Spoilers Luke Cage - Netflix (Season 1)

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Reverend, Oct 1, 2016.

  1. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    Seems like now is a good time to start the spoiler thread since it seems some people are already over half way though and the non-spoiler thread is about to get choked up with spoiler tags. ;)

    I'm about 8 episodes in and I think it's safe to say it's at least as good as Jessica Jones, though the inclusion of Harlem's historic musical scene is a welcome splash of colour and warmth in what is otherwise a pretty grim setting. Misty Knight is a great addition and true to form, the villain(s) of this Netflix show are just as interesting as the heroes.

    Marvel related side notes: looks like the SHIELD cleanup after "The Incident" wasn't as thorough as they thought. Trish Talk! I love that Turk has become as much a mascot of these shows as Claire Temple.

    Prediction: Misty may get hit with one of those Chitauri bullets...possibly in the arm. Boom.
     
  2. urbandefault

    urbandefault Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think I'm on episode 9. Though I didn't read the comics I'm enjoying the Marvel/Netflix (Marflix?) shows a lot. I did catch the reference with the stolen clothes and the headband. "I look ridiculous" got a chuckle.

    So far, so good.

    (I have to wonder how long it will be before Disney makes a move on Netflix.)
     
  3. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Reposting my initial thoughts from the other thread:

    I'm ten episodes in and loving every minute of it.

    I figured Pops was going to die fairly quickly considering how little we saw of Frankie Faison in the trailers.

    However, I was completely floored (pun intended) by Cottonmouth's death in episode seven! That was more shocking than Luke suffering from the Judas bullet at the end (largely because it had been built up for the last couple of episodes). Looks like Mariah is going take over the criminal mantle now that her political career is in ruins.

    I love how Luke Cage is following Jessica Jones' lead by including so many veterans of The Wire. Not only is Frankie Faison in it, but both Michael Kostroff and Sonja Sohn (as a NYPD captain, no less) show up, too. Is it too much to hope for to have Dominic West and/or Lance Reddick to show up as detectives in Iron Fist and/or Daredevil?

    I completely forgot we had already seen Turk in both seasons of Daredevil. Hell, I didn't remember until just now when looking up the actress that we had seen Reva (and her death) in Jessica Jones. Clearly I need to watch all of those seasons again. :lol:

    Responses to posts from the other thread:

    What about his familial relations? Father a cheating preacher and Diamondback is half-brother?

    But they managed to drive all the way down there awfully fast without any complications to Luke's health. Further, how did Luke know where to find Dr. Burstein?
     
  4. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That was part of an even longer sequence in which Luke first has a serious fistfight and then basically walks all over New York with major gunshot wounds. It bothered me a bit at first, too, but I've come to the conclusion now that MCU Luke Cage pretty much has to have some sort of extra power beyond strength and imperviousness that allows him to survive intense damage longer than normal while still remaining somewhat active.

    As for finding the doctor, Claire presumably then looked up his address online. He didn't really seem to be in hiding or anything.
     
  5. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Fair enough, that makes sense.

    Something else I meant to mention earlier: After Cottonmouth drops a building on Luke and he becomes publicly known to have extraordinary abilities, shouldn't S.H.I.E.L.D. come swooping in to investigate whether Luke was a potential Inhuman?
     
  6. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    ^Inhuman or not, in theory anyone with enhanced abilities should be subject to the Sokovia Accords, regardless of their origin. So yeah, the longer the show went on the harder it got to ignore that the skies over Harlem weren't buzzing with Quinjets. On a similar note, you'd think Jessica would at least call. I mean he was all over the TV and clearly in trouble.

    Not that I think the show should have done either of those things. It's Luke's show after all and you can't have every other show turning up all the time, but there should at least be a half-way credible reason.

    Also not a criticism, but I can't help but notice that between Misty, Clare, Mariah, Mama Mabel, the two different police Inspectors and others, this show may have a higher strong female character quotient than even 'Jessica Jones'. Which is impressive when you consider that the 'Luke Cage' brand is typically associated with machismo as much as anything else and yet it doesn't feel at all at odds with itself.
     
  7. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Finished the season and it was very good from beginning to end. I would rank it on the same level as the first season of Daredevil and just below Jessica Jones.

    I wasn't surprised at all Mariah managed to weasel out of Cottonmouth's murder with Shades' help, although I couldn't but notice he used her gun to kill Candace. That'll come back to haunt her. Looks like we'll see them both as villains in the second season (assuming we get one after The Defenders).

    Prediction for The Defenders: The main foe will be the Hand, and when things get really tough, Matt will become motivated to follow up on Clare's pressure to help Luke out so he can get support in his fight against the Hand.

    Yeah, there were a few times I thought to myself "Luke could really use Jessica's help right now."

