‘Luke Cage’ Recap, Episode 6: All For Nothing

All that for nothing. Pop’s death, Luke’s raid on Crispus Attucks, Misty’s persistent investigating, Claire’s barbershop bullet extraction, only for Cottonmouth’s arrest to not stick in Luke Cage, Episode 6, “Suckas Need Bodyguards.”

And Cottonmouth (Mahershala Ali) has made nabbing him so easy! He’s become irrational in his battle with Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and has been making mistake after mistake. Cottonmouth goes to meet with Scarfe to get the guns Scarfe has helped retrieve from evidence, but Scarfe wants $100,000 for his trouble. Cottonmouth refuses, and after an insult from Scarfe (“Man, your juice is water since Luke Cage punked your peacock ass”), Cottonmouth starts a fistfight that leads to Cottonmouth shooting Scarfe with Scarfe’s own weapon. Scarfe manages to hide, and Cottonmouth leaves him alive. “When I catch you I’m gonna use my hands, bitch” he offers before leaving the scene.

Councilwoman Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) knows her cousin is becoming a major liability. She meets him at Harlem’s Paradise to chew him out for shooting Scarfe. Mariah recognizes the threat that Luke Cage is — he has just shown up at her home and threatened to take her and her cousin down — but she wants Cottonmouth to be smart about how he goes after the nuisance. Has Cottonmouth considered drowning Luke? What about setting Luke on fire? Cottonmouth needs to strategize and effectively eliminate the threat. “You’re sounding a lot like Mama Mabel” Cottonmouth observes. He promises to regroup. He’ll have his men pick up the guns he left behind to get to Colon, he’ll have Scarfe handled, and he promises to take Luke Cage out for good.

Luke and Bobby Fish are chatting over breakfast at Claire Temples’s (Rosario Dawson) mother’s diner. Luke wants to ensure that Pop’s Barbershop stays open, but he doesn’t intend on staying in Harlem after Cottonmouth is apprehended. Bobby wants Luke to stick around and to be a real superhero like the ones we’ve seen before. Luke could even wear a mask! Luke rejects the idea. “I ain’t no hero.” But what happened to the Luke from the last 2 episodes? The one who showed his face to news cameras despite being a fugitive? The one who warned Harlem against Cottonmouth at Pop’s family? The one who doesn’t trust the police system and so will handle Cottonmouth himself? Is that not a hero? Ugh. This wishy washy reluctant hero business is boring. Having spotted Luke, Claire’s mom calls Claire to the diner so that she can talk to Luke. Luke doesn’t remember Claire until she reminds him that she is the nurse who helped him heal after a gunshot he suffered during the Marvel’s Jessica Jones storyline. Bobby leaves them to talk. Claire wants to know if Luke is okay and wants to help Luke explore and understand his abilities.

Cottonmouth calls Lieutenant Perez, and demands that he track down and kill Scarfe. This will be especially hard to do, now that Captain Aubrey has instructs her precinct to find Scarfe alive, and has paired him with a still in denial Misty (Simone Missick) on their search.

Scarfe knows everyone is after him, so he drags himself, critically wounded, to Pop’s Barbershop. He’s aware Luke does not trust the police, and Luke certainly wouldn’t feed him to Cottonmouth. As Scarfe is too scared to go to the hospital, Claire removes the bullets in his abdomen. But before Luke agrees to help Scarfe, he demands to know Chico’s fate. Scarfe admits to killing Chico. Luke starts to choke him, but Claire begs him not to kill Scarfe, as Luke is not a killer. He leaves Scarfe to die in the Barbershop, but Scarfe begs for his life. “I’m despicable,” he admits, “but Cottonmouth is worse and I have what it takes to put him behind bars for the rest of his life.” This gets Luke’s attention. Scarfe has notes in his apartment that can take Cottonmouth down for good. Notebooks with information on a slew of murders, how Spurlock’s mortuary helps dispose of bodies, and the name of every cop on Cottonmouth’s payroll. The notebooks are at Scarfe’s apartment, though, where Misty and Perez are staking out the building.

Luke, heads to Scarfe’s apartment where he finds the notebooks. He manages to jump out the window before Misty can catch him. He takes the evidence, meets up with Claire and Scarfe, and they all take off to One Police Plaza in a van Claire’s mother has provided. The plan is to turn Scarfe and his notebooks in at NYPD headquarters.

An update from Perez on the complications he’s had trying to catch Scarfe sets Cottonmouth off. He puts a $100,000 bounty on Scarfe’s head. Cottonmouth’s goons spot Luke’s van and commence a shootout. Misty and Perez hear about the shootout over the radio, but Perez is in no rush to head toward the scene, arousing Misty’s suspicions. She fakes a phone call from Scarfe, and tricks Perez into revealing himself to be on Cottonmouth’s payroll. They fight briefly but she wins. “Cuff yourself, you piece of shit!” she tells him, doing an incredible Pam Grier impression.

As Cottonmouth has observed, Mariah resembles her criminal Grandmother more and more these days, but she is very committed to appearance as a respectable Councilwoman. She has granted a reporter an interview with her at her home, provided that Mariah is given the space to talk about her vision for Harlem. The reporter has her own vision for Mariah’s interview, however, and she blindsides Mariah with questions about her family’s criminal history. There are questions about the raid on Crispus Attucks and the money recovered, and speaks the Luke Cage audience’s thoughts when she says it’s “difficult to decipher which Harlem you stand for.” Mariah cuts short the interview.

Luke, Claire, and an increasingly weak Scarfe are doing their best to make it to One Police Plaza, in one piece. Luke uses himself as a barrier to protect Claire and Scarfe from a hail of bullets, and even uses his super strong body to block a speeding SUV from hitting them. Misty arrives on the scene just as Scarfe begins to succumb to his injuries. Misty holds him as he apologizes and dies. It’s a sad scene if you care about Scarfe, but I don’t, so it’s mostly just awkward.

With Scarfe’s evidence, Cottonmouth is arrested at Harlem’s Paradise, and Misty has the pleasure of putting the cuffs on. News of this major arrest travels fast, and the reporter is still at Mariah’s home when she gets the news that Cottonmouth has been caught. She asks Mariah what she thinks of her cousin’s arrest, and Mariah loses it.

We’re only six episodes into a 13 episode season, so it’s hard to believe that our Big Bad would be handled so easily. Back at the precinct, Captain Aubrey informs Misty that the hire ups at the NYPD do not want to follow through on this case because of what damage the corruption headlines will do to the department. It seems pretty ridiculous that they’d give up on such a big catch to save face, but so it goes. The department isn’t going to risk the negative headlines for some notes from a dead corrupt cop, and all this work goes to shit.

[Watch Marvel’s Luke Cage, Episode 6, “Suckas Need Bodyguards” 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.