Life ain't what it's worth
I was so engrossed in watching Luke Cage yesterday that I forgot to do any lunch prep for the week, so I have no lunch today. I'll have to go buy it. That's how good Luke Cage is. I think it is objectively the best of the Marvel series so far (though I perhaps connected to Jessica Jones more emotionally). It doesn't sag in the middle the way JJ and DD did, there's very little extra (though I think it could have been trimmed to 12 episodes) and certainly no ninja or villain fatigue, which the other two shows suffered from, imo.
The acting is stellar - Mike Colter is smooth and sweet, vulnerable and angry, and always the center of attention in any scene he's in. Alfre Woodard is - I mean, she's Alfre Woodard so you expect excellence, but holy shit, I had never seen her as a villain and she is terrifyingly driven. Sweet Christmas! Simone Missick, Mahershala Ali, Karen Pittman, and Rosario Dawson are all great (♥CLAIRE♥).
And it does what I didn't think DD or JJ managed - it feels like Harlem, and not currently gentrifying Harlem, but as co-worker T put it, Harlem of the nineties. She also said it felt culturally Black, and there were certainly references I didn't get that she filled me in on. Like, it's a show for and by Black people, and the rest of us are just lucky enough to get to watch it.
My one disappointment is that Misty doesn't get her robot arm! They even give her a major arm injury to which a tourniquet has to be applied, but in the last scene - where she is ICONIC MISTY - she still has her own arm.
With that out of the way.
Man, this was so good. It got the pacing and tension right. Though there were moments when I was like, "WHY IS THIS GUY NOT DEAD YET?" it was because the men were posturing and waving their guns around, which was in character, rather than any one person carrying the idiot ball. (I mean, whatever Domingo, you can stand around and talk tough, or you can shoot a motherfucker before he shoots you and everyone with you. I am just saying. I think possibly the reason Mariah will come out on top is that she doesn't need to posture, she strikes when she needs to. I think she learned that from Mama Mabel, too.)
It complicated and deepened Reva's story, and made Luke's life that much more difficult (and his past that much more painful). I didn't think Reva would turn out to be quite as complicit as she was, though I still think it was probably not as bad as Luke now thinks it was.
I loved that we got scenes of Misty with Priscilla and Mariah - three women in the box for a tense interrogation and not a white dude in sight. Plus while there was distrust, there was no competition between these women - Misty had a one night stand with Luke but she wasn't upset that Luke and Claire seemed to be in an established relationship. Too bad they never got to have coffee. I would absolutely polyship them. And Claire is still the best! I love her so much!
I loved the characterization of the secondary and tertiary characters - Pop and Turk and Bobby Fish and Candace and Aisha. Soledad! Connie! The kid selling dvds on the street! Shades! So familiar and so fucking creepy. *shudders* Plus, Sonja Sohn! I maybe shouted "KIMA!" every time she showed up. AND THE METHOD MAN CAMEO!!! THAT WAS THE BEST NO LIE. And also the Colleen Wing Easter egg at the end! The occasional mention of "heroes for hire". THE YELLOW SHIRT AND TIARA. POWER MAN.
There was some review (possibly the NY Times? I haven't read it, only seen it referenced on tumblr) that said LC didn't engage with racism with the same depth that JJ engaged with sexism/misogyny, but my god, did they even watch the final stretch of episodes? (I'm guessing probably not.) I thought it was very pointed in its commentary, and explicitly stated the importance of a bulletproof black man in a hoodie!
I don't know if the backstory came from the comics - the only Diamondback I'm familiar with is the one who ends up dating Captain America - but I feel like they did a good job at showing the limitations of Luke's superpowers - that Judas bullet did some damage, but possibly the second dip in acid has made him impervious even to them?
I did find it interesting that the doctor (the lawyer from The Wire!) was all about creating immortality and super healing etc, but there was never any mention of all the failed attempts at recreating the super soldier serum, and the MCU at least is littered with them (and even Sampson on Jessica Jones was in some sort of program). I get that the prison experiments are meant to be analogous to the Tuskegee experiments but that was also what the Project Rebirth experiments were in the comics, that gave us Isaiah Bradley, who I was also surprised wasn't mentioned here.
