Netflix ‘Luke Cage’ season 1, episode 13 review: Luke battles Diamondback, Mariah embraces power
We have reached the finale of “Luke Cage” season 1 and it’s time for the big boss battle between Luke and his half brother Diamondback. The show has found a way to even the playing field a bit now that Diamondback has a super suit that is bulletproof and gives him super strength, but will it be enough to combat the real thing?
We expected to see this fight play out a bit differently then it did. There were few moments where their super strength really came into play and while they are equally powered, we thought we would see a lot more of them being thrown through walls or using objects no normal person could to smash each other to pieces. Also Diamondback had a flaw in his costume design in that his jaw was completely left open, but for some reason Luke couldn’t land even one punch there which would’ve ended the fight. When the fight spills out into the street, the police (and their special bullets) have a chance to take Luke out, but instead they all just stand there and allow the fight to continue for some unknown reason.
With the fight going on with Luke and Diamondback, Shades accidentally leaves the folder filled with Luke’s information in the shop. More then that Misty has enough information to arrest Mariah now that she’s heard her murder confession, so Mariah is looking for another play while she’s on the run. She decides to out Luke about being escaped convict Carl Lucas on the news at the scene of the fight, taking some of the focus off of her. It doesn’t work and once Luke finally knocks Diamondback out, Misty arrests Mariah.
With Diamondback and Mariah in police custody, Misty brings Luke to the station to give his statements. Luke’s speech about people in the community not caring for each other, police letting too many things slide and Harlem needing a hero was just about the best statement he could’ve made, because it mirrors how a lot of people feel right now with the way society is. That’s one thing this show has done better then any other show on television right now and that’s not being afraid to talk about hot topic issues that are affecting us all.
Mariah tries to say that she didn’t kill Cornell and that it was actually Diamondback, but Misty has a lot of evidence against her, including a taped confession from Candace. Unfortunately for Misty, Shades has killed Candace and she can no longer testify, so Mariah is not being charged with anything. Misty feels defeated with Mariah walking away again and thinks the system is a lot more broken then she wanted to believe. Luke’s troubles aren’t over with Mariah’s release as he is arrested as Carl Lucas for escaping Seagate (Mariah of course balked on her deal to give him the file that would clear his name).
There was a lot to like about this finale as it sets us up nicely for season 2. Mariah is growing into her role of as the villain and quite frankly she is the only villain we want to see next season, even though there was one quick scene at the end showing the Seagate doctor working on Diamondback to give him the same powers as Luke. Misty is questioning everything she ever believed in with her work, and Luke is going to spend a good portion of next season trying to clear his name…. or will he? We did see that Fisher found the file in the barbershop that should help clear Luke, so we can see him back in Harlem to deal with Mariah, Shades and Diamondback once more. Episode grade: A-
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