Marvel’s Luke Cage Season One Review

you I'm Mike and this is remote control season

passes and we're Doing another Netflix show.

The last Netflix show we did was daredevil season

one with my buddy Joe Reed and I Joe and I probably

gonna come back and do daredevil season two But

I have once again this week DJ Valentine from

simplistic reviews. Hello, sir. Sweet Christmas.

How you doing? No power man. You can't have any

coffee. I Really want coffee. I'm strung out

on coffee Okay, so the first thing is I Know

everybody's like, oh my god. Oh my god Netflix

new Marvel series. I have to watch it all right

now I can't I can't do that. I Still I still

have yet to watch Jessica Jones. It's not cuz

I don't want to it's just that I don't know like

I don't I know of Luke Cage I know of power So

that's why I was fine doing, you know watching

this series right after I watched air devil,

right? But I still just have not gone back to

Jessica Jones and I will eventually but I know

he shows up in that right? That's a good introduction

to him. Yeah, so I mean it's just one of those

things where I'm gonna have to go back to that

eventually and we'll do one of those episodes

anyway, so I was talking about Marvel's Luke

Cage and the whole coffee thing The first thing

I thought of... We start with coffee? We start

with coffee? We gotta start with the coffee because

we gotta get it out of the way. Let's go, coffee,

let's go. We gotta get the coffee out of the

way. The first thing I thought of, because as

I've said many times on all my podcasts, I have

been playing Grand Theft Auto for... Grand Theft

Auto 4, I should say, for at least eight years

since it released. And I remember in the San

Andreas days that the San Andreas game, if you...

did it properly, entered a certain code, entitled

hot coffee, that you could basically watch people

have sex with each other. Right, right. So watching

Luke Cage, the whole coffee thing, I'm like,

hey, this is Grand Theft Auto San Andreas all

over again. They stole their coffee idea from

Grand Theft Auto. I don't know if that makes

them worse or better. It's a good idea, actually.

I think they pull it off better. So Marvel's

Luke Cage, season one, 13 episodes. Like I said,

I had no previous notions. I had no previous

anything going into this because I think I've

seen, it's not Superhero Squad, which one was

it? There was a Marvel show recently where Power

Man was one of the. Oh, Avengers Assemble? It

might have been Earth's Mightiest Heroes or something

where I knew of Power Man before I had ever seen

this, and I knew of the character, I just didn't

know the whole story or whatever else. One of

my things is is if I don't know the character

I'll just essentially ignore the thing kind of

like with Jessica Jones It's not that I dislike

it. It's not that I am hating on it. I just have

no interest in it There is a huge difference

between disliking something before you see it

and just having no interest in trying it right

away Huge difference folks But Luke Cage, I knew

what I knew somewhat about it somewhat about

the character of power man that kind of thing

and what i didn't know and it took me about three

episodes watching this is holy shit i've seen

that guy halo no no this is no this is this is

actually kind of sad uh so mike colter we're

not gonna even in the cast just yet but mike

colter plays uh carl lucas aka luke cage in the

luke cage show And I'm looking at this guy and

he's all beefed up and bulked up and slightly

different looking like where have I seen this

guy before I know I've seen this guy before Turns

out he was So sad He was Malcolm Ward in 17 episodes

of the CW show ringer. He was a strong out Strong

out guy friend of mr. Michelle Gillers character

Bridget in the CW show Ringer from 2011 to 2012.

