What I’m Watching: Luke Cage

Luke Cage: Season 2, Episode 9 “For Pete’s Sake” (B)

This is starting to feel like a season-long shootout, and it’s getting a bit tiresome. Luke has never been the type of hero who plays by the rules, yet he’s so insistent on not killing Bushmaster when he continues to promise to return. Mariah turning on him in exchange for immunity was inconsequential, especially since she disappeared and he managed to break out of his prison transport, a fully expected development. This was a crucial episode for parental conversations, with James and Mariah also getting a moment of their own to bond about how their relationships with their children didn’t turn out how they wanted. Mariah telling Tilda that her father was actually her great-uncle and that she never wanted her was harsh, and even though Bushmaster is threatening her life if she doesn’t help, I don’t think she’s all that against it given her renewed hatred for her mother. James, who wanted to do a prayer circle that Misty commented involved them praying with the devil, did better appealing to his son, but Luke won’t let anything stop him from protecting Harlem. The revelation that Misty’s longtime rival Nandi is communicating with Bushmaster to turn Mariah in is troubling, and now Shades and Mariah have Anansi, meaning that the violence is sure to continue through the final four episodes of this show. I’m not sure what’s going to sufficiently turn the tables on the Jamaicans, since Bushmaster is about to get a power boost thanks to Tilda which will make him even more dangerous.