Luke Cage Season 1 (Spoilers)

[Detective 445]

Watched the first couple of episodes of Luke Cage last night and really enjoyed it.  Some initial observations:

• Technically, this picks up where Luke's arc left off in Jessica Jones, but it feels like a sort of reset for the character who is now living a completely different life and for the show which has a much different tone, feel and atmosphere than the Jessica Jones series.
• I'm not an expert on Blaxploitation films but I've seen enough of them to know that this series draws heavily on them for inspiration. At they same time, the creators do a nice job of modernizing and subverting the original concepts and themes of those films.
• So far the show has had some interesting but subtle things to say about race and smartly focuses on those themes rather than flashy superheroics and special effects.
• The cast is great. I never cared about Misty Knight before but she is already my favorite character in this series.
• I'm not a fan of the original Luke Cage comic series and consequently, never really had much interest in the character's exploits over the years, but this show seems intent on rectifying most of things that bothered me about the comics. Really looking forward to watching the rest.  

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I didn’t think about this show debuting until last night, and by that time I was wrapped up in the Fear the Walking Dead season finale. I plan to start watching tonight, at the rate of one episode per night. Because this is a Netflix show and is subject to binge watching, if anyone jumps ahead, please be judicious in your use of spoilers.

[Richard Willis]

We have two discussion threads running side-by-side. Maybe these comments could be re-entered on the CharlieKweskill thread, which was the first one started?

[Detective 445]

Sorry about the confusion. Prior to my post, I didn't think about checking in the comics forum since we have been posting about all the Netflix shows in the TV forum.

I'm happy to delete my thread if the mods prefer it that way.

[Richard Willis]

It looks like either Charlie or a Moderator has deleted the other thread.

[Richard Willis]

Yesterday we watched the first four episodes and liked them. IMO, the first episode dragged a little. After that they hit their stride.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

We watched episode one last night. For years I’ve been railing about superhero movies (Superman and Batman in particular) whose directors feel the need to retell the origin every time the respective franchise is rebooted. These characters are so iconic, I don’t really think even the most casual viewer would be “confused” if Superman just flew in to save a jet plane from a lightning storm or whatever. Luke Cage is not so iconic, however, and I wonder if the lack of origin (apart from a few brief flashbacks) will hurt in terms of attracting viewers. I only just recently learned that Cage appeared on Jessica Jones, so maybe his origin was shown in more details there…?

I make up my mind pretty quickly about whether or not I want to commit to watching a show. I gave SHIELD and entire episode; I gave Green Arrow only 20 minutes. Just about everyone I’ve spoken to who’s seen Cage has said the same thing: it gets off to a slow start. I’m familiar with the back story and picked up on a lot of “Easter eggs,” but I wonder how much time the “casual viewer” is going to give it before moving on?

The show was featured on “Morning Edition” yesterday. It’s worth listening to (or reading). Here’s a link.

[Richard Willis]

They gave Luke's origin a full treatment in episode 4, in detailed flashbacks. IIRC, it is the same as his comics origin with one tweak added.

[Richard Willis]

There is a lot more action and character development after episode 1, so I hope you hang in there.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Oh, I've already made up my mind to continue watching. Looking forward to episode 4!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Watched episode two last night. So far, so good. there's one scene I heard about and was expecting in te first episode, but haven't seen yet. Something about considering, then rejecting, a yellow shirt...? Episode 4?

[Richard Willis]

I think that's in episode 4. The headband and metal "bracelets" are in the same scene related to the experiment that gives him his powers.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I notice the credits list the creators as Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, and George Tuska and John Romita. (I had something else to say about episode three specifically, but it slips my mind.) We'll watch episode four tonight, but we'll be out of town for the weekend.