Luke Cage Recap: S1E11 “Now You’re Mine”
Luke Cage episode 11 is all about truth and lies as the press continues to vilify Luke and Misty finally learns who he really is.
Luke Cage is facing a PR problem. It’s episode eleven and the people of Harlem still don’t know how to feel about him. It doesn’t help that Mariah and now Diamondback are using every opportunity to vilify him in the press. The media has jumped on the Luke Cage story, especially after the leaked dash camera footage of him attacking the police officers. Not his best look. This is exactly what Diamondback is counting on. Instead of attacking Luke publically like Mariah did in the last episode, he works on planting clues that will help the media jump to conclusions on their own.
Diamondback has Harlem’s Paradise under lockdown after the shootout and Misty, Claire, and Luke are all trapped inside. Using Damon Boone (Clark Jackson), Mariah’s political rival, Diamondback makes demands of the police under the guise of Luke Cage. He then kills Damon using his power glove, a wound that looks like it came from a very strong individual.
Image via Netflix
All this irrefutable “proof” is hard for Inspector Ridley to ignore. The situation is getting tenser by the minute and everyone from the ESU to the mayor’s office wants answers. This chaos was exactly what Diamondback was counting on. The confusion to solve the hostage situation will make it easier for the cops to look past the lies. Everyone wants someone to blame and a quick solution. Diamondback is giving them both. Mariah and Diamondback are experts at manipulating fear to their advantage and have once again taken control of the situation.
Although Diamondback doesn’t really have a plan. He just wants to slander Luke’s name and then eventually kill him. Diamondback admits to Shades he is “freestyling”, which Shades doesn’t like. Shades likes playing the game, he likes seeing three steps ahead. It is this lack of planning that leads to Shades confronting Misty and Claire and getting beat up by the two women before being hauled off by the police. Surely Shades will be able to wriggle his way out of this one, he doesn’t seem to be a man who can be kept down for long.
Image via Netflix
Diamondback’s reason for going after Luke is a simple one. He wants revenge. Luke was the chosen son and he was the neglected one. In their youth the boys stole a car and because his father convinced the judge Luke went free while Diamondback ended up in juvie leaving his sick mother to die alone. He’s not a very complex villain, he’s not a schemer with a vision like Mariah or ambitious like Cottonmouth, all he wants is to make Luke pay.
Luke is arrested at the end of the episode, something he could easily fight, but doesn’t. It is time for the world to know the real Luke Cage, especially now that Misty knows the truth. Luke risked his life to save her and she now understands he has always been a hero, but it may be too late. Misty tries to tell Ridley what she knows, but at this point it doesn’t matter. Too much time has past, too many people are dead, and Luke Cage remains at the center of it all.
Next: Luke Cage Recap: S1E10 “Take It Personal”
Stray Observations & Easter Eggs
- Diamondback calling Damon “Diet Obama” has to be one of the best insults he’s used so far
- Lots of references to Misty almost losing her arm in this episode after being shot. In the comics she has a bionic arm that was built by Tony Stark.
- Diamondback’s flunky Sugar calls Claire “Night Nurse”
- Frank Castle gets a shoutout here for terrorizing Hell’s Kitchen with his guns
- You think Claire would have Matt on speed dial for times like this one