    I certainly didn't expect (or even want) either of them to show up for that very reason, but as you said, there should have been some kind of explanation. Maybe we will get a hand wave for Jessica in The Defenders, but it's not a big deal. S.H.I.E.L.D. not showing stood out much more.

    That's one of the reasons why I love this show so much. But not just strong female (and strong black female characters) in the middle of machismo, but strong positive characters and stories in the black community, particular in the current climate in race relations.
     
  8. PKerr

    PKerr Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    OK, I'm mid way through the first episode and I'm completely lost, the episode starts out with people shooting at LC in a nightclub and all the conversations are past tense, Like I started on episode 7 or something, I kept waiting for one of those X amount of time earlier messages but nothing, I watched the first season of JJ but this does not pick up where that left off, what gives?
     
  9. Kahless the Unforgettable

    Kahless the Unforgettable Captain Captain

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    I'm not sure what you're having trouble keeping up with. Everything's been pretty solid in the storytelling department. Perhaps you're looking for more connections than there actually are, aside from a few off-hand references?
     
  10. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    Did I miss something or did they ever explain where the Chitauri metal bullets came from? Hammer Tech? Does that company even still exist? I know it's been a while but you'd think he'd still be in prison even now...unless the got out when the Ten Rings came for Trevor.

    Still no hints as to who's really behind the experiments at the prison and by extension the ones that created Killgrave's and mysteriously paid for Jessica's medical bills. Hydra would be an obvious and easy choice, but I feel a little too obvious at this point. Maybe the tie-in will be the Rand Enterprises? It would tie Matt's condition (it was a crashed Rand truck that blinded him) with everyone else int he Defenders including Danny himself of course.

    Is it wrong that I'm kind of sad Misty didn't actually loose the arm?

    I thought it ended a bit oddly. With the evidence to clear him found, wouldn't he be released pretty quickly? At least much sooner than the next season or the Defenders mini is due to come out. Are people convicted of crimes they didn't commit still expected to serve time if they escaped before being cleared? Probably I suppose.

    The only explanation I can think of is that Jessica is going on the assumption that he'll call her if he really needs help and might not appreciate her sticking her nose in uninvited.
    Indeed, if one were of a mind to, the way Trish ended her broadcast could be taken as a subtle hint to Luke to that effect. "those of us below 110th see the work he's doing and hope he's doing well."

    As for SHIELD, for a second there I thought that government bloke that showed up during the hostage stand-off might have been an agent, but it didn't seem to pan out as such.

    It's certainly a highwire act given today's politics. I'm sure that it being a white cop who was killed and a black cop who snaps and beats a suspect was a very deliberate move to bypass some of the stereotypes and reliance on easy answers.

    Yeah that doesn't sound like the first episode at all. You may have somehow been watching the wrong one. The first episode should start with Luke sweeping up at a barbers and end with him walking out of an Asian restaurant.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2016
  11. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    I don't believe there was any mention of the metal's origins beyond being "alien." I don't think Chitauri was even referred to by name. Chances are that's the origin (although it's possible they came from Kree).

    As for Hammer, we never heard if his company was shut down or not, just that he was arrested.

    While on the one hand, it would be neat to have that kind of tie-in for all four shows, on the other hand, it might feel a bit conspiratorial (deliberate or not). It might work if it's something that's never directly brought up, i.e. the common connection between all four of them.

    I was actually surprised she didn't lose it. However, I was annoyed by how quickly she recovered from her injury. One moment she's in a sling after being at risk in losing it, the next moment she's using her arm like nothing ever happened.

    It depends if Bobby is able to get that evidence to Claire or Luke and if Matt and Foggy are able to use said evidence. Hell, we only have Shades' word that whatever is in that folder will exonerate Luke.

    That does make sense considering the nature of their relationship, especially considering how they parted company.

    Damn, I missed that cameo. When that happen?
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2016
  12. FreezeC77

    FreezeC77 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I thought the show really lost something when Cottonmouth died. The char and the portrayal were fabulous and multilayered. Diamondback was a poor substitute/replacement.

    I think Luke Cage was a good change of pace from the tone of Jessica Jones.

    Looks like Claire Temple will be in Iron Fist she took a flier for Colleen Wing's dojo.
     
  13. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    I may have misinterpreted, but it seemed to be specifically implied that the source of the metal was "The Incident". If so then it pretty much has to be Chitauri and as we've already seen in both AoS and that 'Marvel One-Shot' various artefacts did slip through the cracks. That's not even counting the stuff Hydra slipped out the back door, like that nearly intact Leviathan corpse they had stashed in Sokovia.

    True enough, but you'd think after what he and by extension his company was caught doing they'd have been finished. Accounts frozen, books audited, assets seized. The whole nine yards. Even if the company survived you'd think they'd at least change the name.

