'Luke Cage' Recap: 'Blowin' Up the Spot'

​Written by Scott Edwards

​THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

After being shot by something that actually made an impact, Luke and Claire are forced to flee into the night in Harlem, but the chase is just starting. Having their ambulance hit, Claire is able to find a safe place for her and Luke to hold up while she tries to find out what actually caused damage to the Power Man. Telling Luke that she heard a drilling sound when he was hit, she knows that the bullet that has entered her friend is like nothing she has ever seen before and she will have to find a way to get it out of his chest before time runs out. But little does she know that the police have started their hunt for Luke and a friend from his past is looking for a little bit of payback.

With Cornell lying dead next to the stage at the nightclub, Mariah is listening to Shades about how the plan will have to go down. Needing to get rid of everything she was wearing when beating her cousin to death, Shades has a plan of how to pin the murder on Luke Cage. Calling in the police, Mariah gives her statement about what she saw when entering the club and has provided them with a witness in Candace who puts Luke Cage at the scene of the crime. Knowing that the police will be working harder than ever to get Luke into custody, Mariah falls back on her public speaking skills and makes a statement to the press about what has happened, not only trying to bring her cousin’s 'killer' in, but to keep her seat on the council so she can continue to make Mama Mabel proud.

Getting the call at the station, Misty heads down to Harlem’s Paradise to see Cornell Stokes lying dead by the stage. Seeing that he was beaten after he fell out of his office and that the wounds show that it was a crime of passion, Misty listens to everyone blaming Luke Cage, but does not believe it. Taking Candace and Mariah down to the station to get statements, nothing seems to be adding up and Misty knows that she is being lied to, but there is nothing that she can do about it. Needing to find Cage and get him down to the station before things get even more out of whack, Misty is forced to use her skills once again to find her one night stand and try to reason with him for a minute.

With bullet proof skin, Luke never thought that anything could hurt him and Claire had the same thought, but they were both wrong. Needing the get the bullet out of his chest, Claire is trying to find any way to get to it, but Luke is not only built like a tank on the outside, he is on the inside as well. As Claire continues to work on helping Luke, Misty is able to find the two, and so is a face from Luke’s past that has been able to harm the Power Man. Being able to subdue the women, Diamondback wants to kill Cage for what he did in the past and takes all of the blame for what Luke went through in prison, along with him becoming a super human. Trying to reason with his old friend, Luke finds out that there is nothing that he can do to keep the sights off of him and will have to find another way to fight Diamondback off.  But time is not on his side as the bullet wound is getting worse and Luke is starting to spit up blood and lose all of his strength right when he needs it most. 

What an episode, and now another question about what Luke did in his past is raised, and I hope at some point in the season we finally get an answer.  With Willis ‘Diamondback’ Stryker now trying to kill him, I hope to see a transition of power in Harlem, since I don’t really like Mariah being the new head of the Stokes legacy, but damn I do respect it. Shades is molding the councilwoman into the powerful woman that he remembers Mama Mabel being and although Mariah does not believe she is as bad as her predecessor, her actions are showing the opposite. The fight between Claire and Misty in this episode is what really made it for me as they are both strong women and upset about what happened to them when trying to help Luke. Misty has lost her mind after being lied to by both Candace and Mariah and now Inspector Ridley as well, she needs answers to what is going on and with the perfect frame up on Luke Cage by Shades, she needs them now more than ever. Another shocking episode and I guess Luke Cage is like an onion, the more layers you peel off, the more there is to know.

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