Marvel's Netflix serieses

Binktopia · Post by **Binktopia** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:05 am

Luke Cage was fun!

GargoyleBoy · Post by **GargoyleBoy** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:27 am

Finished watching Luke Cage last night, and I have mixed feelings.

Firstly - I loved, LOVED, the concept of this. The main hero, and 90% of the characters, are black, with no explanation offered or needed. Luke Cage was never a "mainstream" superhero, and this was not an attempt to make him one, so it was very true to the source material in that regard. I loved Mike Colter's continuation of this character, loved Mahershala Ali as Cottonmouth, and loved Simone Missick as Misty Knight - all solid takes on those characters. Claire Temple continues to be great in her role as usual, and this series offered her a little more meat in the script, I think.

Spoiler:

Overall, I felt it was a strong series with a couple weaknesses. Would I watch a season 2 of Luke Cage? Absolutely.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 12:38 pm

Almost every review I've read for Luke Cage has listed the soundtrack (which roams from funk to rap to soul...not just the first one) as one of the show's strengths. The songs all set the tone perfectly for almost every character and situation that they were used for. It also reflected the soul of the show in ways that words could not. I honestly can't fathom how anyone would find it to be a weakness.

I haven't watched the finale yet. I'm only about two/thirds of the way through. But if what someone said earlier is true, and it was planned as a 10 episode series that was made into 13 at the last minute, I'm prepared for some weak sauce.

GargoyleBoy · Post by **GargoyleBoy** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:32 pm

hepcat wrote:Almost every review I've read for Luke Cage has listed the soundtrack (which roams from funk to rap to soul...not just the first one) as one of the show's strengths. The songs all set the tone perfectly for almost every character and situation that they were used for. It also reflected the soul of the show in ways that words could not. I honestly can't fathom how anyone would find it to be a weakness.

I don't like funk.

*shrug*

I have no complaints about the rap or soul.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:38 pm

That I can understand. No insult intended, I just disagreed with your assertion that the music was a weak point in the show.

Scraper · Post by **Scraper** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:02 pm

Episode 11 sums up why Luke Cage was my least favorite Marvel series:

Spoiler:

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 4:19 pm

Made it through Episode 3. Still enjoying it Heck, I even caught my wife watching it every once in a while.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 4:40 pm

If this show gets even one kid to read Langston Hughes, it will have been a success.

I love the conversations about African American authors and historical figures that he has with Pops and various other characters.

GargoyleBoy · Post by **GargoyleBoy** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 5:53 pm

hepcat wrote:That I can understand. No insult intended, I just disagreed with your assertion that the music was a weak point in the show.

I feel insulted nonetheless. Where is my safe space?

But yeah, I don't pretend to be any kind of music expert. Well, except on Thursdays, when I'm Dr. Nigellus P. Flintwhistle - but let's not get into that.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:48 pm

I liked the series overall, but not as much as DareDevil, which I felt was just stronger overall in terms of story and character growth. I thought Diamondback was pretty bad and I didn't like him. The music was terrific. I liked that we had a black hero in an all-black neighborhood and it was no big thing. I liked Cottonmouth and Misty and Pops. The story was okay, overall. I'll definitely watch season 2, and Luke Cage was better than 85-90% of the other shows on TV, so I'm not exactly complaining.

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 9:52 pm

Love Luke Cage. When I was younger, I used to not like movies with all black characters but I guess as I grew older, I became less "racist" than I used to.

From all the villains, I like Cottonmouth the most. I think the story of how he became a bad guy is interesting.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:47 am

I'm indebted to the show for introducing me to the music of Raphael Saadiq. That cat is so smooth.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:48 am

That was probably my second favorite performance (after the aforementioned Charles Bradley).

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 10:14 am

$iljanus wrote:I'm indebted to the show for introducing me to the music of Raphael Saadiq. That cat is so smooth.

I highly recommend Lucy Pearl, the short-lived R&B group featuring Saadiq and members of En Vogue and Tribe Called Quest. They put out just one album, but it's a gem.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 11:32 am

AWS260 wrote:
$iljanus wrote:I'm indebted to the show for introducing me to the music of Raphael Saadiq. That cat is so smooth.
I highly recommend Lucy Pearl, the short-lived R&B group featuring Saadiq and members of En Vogue and Tribe Called Quest. They put out just one album, but it's a gem.

Saadiq with some of En Vogue and Tribe Called Quest sounds great. Thanks for the recommendation!

The Charles Bradley stuff is pretty cool too. Can you dig it?

cheeba · Post by **cheeba** » Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:09 pm

I'm 4 episodes in and so far I'm really digging it. However, I'm starting to think that Luke Cage himself might be a little boring. He's basically Superman without as many powers. The fights are like Godzilla trashing a city while ignoring bullets and tanks and shit. Luckily that's a minor thing so far, and I'm pretty much in love with Mahershala Ali's (real name Mahershalalhashbaz) Cottonmouth. His club is awesome, too! Good entertainment recruiting.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Oct 09, 2016 8:46 pm

I'm beginning to think you're a cape chaser.

Iron Fist trailer from NY Comic Con - looks like it'll be out in March.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:04 pm

That looks fantastic. I suspect the fight scenes will easily rival Daredevil's.

Also, I'm almost finished with Luke Cage, and I agree with everyone that said

Spoiler:

cheeba · Post by **cheeba** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 12:07 pm

10 episodes of Luke Cage down, will probably finish it tonight. It's a good series, but looks like it could have definitely used some tightening up. I think it was Episode 9 that seemed like filler. At this point it seems to have somewhat forgotten the Harlem, black-culture style that resonated so loudly throughout the first episodes.

