SUCKAS NEED BODYGUARDS
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
This episode opens with a voice over of a call-in talk radio show discussing Luke Cage and if he’s good or bad for Harlem. Most of the callers seem to agree that he’s good with the announcer seeming to be on that side as well.
Scarfe meets with Cottonmouth (CM) and tries to get him to pay him $100k for the shipment of Hammer weapons. CM punches him, takes his gun when Scarfe goes for it and shoots him several times leaving him hurt and bleeding. Not sure why he didn’t finish him off. I know there was a witness from across the docks but the guy probably already saw what was going down. Why leave any loose ends?
Luke confronts Mariah Dillard outside her home as she is in between taping of a promotional spot and an interview and tells her that he’s shutting down CM and her.
When Mariah meets with CM she suggests some good ideas on how to deal with Luke: drowning, poison, fire. We know that Luke’s skin is impervious but we don’t know as much about his insides. We do know that the shotgun blast to his head shook his brain and they had to relieve the pressure by going through his eye socket in Jessica Jones. So I wonder if his eyes are vulnerable. If he swallowed a small explosive, would it destroy his insides and, essentially kill him? But it seems that CM is still angling for The Judas bullet.
Scarfe shows up at the barber shop asking Luke for help. Luke has Claire in tow. They happened to meet at her Mom’s diner and Claire tried to convince Luke to put his powers to use for good. Luke wasn’t that interested and Claire followed him out of the diner and back to the barber shop. Scarfe tells Luke that he can help put CM away for good. That he has the goods on him back at his apartment. Luke almost kills him when he admits that he killed Chico but Claire talks him out of it. She patches him up the best she can and Luke goes to get the evidence from his apartment.
Misty and the IA guy are staking out the apartment but Luke gets in unseen and finds the book. But is almost busted when Misty figures that there’s something wrong.
Luke gets back to the barber shop and they decide they have to get Scarfe to the police station where he can be protected and they can turn the evidence on CM over. Claire asks her Mom to borrow her company van and they load Scarfe in the back. CM’s goons catch up to them though and lead them on a chase that ends in an alley. Luke punches through the side of the van and the building wall outside it to make their escape. As he’s dealing with the three goons following them Claire and Scarfe make a run for the station. Scarfe doesn’t think he can make it and they almost get run down by an SUV but Luke shows up at the last minute and takes the hit stopping the car dead in it’s tracks. Misty shows up at that point only to watch Scarfe die.
CM gets arrested and Mariah has a very bad interview. When she finds out that CM was arrested she sees her world crumbling.
This episode seems to be wrapping up the CM and Mariah stories but I get the feeling, with seven more episodes to go, there will be other challenges. And I don’t think we’ve heard the last of CM and The Judas bullet. Anxious to see when Diamondback will enter into the mix. From the research I did online he seems to be good with knives. He better have knives made of adamantium if he wants to get through Luke’s impervious skin.
Rating: 7/10