The direction was interesting and the music was fantastic. A++ all around on that.
I understand Netflix crashed under the weight of people watching it, so I'm glad I was able to finish it before that happened! I definitely recommend it highly.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/875933.html.
people have commented there.
The acting is stellar - Mike Colter is smooth and sweet, vulnerable and angry, and always the center of attention in any scene he's in. Alfre Woodard is - I mean, she's Alfre Woodard so you expect excellence, but holy shit, I had never seen her as a villain and she is terrifyingly driven. Sweet Christmas! Simone Missick, Mahershala Ali, Karen Pittman, and Rosario Dawson are all great (♥CLAIRE♥).
And it does what I didn't think DD or JJ managed - it feels like Harlem, and not currently gentrifying Harlem, but as co-worker T put it, Harlem of the nineties. She also said it felt culturally Black, and there were certainly references I didn't get that she filled me in on. Like, it's a show for and by Black people, and the rest of us are just lucky enough to get to watch it.
My one disappointment is that Misty doesn't get her robot arm! They even give her a major arm injury to which a tourniquet has to be applied, but in the last scene - where she is ICONIC MISTY - she still has her own arm.
With that out of the way.
Man, this was so good. It got the pacing and tension right. Though there were moments when I was like, "WHY IS THIS GUY NOT DEAD YET?" it was because the men were posturing and waving their guns around, which was in character, rather than any one person carrying the idiot ball. (I mean, whatever Domingo, you can stand around and talk tough, or you can shoot a motherfucker before he shoots you and everyone with you. I am just saying. I think possibly the reason Mariah will come out on top is that she doesn't need to posture, she strikes when she needs to. I think she learned that from Mama Mabel, too.)
It complicated and deepened Reva's story, and made Luke's life that much more difficult (and his past that much more painful). I didn't think Reva would turn out to be quite as complicit as she was, though I still think it was probably not as bad as Luke now thinks it was.
I loved that we got scenes of Misty with Priscilla and Mariah - three women in the box for a tense interrogation and not a white dude in sight. Plus while there was distrust, there was no competition between these women - Misty had a one night stand with Luke but she wasn't upset that Luke and Claire seemed to be in an established relationship. Too bad they never got to have coffee. I would absolutely polyship them. And Claire is still the best! I love her so much!
I loved the characterization of the secondary and tertiary characters - Pop and Turk and Bobby Fish and Candace and Aisha. Soledad! Connie! The kid selling dvds on the street! Shades! So familiar and so fucking creepy. *shudders* Plus, Sonja Sohn! I maybe shouted "KIMA!" every time she showed up. AND THE METHOD MAN CAMEO!!! THAT WAS THE BEST NO LIE. And also the Colleen Wing Easter egg at the end! The occasional mention of "heroes for hire". THE YELLOW SHIRT AND TIARA. POWER MAN.
There was some review (possibly the NY Times? I haven't read it, only seen it referenced on tumblr) that said LC didn't engage with racism with the same depth that JJ engaged with sexism/misogyny, but my god, did they even watch the final stretch of episodes? (I'm guessing probably not.) I thought it was very pointed in its commentary, and explicitly stated the importance of a bulletproof black man in a hoodie!
I don't know if the backstory came from the comics - the only Diamondback I'm familiar with is the one who ends up dating Captain America - but I feel like they did a good job at showing the limitations of Luke's superpowers - that Judas bullet did some damage, but possibly the second dip in acid has made him impervious even to them?
I did find it interesting that the doctor (the lawyer from The Wire!) was all about creating immortality and super healing etc, but there was never any mention of all the failed attempts at recreating the super soldier serum, and the MCU at least is littered with them (and even Sampson on Jessica Jones was in some sort of program). I get that the prison experiments are meant to be analogous to the Tuskegee experiments but that was also what the Project Rebirth experiments were in the comics, that gave us Isaiah Bradley, who I was also surprised wasn't mentioned here.
The direction was interesting and the music was fantastic. A++ all around on that.
I understand Netflix crashed under the weight of people watching it, so I'm glad I was able to finish it before that happened! I definitely recommend it highly.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/875933.html.
people have commented there.