One thing that won the hearts of several people including mine is the portrayal of the bad guys. Show's focus was on crime drama and it was greatly explored. I'm just going to give a kinda recap on the main characters and other root elements of the show.
The protagonist, formerly known as Carl Lucas, son of a preacher.. Framed for a crime he didn't commit by his stepbrother (someone he considered as his best friend). Went to prison and was blackmailed into an illegal fight ring as a test for an experiment to create some sorta super soldier. It was an ongoing test for all inmates in which none passed, at least enough to go through the experiment. Luke had to be subjected to the experiment after he was severely beaten by two criminals as an attempt to stop him from exposing the illegal operations in the prison, though he was already recommended for the experiment. Thing was a success and Luke came out with hardened skin, so hardened that he became invulnerable to most weapons of destruction like guns (rendering him bulletproof), knifes, arrows etc. It also made him incredibly strong and gave him self healing abilities. Luke broke out of the prison and became a fugitive, moving from place to place, before finally settling in Harlem, New York where he was working for Henry Hunter (Pop) and Cornell Stokes (Cottonmouth). He was a cleaner at Pop's barbershop and a dishwasher at Cottonmouth's club (Harlem's Paradise). He saw this as the only way to live his life based on all he had been subjected to. Pop encouraged him to use his abilities to help people but he always declined claiming he never wanted his powers. He changed his mind when he saw how Cottonmouth and Black Mariah were wrongfully exploiting people for their selfish gain.
Luke has had quite the evolution:
- From a fugitive who was washing dishes to some bulletproof guy taking down criminals.
- Then Black Mariah exposed him as a fugitive thereby sending him to prison again to compete the time he was wrongfully sent there for.
- Got out of prison after his friends proved his innocence in a court of law.
- Returned to Harlem as a celebrity with the intent of keeping people safe from the other bad guys and lastly as of now;
- The owner of Harlem's Paradise calling himself a sheriff just to ensure that things run smoothly in the city.
Played to perfection by Mahershala Ali, a rich crime boss who used his night club that he inherited from his Grandma (Mama Mabel) as a base for his operations. Mahershala Ali's performance drew a lot of praise ever from the time he spoke about his biggie photo, his funny comments, his dress code, his composure etc. And as typical crime bosses, he killed whenever he wanted to, had eyes and ears everywhere, was a big name on the streets of Harlem and even commanded fear and respect from people. All that stopped when Luke showed up though.. 😆
Mariah Stokes aka Black Mariah
She was evoluted from politician to criminal to murderer to gangster. A very intelligent and manipulative woman who was portrayed as Luke Cage's ultimate villain throughout its two seasons. Though, it didn't seem like that when she was on the politician arc of her exploration. The Stokes family has been controlling crime at Harlem for years.. Which explains why the first two villains have that surname. Mama Mabel was like their teacher/trainer in the art. Pop even referred to Mama Mabel as the devil's ex-wife. If the Luke Cage story is a chess game, Mariah Stokes is a queen that took out a lot of pawns, rooks, knights. Even put the opposing king in check a number of times 😆.. She just managed to evade all of them and kept up her control of crime.
An interesting character who was in prison with Luke Cage. In fact, he and his partner (Comanche) were the ones who beat Luke so much that the only way to save him was to subject him to the experiment that later gave him his powers. Shades isn't the ultimate bad guy but he's the bishop to the queen/king. He returned to his criminal life after his release from prison, working with Cottonmouth and Black Mariah. Him and Tone (an assistant to Cottonmouth) kicked off the action in this story by shooting Pop's barbershop; though, Tone was the one who did the shooting. Shades was known to be highly manipulative and smart, carefully orchestrating events to suit his purpose. He worked for crime bosses but he himself can be regarded as a crime boss because of the way he was portrayed. That places him on a higher level than common criminals and thugs in the streets.
He was introduced in the second season and wasn't so much of a villain. Just a guy who had suffered so much from the hands of the Stokes family and decided to destroy them as well as anyone in partnership with them. This led to a war between him and Mariah Stokes. A war in which Luke was caught up in. (Oh right.. Did Cottonmouth miss that? Well, Mariah killed him. Yeah, that happened)
Luke's stepbrother who framed him for a crime and sent him to prison out of hatred for him and his father for rejecting him and his mother. That hatred grew when Luke came out with powers and quickly became famous for being bulletproof. He had his own criminal enterprise too (one which Shades is also a part of), supplying guns to Cottonmouth and Black Mariah who will sell them to whoever's interested. He introduced a special bullet in Season 1 for Luke, something powerful enough to pierce his hard skin, even gave it a name.. Judas bullet. He was introduced as the main villain of the first season after Cottonmouth's death. Among all the villains in Luke Cage, he was the one with the high ratings of a rascal. It was like his solution to every problem was shooting people, blowing stuff up, taking people hostage thereby putting fear in their hearts. Him and Luke had what people dubbed "the battle for the soul of Harlem" right in Pop's barbershop, and yeah, he lost.. 😂
Other cool characters in the show are Claire Temple, D-Dub, Bobby Fish (all friends to Luke).. D-dub was always filming Luke and making shirts and hoodies for him with his catchphrases ("Sweet Christmas" & "Sweet Sister"). And for the other criminals, well.. Domingo Colon, Tone, Zip, Turk Barrett, Sugar, Koko, Amos, Cockroach (😂.. Ikr), Arturo Rey III, Nigel etc. Most of these criminals are either dead or incarcerated. In fact, about 90% of them are dead.
Marvel's Luke Cage was a great show having roots in several genres of music displayed in Harlem's Paradise and Black Americans (their way of life and style) apart from just crime drama. All these in twenty six episodes, thirteen for each season. Interestingly, today marks a year that its last season was released. The hope is for a new season sometime in the future.. 💯
Comments
Post a Comment