Luke Cage Recap: S1E12 “Soliloquy of Chaos”

Luke is on the run (again) and Mariah and Shades are backed into a corner in the12th episode of Luke Cage.

Luke is back out on the streets and on the run in episode twelve. He is looking to finish what he started with Diamondback. This time however, he has the people of Harlem behind him. Despite the events that took place at Harlem’s Paradise, people are starting to doubt that Luke is the cop killer the media has made him out to be. In one of the strongest moments of the series thus far, the citizens of Harlem don bullet hole hoodies to show their solidarity with Luke. Set to Method Man’s “Bulletproof Love”, a song written specially for the show, it is an emotional scene full of images of strength for the black community. “There’s something powerful about seeing a black man that’s bulletproof and unafraid,” says Method Man who makes a cameo apperance in this episode and it’s true. Luke is inspiring the citizens of Harlem in more ways than one.

“There’s something powerful about seeing a black man that’s bulletproof and unafraid.”

The person who is not inspiring confidence in his followers is Diamondback. He is losing flunkies left and right as he tries to get rid of Shades for questioning his authority. Luckily Shades is able to kill Zip and the new two gangsters Diamondback hired and escape. Shades is now living by the motto, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” He joins back up with Mariah in hopes of getting Luke on their side to take out Diamondback. They have the one thing Luke really wants, the files that prove Carl Lucas was set up by Diamondback all those years ago and is really innocent.

Mariah is does not believe Luke will come to their side. She knows he doesn’t and shouldn’t trust them, after all they have framed him for murder multiple times. Mariah is starting to doubt her actions, she regrets killing Cottonmouth, mostly because it has made things more difficult for her. She is also starting to realize she isn’t as clean as she always imagined herself to be. Cottonmouth, and Shades too, have seen through her facade and now she is exposed. It looks like Mariah is finally ready to embrace her true dark side, which could make her even more dangerous.

Mariah and Shades meet to parlay with Luke and it looks like he might agree to their plan until Misty shows up. She is hell bent on finding out the truth and still isn’t willing to trust Luke to handle things himself completely. There is a standoff between Shades and Misty until Diamondback releases a bomb into Pop’s Barber Shop and then confronts the group himself.

Diamondback has some kind of power suit, undoubtedly built by Hammer Tech, that seems to make him as indestructible as Luke. Looks like it is going to be the clash of the titans in the final episode. In confusion of the bomb and the fighting Misty loses her phone which we know has crucial information on it. Earlier in the episode she recorded Candice admitting to lying about Luke killing Cottonmouth which means Candice can’t be long for this world now. Especially since Shades is the one who grabs the dropped device.

Shades is slippery. The police couldn’t hold him, Diamondback couldn’t kill him, and now he has decided to try his luck with Mariah. Only time will tell how long this new alliance will last or if Shades will disappear back into the shadows once the season ends. It’s just a good thing he wasn’t killed off (in this episode at least) because he is one of the series strongest and most interesting characters. (The show’s creator Cheo Hodari Coker even compared Shades to Littlefinger from Game of Thrones during Comic Con if you aren’t convinced he is more than he seems.)

There is only one episode of Luke Cage left and still a lot remains unresolved. Luke is still wanted for murder, we don’t know what Dr. Burstein is doing with the info he managed to save from Reva’s flash drive, Diamondback has to be defeated, and hopefully there is still a future Defender that needs to make a cameo appearance. After this strong episode it looks like we are in for one heck of a finale.

Next: Luke Cage Recap: S1E11 “Now You’re Mine”

Stray Observations & Easter Eggs

• “Bulletproof always comes second to being black.”
• “Do you know who Icarus is?” “Yeah, he had a verse with Kendrick.”
• “What are you a pimp storm trooper?” This episode has some amazingly funny lines.
• Method Man mentions Luke is a “hero for hire” in “Bulletproof Love” which you can listen to below