A video of Bushmaster pummeling Luke spreads like wildfire, and Luke deals with the ramifications of Harlem seeing its savior go down as well as his recent anger.
The episode opens just before the last one ended, with D.W. heading to get footage of Luke, just in time to capture Bushmaster knock Luke around. Bushmaster gets the message out that Harlem is his yard, leaving Luke to waken later in a groggy state. He goes back to the barbershop, where Claire doesn't pick up but Bobby arrives. Saying Luke seems concussed, he suggests taking care of the problem soon, as Bushmaster can't be good for Harlem. Misty becomes annoyed with Nandi's singing at the station, then shocked as neither she, Bailey, nor Ridenhour are concerned at all about Luke. Ridenhour tells Misty that doing anything unsanctioned could get her fired, and she leaves for "rehab." At Harlem's Paradise, Mariah and Piranha gush about her rise to councilwoman, but Shades questions the "invisible money" they're making. Piranha assures them that they don't want to touch the money for now, but he has them insulated, surprising Shades with the news that Mariah had to put the club up to make it seem like loan collateral. Comanche interrupts the group, to Mariah's irritation, though she relents upon seeing the video of Luke. Though the group is pleased, Shades remains stone-faced. Luke is hurt to find that D.W. is turning the video into a profit on the street, and back at the club Shades explains his worries about Bushmaster, who is able to take on Luke barehanded, for some reason needing their guns. He says Bushmaster seems to be trying to weaken them with this move, and sending a message by claiming Harlem in the video. Shades tries to get Mariah to open up, having noticed a reaction to Bushmaster's name, but she lies that he is probably some old business with Cornell. Luke goes to Claire's apartment, only to find it being repaired and her stuff moved out. A woman says she's subletting it, and that he isn't allowed their until she is told otherwise. She directs him to what Claire left him: a bag of his things and a letter that saddens him. He apologizes for the hole in the wall and leaves. While Shades tells Comanche, who is growing more annoyed with Mariah's attitude, to watch her while he's gone, Luke meets with Misty to look at a file on Bushmaster. They head to the warehouse where Luke first encountered him, and she says he's on her radar after learning he pushed Nigel out of the way to take part in Mariah's deal. Misty tries to get Luke to open up about Claire, but he simply says the latter doesn't get that he sometimes has to get rough. She jokes about him having no place to stay when he wonders at her questions, and says he can't stay with her. The two go into the warehouse after Misty suits up, and find Nigel's decapitated corpse, which she calls in. Back at the club, Comanche tries to get Mariah to let him in, explaining that he learned about investments while in prison and that Piranha is clearly scamming her. She shuts down his suggestions and he leaves, saying he's not scared of her. Misty introduces her former coworker Tomas to Luke at the crime scene, and he gives them info on the Yardies becoming the "Stylers," and that he knows Bushmaster. He says he can arrange for Misty to meet with the owner of the warehouse, a member of the Stylers, and Misty, having noticed Luke's sensitivity to sound and ragged appearance, tells him to go home. The following scene intercuts Luke doing so with Mariah looking through old scrapbooks at her club and Tilda attempting to figure out what Bushmaster made, set to an impressive performance from Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. As aspects of the song say Luke's current feelings, we see he is heading for Tilda's, having found a bag from her shop at the warehouse. Tilda, initially confused about Bushmaster combining the items, digs through some old books and realizes he is making Nightshade. Luke arrives and the two share a somewhat flirtatious moment, and though she doesn't tell him anything Bushmaster, she admits she saw the video and gives him a mixture to help with his internal pain, saying he is definitely concussed. Misty meets with Gideon Shaw, the warehouse owner, who explains that Bushmaster is after what was taken from him and he feels he deserves. Shaw recounts a story of a man who lives at the bottom of a hill but knows he could kill the prosperous man at the top at any moment. He says Bushmaster's situation is like the bible, where the world was ended with water, only this time it will be fire. Bushmaster meets with Mariah at Harlem's Paradise, with both giving off cold attitudes toward the other and speaking vaguely about the past. While he says the past won't stay buried, Mariah says there are things better off dead, and he gives a threat similar to Shaw's words, saying an old flame catches easily. Angered when Bushmaster calls her Mariah "Stokes," she tells him to get out, and he tells her to enjoy her time on the hill, because life is precious. Shades learns from a guard that Comanche left, suspicious when told Comanche's mother needed him, and he trails Bushmaster to the Jamaican restaurant. Bushmaster celebrates his successes with the others, saying he proved Luke wrong about his abilities. Elsewhere, we see why Comanche left the club, and after Misty finds a proposal from Rand Industries, Luke and Bobby have a chat. Upon learning Bobby is about to make his own heroic action, Luke gets a lesson about how he needs to handle his situation, then gets a shocking visit. It was clear this season was setting up Luke to learn a major lesson about heroics, especially with how much talk there was early on about pride and rage. It's clear Luke is still struggling to understand what he should do, as in his talk with Misty he defends his recent violent actions despite his hurt over losing Claire. An interesting aspect of this episode was the complete lack of Luke's father James, especially considering last episode he talked with Claire and soon realized he was giving advice about his own son. With Luke having taken a major fall, it's likely he might eventually meet with his father while trying to redeem himself and learn again how to be a hero. He definitely needs to talk to someone completely about his problems, as putting a hole in Claire's wall shows that he is dangerously close to crossing a line, as earlier that episode he brutally beat an abuser, only to head down the same road. His flirting scene with Tilda was a bit uncomfortable due to how he obviously still loves Claire, but he will likely turn away upon learning she is Mariah's daughter. There was no tension between Tilda and Shades this episode like there has been, but a wedge is definitely being driven between him and Mariah. Though we eventually learn why Comanche was trying to help Mariah, he had a point about Piranha, and it's clear Shades sees it but she doesn't. Misty is getting closer to become more like her comic counterpart, more directly helping Luke, and the proposal from Rand Industries was fun to see. Considering again that Danny and Luke pair up in the comics as "Heroes for Hire," and Misty and Colleen also form the "Daughters of the Dragon," we will likely see a return for Danny and Colleen later on down the road. After seeing Bushmaster's beatdown of Luke this episode, it's clear the latter needs some better training than the brutish, straightforward fighting method he employs. It'd be great to see a more trained style from Luke when he faces Bushmaster again, and Danny could be just the person to teach him. Bushmaster is on the rise now, and though it's clear he sees himself as the man at the bottom of the hill, Luke has hit bottom and is setting himself up for a return.
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