Luke Cage - 'Take it Personal'

"He's alive! He's alive!"

I caught another episode of Luke Cage this morning to try to lift my funk over the election results. It was about a slick, corrupt, populist politician making hay of tragedy and fear.

'Take it Personal' is about the final transition of Carl Lucas into Luke Cage. We begin, as he began, in the acid bath, with Claire's quick thinking saving Luke's life as she lobs a toaster into the acid bath as an impromptu defibrillator, and works with Burstein to adapt the treatment to soften his skin. With some effort they are able to remove the shrapnel from his gut and he heals in hours. He even recovers his sense of humour, waking to ask Claire 'who are you?' before breaking into a huge grin.

Burstein tries to convince them that, although his work began in supersoldiery, Luke is the key to a treatment that will eliminate cancer and disease, and effectively make people immortal(1). He appeals to Carl to work with him, but, spurred on by discovering Reva's video logs which prove her knowledge of the experiments and fight ring, and her part in selecting Carl Lucas for the programme, Luke rejects his old identity and asserts the new: He is Luke Cage, and no-one should ever have to be like him. He trashes the lab, Claire takes the flash drive and they book.

Diamondback is an interesting look at the global response to superheroes.

Back in Harlem, Diamondback calls Mariah in and tells her it's time to push his weapons on the police, starting with a less powerful, mass-produced version of the Judas. To create demand, he dons a hoodie and some sort of Iron Man knock-off glove, with which he murders a popular community beat cop while yelling 'I'm Luke Cage!' Subtle. This provokes a witch hunt from the NYPD, who round up all the black men in hoodies they can find.

They eventually pick up Lonnie, the kid from the barber shop massacre, and here the show reminds us that it is not just street smart, but film savvy. Lonnie's mother was initially just there to indicate that Luke was avoiding healthy hookups, and the fact that she is an almost-qualified lawyer seemed a throwaway, but Hey-oh! Lonnie knows his rights; he knows that 'if you're innocent there's no harm in talking' is bullshit and he knows that they can't hold him without probably cause for walking home from chess club while black. Cut back from the Inspector reminding Misty that Luke Cage is their focus until he's off the streets, and the (black) officer questioning Lonnie has beaten the snot out of the kid. Outrage naturally follows, and Mariah uses this moment to direct the tides of fear and anger towards the man who supposedly kicked the hornet's nest: Luke Cage.

Being down Georgia way, Luke and Claire do a road trip to Savannah. There they visit the church where Lucas Snr. preached, and Luke recalls scenes from his childhood which, meaningless at the time, add up to confirm that Willis Stryker is his half-brother, and the whole thing has a serious Jacob and Esau vibe. Misty, meanwhile, finds Stryker, connects him to Carl Lucas and recognises Luke in courtroom photos. Luke gets philosophical about the lies in his life, before he and Claire, still friendly-flirty, head home, where they get a tip off about a meeting at Harlem's Paradise to discuss the Luke Cage menace.

"But let's not lose focus of what this is really about: Me."

Mariah is holding a rally, using Lonnie's injuries to whip up anger and then direct it towards the 'superfreak' Cage. She also makes reference to Jessica Jones, clearly discounting Kilgrave's powers and painting the super-strong woman as the villain. She works this all around to arming the police against people like Cage, so that they don't need to victimise the innocent, which honestly comes off as a bit of a leap for the crowd's mood. Then again, I suspect that the crowd might be fairly selectively formed. Mariah confronts her council rival while a reverend speaks, but then Luke - so far undercover - spots Misty heading for the stairs and follows. This puts him in the right place to shield Misty after Stryker gets the drop on her, covering her with his body as Stryker's crew open up on them and assuring her 'I got you.'

'Take it Personal' completes the journey begun in 'DWYCK', as Luke regains his centre and his sense of self and is freed from the deceits of the past. His view of Reva and his father is shattered, but this allows him to see the world without the filter of lies. It makes it hard to trust, but it signals a sea change and now he's finding his own way instead of living up to someone's memory. And what is that path? Who is Luke Cage? Well, one thing we know: He's got you.

(1) Marvel taking a leaf from Wolverine's book and applying it to Luke's enhanced healing factor, although with the tank and all he comes off more as a more successful version of Deadpool.