Luke Cage was praised by critics back in 2016 but pretty much everyone agreed that things started going downhill in the second half of the season. Diamondback was a terrible villain and the death of Cottonmouth really hurt the show, something star Mike Colter has acknowledged in the years since.
So, with
The Defenders,
Iron Fist, and
Jessica Jones season two all disappointing fans, has Luke Cage managed to set things right for Marvel TV? Well, the first wave of reviews are here and for the most part, it definitely sounds like an improvement on what's come before. However, some critics hated it!
Still, I would definitely say these are more positive than mixed and we've rounded up reviews from a number of sources, including entertainment websites, the trades, and magazines. To check them out, all you guys have to do is click on the "View List" button before sharing your thoughts down below.
But more important than that, it’s a season where the women around him are discovering themselves. Mariah takes on aprotégé, because she’s focused on leaving a legacy. Her family members have all been obliterated and she’s all Mariah has left. Claire (Rosario Dawson), Luke’s girlfriend, wants to be his aide but also wants them to live a life that’s not full of danger. Misty wants to reclaim her position in the police department and is finding a different way to control her destiny. Through the help of Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick, from Iron Fist and The Defenders), she’s training to be able to utilize her body without her arm. Each of the characters have lost something vital since we last saw them; this season is about reclaiming it and learning who they are.
SOURCE: The Daily Beast
Overall, Luke Cage season two is a solid watch that suffers from the same problems as all the Marvel Netflix shows do. It’s too slow at times to fill out its episode count and doesn’t always utilize the super part of its superhero character to its fullest capabilities. That said, the show keeps true to what made it the most fun of the Defenders series in season one. If you were a fan, you will continue to be. If you weren’t, you probably won’t be swayed to join the pack in season two.
SOURCE: Forbes
While the character work feels more nuanced and the narrative more engaging, the biggest achievement of Luke Cage season 2 is in how Coker seems to have cracked the code as far as streaming drift is concerned. Rather than break Luke Cage season 2 into two halves, split by the usual road trip of self-discovery or severe injury that makes the hero question his or her life choices for an episode or two, the season’s narrative structure follows a much more conventional arc, with each hour gradually building to a far more satisfying climax at the end of the season. The season itself is still too long by about two or three episodes, and some of the episodes could stand to lose 10 or 15 minutes, but overall the series’ second outing turns a superhero show into a thrilling, well-paced crime drama that’s one of the most fulfilling of Marvel’s Netflix series.
SOURCE:
Screen Rant
There are plenty of things this season does well, really well, but there is so much filler and narrative dragging of feet in between that it’s hard to recommend it outright. Here’s the bottom line — if you’re still watching all of these Marvel / Netflix series and you’re a dyed-in-the-wool fan, then Luke Cage Season 2 will give you more of what you’re used to. If you didn’t like Luke Cage Season 1, I don’t think you’ll really care for Season 2, but overall it is a stronger story. So if you were ok with Season 1 but are hoping that Season 2 improves, you should feel pretty satisfied by it. Maybe that’s all we can ask for (that and a Misty Knight-focused detective series, of course).
SOURCE: Collider
Still the most overtly political than anything Marvel does, Luke Cage looks to make its audience confront some uncomfortable truths. It’s the kind of risk that (the occasional exception aside, notably 2017’s brilliant Logan) you’re unlikely to see in your average superhero blockbuster movie. It has, pound for pound, perhaps the strongest supporting cast of any of these Marvel Netflix shows. The warm lighting consistently makes the show feel somewhat out of time, like a movie from the 1970s, a vibe that is compounded sonically by what is still the best, most adventurous original score on TV and a perfectly chosen assortment of songs. Luke Cage Season 2 not only feels like a big step forward from its own first season, it’s a reminder that there’s still a lot of life and potential left in the Marvel Netflix format.
SOURCE: Den Of Geek
In the war for Harlem, you won’t see the final shot coming. Luke Cage won’t see it coming either, and it’ll force him to make decisions he didn’t think he’d ever ponder. Those decisions draw new lines in the sand, creating unexpected alliances and rivalries for a Season 3 that already has its work cut out for it if it’s going to top this one.