And I'm like, oh, like something in me. Like,

as soon as I look it up, I'm like, hey, that's

me. I know exactly who it is. So I'm like, oh,

awesome. Isn't Ringer that show that was supposed

to be like Revenge, but on the CW or something

like that? Well, Ringer was completely off -topic

at this point. But Ringer was a short -lived

one -season show on the CW. with Sarah Michelle

Gellar starring as twin sisters, Bridget and

Siobhan, and about how they can go back and forth

and exchange each other's lives and et cetera,

et cetera. At the beginning of the show, Siobhan

supposedly kills herself and Bridget takes her

life. So it's like orphan whack, right? Yes,

orange is the no -wack. Orange is the no -wack,

yes. Die I bite my tongue. I love Sarah Michelle

Gellar. I remember just seeing the posters of

that show and I was like How much do I love Sarah

Michelle? I was like not that much. So I never

once I Believe it's still on I think there's

only I think this is another debate, but I think

I think it's only Think I don't know Walter was

a strung out What was he a drug? He was a strung

out. What was he a bodyguard? What was he? No,

he was a He was a he was a fellow in a person

who used to be a drug addict Along with with

one of her characters. I swear this is still

on here I'm sure you can find it online. So Luke

Cage, Power Man, aka Luke Cage, this series,

when you first heard about this particular series,

was your reaction holy crap? I mean, my friend

is a huge, huge Luke Cage fan. He kind of introduced

me to Luke Cage and Black Panther respectively,

and I've become a huge Black Panther fan But

he is still like he was telling me everything

about Luke Cage He was like there was a comic

book issue where Luke Cage went to Latvia and

beat the crap out of dr Doom because dr Doom

owed him money He was like telling me all these

issues so I was kind of like oh they're making

a Luke Cage show and I was more happy because

I love iron fist and Heroes for hire is essentially

when iron fist and Luke Cage who are like besties

Team up and make their own superhero for hire

detective agency kind of thing And I was like,

well, this is a step in that direction. And I

liked that book. So I was happy. And I know you

haven't seen Jessica Jones. He is very good in

Jessica. He's maybe the standout, other than

probably David Tennant, who is, to me, I argue

the second best Marvel villain of all time. So

he's very good in that show. So when they told

me they're making their own series, and every

bit of news that came out from it sounded great

to me. Again the guy who? Who who did Southland

a very underrated show and he also did a couple

of wrote a couple episodes of NCIS Los Angeles

And he did Tori's big movie. I was okay. I like

this guy. I think his name is clee clee I can

never Cheo Hadari Coker, I think his name is

When he was in charge, okay, this is great I

get a good showrunner in there and they and they

told me Rosario Dawson was coming back and they're

gonna put misty night in it was another complicated

I was very Primed I wasn't daredevil like frantic

cuz daredevil gets in front of me. I have to

see it I must see it now. I was kind of like

alright. I'm really interested in what this What

this is because when I maybe two years prior

I wouldn't have cared at all about a Luke Cage

show I've been agents of shield kind of apathetic

to it where I was okay, whatever but Because

I didn't really like you're saying I didn't really

I Say I knew the character, but I didn't really

I'm not really in love with Luke Cage as a character

Daredevil, I love that character. Jessica Jones

has one of the most compelling origin stories

of any comic book character of all time. So Luke

Cage to me, it grew on me. It didn't grow on

me as much as Black Panther grew on me, but it

grew on me. So I was happy when it was coming

out and I was blown away after watching it. first

heard about I mean I knew of the character I

knew of the name Luke Cage but I remember now

where I first heard about power man yeah yeah

Ultimate Spider -man because it's it's it's him

and it's Spidey and Nova and that's where I first

heard about okay so I don't have the same connection

as you do and the sad thing is for me I know

this is gonna be horrible this is gonna tie back

into last week where you're talking about lethal

weapon I was waiting for Bruce Willis to show

up at the show with a sign on his back. With

a sight on his back? Sign on his back! I was

waiting for him to show up with a sandwich board

sign on. For anybody that doesn't know, Luke

Cage takes place in Harlem. The one thing that

I know we mentioned this last week and I know

I'm kind of do a gonna gonna do a flip -flop

here on Last week when we talk about the theme

song The opening montages for these shows are

great. The music is great. It stops. You can

choose to watch it if you want to. Yeah. If you

want to see, you don't binge, but if you binge

a Netflix show after maybe the third episode,

it'll just start the episode at the end of the

opening montage. You would have to actually choose

to play the whole thing. That's a good thing

that Netflix has built in so because they heard

you they heard you like somebody's gonna get

mad at this thing is so long Episode 8 somebody's

gonna get pissed off. So what is built in this

thing? Well, that must be That must be on the

actual website, because I use the website, but

I also use the Netflix, I assume it's a Windows

8 version app or whatever, but because I have

Windows 10, so I wanted an app for everything.

So I have a Netflix app, I have a Hulu app, I

have the CW app. So I watch most everything on

the Netflix app. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I do everything

official. I'm an official, I'm an official Netflix

user. Asshole! Excuse me. No, no, no, I am an

official Netflix user. We have the, no I'm just

joking, I have no idea. I have my pinkies. Will

you put your pinky down already? It is the official

Netflix app. Is that what they told you? They

told you from the Netflix. So Luke Cage season

one, I know a lot of people marathon these Marvel

shows. I can't. I just can't. It's not because

I don't like them. It's not because I'm too bored

with them. They're all wonderful, wonderful shows.

I have to watch two or three episodes at a time

throughout a period of three days So there's

13 episodes, you know You know if you want to

do some math on that to you know, three or four

episodes a day It takes me about five days to

watch a whole Netflix series because I have so

much other stuff I have to do like the ringer

like the ringer you have to watch with this Well

do that over summer when there was no television

Because let's face it not even though reruns

can save us now in summer So for me, I think

I I think I watched all of this series by Let's

see it released September 30th on Netflix. I

was done maybe Okay, I don't know somewhere October

7th. So it's not that bad about a week or so

Give or take a few days. Um, but I would watch

two or three episodes at a time and I really

really enjoyed what I saw. I liked how They built

it up. I wasn't so sure by episode four. I was

like I think I think episode four uh, I think

so Yeah, it gives us his origin of the Episode

four is uh step step in the arena. Yeah, well

trapped in the at least at least starts with

his origin a little bit in that episode. Yeah

Yeah, well, yeah Gives us the how he became sort

of and the prison scene and all that. So That

was their Shawshank. He's red. I get you I can

get you a harmonica If he's ready to do frame

Crawl through a river of shit came out with shades

By that point, I you know the first three episodes

I was hooked I was ready to go by the fourth

episode because they're trapped under the whole

building explosion because the rocket launch

I'm like, okay, that's where this is going We're

gonna get the backstory now and I started to

fade a little bit and then I came back to it

and I'm like, okay cool this is going well, this

is whatever and Think I forget which episode

it is that that he eventually gets killed off

but the episode where or cottonmouth Shot and

killed cottonmouth was beaten to death I Think

she just pushed him out of a window and then

he fell and then she gets the mic stand she might

drops him for about 10 minutes Wow There was

supposed to be an earth -shattering kaboom. Oh,

Marvin the Martian. But yeah, you're right. You're

right. She does push him up. So up until that

point, I'm like, OK, Cottonmouth is going to

be our big bad. He's going to be the one that

Luke has to go up against the whole 13 episodes.

