'Luke Cage' Recap: 'Take It Personal'

Written by Scott Edwards

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

With Luke Cage nowhere to be found and with Mariah’s promise to help him sell his guns to the police, Diamondback is ready to up the stakes. With a super punching glove, Diamondback takes to the streets and finds one unsuspecting police officer and sends him flying twenty feet in the air, but there is one difference between this punch and one from Luke Cage as the officer winds up dead. Screaming out that his name is Luke Cage as he flees the scene, the police turn up the heat on bringing the Power Man out of hiding, but not in the way that will win them any points with the community.

Waking up from his surgery, Luke gets an offer from Dr. Burstein that he did not expect. With his body’s rejuvenation power, the doctor would like to keep him around and run some more tests that could better mankind, but Luke has other things to do before submitting to such a process. Being able to read the files on the flash drive, Luke wants to know what Reva was hiding from him and finding the video files, he is surprised at what he is watching. Seeing Reva tracking his every step at Seagate, it was all a set up and Luke was always destined to get the treatment and she was lying to him all along. Getting over the loss of the woman he thought he loved, Luke returns home and tries to find out the secret behind what Diamondback was saying and comes to the conclusion that his old friend is telling him the truth, Willis Stryker is Luke Cage’s brother.

With the madness that has taken over Harlem after seeing a young boy being beaten by a police officer, Misty is ready to uncover exactly who the man is that threatened her life. Matching the face of the man who killed the cop to the man that held her at gun point, Misty wants to know who this Willis Stryker really is. Talking to Domingo about the mystery man and what might have happened to the other crime bosses around the city, she is pointed to Harlem’s Paradise, since it is of course under new management. Needing to tie Stryker to what has been happening around Harlem may become more of a problem however as he is waiting for a visit from his new friends at any time.

After being called in to see a young beaten boy in the police station, Mariah is ready to use all of her power to turn the community against the police and Luke Cage. Taking her word public against Luke Cage for killing her cousin and referring to the dash cam footage of Luke pushing the police away, her message is to find the Power Man, along with arming the police with weapons that can stop such a threat. With the community rallying around her, she has become the top of the food chain once again and is thorough enjoying getting her message across, but her former political rival Damon Boone knows exactly what she is working on and even though she will not admit it, killing her cousin may have been the best political move she has made in years. 

Well, Harlem’s Paradise may never be the same again after Luke Cage has been spotted and everyone starts opening fire on the hero, but that might not be the biggest issue it faces. With Mariah having the power to take down the police for the unwarranted assault on a boy when questioning him about Cage’s whereabouts, she is at the top of her game once again and ready to make a deal with anyone that has the money to purchase Diamondback’s guns. Luke has been able to figure out his past and now knows that he has been kept in the dark about who his family really is and that Diamondback is not only his brother, but the one that framed Luke to go to prison in the first place. Also, I still want to know what he did! Claire has been called out for how great she really is and might be thinking about turning back the clock a little bit to work with Dr. Burstein, but I don’t see that happening unless Luke gets close to death again. Willis ‘Diamondback’ Stryker is ready for a war against Luke Cage, but does not seem quite ready to face off against the super hero he turned into public enemy number one at Harlem’s Paradise, but rest assured he will not allow another opportunity like that to pass him by again. Thank goodness that this is not a weekly show, since I was ready for something else to happen when the screen faded to black, I would be cursing a network for not letting me know what happened next and probably throw something to break my TV.  Only three episodes left and I hope we get some more answers and at least see the Diamondback issue in Harlem taken care of before the season ends, but you never know.

---