Luke Cage season 2 binge watch review
Photo Credit: Netflix/David Lee
11. Luke Cage S2 E11 – “The Creator”
As great as “The Main Ingredient” was, Luke Cage brings us crashing back down to reality. The series immediately picks up with the aftermath of Mariah’s restaurant massacre. Needless to say, Luke is not thrilled to find her latest antics. Considering these were Bushmaster’s friends, he’s even more upset than the hero.
Upon learning of the devastation wrecked on this restaurant, Luke tells Misty he regrets saving Mariah. Honestly, his decision to save her in the first place always rang a little untrue to me, so this makes sense. Luckily, Misty might be able to bring Mariah down for good since one witness managed to escape the ordeal. Since Mariah finally did her own dirty work, Ingrid can officially point to her as the perpetrator.
Bushmaster is still out of commission in “The Creator” so he spends his time bonding with Tilda. He explains that Mother Mabel, otherwise known as Mariah’s aunt, burned his mother alive for her business. Then the series proceeds to show the flashback scene with her dying in one of the most uncomfortable scenes to watch since Game of Thrones.
After his mom dies, Bushmaster finds himself on the business end of a bullet from Uncle Pete. Luckily, he’s saved by nightshade, where the healer claims the herb “reveals”. Basically, she confirms he got his powers elsewhere, but that the nightshade activated them. Could this be from IGH or maybe Roxxon? There are endless possibilities because he could even be the early version of a mutant.
However, the best part of the episode involves Shades and Mariah. The latter is continuing to lose grip on reality and slowly destroying her own budding criminal empire. She agrees to partner with a crime boss to spread heroin throughout Harlem, something she swore never to do. Not to mention, she had a major argument with the ghost of Mother Mabel. Meanwhile, poor Shades is traumatized by the massacre and his hand in Comanche’s death. He refuses to kill for anymore, which results in Mariah belittling his prison romance with his bodyguard.
In a shocking twist, he marches out of her life and directly to the police stations. Turns out guilt is a proper motivation because he willingly turns himself in with the intention of testifying against Mariah.