At that point, when Mariah kills him, I'm like,

wait, so what now? And we'd been hearing about

this person dying back. Silence is a predator

kind of guy. up to that point this yeah yeah

and i'm like okay so cottonmouth gone who's gonna

take his place and obviously it's this whole

diamond backstory which ties back into luke's

story when he used to be carl lucas and everything

else and i was just kind of worried at first

and i know this is netflix and i shouldn't be

worried but i was really worried at first like

what kind of villain are they gonna shoehorn

in here now are they gonna you know bring in

like enchantress or something and screw it up

every other movie she's in. But sadly, not sadly,

luckily they didn't do that. They gave us Diamondback,

who apparently is Carl's half -brother, which

is interesting. I think what I love most about

this show, as it's gone along, is the fact that

Rosario - TV Coulson, TV Coulson, my caller.

... television universe for Netflix. She's great

Trust me. I am NOT crap and I was already awesome.

She's great Other than the fact that she is Like

the one of the most gorgeous women on walking

the freaking universe She is great on all of

these shows and I was angry when I first heard

her getting cast because I wanted to get cast

as echo Which is a character from the daredevil

comic books and they were like, oh, she's gonna

be this Claire Temple character I was like waste

of Rosario Dawson boy I was wrong about that

because she is great on all of these shows and

this role that on paper sounds like nothing But

if when you watch it in action, I don't know

how when she shows up. It's like a breath of

fresh air every single series Yeah, absolutely

She really, really is. And it's just so fun.

It really is. It's very, very fun to have her

around. And basically, you know. Why are you

hating on Colson? What did Colson do to you?

Well, that's not his fault. That's Perlmutter.

He should have stood dead. That's not him. Gotta

go back and try to watch that show again. Yeah,

you're fine You're okay. You don't either I mean

the season one screwed season two it gets better

But I can understand anybody dropping off a shield

but for as much as much as Marvel Carries around

the reputation Being like the safe. They don't

they don't do Risky things as they should make

it a movie called Ant Man was a risky thing make

it a movie called Guardians of the Galaxy was

risky Doctor Strange having Robert Downey jr.

As your flag bearer of your studio and now Luke

Cage, I think is gonna be remembered as the one

of the biggest risks when it's said and done

You have a show with like, not just a predominantly

African American cast that doesn't graze by,

they dive head first into Black Lives Matter

movement that's going on right now. A hero who

wears a costume, who he said, the actor said

he, Michael Coulter said it's an ode to Trayvon

Martin, all under the guise of like a black exploitation

show. That is, I mean, he was talking about risky.

That's pretty freaking risky. The showrunners

deserve a lot more credit for the balls they

have to have to make a show like this today.

I mean, back in the day, it would have been,

you know, it has been chalked about black exploitation.

Now we're kind of in the PC. I don't want to

talk about that. I don't want to talk about guys

kneeling at flags and stuff. And it's like Luke

Cage in your face. I'm wearing a hoodie. Talk

about cops brutality. All that stuff front and

center on a Marvel show. That's to me. way more

risky than I don't know having Batman kill people.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, this is a huge risk

and only Netflix would be, only a platform like

Netflix would be able to pull this off. And again,

Marvel going the route of using Netflix. Jessica

Jones was super risky. That's all about like

PTSD and survivors remorse, rape. I mean, that's,

I mean, I always hear that on Marvel's list,

antiseptic, you know, safe place. I'm like, are

you watching some of these shows? Oh, no. Yeah,

no, I've never said that Marvel's a safe place

never Because they do touch on a lot of different

things and I think with Netflix as that platform

Allows them to do that without really needing

to and again the difference here is Instead of

having to wait 13 weeks We can watch it all in

one day we can watch it in, you know I saw, I

went through Luke Cage in about a day and a half.

I got through Jessica Jones a little bit faster

than that, because I really like Jessica Jones,

but I can see it. That show is more, I think,

polarizing than I think Luke Cage is, because

of what the subject matter dealing with is very

dark. But Luke Cage, to me, it's just, there

are some problems I'm going to have with it,

and you brought it up. I think after Cottonmouth

goes That should have probably been the end of

season one. I just to make it tighter because

Diamondback seems like a season two villain I

think if they would have I know they didn't really

rush it and I know they were trying to he's kind

of connected to the Finishing of Luke Cage's

origin so they kind of had to have him there

but just because I Wanted more time with him.

It seems like if they would have just ended it

with cotton mouth because I love the Superman

Lex Luthor dynamic that Cottonmouth and Luke

Cage has, because I don't think Luke Cage touches

Cottonmouth this entire series. He doesn't lay

a finger on him. And that's kind of what Superman

Lex Luthor was, where it's kind of like, you

know, brain versus brawn. And I liked how Cottonmouth

always had like a, I liked that whole relationship.

And I think if it would just culminated with

that, you would have had an almost perfect series.

But because that Diamondback storyline kind of,

I don't say it was rushed. It was just, I wanted

it to be filled out more. That's kind of one

of the major things I didn't like about the show,

but I like the show overall, but that's just

one of the holes, the Jericho or Judas bullet

size holes that I think I can poke in the show.

