Ah, depositions – the key to any exciting scene, amiright? Yeah, no. I mean, I’m happy to see Foggy (Elden Henson), but no lawyer can keep Luke from being Luke – so when Cockroach starts BS-ing and the big man loses his temper and busts up the conference room table, Foggy 1) asks Luke if he’s ever considered wearing a mask (funny), and 2) tells Luke that he may want to consider a settlement. But where is Luke going to get $100K, the amount necessary to make the whole lawsuit go away?
After calling some of the companies who were previously interested in a Luke Cage endorsement (BEFORE he got his butt whooped by Bushmaster, of course), he realizes that he might need to cash in on some of his superhero fame. Foggy says he has an appearance opportunity for him – it turns out it’s Piranha, Mariah’s money man, who is more than willing to pay big bucks to get Luke to attend one of his parties.
The party is…demeaning, to say the least. Luke has to wear a bullet-riddled hoodie (he calls it cosplay, and that makes me giggle a lot) and pose for selfies. He even has to stay cool when some drunk idiots break a bottle over his head and when Piranha asks him to watch the door as he escorts two ladies upstairs to the champagne room (presumably). While he’s enduring these humiliations, he sees Shades; they don’t have too much time to chat before they both realize that Bushmaster’s crew is staking out the party.
Before Luke can pursue the lead, a tipsy Piranha riles up the crowd and asks if anyone wants shoot a bulletproof man. In the ensuing chaos, the Stylers try to kidnap Piranha, and Luke and Shades go after them. Luke is able to thwart the kidnapping, but he is not amused. He tells Piranha that if he wants his help and protection, he’s going to have to pay. DOUBLE.
Meanwhile, Misty is feeling guilty about the situation with Cockroach – she feels like, since her old partner Scarfe is the reason Cockroach isn’t rotting in jail (and since she didn’t see the MANY signs that Scarfe was dirty), it’s somehow her fault that the creep is suing Luke. She’s also channeling her frustration about her new (awesome) bionic arm – the best thing that Iron Fist has ever done, IMHO – since she’s not making progress with it as quickly as she would like.
The last straw seems to be Drea, Cockroach’s girlfriend – she shows up at the hospital, battered and bruised (again), and Misty tries to get her to press charges, but Drea doesn’t think there is anything that can be done. Misty decides to plant evidence in Cockroach’s apartment, but when she arrives, she discovers Cockroach’s decapitated body instead. It seems to shake Misty out of whatever funk she was in – she is not a dirty cop, and she’s going to get to the bottom of all of this the right way.
And what of Mariah? She is trying to convince Tilda to serve as medical director of the new Family First initiative, while also deflecting suspicion due to the fact that Mark Higgins (the one Mariah blackmailed) is missing. Shades tries to tell Mariah that she needs to get out of town – one of their associates, Ray Ray, is also missing – but Mariah doesn’t seem worried. Apparently the influx of cash did wonders for her confidence – she really is acting like she’s untouchable. Well, she learns the hard way that’s not true – at the press-filled opening of the Family First building, the ribbon is cut and the doors open, and the audience sees the severed heads of Mark Higgins, Ray Ray, and Cockroach (on spikes – yeesh). Maybe Piranha isn’t the only one who should be paying for Luke Cage’s protection.
It’s hard to believe that we’re only 5 episodes in…there are so many characters and stories to keep track of, which may be part of this season’s problems. Do you find the overall show compelling?
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