Finally got around to watching this season. I really liked it. Not perfect, but I think I liked it more than season 1 overall. Probably in the top half of Marvel Netflix seasons.
I got a kick out of the limited cameos. So many people were just there for one episode only or something like that. Bobby Fish was like "well, it's time for me to leave now".
Bushmaster was a pretty good foil for Luke. Interesting story. In fact I'd say a lot of characters on this show had an interesting character arc. Shades. Mariah. Probably even Luke with that bit at the end.
Really relieved that Mariah finally got what was coming to her. I was afraid that they'd let her off the hook. As soon as her daughter was mixing that thing up I was really hoping it was for her mom. That said, when she was singing on Cornell's keyboard, I think there was something along the lines of "all things must come to an end", and I thought she meant that she had poisoned herself too, to end the Stokes family line. So I was a bit surprised when they showed her wiping the lipstick off.
Luke's power set lends itself to some pretty repetitive fight scenes, though I have to admit, I think I loved it every single time he just tapped somebody on the head to knock them out. That just amused me every time he did it, go figure. The status quo change at the very end may lend itself to mixing things up a bit on this show. Which probably couldn't hurt. Though that change also makes it look like we're going to have to get a 3rd season of Luke Cage solo before a Heroes For Hire teamup show, which is unfortunate.
It's funny, after the massacre at the Jamaican restaurant, when that one guy was looking for his wife, I noticed that when they showed her, the actress was breathing very slightly, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't do a better job of filming the scene, to actually make her look dead. Then it turned out that she was the lone survivor. I guess I read that scene all wrong.
Speaking of scenes, I thought the scene where Mariah finally told Tilda the full truth about her parentage was amazing. Great stuff.
Final verdict: a definite thumbs up.
I've been looking forward to a Luke/Danny teamup show, but if Luke Cage season 3 is as good as season 2, I'll be happy to wait a bit longer.