Yeah. I mean, for me, you're right. Like I said,

I'm like, okay, well he's dead. Where are they

going to go from here? Are they going to turn

Miranda into the, you know, the mama or whatever

the mother's name is supposed to be? You know,

are they going to turn her into that character

or are they going to go a different direction

with her? And no, you then have the introduction

of more of Luke's backstory with, you know, his

whole family thing and the whole stepbrother

thing with... Diamond back aka striker and I

think what's gonna happen is they set this up

They set all the origin stuff up for the two

of them now and then season two they're gonna

do more with that like some sort of ultimate,

you know, like Right battle or something cuz

scientists guys lurking around them does recover

Of course Yeah, and and I think that's what's

gonna set up with Season two with what's gonna

happen and him him and Luke so I don't mind The

whole care the whole killing of a character change

and then bringing in more of Luke's, but I don't

mind that I just thought it was a little bit

of a new maybe but I think imagine if that was

the final episode Let's say you reposition some

of Luke's origin earlier and then have that be

the final episode where it's like and maybe Luke

Cage is on the run for Cottonmouth's murder and

you have to wait till season two that would have

been like what the fuck holy shit kind of ending

but they kind of kind of resolve it really I

think again I don't say fast it's just they resolve

it in such a way where I wish there was that

this felt like something that could have been

handled better if it was a season two you open

with Luke Cage on the run kind of thing But I

mean, the way that Marvel has their Netflix shows,

I'm not sure if season two of Luke Cage comes

before the defenders or after the defenders or

what? I have no idea. Again, like I said already,

I have to watch Jessica Jones, and then I'll

be caught up on all the stuff that they've done.

I believe, yes, Iron Fist is next, and then it's

the Defenders. I think I have to double check

that. And the thing that I'm worried about, I

heard a rumor earlier. Because Rosario Dawson

was just talking about her earlier how she's

in all of the Netflix shows She's in Jessica

Jones. She's in Lucas. She's an iron fist today

They allude that she's gonna be an iron fist

because she gets the the the martial arts flyer

thing at the end I think she might be the reason

the rumor was that she is going to be the reason

defenders get together and That reason is because

she dies and if that happens, I'm gonna be fucking

Heard and I hope to God it falls if they kill

her I mean it makes all the sense in the world

because she has at this point Will have known

all of the defenders personally. She knows Matt

who? When she's kissing up on Luca kind of made

me feel a little bad because I always wanted

her with Matt and I Luke in the comic books and

Jessica Jones have a they're like married and

with a kid so it's kind of like that weird for

me but yeah she knows Matt she knows Jessica

she knows Luke she's gonna know iron fist so

her getting killed off it would be a reason to

get it again I just hope to God it doesn't happen

they're going to be like do you want us not to

kill him? Marvel, Netflix, do not kill, come

on now. Not kill Jason Todd. Please, nobody call

that 900 number and vote to say yes. Kill him.

We've gotten so far off topic but anyway. it's

yeah so season one what i love about the marvel

shows is that it's a it's a full story is obviously

full story but it's a full story told to us that

we can watch on our time on our terms instead

of having like i said already having to wait

13 like you look at something like lethal weapon

or you look at any any network tell it doesn't

matter Game of Thrones a little different, it's

HBO, but whatever. You look at anything that's

on broadcast television, Flash, Supergirl, whatever,

you still have to wait until that next week to

find out what's happening next. With Netflix

shows, bam, they're all there. The future. The

future. You can watch them on your time when

you want. No commercials, thank God. Somebody

cute John Cena the time is no I agree with you

wholeheartedly. That's why I remember when Marvel

made this deal with Netflix God feels like forever

ago and I was like this is great because one

I was more happy because I knew at the time that

they're not gonna be beholden to censorship,

which means we're gonna get Darker heroes like

god bless him John Baranthos the Punisher, which

is one of the greatest things ever So we're gonna

get the Punisher. We're gonna get daredevil or

we're gonna get Daredevil we're not gonna get

we're gonna get the freaking Hell's Kitchen breaking

bones daredevil We're gonna get Jessica Jones

who's gonna be talking about her backstory and

not hiding tiptoeing around it because her backstory

I don't want to ruin it for you is dark as hell

and you could not put that on Brockett and they

try to put on ABC years back and I didn't know

how they were gonna do that because It is one

of again. I would say the dark Batman. Just look

at Batman like you're a pussy Your backstory

means nothing to my backstory. Not only did my

parents get murdered or died, that was before

I even had powers, okay? So yeah, get out of

here. So yeah, the fact that they put all these

shows on Netflix, I knew that we're gonna get

the actual versions of these characters without

any punches pulled. We're gonna get Luke Cage,

and we're gonna get blaxploitation Luke Cage.

We're gonna get that character. We're gonna get

Iron Fist, so we're gonna get Brutal which I

guess we'll talk about that later brutal martial

arts action sequences to the death We're gonna

get that stuff. So yeah, well sweet Christmas

once again At the time of this recording this

was before I had the Pamela call recorder audio

issues fixed If you guys want to listen to DJ

and I talk about the rest of Luke Cage from this

point onward Please do so if not I understand.

Please know that the audio issues are fixed at

this point, as far as I know. But at the time

of this recording, the audio was out of sync.

It is not us talking over each other. It's the

audio not matching up. And I tried to get it

matching up. I tried for two hours to fix this,

and it didn't work. So please enjoy the rest

of the episode of No One Listens. I understand.

Thank you. On with the show. It's this series

this these first this first 13 episodes was just

so fun for me Like even though I've said I took

you know took my time true or three episodes

at a time every episode that I watch normally

when I You know watch something I put on my analytical

glasses and I plan to nitpick the hell out of

it Not because I don't like it, because I want

to be able to analyze something about it. I want

to be able to point out this moment or that moment

or how many times they actually said, let's go

get some coffee. I don't know what that number

is, but normally that's what I do. When I sit

down here to podcast, I go over every aspect

I most possibly with this. I was just sitting

back having fun, enjoying every minute of it.

