Episode 10 of Luke Cage Season 2 gives us the other team-up we’ve been waiting for: Power Man and Iron Fist!
We’re back with five things about “The Main Ingredient.”
1. Insight from D.W.
We open with Luke on his way to Pops, experiencing firsthand how far his star has fallen. He’s lectured on how he’s become indistinguishable from the police and how he’s “using his powers wrong.” (We also see that I’m not the only person thinking Game of Thrones, but I digress… )
Luke meets D.W. at Pop’s and blames the video he sold to ESPN for Harlem turning against him.
D.W. sees it differently. “That was all you. You’re the one talking about ‘Step to me,’ throwing the tires 30 feet and hitting the dab.” He thinks Luke brought the attention on himself, and it’s his job to show people Luke as he is. It’s an interesting point of view that is both conveniently self-interested but also true to a point. Luke decided to come out of the shadows, and it’s had consequences.
I like how D.W.’s been used this season, and hope we’ll see more of him next time around.
Danny Rand arrives at Pop’s, and his interaction with D.W. is, well, marvelous. “This cat understands the power of a brand!”
2. The Immortal Iron Fist.
Danny Rand is finally Danny Rand!
The new Iron Fist is calm and confident. We don’t hear much about why he is so different, and that’s the best approach. We should just accept it, and I am more than eager to.
Danny has arrived to help with Bushmaster and, most importantly, help Luke deal with his anger. Danny has rediscovered the power of stillness and wants to impart the lesson on Luke.
They visit Mariah and Shades, and Luke has a lesson for Danny. Iron Fist is surprised that his money has an impact on people whether he personally cares about it or not. “Stillness is power? No, money is power. That’s what flows.”
The chemistry between the actors is excellent, and the long-awaited live-action team-up between “Power Man” and Iron Fist is everything I’ve ever wanted.
I want a Heroes for Hire series.
After the encounter with Mariah and Shades, Danny takes Luke into the hills around Columbia, and we get the obligatory sparring match, but this time it’s a lesson from Danny. This new Iron Fist is everything he should be.
Danny demonstrates insight about Mariah, and how she likes her perch up high in the Paradise where she can see everything.
3. Mariah levels up.
Cornell’s Notorious B.I.G. painting is back up in the Paradise, and Mariah Stokes is back on the throne.
But Anansi, who Mariah and Shades are trying to interrogate, takes one look at Mariah and has her figured out. “You’re consumed with fear. You’ve been scared your whole life.”
Until this scene, Anansi was a father figure for Bushmaster that dared to stand up to his nephew. Now we see more of him and that he is fearless. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help him; he gets under Mariah’s skin when he calls her a slave.
Mariah demonstrates a level of brutality that we haven’t seen before in a Marvel Netflix series when she has everyone in Gwen’s executed and burns Anasi alive. It’s tough to watch.
Sugar refuses to go along in a moment of conscience I have no problems believing. But we’re also supposed to believe that Shades has a problem with the massacre too.
Whatever.
We return the Paradise, and music tells us the story as Faith Evans and Jadakiss play “NYC,” a song originally recorded with Notorious B.I.G
Get your paperwork right and you can catch these thieves
The game is forever a part of me
‘Cause as far as NYC, I’m the main artery
Nobody parallel or even half as smart as me
You was just a draft pick, I was a lottery
Mariah dances along from her view over the club.
4. Nandi’s pointless betrayal continues.
Nandi is caught because we’re supposed to believe that she (and Bailey) didn’t realize that card keys can be used to keep track of who enters a room and when. Seriously?
I get it, her betrayal was necessary to get Bushmaster to Queens, but the rest of this storyline is more or less filler.
The fight at the airport was pointless. Was it satisfying to see Misty punch her in the mouth? Not enough that it was worth pulling me out of the story.
The interview back at the precinct was idiotic enough to be insulting. The Deputy Chief should have never let it get as far as it did, and then after it’s over.
Misty gets promoted?
It’s sequences like this that make people say the Marvel Netflix series are too long.
5. Turk!
After Danny talks about Mariah’s birds-eye view at the Paradise Luke says: “We don’t need a birds-eye view. We need the perspective of a rat.”
“All right. So who’s the biggest rat you know?” Danny asks.
“That one’s easy,” Luke replies.
And we know Turk will make his appearance soon.
Turk has moved on from illegal activity to work that is only slightly illicit.
The fact that Netflix is willing to go through the trouble of bringing Rob Morgan back to each series as Turk instead of just dropping the tradition altogether or worse, hiring a different actor, says a lot. I hope Disney keeps the series with these creators and doesn’t pull them back when they launch their Deathstar-On-Demand service.
Turk gets more dialog than usual and even has a chance to admire Iron Fist.
“Your aura’s dope. Who you train with?”
Unfortunately, Luke cuts Danny off before he can finish his answer. When he said “Master—” I finished his sentence with “Splinter.”
A quick sense of humor or senility? I’m not sure.
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“The Main Ingredient” made me want to dig up some of my favorite old comics. How about you?
