Luke Cage Season 1 Review

A soulful crime drama about power and control, Luke Cage is the third of four series in the run up to The Defenders.

Released September 30th 2016 and following a chain of three previous successes lead to fans crashing Netflix's servers for two hours. Again, Netflix renewed it in a short space of time because on December 4th 2016, they announced its renewal.
Luke Cage tells the tale of a reluctant hero looking for a peaceful life of solitude in Harlem after the events he'd been through in Jessica Jones. When we meet Luke (Mike Colter) seems rather settled in Harlem but before long, he slowly gets involved in a crime lord's activity.
The main plot, although an urban crime story has a subtle feel of a superhero and focuses on what it would be like to have a superhero in today's world. The show is rich with characters, more so than the previous Netflix Marvel shows. This defines a different feel to it's predecessors as it generates a character for its backdrop of Harlem and gives a sense of how Luke see's his place in the community. The momentum is a steady pace for it's first half and is thoroughly entertaining as we watch Luke forced into interactions with the crime lord Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes (Mahershala Ali). The last half, most importantly the final two episodes lose the strong edge the rest of the season was carrying but soon comes back on form for the latter part of the shows finale that plays the part of an epilogue with what is possibly a set up for The Defenders series and Luke Cage's second season. Luke Cage managers to introduce the idea of a team to Luke making reference to Heroes For Hire, a team of which he is a member in the comics but is also hinting at The Defenders series.
The show is also blacksploitation with virtually an all black cast and some great music cameos. I do not feel this was intentional when the show first went into development but it does work for the show and the characters with in. It is wonderful to see this and it be successful and feel organic with in the shows narrative. 
The characters in this all become very well fleshed out as we learn their intentions and backstories. Luke Cage is more fleshed out from what we see of him in Jessica Jones by the opening act of this season. We begin to slowly get grips of his morals, values and a sense of wisdom that was previously unseen. The villains like the previous Netflix Marvel shows are given reason for their actions, we're allowed to understand why they are this way. The movies in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) which these set of Netflix shows are canon to fail to give this level of insight to the villains and we just have to believe they're evil. So the Netflix shows do value the time they have to develop their characters and it shows. The villain Diamondback (Erik LaRay Harvey) on the other-hand feels crammed in, almost like an after thought which is a shame because of how he is spoken of by the other characters. 
 The characters are elevated by the dialogue by choosing the right words to express their intentions without saying it so straightforward but not too complex it is no longer believable in the grounded tones of the show.
Directed with a great use of colours and imagery and with a sensation of a Spike Lee movie aids the narrative of mixing superhero and crime drama. We get a lot of panning shots of the city to keep Harlem a focus in the show  to keep this community presence as relevant to us as it is to Luke. The fights have a very superhero feel even though the choreography is very street brawling and sometimes comical due to Luke's power set.
Luke Cage is character with wisdom and a charming old fashioned feel making him the Captain America of the Netflix Marvel shows. His character is definitely a strong element of what is a superb drama that happens to feature action and a superhero. It may not live up to what Daredevil and Jessica Jones have set but it does not disappoint. It is still gritty, It is still urban and is definitely worth your time because otherwise you're missing out on great drama and a mass of talent. Luke Cage packs a good punch but just doesn't have a matching impact.

Mr. Cynic rates this 8/10