There's nothing about the story, about the way

the plot has unfurled other than the whole villain

change. Other than that one thing. Is it episode

four or episode three? It must be episode four

when Luke is going around the town getting people's

stuff back. And I'm like, this just reminds me

of Shaft. This is like the old that I keep going

to blaxploitation. This is like one of those

blaxploitation montages with or the black dynamite

made fun of it. It's kind of like a black dynamite

moment where he's just going around and you had

never thought, you know, we're going to make

a blue cage show and we're going to model it

after blaxploitation. We're going to make a Captain

America movie. We're going to model after a spy

spy Robert Redford movie or whatever. It's just

that is. Don't say ingenious. I just like a really

interesting way to take it where it could have

been fumbled You know how bad Luke Cage could

have been it's very it's a very small margin

of you know error for a Luke Cage show Oh Could

have cast Damon way you could have cast the Old

Spice guy who was lobbying for the role for years

Isaiah Mustafa wanted to have this role for years

and they could have with that direction and it

would have been Not as good, because something

about Mike Holter, he's not like a super well

known, I mean, he's not the rock or something,

but just something like quiet confidence about

him where it's like, yeah, that's Luke Cage.

When I look at him, I buy him. Same thing about

Rosario. Every line of dialogue Rosario Dawson

says, you don't think it's a line and this feels

like it's really being said by this person. Like

I think she has a scene with Misty Knight in

the police station. And it's just like, it didn't

feel like acting to me. It just felt like she,

this is like Rosario Dawson would normally handle

this situation. She would just talk down to this

woman just like this, exactly like this. She

was saying things that I would think of saying

if I was in that situation. So yeah, that's the

way they mine their talent. They get these actors

in these shows that may be not as like super

or popular characters, but they embody these

characters so well. Absolutely. Halo is the only

thing I've seen them in before this. Grand Assault,

folks, it's Wiki. But looking at just as Wikipedia,

because IMDb, I'm sure, has more. Oh, yeah, he

wasn't. Fuck, I forgot about him in that. I forgot

all about that. If you've seen some of these

movies, you've seen him. Million Dollar Baby.

He was big, Willy Little. I kind of voiced that

movie for a long time. I have seen Salt, but

I've watched it. He was in Salt as the CIA tactical

leader from 2010. Wait, that's the father he

was in men in black. He was in men in black.

He was very skinny. He put some pounds on He's

like a chameleon this guy. This guy is Gary Oldman

in black three So that Gary I didn't say Gary

Coleman I said Gary Oldman no, I cannot do a

different strokes joke, dude. Come on now Oh

Commissioner go okay wait a second Last film

they list is zero dark 30. He was dev grew operator

operative Mike He was in various episodes he's

in one episode each of Law or criminal intent

in SVU. He was in the royal pains as officer

Tanner One of the episodes and Like I said, you

know Jessica Jones Luke Cage right before that

last year. He had agent X for eight episodes

I mean, he's one of those I guess he's just one

of those guys that's been working and we just

at least I have not even paid attention the first

time he ever like stood out to me was the halo

short film or whatever and I was like this guy's

pretty cool and then I heard he got cast as Luke

Cage I was like Okay, let me see what he does

and then when I saw once you see him in Jessica

Jones because of this show He's um the lead but

it's almost like the world revolves around him

He and we kind of see how he deals with certain

things And Luke and Jessica Jones their relationship

is just and I think they're trying to nail the

hell out of it because their relationship in

the comics is very very It's like the foundation

of their characters almost and it's very where

we're very very well done and he's very good

in that show They kind of make an illusion to

it in the end the Luke Cage show, but it is in

the show I like it somebody made a comment where

he's kind of like I Mean this with no further

disrespect or he's at the Black Captain America

where he's he's very like a decent dude and he

kind of reacts to how Indecent people are around

them with and he fights them with his decency

Because Luke Cage is not like, you know, he's

not he's not Matt Murdock that Murdock He doesn't

he has a different trade of thought that Murdock

is the closest you're gonna get to get a Batman

character in Marvel than anybody Luke Cage is

kind of like gonna do the right thing if it doesn't

that means it's gonna be coming at the cost of

himself He's gonna do that. And the only person

that reminded me of is Captain America. That

is a Captain America trait. On your left. Because

even Mackie's not like that. Mackie's like, look,

man. They're shooting at you. They're gonna shoot

at me. I ain't gonna be dead. And I love Mackie.

Mackie's amazing. But Mackie's a different character

than this blue cage. And Black Panther's, oh,

that's a, that's a, that's a. Yeah, exactly.

It's a whole other bag of cats Yes, and Sadly

all I can think of is that Facebook meme it's

going I have not but I Snuffle up against from

Seth Sesame Street where it's called sniffle

grab a puss Have you seen this It's essentially

just snuffle up against from Sesame Street draw

just drawn not colored with a yellow toupee on

top I'll have to show it to you, but all right,

so we're so far off So Luke Cage Absolutely loved

it. I thought it was so fun. The storytelling

is well done. The acting is it's a different

show. It's a noir Not that noir It's literally

black and white It's I always think of Leaving

Las Vegas because she's self -destructive Because

she's been through people like why she she's

just depressed and she's been through some shit

She's been through more shit than anybody you

name a Marvel character. I have not I'll put

her against anybody with terms of the shit she's

went through. So yeah, and the villain, David

Tennant on that show, I know we're talking about

Jessica Jones on the Luke Cage show, but Luke

Cage is a part of that show. David Tennant's

villain is frightening. Frightening in the fact

of I don't know how to defeat a person like that.

