‘Luke Cage’ Recap, Episode 8: Oh Brother!

Cottonmouth is gone and so too is the more gritty Harlem of Luke Cage’s first half. Instead, Luke Cage, Episode 8, “Blowin’ Up The Spot” has left behind its Hip-Hop swagger and taken on a wonderfully Blaxploitation feel, with its new over the top villain Diamondback (Erik LaRay Harvey) complete with snappy dialogue and the occasional funk beat behind it.

Diamondback is the arms dealer we heard about back in Episode 1, the larger snake behind Cottonmouth’s gun selling operation. He is also Luke Cage’s half-brother, with a long standing vendetta and an explanation I’m sure we’ll get later on. Thus far we know that Diamondback is the dude who framed Luke (Mike Colter) and had him sent to prison, and he is relentless.

Luke has been shot and Claire (Rosario Dawson) has used her family connections to find a “borrowed” ambulance wherein she tries to treat him. Diamondback shoots up the ambulance, however, and they have to escape. Claire finds a women’s clinic nearby since his fugitive status makes a hospital a no-go, and she tries again to treat him. Claire cannot, as his skin is impenetrable, and so there is no way for her to successfully retrieve the bullet inside him.

Another villain has emerged in Cottonmouth’s absence. Mariah (Alfre Woodard), parricidal councilwoman, is sitting in the aftermath of her murder of Cottonmouth. Shades Alvarez (Theo Rossi), feeling very Iago-like, consoles Mariah as he helps her with clean up and coming up with a cover story. He wants her to win. “Do what I say and when you get away with this you can go back to being the sexy, domineering bitch that we all hate to love.” With that, Mariah overcomes her shock at having just become a murderer, and leans into her sexy, domineering side, warning Shades that’s the last time he’ll ever call her a bitch.

Mariah has collected herself and put in motion her cover up when Misty (Simone Missick) arrives at Harlem’s Paradise to investigate Cottonmouth’s murder. A tense exchange between them sends Misty on the trail of Candace, the VIP bottle waitress from episode one. Luke Cage is whom they’ve all decided to blame and it’s hard to imagine Mariah didn’t put great pressure on Candace to go along with this story.

Mariah goes down to the precinct, where she speaks to the press outside. Her smear campaign of Luke Cage begins in earnest, where she calls him a coward, and asks Harlem to reconsider their love of the vigilante. Inside, Misty interviews Candace, who Misty knows is being forced to lie about the nature of her relationship with Cottonmouth (she was too scared to serve him alcohol alone at Harlem Paradise, now she’s his lover?) and Luke Cage’s guilt, but Cottonmouth’s lawyer interrupts their interview.

Misty confronts Mariah, who has moved into pure evil genius mode. She assesses that Misty has no evidence on her, and decides to no longer assist in this investigation. Her decision is reinforced when Investigator Ridley, fellow Alpha Kappa Alpha soror, interrupts. Investigator Ridley is aware of the difficulty nailing down a woman as connected as Mariah, so while Misty pleads her case against the councilwoman, Ridley insists that Misty refocus her energies on Luke.

Mariah eventually pays Candace off, with a huge sum, and she’s even willing to kill Candace and her whole family to protect her secret. Shades loves it. Mariah, still coming to terms with herself, sees a photo of Moms Mabel’s photo and says aloud, “I’m not like you.” No Mariah, you are. And it’s glorious.

Claire is still working on Luke at the women’s clinic, where, with the help of a sonogram, she realizes that shrapnel is moving through his body (this is why it’s important that Congress tries to stop defunding Planned Parenthood. Where would Luke Cage be without it?). Misty calls Luke’s phone, trying to get him to come down to the precinct for an interview. When he refuses, she tries to keep Claire and Luke on the line long enough to track his location. Misty is able to track them to the women’s clinic.

Misty shows up to the clinic, and receives word that a search of Pop’s Barbershop has turned up some gloves Shades has planted to frame Luke for Cottonmouth’s murder. Misty attempts to arrest Luke, but just as she does, Diamondback tries to snipe Luke. Misty goes to make chase despite her better judgment, but Luke and Claire get attacked while they’re still inside. Another fight ensues. Diamondback shoots Luke and after a quick fight after he finds Misty, easily takes her hostage. In a rather traumatizing moment, our fearless Misty readies to die as Diamondback holds his gun to her head. But he’s aware Luke likes Misty, and so Diamondback delivers Misty a knockout blow, choosing to keep her alive so that he may toy with her later. (This might be an awful time to celebrate that Luke might still like Misty, but I am still very adamantly against this Claire Temple nonsense, and am back to shipping Luke and Misty.)

The brothers meet up at the beautiful United Palace theater, where they have the series’ most super hero like battle to date. Luke is obviously weakened by the Judas bullet but still possesses his superhuman strength, and Diamondback’s airing of old family grievances in between delivering devastating blows is peak super villainy. It’s the best fight sequence of the show thus far, and I’m so happy we have Diamondback in Harlem.

Meanwhile, Misty, clearly on edge after her terrifying encounter with Diamondback is interviewing Claire. She’s particularly aggressive, and gets set off when Claire does not give up Luke as she wants her to. Misty goes as far as choking Claire up against the wall when Investigator Ridley interrupts so as to not allow some straight up brutality. I’m shocked. And disappointed. Misty is the one character left who does things the right way. It would be devastating to see her unravel as a result of losing Scarfe, Cottonmouth, and being terrorized by Diamondback. You got this Misty! You are black girl magic!

[Watch Marvel’s Luke Cage, Episode 8, “Blowin’ Up The Spot” 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.