written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

This episode has a lot to do with atonement.
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

There’s a saying within the black community: “Your skinfolk ain’t always your kinfolk.” It means that other black people don’t always have your best interest at heart, no matter what good you may have done in the past.
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

So the last episode ended with Bushmaster curb-stomping Luke Cage in the face, and I couldn’t help but feel it was kinda necessary.
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

Woo boy, this episode hasn’t done much to ease the tension, has it?
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

I’m not gonna lie. I’m a bit of a spiteful person. I’m not the type to forgive easily without the other person showing that they’ve changed, and it usually has to be something pretty big.
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

It’s only the first episode, and the season is already starting to ramp up the tension.

“Just because you’re a woke superhero doesn’t mean you have to be a broke superhero.”
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

I think it matters a lot that the battle between Luke and Diamondback is only a slightly superpowered one. A city-wide, throwing-the-opponent-through-a-skyscraper, explosion-filled fight would have only taken away from the full meaning of it. It may seem anti-climactic to some, but the closing of this chapter of Luke’s life was vitally important and it needed to happen this way.
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written by Kiara Williams

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We apologize for this review taking so long to come out due to a series of unfortunate setbacks, but we’ve got newcomer Kiara Williams here to step in and help us finish off the series!]

“There ain’t no Iron Man comin’ to save us.”

Method Man, a Staten Island native who plays himself in this episode, spits this line while rapping what I started calling “The Ballad Of Luke Cage”. It’s a line that has many meanings. New York’s most prominent heroes, the Avengers, are always seen in wealthy areas with towering skyscrapers that look good on TV when blown up. They’re not ever seen in smaller towns, and definitely not in a low-income, highly black area like Harlem. For all of Harlem’s problems, superheroes aren’t going to go there. White superheroes aren’t checking to see if Harlem has problems, just like in reality where powerful white people aren’t usually checking to help the less privileged.

Iron Man ain’t comin’ to Harlem. That’s why Harlem needs Luke Cage.
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