I mean, we talk about horror. making this during

October or whatever and talking about Halloween

characters and the person that scared me the

most was Freddy because I don't know how you

defeat that person. You can't, I have to go to

sleep eventually. Purple Man is a person that

can make you do whatever he wants by just saying

it. So how do you defeat that person? So it's

very scary. So, and the way, and Luke Cage is

central to that climax of that story. So yeah,

you might like it. but just be prepared it's

not it is not christmas and rainbows my friend

it is not sweet christmas and rainbows yeah what

i love about the luke cage series the first season

at this point is just how like We wonder why

in the first three episodes why he constantly

says I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this

I don't want to be a superhero. I'm not gonna

wear a costume you constantly ask yourself Why

is he saying all this stuff is he just trying

to be modest or is there something that happened?

and then you watch that fourth episode where

you have the The flashback of the prison and

how he got the powers and the whole procedure

to get him the powers and how he got out of You

know and then he just starts punching walls and

starts taking car doors to you know fend off

bullets and Just that's what I love is they Between

Daredevil and Luke Cage they do the superheroic

power the the powers abilities very well like

you know he's super strong you know he's not

you know in in in luke cage specifically you

see however they give them whatever the hell

i don't want to call it mutagen because it really

wasn't mutagen but this elixir this you know

super soldier formula whatever the hell you want

to call it whatever the hell they whatever the

hell that damn doctor gave him you know you see

how it Has made his skin cells his old body stronger

not just inside not just outside on the inside

as well because they have the whole scene with

Claire trying to Help him and she can't she can't

cut into him and that kind of thing and it's

just so interesting. It's just so fun Though

the soundtrack have we even talked about the

center of the show yet? Which is with I would

compare only to maybe Garry's of the gossi is

one of the best Marvel sound tracks of all time.

It's Mean every I think it's the guy politically

who's in the first episode. I think he Did all

the music he's from this group. If you don't

know called a tribe called quest which is Like

my childhood. I grew up on a tribe called quest.

So when I heard that I was like, oh my god I

must download soundtrack. I mean I was like a

robotic must download soundtrack Must have it

on person at all times. So yeah, the music on

the show and the musical acts are Great. I like

how they kind of incorporate the nightclub Into

these episodes Yeah, that's always fun it really

is because Harlem's paradise for the you know,

the majority of until cottonmouth dies That's

the central villain layer stage except it's it

operates as a legitimate business You know and

yeah, I mean That was just so compelling, having

these musical acts and having all this criminal

activity going on in the background. Essentially

having Cottonmouth and Miranda, or not Miranda,

Mariah, sorry, you know, their cousins, their

family. So again, I was waiting because Alfred,

whatever it is, she's an actress that always

plays those characters that most of the time

will have some sort of turn. and I oh yeah she

she always is and it's one of those things where

I was waiting for Mariah's turn like I was waiting

for her to turn to the darkness you know like

you're saying last week with rigs where we need

rigs on Fox's lethal weapon to be dark I was

waiting for her to do that she doesn't do that

which is interesting Makes me she she kind of

has a Michael Corleone type art where she kind

of doesn't want to be cottonmouth She wants to

be legitimate, you know, I'm not my family Claire,

you know Kate, you know, she's kind of that person

and then Like Michael at the hospital. He kind

of knows he sounds that he can flick the lighter

because he knows he was built He was made for

this. So when she starts doing her Creepy criminal

activities later in the series. It's kind of

like She's good at this. She doesn't want to

be this but this is what she was made to do being

a diabolical criminal so Right Yeah, that's very

very true It's just It's just so fun and just

so funny. I know a lot of people are like I know

one person that I had to Ask him how many episodes

he watched. He's like, oh, I watched the first

couple and it didn't really bring me in Attention

span it is a slow burn. I would say that the

show is a slow burn. It isn't like have that

inside their devil like the first episode they're

like he's fighting like a ninja in the parking

lot or something like that so yeah uh luke cage

that's why i say it feels like a blazeploitation

blazeploitation it kind of builds everything

builds to an inciting final confrontation which

i guess in this show is the street battle with

diamondback that's how that's how these shows

typically Or at least that genre typically worked

where it's like, you know one guy on one side

one guy the other fighting the man or fighting

whatever and then they finally at the final thing

they would do something if you Go in there thinking

that in the first episode Lucas is gonna be beating

the shit out of a thousand people and every episode

is just action -packed It's not that type of

show that stared out Yeah, that's true. And I...

That whole end fight with him and Diamondback...

Somebody was like... I was talking to somebody

who was kind of like iffy on the show. He was

like, this is kind of like the Hulk versus Abomination

if it was, you know, cheap. They didn't really

break Harlem this time. They just kind of just

fought around a block. And what like you said

before the music apparently Adrian Young and

Ali Shaheed Muhammad are the composers on the

series for the score Yeah, yeah You know Just

the music in this show whether whether it's the

the performances at the Harlem's Paradise or

whether it's the the intro music or whether it's

the instrumental strategy It's just so good the

funny thing about the about the show in general

for me and it's so weird and I'm not gonna take

any points off of it for this, but it's just

one of those things that I noticed Well watching

the opening credits The opening credits run so

slow for me. It's not because of the visuals.