    Well even if it's indirect there's already a link between how Jessica, Killgrave & Luke got their abilities as well as between Danny's company & how Matt got his. It'd only take one piece to bridge that gap.

    Yeah, that was a little bothersome. For a second there I thought she was going to loose it because she refused to leave the scene, but they just seemed to gradually forget about it over the last couple episodes.

    True, but it would still seem odd to introduce that plot point if it's not going to be important.
    Assuming these shows are based more or less when they come out (just like the rest of the MCU) then it's going to be at least another year until we see Luke in 'The Defenders' and possibly another year to 18 months again until he shows up in either 'Jessica Jones' season 2 or his own second season.

    I'm not saying it's a massive plot hole or anything, just that it seemed a little strange. Seems like it would make more sense if either the evidence was lost and he's going to have to prove his innocence the hard way or have it found and skip the whole "and then he went back to jail" bit.

    I forget, did he even see her again after he came to?

    At the start of episode 5 or 6 I think (the one right after the one with Pop's memorial I think.) It's audio only, with Trish's talk radio show playing over the start of the episode.
     
  14. Turtletrekker

    Turtletrekker Admiral Admiral

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    Every single one of those Leviathans that went down in New York City were covered from head to tail in heavy, alien metal armor.
     
  15. Turtletrekker

    Turtletrekker Admiral Admiral

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    @Emh -- No, the familial connections are new. Also, Trish's cameo was just a voice- over of her taking calls on "Trish Talk".

    Anyway, I'm out of this thread until I'm done. I've already hit a few spoilers that I didn't want. I only came in because I was tagged.
     
  16. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Yeah, that makes the most sense. It may have been referred to directly to "The Incident," but I don't recall. I was just pointing out that the Chitauri weren't specifically name checked.

    True, but as you theorized earlier, perhaps the Ten Rings have something to do with it and/or its a black market organization now. I don't know. I'm just throwing things on the wall to see what sticks.

    I forget, too, but I'm pretty sure he didn't. Either way, what's clear to me: I need to watch Jessica Jones again.

    Ah, thank you! I rewatched the opening and I remember the scene clearly but somehow I missed the connection. Like I said about rewatching... :lol:

    Thanks. I'm reading up on the back history now, but I didn't want to look while I was watching the season in case I accidentally discovered a spoiler.

    And sorry about the tagging. I just wanted to continue the conversation over here in the spoiler world when people were ready.
     
  17. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not certain anyone outside of the Avengers & SHIELD even knows them by name. They're just "the aliens that came from a hole in the sky."
    Anyway, I think the exchange went something to the effect of "this metal is not of this world" "You mean, 'The Incident'?" *significant look*

    I did consider that, which would sort of make Hammer-Tech what AIM is in the comics. Not a terrible idea and Justin Hammer is just egotistical enough to slap his very recognisable name branding all over his black market weaponry, making it very obvious his customers are carrying highly illegal weapons.
     
  18. Turtletrekker

    Turtletrekker Admiral Admiral

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    On Agents of Shield, we saw international criminals such as Vanchat making huge amounts of money on illegally obtained alien metals, selling to the Centipede Project / Hydra and the like.

    ETA-- and damn it, I came into this thread again! I got it mixed up with the other thread.
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2016
  19. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    A couple of random thoughts:
    - I watched this with subtitles on and be comforted that every single instance of the N-word is of the "nigga" variety
    - Was it me or did Shades sound a lot like Coulson?
    - These shows really love graphic surgeries, don't they?
    - It was interesting how much the series used an older cast

    Yeah, I thought so too. The series starts off feeling sexy and sophisticated and ends up pretty corny. I think Diamondback might've borrowed one of Diggle's helmets. I think they were probably thinking what an awesome twist it would be but Mahershala Ali was killing it at that point IMO. It was a show of two halves for me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2016
  20. Commander Richard

    Commander Richard Yo! Man! Commodore

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    Finished the season, and in record time.

    I was waiting to see if she'd lose the arm and get a bionic one but figured that it likely wouldn't come to pass given the tone of this show and sure enough, it didn't. What we got was a nice nod though. I don't expect that she'll ever lose the arm. No need for it story-wise.

    So was I. That was one of those surprise turns I mentioned. Good villain, good actor. I'll miss him.

    I've been meaning to check that out for years now.

    I remember her, I just didn't recognize the actress this time around.

    I don't know how to rank this season just yet but it was pretty damn good. Netflix hits it out of the ballpark again. I can't wait for Iron Fist.

    Totally unbelievable that she could just get away with it but that's a conceit of television. And now we'll have to get a second season.

    I hope not. That's stupid if they do.

    That's what I thought too.

    They have to come up with a better name than "the incident". Every big event has a proper name.

    Speaking of names, I've always thought this to be an odd one to have to say for obvious reasons.

    I thought it was great seeing a proper supervillain dropped into the mix. For me it added to the show.