Luke Cage Review

For seven episodes this is the most distinctive thing Marvel made for Netflix. Cheo Hodari Coker builds an actual neighbourhood, with a barbershop, a nightclub that books a different live act every week, and a running argument about who gets to speak for a place, and the sight of a Black man in a bullet riddled hoodie walking unhurt out of a firefight carried a charge no other show in the run had. Mahershala Ali plays Cottonmouth as a frustrated musician who resents being good at crime, and his death, thrown from a window by his cousin, is a genuinely shocking piece of storytelling and also the point where the show collapses.

Erik LaRay Harvey's Diamondback replaces him with a shouting long lost brother and a grudge from a backstory nobody needed, and the second half becomes ordinary. Mike Colter is watchable but underpowered as a lead, playing a man whose invulnerability removes tension from every scene. Alfre Woodard's Mariah is the one thread that improves across both seasons, growing from politician to monster with real patience.