Luke and Misty meanwhile, after investigating the Massacre, figure out that there was a survivor, and that it must be Anansi’s wife Ingrid, who Luke tracks down to a nearby hospital, getting there around the same time as Shades, who Mariah orders to take out the woman. Shades does eventually get his chance, but he has lost faith in Mariah due to her recent diabolical actions and cannot bring himself to kill Ingrid. He allows her to escape with Luke, though Ingrid refuses to go to Misty to testify against Mariah. She just wants to see Anansi’s body.
Luke brings her to the morgue, where they run into Bushmaster, and the two men do not engage out of respect for Anansi and Ingrid’s wishes. They both agree their next fight will be their last. Shades, having failed to kill Ingrid, abandons Mariah and instead turns himself into to Misty, setting up a deal to snitch on Mariah. He begins to reveal EVERYTHING, his casual attitude toward his litany of horrendous crimes enough to make even Misty a little sick and emotional, as she demonstrates when she leaves the room to get Shades some water. Unfortunately, despite his word and the reveal that Mariah used the same gun to kill Anansi that was used to kill Candice last season and Peter Stokes back in the day, Misty knows that without actually having that gun they will not be able to arrest Mariah just yet. So she decides to send Shades back in with a wire, to get more dirt on Mariah and most importantly, to get that gun.
Mariah herself is breaking a number of other rules as well, starting with the Stokes family rule about no drugs in Harlem as she makes a deal with a Chinese gang to sell heroine in town, dubbing it “Bushmaster” to enrage her enemy the same way the Chinese gang called it “Luke Cage” to anger our hero earlier this season. Bushmaster learns about the drug and takes down the refinery where it is being produced, joined by an unlikely ally – Luke Cage, who also does not like drugs in his town regardless of the name. Their alliance is short lived as Cage stops Bushmaster from destroying the lab and all the evidence, and Bushmaster uses another explosive device to escape.
Luke then visits Mariah and tells her he is done protecting her from Bushmaster (who are you kidding Luke?), and she replies by announcing a free concert at Harlem’s Paradise that night, surrounding herself with as many innocent lives as possible so if Bushmaster comes for her Luke will HAVE to protect those innocents, and HER, in the process. Mariah confirms to Tilda that she was responsible for the Rum-Punch Massacre which motivates Tilda to help Bushmaster kill her evil mother. She gives the man a super shot of Nightshade and directions to a secret entrance to the club so he can get to Mariah. It ends up that Shades arrives back to the club looking for evidence that night. Mariah leads him back to a new bunker she has built under the building while Bushmaster follows. He is followed by Misty (there to keep an eye on Shades) and Luke, who came to protect the innocent people of Harlem. The bunker is where the big showdown of the season happens with Bushmaster smashing through the door defenses and attacking Shades and Mariah who are saved by Misty and Luke with Luke ALMOST killing Bushmaster once he gets him in a chokehold (as someone else pointed out, full ‘Man Of Steel’ style). He is stopped by Misty and Bushmaster escapes. Shades recovers Mariah’s gun, however, and gives it to Misty. That is enough for Misty to finally arrest Mariah and get what she wanted, though Luke warns her that he does not think it is over just yet. Next episode we’ll learn if Luke was right.
A LOT going on in these 3 episodes, and again, while the first two were a bit slow, they put a lot in motion and made for a very satisfying Episode 12. I really enjoyed all the dynamics in play in that bunker fight, watching each character fight Bushmaster and really believing that the man was able to hold his own against 4 of them. I especially enjoyed seeing Misty jump in there, full superhero style. I know I keep saying it, but man she really carried this season, and I would watch a Misty Knight spin-off if they made one, she is just so bad-ass. Very interesting to see them wrap up so many plot points in this episode (minus catching Bushmaster), and I am very intrigued by this finale and how it is going to set up the next season.
See you back here soon for the review of the finale episode of ‘Luke Cage’ Season 2!