SOURCE: Washington Post
If you liked Luke Cage season 1, you’re going to enjoy this new season. I had numerous issues with season 2 (see above!), but by the time the season ends, Luke Cage the show and Luke Cage the character are in a fascinating, interesting place. Just when I was ready to write-off future seasons of the show, the writers found a way to draw me back in. The Luke Cage we see at the end of season 2 is not the Luke Cage we meet at the beginning, and such a turn is going to leave you wanting more. If and when you do decide to partake in Luke Cage season 2, space it out. Don’t binge. The show’s plotting does not lend itself to binging, and the longer you take to burn through the season, the more rewarded you’ll be.
SOURCE: Slash Film
This season is by far one of the most well-written and fully developed plot lines we’ve seen yet from a sophomore Marvel TV series. Sadly both sophomore seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones have beenlackluster and didn’t quite capture the same intrigue and enthusiasm as their pilot seasons did. I should also mention that as much as I loathed Iron Fist, the 2-episode cameo we get with Danny Rand (Finn Jones) in this series are some of the strongest episodes. The Power Man and Iron Fist duo dynamic is strong and palpable — whether you are anti-Danny Rand or not, there is no denying that these two share great chemistry on screen and have (dare I say) charisma. I still say just keep him away from Misty Knight.
SOURCE: Black Girl Nerds
Marvel's Luke Cage Season 2 never quite finds its footing over the course of its 13 episode run. The series is still struggling to regain momentum after Cottonmounth's exit midway through Season 1. While Mike Colter and Alfre Woodard deliver solid performances, there simply isn't a compelling story worth exploring.
SOURCE: IGN
Most of Marvel’s superhero series suffer a mid-season sag, without enough plot to fill their episode quota. This season never succumbs to that because it’s not rooted in plot but character. There are episodes where little happens in terms ofevent, but characters deepen and crack, becoming less who they want to be and more who they have to be, even Luke. Luke Cage could now remove any superhero elements almost entirely and still function as a series. It’s become Game Of Thrones-esque in its battle for Harlem, and like that show, whoever claims the prize will do so with bloodied hands.
SOURCE: Empire Online
What really works for Luke Cage Season Two, however, is how showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker and his team show no fear in really going deep into the territory of larger racial and social themes surrounding these characters. Jessica Jones Season Two got a lot of acclaim for its deep and unflinching look at the social realities of being female, famous, an addict, etc; Luke Cage Season Two similarly gets into what it is to be black -- not just in the current socio-political climate, though there is that,but in terms of a shared history of trauma, violence, and disrupted bloodlines, and what scars all of that leaves on the present. The juxtaposition of Jamaican and African-American point of view is especially interesting, and makes the Mariah/Bushmaster war a truly compelling gangster tale.
SOURCE: ComicBook.com
Well, having watched the first half of the new season, it’s… hard to say. So much of what made Luke Cage great last time – incredible soundtrack, musical guests, quick-witted political commentary, action scenes where Luke (Mike Colter) lazily slaps people into unconsciousness – are back, but so are many of the same issues that stopped it being a perfect 10. As usual the whole thing is just too damned long, devoting a lot of time in the first half of the series to a pretty tedious organised crime deal (that ends up being a footnote to the main storyline anyway) and uninteresting relationship drama between crime queen Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), her daughter, and toyboy/crime partner Shades (Theo Rossi).
SOURCE: Radio Times
When I look back at season 2 of “Luke Cage” as a whole I see a half-dozen really interesting stories that all could have worked on their own. But the problem is that it needs to function as one big story, not six individual ones. And since those individual arcs never really congeal into something coherent, the whole of it simply does not work.
SOURCE: The Wrap
Luke Cage Season 2 goes above and beyond what the compelling but ultimately average Season 1 delivered nearly two years ago. Luke Cage is as much about its hero as it is about Harlem, about the villains who built the city on blood and the victims it belonged to, and the good people who only want a hero to look up to. But there are still chinks to the armor which threaten whether or not this franchise can continue to thrive. In Season 2, Luke is told something repeatedly but refuses to listen: He may be bulletproof, but Harlem isn’t.
SOURCE: Inverse
On the surface, Luke Cage season 2 might look like a retread of the character-driven, family crime drama that propelled the show tosuccess in the first place. But don’t be fooled. This sophomore effort throws our titular hero deeper into the seedy underbelly of Harlem, and if the finale is any indication, he may not emerge unchanged. Rest assured, if a third season sees the light of day, it’ll be an entirely new chapter for Luke.
checking for season 2 just cause.