She brings up Comanche and he declares she never understood that being in the life is different from learning it, and says they could have ruled Harlem together. He brings up her talk of a "light" and suggestion that he be Hernan, not Shades, stating she then lost her soul. Again pointing out she could have avoided all this by selling him the club or selling the painting, he says he's done because of her. She informs him of her kills inside, and he tells her to get used to it, because from now on her life will be constantly looking over her shoulder. He leaves Mariah crying just as Donovan enters to inform her of Tilda, and she finally breaks down at the table. Luke meets up with Misty at the scene of Alex's murder and takes a strange tactic by hiding knowledge of Sugar's whereabouts from her, then says he needs to see Mariah. Misty says it's a delicate situation because of the murders and turns him down, deciding he's not the right person to talk some sense into Mariah, so he calls Foggy and asks for Donovan's number. We see Tilda mixing something up at her shop, then sitting with Mariah, who tries to explain her coldness to her daughter as a result of the damage from being raped. Tilda states that Mariah is just evil, and the latter retorts that she's necessary, causing Tilda to realize she thinks she can get out of prison. Mariah claims any juror from Harlem will be able to turn things in her favor, and says they can start over once she's out. Saying that Mariah pushed away everyone and everything she ever locked that she didn't kill, even Harlem, Tilda says she almost feels sorry for her. Mariah is proud of her actions with Tilda, saying she'll never be capable of being hurt again, and says she wants her to go to the club while she's locked up to see why the Stokes would do the things they've done. Tilda simply tells Mariah she loves her and gives her a kiss, and though Donovan arrives with the surprise news about Luke, she points out that Tilda called her "Mother" instead of "Mommy," realizing she didn't mean what she said. Tilda goes to the club and plays on the keyboard, singing about how Mariah's actions are now done with and there being a price she herself has to pay. This is intercut with Mariah boxing and Shades looking at a picture from his youth, then we see Luke meeting with Mariah as Donovan decides to leave. Luke tells Mariah about the situation with Carbone and his rise to what he considers a "sheriff" position, asking that she not ruin the peace. She replies that she doesn't have the energy for that anymore, and gleefully states he's the only person who came to see her without her asking. He calls her delusional for saying they made each other, in a way, and she replies that Harlem will need a king. The episode hits its climax as the two talk, taking a few surprising twists, culminating in a decision she made with Donovan's help.
Fans of the series thus far definitely got an interesting season finale, focusing on Luke struggling to choose the proper path to lower crime rates. Everyone knows the classic idea of a hero: one who is completely incorruptible and always manages to find the path of justice to take down the villain. With series like Luke Cage and The Punisher, however, the line gets definitively blurred on what's right and wrong and how far a "hero" should go. Punisher has always been known for this, going brutally far with his foes, and here we see Luke deciding he needs to be similar. He doesn't go quite as far as Frank, but upon finding the Italians, he was willing to threaten Carbone by breaking her man's fingers. This puts Luke in a much more delicate situation, as he is reaching the point people, especially like Mariah, repeatedly told him he should and would eventually get to. If he does start going further in season three, we might also see him at odds again with Misty, who, despite her unconventional methods, still believes in the law. The season has shown a lot of change in the characters, with of course Luke struggling throughout with his anger and how he should handle crime. We also see a lot of change in Misty as well, however, mainly dealing with the loss of her arm after the events of Defenders. Following this loss, she had to come to terms with many aspects of who she was, and even found her bionic replacement gave her great strength. Mariah was molded into a gangster expected of her family name, and in doing so alienated her daughter enough to set her on the path to becoming the comic villain Nightshade Much like Misty at the end of season one, we even got a look at Tilda with a hairstyle matching her comic appearance, and like then, we probably won't be seeing this hairstyle again I honestly prefer that it not come back, because being accurate to source material is important, but when it comes to superheroes, there are so many designs that need at least a bit of change because of how loud and/or flamboyant they are. The key example of this would be Luke himself, since back in season one we had him take a crack at his classic comic appearance. Shades had some of my favorite development this season, with Theo Rossi doing an incredible job of showing how the man is confident and powerful, but has a lot of hidden depth that eats away at him later. One aspect I also personally loved seeing came after the show, actually: a tribute to Reg E. Cathey. I believe I mentioned in a past post, but Cathey, who played James Lucas, died after filming, so the creators dedicated the episode to his memory. And with all that said, Power Man is again on break with season two finished, but there is plenty to keep covering, especially Iron Fist for Marvel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|