Luke Cage Review (Spoilers)

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I just finished watching the Netflix show. Possible spoilers.

I didn't like it much. It was terrible writing, very slow, very very cliche.

I liked the fact that it featured a predominantly black cast, because I prefer diversity in my shows. But it still needs to be a good show! You can't just have a black cast and mention lots of black historical figures but then have boring characters and a plot that doesn't make any sense.

Basically, whatever anyone said, the opposite would happen.

"The barbershop.. it's Switzerland" -- Cue to it become Swiss Cheese, riddled with bullets
"It's Fort Knox" -- Cue to all valuables being taken from it
"You'll be safe here" -- Cue to the person being murdered soon after
"You'll be free from prison" -- Cue to the person being sent to prison
"You're under arrest!!" -- Cue to the person being set free immediately afterward

Nothing stuck, so it was hard to be invested in any of the characters or stories.

Also Luke himself was just plain awful. He was insufferable, giving long, boring speeches, always needing to be encouraged to get back into action and not just run away. I just wanted him to beat up the badguys, not give them a boring history lesson. He was a big bully, often beating up people or being mean to them for no reason. And he's a very bland actor, not capable of showing emotion during what should have been shocking moments for his character.

I'm quite upset that women keep falling for him, especially ones who know him. Other than his body, there's nothing interesting about him for them to fall for. These women can do better. And why is he always so mean to Misty??? If he had just cooperated with her, this whole series would have ended much sooner.

And the season ending was just terrible. Basically it restarts the show all over again. No sense of accomplishment or change.

Btw the women on the show were great. I wish there was another show that featured just the women and didn't feature Luke or most of the men, who were uninteresting for the most part.


Grades for the characters/actors:

Luke Cage - F
Misty Knight - A-
Claire Temple - A (She's incredible at everything she does)
Mariah Dillard - B- (Very one-note, could have been much more interesting)
Cottonmouth - B (He should have been on the show much longer! He was fascinating and could have done much more. I'm very unhappy with the totally random way he died, basically having nothing to do with Luke Cage.)
Shades - A- (The only man with brains on the whole series)
Diamondback - D (Completely one-note. How is this wild crazy guy supposed to be the same guy who's the rich leader of a criminal syndicate? How did he come into all this power and money??)
Scarfe - B (His story made no sense. Why was he so corrupt? Why did he ask Cottonmouth for more money? Why did they mention he had a dead son?)
Domingo - B (Why did he live for so long? And then just die? Who really cares about him? He didn't bring anything to the show.)
Mama Mabel - B+ (She was strong and showed love to Sister Boy)
Zip - B- (Did the best he could with terrible dialogue)
Sugar - B- (Why leave and then come back, get shot.. again, completely random)
Noah Burstein - C (He lives all alone in the middle of nowhere... but he has a completely functioning lab? No spouse, no kids? Just waiting for Luke Cage to show up so he can operate on him again? That's quite a long game... just sit around for years, waiting for one person to simply come and show up... who's funding all this? How does their budget keep getting approved, year after year???)


So many side characters show up and then disappear then show up again for no reason. And don't get me started on the Method Man / Sway cameos... those completely ruined all momentum and broke the fourth wall way too much.


PS - Who was Romeo? I didn't see him listed on IMDB. I don't like random shout-outs where you have to have watched either a previous show or another show that hasn't come out yet.