written by Kiara Williams
SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT
The episode should’ve been titled “Everything Happens So Much.” All the tension that’s been building up since Episode 2×01 is finally starting to come to a head.
Luke survives his fall off the bridge and winds up at his father’s church. He learns that Piranha left on his own to try and get out of Harlem. Luke uses this moment to confront his father about his anger towards him. His father didn’t believe him when he said he was innocent, and even blamed Luke for his mother getting sicker. Luke couldn’t be there when his mother died, and he blames his father for that, since he didn’t fight for his son.
Luke’s not perfect, and if you’ve been following all my reviews, you’ll know I’ve pointed it out a lot, but it hurts to feel like your parents think the worst of you, especially in a situation like that. Luke didn’t even get to give a proper goodbye to his mother.
More urgently, though, at some point during Piranha’s attempted escape, he was captured by Bushmaster. In what seemed like a matter of minutes, Bushmaster took everything from Mariah: her money, her sense of safety, and even Piranha himself. His head is left in a fish tank for Luke and Misty to find.
Misty’s former boss, Captain Ridenhour, tries to get her help with the case, but Misty continues to stick by her decision to leave the force. Earlier, Ridenhour also attempted to make a deal with Mariah in order to help her. Their conversation revealed a ton of information, like the fact that Tilda doesn’t know who her real father is or her real age. What in the world is Tilda’s actual origin story?
Comanche was tasked with finding out the informant who’s been leaking out info about Mariah, but Shades knew the entire time that Comanche was actually the snitch. Shades wastes no time following him to his next meeting with his connection, who turns out to be Captain Ridenhour. Ridenhour is killed, and Shades shoots Comanche for betraying Mariah. It really shows how much Shades is in love with Mariah. He murders his old family in order to defend his new one.
Bushmaster and his crew break into Mariah’s home and tie up Mariah and Tilda before setting the room on fire. But one of the perks of living in a well-connected community (and Luke being very, very trackable nowadays), is that word travels fast. Luke hears about the fire and rescues Tilda and Mariah. “You saved me…I should hire you,” Mariah says to Luke. I wonder if that’s her way of saying thanks. She does value money, after all.
So what is she going to do now that she doesn’t have any?
Luke Cage is available now on Netflix. Kiara can be reached on Twitter @DJPrincessK and her webcomic can be found at http://www.electricrosecomic.com/.