‘Luke Cage’ Recap, Episode 1: Super Black

Ok. So Marvel’s Luke Cage is Super Black.
Like, from the opening credits of the very first episode of this season, “Moment Of Truth.” The credits are a celebration of Harlem, with images of the black Mecca superimposed onto Luke Cage’s bare black skin. Soulful R&B sounds and funky basslines score the premiere episode, and black cultural markers pop up all over the place. A well placed portrait of Biggie Smalls here, a lingering shot of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man there. Yes, for at least thirteen episodes, Marvel will be Super Black, and it’s glorious.

The premiere opens at a black barbershop, a space often referred to as the Black Man’s Sanctuary. Luke Cage (Mike Colter), has come to Pop’s Barbershop to find refuge from a troubled past, where he is working as a janitor at the shop to make ends meet. Pop, the shop’s owner, and a few of the customers are discussing the New York Knicks’ eternal troubles when Luke, who had been silently sweeping up hair during most of the debate, delivers an impassioned sermon about the Knicks’ play under former coach Pat Riley. He longs for the days when the Knicks were strong, powerful, hardworking, and “played like men.” It’s clear Luke lives his own life according to those values, and this first monologue is not just a lamentation of the loss of a great team, but Luke’s declaration of self. He is Strong. Powerful. Hardworking. A Real Man. Preach! But every congregation has its wayward son, however, and a young trouble maker named Shameek becomes agitated with what he perceives as Luke’s holier than thou attitude. After a tense back and forth, Shameek steps to Luke, only to back down once he gets close enough to take in just how massive Luke is.

Yeah, Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter, is big and strong. He’s also super fine. So when a beautiful woman arrives at the shop to pick up her son, she takes the opportunity to try and pick up Luke, too. This causes Luke some distress, though, because as unique a character as this version of Luke Cage is, he’s still all mopey and self-loathing like every other comic book hero. There’s the requisite lingering sadness over the loss of a loved one (Luke is still mourning his departed wife Reva and isn’t yet ready to chase barbershop mom), the longing to be normal, and the resentment of the people who made him “different.” Pop is there to remind Luke that having super human strength and being indestructible is pretty dope, but Luke only wants to live a simple life.
There’s a little more character building around Luke – he’s a fugitive, he’s broke, he’s 10 days behind on rent, he moonlights as a dishwasher at the Harlem’s Paradise night club—and then we’re finally introduced to this season’s Big Bad. Cornell Stokes, AKA Cottonmouth (Mahershala Ali), is the owner of Harlem’s Paradise night club and is, of course, an illegal arms seller. Cottonmouth has the ear of his older cousin, Councilwoman Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), who often expresses frustration with her cousin’s criminal dealings, all the while benefitting professionally from Cottonmouth’s dirty money. At one point Cottonmouth lectures his cousin on the value of his hustle and how empowered he feels as a black man by it. “It’s easy to underestimate a nigga,” he says proudly. “They never see you coming.”

This is Cottonmouth’s declaration of self, and sets up what looks like what will be at the core of the conflict between Luke Cage and Cottonmouth– politickin’ versus the politics of respectability. Which is the means to black empowerment? Luke is a respectable, “hardworking black man” (as the lusty barbershop mom calls him) who rejects the flashiness of guys like Shameek and Cottonmouth and abhors the re-appropriation of the word “nigga” by black people. Cottonmouth is a slick Harlem “nigga”, whose style recalls P. Diddy (Puff Daddy? Diddy?), being savvy (and yes, criminal) enough to exploit the system to get what he wants. It’s worth noting that while respectable, Luke Cage is also extraordinary, and one wonders how well an ordinary, respectable black man might fair in this world if someone as gifted as Luke has had as rough a life as the snippets of his story we’ve gotten suggest.
One night, Luke is called up from the kitchen to the big leagues to bartend when the usual bartender calls out sick. Pop’s pep talk from earlier must have worked, because Luke allows himself to flirt with a beautiful woman with a gorgeous twist out (Super Black!) at the bar. She’s interested but somewhat distracted. She’s NYPD Detective Misty Knight (Simone Missick), undercover, scoping out Cottonmouth. She’ll eventually bang Luke that night, though, because after a long night of intently watching a crime boss, you deserve anonymous sex with a troubled hunk.

Cottonmouth is on the balcony level of the night club meeting with Mariah and Colon, a shady businessman. Cottonmouth is supposed to be selling Colon a bunch of those illegal arms, but while the three power players are high up on the balcony making deals, three masked robbers are street level at the site of the sale interfering with it. A shootout ensues, and one of the robbers has killed all of Colon and Cottonmouth’s men. That robber is revealed to be Shameek, the wayward kid from the barbershop. The other two robbers, Chico, one of the young barbers at Pop’s, and Dante, the missing bartender from Harlem’s Paradise, are upset with Shameek’s recklessness. So Shameek gets more reckless and shoots Dante, too and Shameek and Chico leave Dante to die. But Dante’s final act is to call one of Cottonmouth’s goons and give up Shameek and Chico.
Misty and her partner Rafael Scharfe are assigned to the case, and are on a quest to find Shameek and Chico before Cottonmouth does. They’ll need to hurry, because Cottonmouth’s supplier has sent Shades Alvarez (Theo Rossi), an enforcer and Luke Cage’s old prison mate, to handle Shameek and Chico. And because Crime Bosses and their quirky enforcers are vastly more efficient than police are (even if the Detective on the case is super beautiful, super smart, super plugged in to the streets), Alvarez locates Shameek and his half of the money the next night.
Cottonmouth is in his office above Harlem Paradise beating Shameek. This isn’t the smartest thing a crime boss should do, as a night club has too many potential witnesses around, but there’s a beautiful portrait of Biggie Smalls donning a gold crown on the office wall, and the speech Cottonmouth gives about being the King while torturing Shameek is really helped by the visual. Rather than give up Chico’s whereabouts, Shameek defiantly spits in Cottonmouth’s face. Bad move. Now Cottonmouth has to beat him to death, when he might have been kind enough to beat him close to death and have his goons finish him elsewhere. Kids today.

Since Pop’s pep talk, Luke has had sex, but he hasn’t yet able to get past the rest of his hangups. Seeing Shades Alvarez walk through the kitchen at Harlem Paradise has shaken him up pretty badly. Luke has a vision of his dead wife Reva, who gives him a pep talk. It amounts to “Calm down! Bang shorties! Go be great!” At least, that’s how I interpreted it. I’m really good at interpreting ghost pep talks.
Now empowered by Reva’s permission to fuck shit up, Luke interrupts a shakedown of his landlord and her husband by Cottonmouth and the Councilwoman’s goons. With his superhuman strength and unbreakable skin, the goons are easily defeated. Grateful, his landlord offers to pay him to protect them. Luke refuses the money, but promises to watch out for them. Somebody’s becoming a hero!

[Watch the “Moment Of Truth” episode of Marvel’s Luke Cage on Netflix]
Rae Sanni is a comedian and writer from Brooklyn, NY who has been bringing her unique perspective on everything from pop culture to race and gender relations to audiences all over. Rae co-hosts the monthly stand up comedy show LoudMouth!. You can find Rae on Twitter @Raesanni, where she muses on her love for Rihanna, NBA players, and being a black person.