Marvel’s Luke Cage – Straighten It Out

By: Darryl Ley

Luke (Mike Colter) explains to Claire (Rosario Dawson) that he was shot with a Judas bullet with no effect and she suggests it might be down to him going through the treatment again after he was originally shot. She thinks that they need to test Luke.

Luke, Claire and Bobby Fish (Ron Cephas Jones) are at the Harlem Jets training center. DW (Jeremiah Craft) is there filming but is annoyed that the press (Michael Smith and Jemele Hill) is also present. Ted Bowles, head coach of New York Jets, introduces himself to Luke. Luke does a range of fitness tests from broad jump, sprints and moving a 400 pound tire and at the end of the training session Luke is approached by a Nike scout who takes pictures with his fans that have come to watch. Claire seems troubled.

Back at Claire’s place she asks what if there is something deadlier than a Judas bullet, but Luke declares nothing can hurt him. Claire doesn’t look convinced by his statement and the title sequence begins.

Mariah (Alfre Woodard) is furious that the Judas bullet didn’t kill Luke and lashes out at Comanche (Thomas Q. Jones) when he makes a comment. Shades (Theo Rossi) tries to calm Mariah and suggests that she should sell the Basquiat painting, but she refuses saying she wants to get out of the game and therefore sell the gun business. Mariah is worried that Arturo will talk to the police.

Misty Knight (Simone Missick) and Captain Tom Ridenhour (Peter Jay Fernandez) are talking in the corridor of the police department with him reminding her that she is on desk duty. She meets a fellow detective Nandi Tyler (Antonique Smith) who she went to university with and they clearly have a history. The two begin to clash when Misty asks for her old desk back, but the standoff is interrupted by Detective Mark Bailey (Justin Swain) who greets Misty. Detectives Bailey and Tyler head off to interrogate Arturo Rey III (Otto Sanchez) and the Captain assigns Misty a new desk and refuses to let her interrogate Arturo.

John “Bushmaster” McIver (Mustafa Shakir) is pulling the bullets he was shot with when he killed Nigel (Macc Plaise).  The bullets have not penetrated far, especially given that they were shot at point blank range. Josh appears to be in a lot of pain as he digs them out of his chest. As he goes walking around Brooklyn he sees two children play fighting both pretending to be Luke Cage and they show him the video of Cage walking away from the exploding big rig. He stops at a restaurant called Gwen’s where an older gentleman is serving drinks outside and doesn’t seem happy to see Bushmaster when he recognizes him.

Back at Pop’s we see James Lucas (Reg E. Cathey) come in while Luke and Bobby are in asking for a haircut. He asks Luke to come and see him sometime but calls him Carl which angers Luke and he then leaves. Bobby notes that the two of them have a similar swagger to them. Claire comes in as the two talk. Claire is surprised by Luke’s reaction to his father being in town she reminds him he is family and Luke hurts her feelings with his dismissal of the term as she considers them family as well. They argue about it and Bobby feeling the tension leaves the front of the shop. Claire says she made a similar mistake of not reaching out to her own father who died before they reconciled so she doesn’t want Luke to make that mistake.

Misty is approaching the interrogation room and is confronted by Detective Tyler the two argue while Detective Bailey looks uncomfortable. Detective Bailey stops Misty and tells her that her injury makes people uncomfortable and talks about the fallout from Scarfe being corrupt. Misty goes in to talk to Arturo, despite it being against the rules and telling Bailey that she won’t. She interrogates him and encourages him to flip on Mariah, but she gets interrupted by his lawyer Ben Donovan (Danny Johnson). He informs her that Arturo made bail and after they leave the Captain reads Misty the riot act and leaves too so Misty makes a call to Luke to tell him that Arturo is now out.

Luke, Bobby and Claire discuss that development and debate whether Mariah will strike a deal with one of the other parties. Luke goes out to track down the whereabouts of Cockroach, eventually getting the name of the mother of his child Drea Powell. At Gwen’s we see Anansi (Sahr Nhaujah) reprimand Bushmaster for returning to the US, but Bushmaster says that Anansi gave him power while Anansi said that this power came from within. We then find out that the restaurant is named after Bushmaster’s mother.

Bushmaster is back for revenge against Mariah and as they talk Anansi notices that his wounds are bleeding. Bushmaster says he needs more nightshade and Anansi reminds him that the more he uses the worse the pain. He further explains that using nightshade has a similar effect to a steroid but tells Bushmaster where to find more. Bushmaster wants to deal with Luke Cage because he feels that he will be an obstacle in his quest to run Harlem.