It's not because of the music It's because they

have to list and I counted 13 executive producers

Why the hell does a marvel that everybody won

the piece? Why does this show have 13 EPs? That's

what I'd like to know it's like I've no clue

I've never I mean I'm like I said I know from

watching daredevil and from now watching this

I know those intros are meant to be somewhat

long ish and and draw you in to you know to get

into the mood of what the show is and kind of

you know you open the show with a big action

sequence with daredevil fighting seven guys in

a hallway you know You have to slow it down some

715 doing with these opening themes, but And

I have not counted on daredevil I refuse to count

on daredevil how many EPS they have but I I had

to go back to this Yeah, I had to go back to

this and I'm like 13 executive producers really

13 and I think I might happen after their defenders

because I think I'm pretty sure I know iron fist

is next I'm pretty sure it's defenders and I

think Jessica Jones might come before that and

then Come after defenders and then Luke Cage.

I believe this is just me shoot in the dark Punisher

is in there somewhere too, which people keep

forgetting unless your comes out soon. So And

I guess he's splintering off from the defenders

because I know he has Karen page on his show

As it will guess I think Karen page is gonna

be his Rosario Dawson Connection or whatever,

but I don't know when the hell Luke a season

two comes out. It's it's it's I think up in the

air I believe it's so confusing. There's like

sexity show so scarred hard to remember The episode

I was thinking of was the one I mentioned it

before we're Lucas like I'm gonna if you keep

my name out your mouth and he's walking around

and get everybody's stuff back because cotton

-mouth decides to Steal things and say tell him

Luke Cage's this is Luke Cage's fault or whatever

that was like my favorite episode because that

was the one where I thought the show hit its

stride and any scene where Rosario Dawson's talking

because you gotta understand and it's not again

it's not just because she's beautiful because

it's no doubt she is she is so real it's you

rarely see an actress on a tv show like a marvel

tv show where you buy her you just okay she's

she doesn't feel like you know she's being i

don't want to throw your show your favorite show

under the bus arch gotham where she's like jada

pink it's she's not She's not being super arch

or super, you know, over the... It's real. Wait,

wait, wait. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Fish

Mooney's not walking in the street, but Claire

Temple could be walking in the street. I never

said... I... I have never... She would know exactly

where to hurt her. If... fish Mooney and Claire

Temple any day over fish Mooney yeah exactly

let's clarify something Gotham is not my favorite

Joe I I sometimes defend it because when I think

it's getting good I like it but the biggest downfall

for Gotham for me Is that horrible fishy smell

and thankfully they got rid of it For the most

part. I hope she doesn't come back. She went

into the woods last time we knew And as we know

nobody really comes out of the woods after a

while, but anyway Elements. No, I bet superhero

Is a cop procedural with Batman elements in it

essentially is what that is. Yeah You dug you

maybe more than I did buddy It's essentially

all super all week, I mean really Arrows Oh,

yeah No, I really did dig Luke Cage. I thought

it was great. I thought it was fun. I thought

it was in the great straight from Pulp Fiction

Who I think his name was was his name. He had

a weird kind of criminally sounding name. Is

it Shady? No, no, not Shady. Oh, God, what the

heck is the guy's name? He's gonna kill me now.

He was he was Brett in Pulp Fiction. Say what

again? Detective Scarf Scarf Detective Scarf

Frank Frank Whaley. I think this is a real name.

He's the only little white guy I remember this

year. No, no. He was the only one that was kind

of thinking like you're kind of acting buddy

He was because he was always saying like really

over the he was kind of doing it over -the -top

cop buddy kind of thing a Little bit so when

he died it was kind of like, okay. Thank you

Yeah, because Misty is again another actress

who plays it pretty real she doesn't play it

super over -the -top I think her name is a Simone

music. I think her name is she's I dug her and

I really not a huge Misty night fan. I know she

gets a robotic arm later on and that kind of

hint to it during the show But I thought that

we're gonna you know, I thought she's character

is gonna be like a nothing But she's kind of

like this one of the centerpieces of the show

She is one of those big elements revolving around

Luke She kind of gets lost near the end of the

series where you're kind of like what is she

doing here? But she from the big from the get

-go. She's very good. She has great chemistry

with Luke. I mean that literally and figuratively

But yeah, she's great No, it's all what do you

want and my friend from mr. Robot my favorite

show on television Ron Ron Jones This guy came

out of nowhere, I don't know from Mr. Robot,

first time I ever seen him. And now he's in things,

and I'm like, thank God this guy's here, because

he's great in everything. I think he's a, he,

what the hell was it? The Mr. Robot character

he was playing, he beat out Steve Buscemi's brother.

They actually filmed a scene with Steve Buscemi's

brother as this character, Romero, and then they

recast him with this guy who plays Bobby Fish

on Luke Cage, because he's awesome. He reminds

me a lot of the guy who plays Bubbs on The Wire,

but he's not him. His name is Ron, I think it's

Ron, I believe it's Ron Jones. I saw him in another

show on ABC with the guy who played Christopher

Darden on The People versus OJ. I was like, this

guy's popping up everywhere now because he's

just good. And he's kind of like I think going

to be the new Pops. I think he's taking over

the barbershop that Luke is running and he kind

of is kind of helping Luke get around some of

the legal pitfalls as it were. So hopefully he'll

pop back in season two. Mm -hmm First time I

ever first time I've ever seen him was mr. Robot

and I thought it was the guy from the wire But

I looked at closely at him was like, oh, it's

a different guy that guys this guy's Ron Jones

a little bit older But he's great. I mean wherever

he popped up first I mean, he's always solid

another guy when you hear him talking to you

you buy him You're like, okay this guy's he's

I know whoever this character is. I know this

is not He's the character, he's not performing

the lines as it were. Don't remember that. No,

no, I remember the movie. I still remember him.

