Maybe I’m the wrong person to write about superhero stuff in 2017. Guys, really: I just can’t watch superhero things without finding big philosophical flaws in their makeup and intent. I’m afraid to sit through the second season of Jessica Jones when it airs next year, even, though then again, Jessica is the best thing about The Defenders, … Continue reading
It’s year-end time, folks, and Paste Magazine’s TV section has already kicked off the season by naming its picks for the best shows of the year, plus its picks for the best new shows of the year, which I contributed two write-ups for. (Guess which ones!) I don’t mind saying aloud and right off the bat that … Continue reading
Well: That’s it. Luke Cage‘s first season is over. It’s done. Finished. Complete. It went out well. I struggled with episodes five through seven, and I wish that the show had bothered to bring in Diamondback sooner; to use Stokes’ knowledge of Luke’s real identity against him; to pit Luke’s ideal of Harlem against Stokes’ and … Continue reading
At this point, I probably don’t need to say that I like Luke Cage, but I’ll say it anyways: I like Luke Cage. But I do wonder if there’s a more perfect version of the series lurking within the very good version we must content ourselves with, one where the fear explored in both “DWYCK” and “Take … Continue reading
Much as I love Mahershala Ali, I’m kinda glad to see him go in the context of Luke Cage: He’s one villain too many, or the show just plain ol’ has one villain too many, and if one of ’em had to go, Cornell Stokes makes the most sense. (Don’t feel too bad for Ali: 2016 is … Continue reading
So: Problems! Luke Cage hits kind of a standstill during its fifth and sixth episodes, mostly because it fails to appropriately pair its hero against a suitable villain. You can see how this is almost inevitable from the start: Stokes, a mortal man with a mean streak and delusions of Robin Hood-dom, uses bullets to get … Continue reading
Every Luke Cage review I post, I wonder a little bit how many people read it who belong to that conglomerate of anti-Cagers. Are you a part of that group? How about yoooou? Well, if that’s where you’re at, then this post is just going to be a waste of your time, because it links to about a … Continue reading
Remember all those times I reviewed Jessica Jones? Have you been missing those times? Miss no longer! Now I’m reviewing Luke Cage, aka “the best screen thing Marvel has ever put their name on,” which is maybe just a smidge hyperbolic but, well, I don’t care. Luke Cage is great. It also has vaulted Marvel’s Netflix and television … Continue reading
“Superheroes invite metaphors for discrimination by their very nature. People fear what they don’t understand; this is especially true when the “what” happens to be a giant green monster or a Norse god, but what Jessica Jones and Luke Cage lack in enormity or mythology they make up for with power. In “AKA Crush Syndrome,” … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 