Monday 23 May 2022

Luke Cage: Take It Personal

 "I am my brother's keeper. Whether I like it or not."

This is an episode of answers, as the season starts to inch towards its denouement. Yes, the new team of Maria and Diamondback are cleverly manipulating all of Harlem- including the cops, by framing Luke for a cop killing- against the ever-decent yet unfortunate Mr Cage, who also suffers the heartbreak at this point of realising that Reva, whom he loved, betrayed him from the start. At least Claire is a true friend... just a friend? She's certainly a far better medical professional than that Dr Mengele assisting her...

But answers there are. Luke and Claire discover the true scale of the experiments at Seagate, and learn more of his powers- he is ageless. Meanwhile, Misty learns the identity of her attacker, that Luke was Carl Lucas, and that he and Stryker were tried together for grand theft auto, I'm sure wew shall hear more of this.

There are bigger bombshells, though, in Georgia- Luke realises, through the medium of flashbach, that Stryker is his half-brother through his father's affair. Wow. 

Mistry is extraordinary here, going a long way to redeeming herself, even as the rest of the police disgrace themselves with reckless and racist witch hunts. She finds Stryker, he shoots... and all hell breaks loose. Once again, after last episode's cliffhanger, it's topped this time as Luke protects an injured Misty from an armed mob with his body...

This is a wonderful television series, with so much social subtext. There's so much here about the interplay between racism, business and police brutality. Superb.

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