At Mariah’s brownstone she is talking with one of her staff. Her current charity project The Family First Initiative is not doing as well as planned there has been some bad press as a result of recent scandals. The publicist suggests reaching out to her daughter Tilda (Gabrielle Dennis) and Mariah denies knowing her location so the publicist gives her information that her daughter is back in town and suggests a strategy to improve her image.

Shades and Comanche are going to see Arturo. Comanche is upset at being dismissed by Mariah and goes too far with his words causing Shades to check him, but the two eventually continue on into Arturo’s store. Arturo thinks that Shades and Mariah set him up with a faulty Judas bullet and cancels the deal saying that he will only reinstate it once he is cleared of all charges otherwise he will flip on them and talk to Detective Misty Knight.

He angers Shades by calling Mariah an “old bitch” and then continues to insult her in Spanish resulting in Shades taking off his sunglasses and shooting him point blank in the head as a stunned Comanche barely manages to react in time to kill Arturo’s two bodyguards. Misty is struggling using her left hand to do paperwork while the squad room is filled with people sneaking glances at her with one detective making a bad joke at her expense. Misty eventually calls them out revealing her stump and chastising them before telling everyone to get back to work.

As Misty sits Captain Ridenhour comes into the room to announce the Arturo’s murder and sends Bailey and Tyler to investigate. Misty drives out to Arturo’s store and attempts to recreate the crime scene in her head but can’t quite complete it. Detective Tyler is angry with Misty who then leaves to meet Luke outside. They both think that Mariah and Shades are responsible, but there’s no evidence tying either to the crime scene.

Misty tracks down an address for Cockroach’s girlfriend, Drea Powell, while Luke checks in with her. They get the address and we move over to a scene of someone preparing medicine and we see it is Tilda Dillard at her homeopathic store. As she leaves Mariah enters to a frosty reception and Tilda thinks she’s there to tell her that Tilda wasted money on medical school, but Mariah surprises her by knowing about her approach to healthcare.

Mariah says she is there to make amends and is asking for another chance, but Tilda shuts her down and she leaves saying she loves her. Luke pays a visit to Drea Powell’s apartment and talks to his son who has clear bruising, but his mother closes the door on Luke. A next door neighbor tells Luke about Cockroach beating both of them regularly and tells him where he can be found.

Shades informs Mariah of Arturo’s death and she is furious when he finds out he didn’t get the money, Comanche steps up to defend Shades and Mariah makes him leave. Shades apologises and said it had to be done because Arturo could not be trusted to not turn on them. At the illegal gambling den Luke enters and gets attacked by security before cornering Cockroach who pulls out a Hammer weapon (a six barrelled shotgun) and shoots Luke through a window down one or two stories into a car and escapes, Luke is injured and hobbles away.

Back at Pop’s we see that Bobby is talking to the Nike rep on the phone when Claire comes in. Bobby asks what’s on Claire’s mind and it seems she is worried about Luke not facing his past, especially his father and Bobby warns her to be Luke’s partner not his parent and talks about his own daughter. Claire gets a call from Luke and heads back to the apartment where she resets his dislocated shoulder. The two fight again and Luke accuses her of chasing after people with special abilities and she brings up his father and his vendetta against Mariah. Luke blames his father for setting in motion the events that saw him framed and sent to jail. Claire says that his anger at his father is killing him from the inside, he asks her to get out of his head and he leaves.

At Mother’s Touch, Bushmaster enters looking for a set of herbs Tilda already uncomfortable appears more so when she identifies the ingredients as ones used for Obeah a spiritual practice, but often in the context of black magic. Bushmaster tells her to just get the ingredients she gathers them he gives her the money and leaves.

At Harlem’s Paradise we watch Shades and Mariah discussing selling to the Jamaicans while they are being surveiled by Detective Tandy while at the police precinct Misty looks at one of the photos of Shades and Mariah at the club. Tilda arrives to talk to her mother and decides to try again with her. Shades is asked to leave while the two women talk. Comanche suggests that Shades has been usurped by Tilda as the two talk at the bar. As Luke heads off to look for Cockroach we see Claire watching one of James’ sermons and Bushmaster performing some rites. We see Bushmaster’s wounds heal, as Cockroach beats his girlfriend and his son, as well as footage from Harlem’s Paradise all revolving. James speaks of an old Cherokee legends that says that men have a good side and a dark side and that whichever side is fed will become the stronger and dominate his nature.

Luke gets the call from the neighbor who hears the fight and sprints off to Cockroach’s apartment as he stands over his son Luke kicks the door in and confronts him. He savagely beats Cockroach trashing the apartment and nearly chokes him to death before stopping after seeing the fear in Cockroach’s son’s eyes.