Wow. He was in He Got Game. Denzel come on now.

He was the he was the he was the prison guard

prison guard Burrell or Burwell He seems like

seems like a Broadway guy because these Broadway

guys when they come over like the guy who plays

Martian Manhunter on Supergirl He's a Broadway

guy. You could kind of just tell when you get

a Broadway guy cuz they they they know there's

They don't mess around you can just tell this

guy. Oh, yeah material He's read the script backwards

and forwards. He knows his lines. He's all into

this character. So yeah Absolutely, but I is

one of those things where I got I'm confused

with the guy who plays bubs on the wire But it's

not him I forget that it's a different guy somewhere

else in some other Television piece or film or

something Great play that's one of my favorites

of all time Motherfucker with the hat that's

with you. That's you know when you write the

player like we're gonna call it. I got it And

he played he played crooks and of mice and men

in 2014 as well But yeah, no, I mean all these

cast members have just really obviously made

the show the writing and everything else just

everything has come together with this show and

All 13 episodes. It's one thing to have a 13

episodic television show weekly It's another

to have one that's right there When you want

to watch it whenever you want to watch it and

you can find the story by yourself Without needing

to wait six or seven days to watch the next episode

I Do it ironically probably Including up until

pops death where I used to chuckle when pops

would call him power man because I'm wondering

like if he's ever going to take That was the

one thing that sadly that was the one scene if

I'm gonna poke another hole in it where I thought

my cultures acting was a little off when pops

is dying his His crying scene. I didn't really

like it that much everything else. He's fine

when he's playing like, you know angry and Charming

and stuff. He's perfect. Does that one scene

guy kind of took me out of it a little bit But

you know, it's he's not he's not Daniel Day Lewis

not everybody can I Mean not everybody can nail

the crying scene as well as let's say Mr. Mr.

Gary Oldman nobody got though. I told him black

area open earlier. He can't nail as much as He's

not he's not on lost he's not on Hawaii 5 -0

no I give it a solid I give it a solid four.

It's probably my my fourth favorite of the Marvel

Netflix shows. I mean, that may sound bad because

you gotta remember the top three, Daredevil season

one, Jessica Jones, Daredevil season two, and

now Luke Cage. Ironically, I think by this time

next year, all of those shows might get trumped

for me. I think Iron Fist is gonna be the truth.

I've got my fingers crossed, but... Think it's

gonna be great and I want to see these guys cuz

I saw him at the New York Comic Con Mike Holter

and the guy who plays iron fist I forget his

freaking name Finn Jones, I believe I Want our

heroes for hire TV show which is essentially

gonna be both of them I want that show to happen

So if iron fist is a is a smash success like

these four Netflix shows have been I think it's

gonna open up, I think that show's gonna take,

I think Heroes for Hire will be awesome. I think

Iron Fist will be, I need Iron Fist to be great,

so Hire for Hire will be also great. And I think

Mike Holter is gonna parlay this into some other

stuff because now he's on everyone's radar. Who

the hell is this guy that plays Luke Cage? Who's

the Luke Cage guy? He's more of a he's more of

a he's that's Loris Tyrell than another game

of Thrones reference guys I know who you're talking

about. You're talking about mr. Jones. I know

I know I'm talking to the man He's the he's the

night of flowers over there he's from he's a

Tyrell Loris Tyrell, right? It's okay How can

I reference Game of Thrones other than Sesame

Street if I've never seen it? Come on now. simplisticreviews

.net You can get our podcast on iTunes, TuneIn,

Stitcher, YouTube. We do some commentaries where

we mystery science theater 3000. Pretty much

we just released a child's play to commentary

because somebody requested it and I didn't kill

my it is Halloween. I I don't know why they picked

two over one, but whatever Oh I don't know. I

think the way I think our show works where the

worst the movie is the better we are So our Batman

V Superman commentary was amazing didn't pick

the bride of Chucky for you. Me, Justin, was

the Matthew Stewart in a robot announcer named

Julie, which she's not really a person, more

of a cybernetic organism. There you go. How many

guys do you guys have? Two other guys? Three

other guys? Well, we got Justin's part Batman

anyway, you got Matt who does a great He does

a good his best impersonation is Val Kilmer in

Batman forever Calling out to Harvey dead trying

to confess that he's Harvey. That's his one great

impersonation And then I typically just fall

into a bane once in a while Did that all you

wanted? No, I love we loved uh, Ben Affleck the

part our commentary most of the time we were

like Ben Affleck's the best thing of this movie.

Ben Affleck is great. You know, honestly, I'd

rather have a vocoder than Christian Bale eating

rocks. I think the guy on Supergirl was uh, pretty

damn good. I'll remember him as from Roach. He's

the kid from Road to Perdition and he's in Everybody

Wants Some as the only two movies I remember

that guy It's like a spiritual sequel to Dazing

Confused, it's Richard I Didn't recognize Yes,

yeah, there you go Yeah, it was I knew I was

right it was yet don't say don't say 50 shades

of gray Oh no. That was a perfect use of oh no

by the way. Oh no. He's going next year. That's

the only word you can say when you read that

title. 50 shades darker. Yes, yes it was. Sometimes

you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

I'm still gonna go Tim Daly I'm just gonna sit

down here with Tim good old Tim D. Good old Tim

D. Kevin C. We're gonna hear watch TV show. Okay,

but that's yeah, yeah, but that's voice acting

though. That's Thank you for tuning into remote

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