Luke Cage season 2 episode 13 review: I’m A Rook

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

This review contains spoilers.

2.13 I’m A Rook

It’s done! And this season ended up being one of the better instalments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe TV Shows That The Movies Completely Ignore. It might even be the first to end on its high point, depending on how you feel about the others.

Let’s do it character-by-character:

First, Mariah. I loved how brutal she became – Mariah really was a survivor – but it turned out she couldn’t protect herself from the people she didn’t suspect. I loved everyone getting their five minutes of chat with her (even, improbably, Luke) and I thought her death sequence was well-executed. I’m glad they did it too, I was slightly worried we were going to get a Kingpin redux where she was lording over a group of crooks inside jail. Her villainy was a weird mixture of genuinely complex and melodramatic, and I pity the character that has to step into those shoes.

Bushmaster getting away with it (sort of) was a little less satisfying. I expected him to eventually be destroyed by the Nightshade that gave him his powers, but that would have perhaps been too obvious. Maybe, like Diamondback, he’ll remain in the ether so that he can potentially be brought back. Part of me wants to forgive him. Part of me remembers he’s a psycho who put people’s heads on spikes.

Misty, meanwhile, gets the least resolution here but that’s clearly because she needs a Daughter of the Dragons series to happen. I’m continually baffled that she sticks with the police force when she quite clearly wants to take the law into her own hands, but maybe that’s a tension worth playing with. I do wish they’d make a little more of the robot arm, though! People really took that incredibly high-tech and life-altering technology in their stride.

Tilda taking out her mother wasn’t entirely unexpected, though I can’t help thinking that the police will probably come for her once they’ve done some forensics on Mariah’s corpse. Or hey, maybe they’ll just treat it as a win that she’s dead and not pursue it. I liked the twist that she thought she was going to get the club then didn’t, though – one final twist of the knife from her mother, who turns out not to be as “family first” as she previously claimed.

As for Shades, I hope he’ll be back but I can sort of believe that he spends the rest of his life in prison, waiting to see if someone comes to kill him.

And as for Luke, well. That was an ending and a half for him. This isn’t something the comics have ever done with the character but turning Luke into a “sheriff” is great territory that suits him. I mean, it’ll obviously corrupt him, but it’s a fun direction to take and it makes me excited about season three. It does sort of beg for a resolution with his father, though – I can’t see him being especially proud of this career decision, and while I know why they haven’t dealt with it now, it does feel like something that’ll need to be addressed. And I know Luke doesn’t think he’s a gangster, but as DW said… if you’re the boss of crime, that makes you a crime boss.

But hey, if Luke knows anything about anything, it’s running a bar. And this might be a bigger bar than he’s used to, but I can’t wait to see how he takes to it.

The only awkward part of the finale? Claire turning up and Luke refusing to talk to her… off-screen. I mean, fair enough if you want to do that moment, but please. Get Rosario Dawson in for just one shot to really sell it, or just deal with it later on. I sort of hope she never comes back because her role in these shows has been thankless and cringeworthy as often as not.

But hey, we got to the end of another Netflix show and this one was really worth it, which is more than we can say for some. Strong writing, strong acting, lots of excellent music and a guy punching people through walls. I can’t say I was disappointed.