Family and community are big themes in Luke Cage, and episode two dives a little deeper into that territory. But first – let’s have some fun with cameos! Luke draws a crowd, including ESPN’s Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, when he does a combine-esque demonstration of his athletic abilities. He takes selfies, and Bobby seems to appoint himself as Luke’s manager, taking business cards from companies who might want Luke to rep them. Hey, a man’s gotta eat.
While Luke is putting on a show, Arturo seems to be at the center of a lot of attention. Mariah and Shades are worried that he’ll talk to the cops (even though Shades insists that he doesn’t have anything provable about their dealings), and Misty wants in on the interrogation because she believes SHE can get him to flip. No matter, though – Arturo’s lawyer shows up, and he gets released from the precinct before he can say much of anything to anyone.
Arturo isn’t the only link to Mariah – apparently “Cockroach” (played by Simone Missick’s IRL husband, Dorien Missick) is another player on the scene, living free since the corrupt cop Scarfe was the one who busted him). Luke wants to find Cockroach, so he tracks down his girlfriend, Drea, and their son; Drea wants nothing to do with Luke. A super cute old lady down the hall tells Luke that Cockroach slaps them both around. She also gets Luke’s digits (!!!) so she can call him if she sees Cockroach. Sure, grandma, THAT’S why you want his number. I love the hustle though!
Luke’s biological family, Reverend James, strolls into the barbershop and the father and son exchange terse words. After the Reverend leaves, Luke starts complaining to Bobby about family and how they aren’t good for anything but disappointment and death – unfortunately, Claire overhears everything and is devastated, since she thought she was family to Luke. These two lovebirds just can’t seem to get on the same page these days. Luke is definitely not going to be pleased when he finds out that Claire went to listen to one of the Reverend’s sermons…
Speaking of lovebirds…Shades and Comanche (his right hand man) visit Arturo to close the gun deal, but Arturo is in no mood. When he starts dissing Mariah in Spanish, her boo loses his patience and shoots Arturo point blank in the head (forcing Comanche to have to kill Arturo’s guards/associates as well). I’m thinking Shades will be in the doghouse once Mariah finds out – she won’t care that he was defending her honor when he doesn’t come home with $20 million. The two men leave the bodies but take the security tapes on their way out the door.
The most interesting family development came from Mariah. As it turns out, she has a daughter named Tilda (played by Gabrielle Dennis) – she’s a doctor, but she recently opened a holistic medicine shop in the neighborhood. I assume that on some level, Mariah genuinely wants a relationship with Tilda, but the family reunion is suggested as more of a calculated PR move, to brand Mariah as some sort of “Mama Harlem” so she can continue in politics and raise money for her pursuits. When Mariah comes into the shop, Tilda is visually on edge from the get-go, even saying that she is waiting for the other shoe to drop. I tend to agree with Tilda on this one, but I guess time will tell. The next customer we see at the shop? Bushmaster, looking for the ingredients for nightshade, which apparently hurts him but also gives him superhuman strength and abilities. Tilda looks pretty darn thirsty while Bushmaster is shopping, which is going to be problematic since Bushmaster ultimately has his sights on Mariah and all of Harlem.
Before we’re done with family drama, we get one more dose – sassy granny calls Luke to alert him that Cockroach is home and beating up on his girlfriend and son, so he rushes to the apartment to stop it. And by “stop it,” I mean beat the ever-loving snot out of Cockroach, to the point where we’re not sure if he’s dead or alive. It’s a much less controlled and MUCH more dangerous Luke than we have seen before, and I’m thinking Claire isn’t going to enjoy this version of her lover…
What were your thoughts on Luke Cage episode two? Can their love survive all of this? And how jealous is Shades of his sugar mama’s newfound relationship with her daughter? Sound off in the comments!
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