Couple spoilery complaints:

Spoiler:

That said, the show, so far, is much better than Jessica Jones.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:26 pm

I am four episodes into Luke Cage and like what I see. As has been mentioned, the musical acts are all top notch.

I know nothing about comic books, but is Luke Cage set in a world where all white people are really bad?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:29 pm

No, and that's not the setting in the Netflix series either. What makes you think it is?

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:36 pm

Like I said, I've only seen four episodes, but which white character isn't?

Spoiler:

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:38 pm

It's a huge leap of logic to assume that every white person is supposed to be evil in this show based on the actions of the VERY small number of white people shown.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:40 pm

I didn't assume. I asked.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:41 pm

It just surprised me, that's all. I never once thought that while watching the show. Nor have I come across anyone else who brought that question up. I was trying to figure out how that question even came about.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:50 pm

To me it was kind of obvious that every person that has my skin color is despicable. I'm not crying foul because the show is good and I seriously doubt that's going to be the angle of the show. But I've never seen a series where the only white characters were terrible people.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:58 pm

I just don't get that. There are only about 3 or 4 white characters that are actually featured in the show to any real degree. And one of them turns out to be actually not that bad later on. At the point you're at in the show, the only Hispanic characters that have been shown are pretty awful. But I didn't question whether or not all Hispanics were supposed to be bad in Luke Cage's world.

I'm not trying to insinuate anything, although it may seem that way. I know you enough to realize that's not even remotely true. It just struck me as an odd thing to question, that's all.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:07 pm

I'll be honest, I haven't watched a show with a majority black cast since Sanford and Son. It's not that I don't like shows with a black cast by default, I just haven't wanted to watch any of the ones I've seen on TV - Family Matters, A Different World, Empire, Tyler Perry's X, etc. So now I'm getting into Luke Cage and didn't ever realize that the cast was almost all black until about three episodes in. It didn't matter. But when I noticed that it struck me as a little odd that the only white characters were pretty bad dudes. Mainly because the one redeeming white guy turns out to be a bad guy himself. When are we as white people going to get beyond these stereotypes?

I didn't feel that way about hispanics because the kid who they were protecting (can't remember his name), while he certainly was part of a crime, seemed to have a good heart.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:12 pm

And one thing that I don't quite follow. Cottonmouth and Pops were about the same age right? Weren't they good friends as kids? It seems like Cottonmouth is about 30 years younger than Pops though. Am I missing something?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:16 pm

I think Luke Cage is actually a rather important show in one really great aspect: it's a primarily black cast that doesn't make race relations the central subject, yet doesn't shy away from it either.

McNutt wrote:And one thing that I don't quite follow. Cottonmouth and Pops were about the same age right? Weren't they good friends as kids? It seems like Cottonmouth is about 30 years younger than Pops though. Am I missing something?

Yeah, I found that odd as well.

I was also initially confused about the timeline of the show in relation to Jessica Jones. At first I thought it was taking place BEFORE JJ. But then I realized it takes place AFTER it.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:22 pm

I think you're right about the issue of race in the show. Other shows I mentioned were "black shows" in that they seemed to be targeting a black audience. I don't feel that way at all about Luke Cage.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:25 pm

Oh yeah, one more question. i haven't seen any other Marvel show, but these are all in the same universe, right? There was a scene where someone saw Luke's power and asked if he was one of "them" or something. It was a little jarring for me because I wasn't thinking that the everyday people on the show are used to a world where there are Hulk, Thor and tons of mutants running around.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:31 pm

McNutt wrote:Oh yeah, one more question. i haven't seen any other Marvel show, but these are all in the same universe, right? There was a scene where someone saw Luke's power and asked if he was one of "them" or something. It was a little jarring for me because I wasn't thinking that the everyday people on the show are used to a world where there are Hulk, Thor and tons of mutants running around.

Yes, same universe. They even directly reference the destruction wrought in The Avengers movie in the first season of DareDevil.

Montag · Post by **Montag** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:45 pm

Zaxxon wrote:
McNutt wrote:Oh yeah, one more question. i haven't seen any other Marvel show, but these are all in the same universe, right? There was a scene where someone saw Luke's power and asked if he was one of "them" or something. It was a little jarring for me because I wasn't thinking that the everyday people on the show are used to a world where there are Hulk, Thor and tons of mutants running around.
Yes, same universe. They even directly reference the destruction wrought in The Avengers movie in the first season of DareDevil.

Also has references to the conclusion of season 1 of Jessica Jones.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:47 pm

They continually make references to "the incident" too, I believe. And I assume that's the alien invasion from Avengers 1.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:57 pm

And are the X-Men mutants part of this universe too? I ask because I can't remember any mention of mutants in non-X-Men movies.

GargoyleBoy · Post by **GargoyleBoy** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 5:00 pm

McNutt wrote:And are the X-Men mutants part of this universe too? I ask because I can't remember any mention of mutants in non-X-Men movies.

Not... yet? Depends on whether Marvel Studios can cut a deal with Fox.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 5:02 pm

I believe Marvel executives would tell you that their lawyers advise them not to address that topic at this time.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 5:09 pm

Ah, got it. I haven't followed that saga. In the comics do those two worlds interact? X-Men, Spider-Man, other hyphenated names. . .

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 5:10 pm

Frequently. But Marvel kept the licenses for print for all of those.