1x02 Code of the Streets

7.6/10. So few shows these days spend times letting a scene breathe. That’s one of the benefits of these Netflix series, whether they’re Marvel series or something else. With no set runtime, and with 13 episodes and one story, you can spend time drinking in the dialogue, the setting, the themes of a particular conversation. “Code of the Streets” does a lot of this, giving us several instances where discussions go long or unspool at a very deliberate pace.

The peak of this is the early scene in the barbershop. Luke and Pop have one of those conversations about feeling that there’s trouble in the air that seems to pop up in every action-y show and movie. Cottonmouth comes in and verbally roots around for information on Chico. And in the aftermath, Pop and Luke have another conversation about finding Chico before the bad guys do.

On the page, it sounds pretty unremarkable, and it isn’t exactly groundbreaking. But the other side of the coin is that even with heavy-handed dialogue about the working man, there’s tension in the scene, moments where Luke is nervous, angry, or barely restrained, moments where Cottonmouth is throwing his weight around, and moments where Pop is keeping his place as the fulcrum of this community. It’s a long sequence, but one that does a lot in terms of telling the audience where Luke’s heads at, where Pop’s is, and how Cottonmouth’s presence complicates that. It’s not unique in this episode, one where we don’t race through scenes, but rather spend time luxuriating in them.

The downside is that it allows the show to spend a lot of time vigorously underlining points that could use a lighter touch. We’re only two episodes in, but to some degree Luke Cage has suffered from The Walking Dead syndrome, a worrying affliction where television shows spend an inordinate amount of time with two characters having some ponderous discussion about grand ideas in a way that no one does or would.

That said, I like the way this episode is focused on different ideas about what the goal for people from this community should be. There’s a tripartite vision presented, one of conflicting ideas that, presumably, are being put in front of Luke. The first is represented by Councilwoman Mariah – the notion that the citizens of Harlem need to reach for respect, for being able to hold their heads held high in the world they were denied access to. The second is represented by Cottonmouth – the concept that money is what gives power and what pulls people out of their circumstances, even if violence is necessary to get it or maintain it. And the third is represented by Pops, the idea that looking out for one another, standing up for what’s right, regardless of whether it brings you money, power, or respect, is what matters.

Of course, we know what Luke’s going to pick, and the dying mentor story doesn’t really help that choice rise above the predictability of it. I really enjoy Frankie Faison’s performance as Pop here. He helps rise above the material, giving a lived in feel to the story of a man who’s been around the block but has tried to be better and do better for the people and place that have been his home. The problem is that the Uncle Ben Parker routine is a cliché, and dressing it up in different terms “Always Forward” rather than “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” doesn’t do much to make it distinct. The action movie trope quality of it doesn’t help either. I half expected Luke to yell out “Mendooooozaaaaa!” when he was holding Pop’s body.

Still, it does a solid job at setting up Luke for the remainder of the episode. He’s tried to be out of the game, but Pops has inspired him. As we learn in that very obvious speech at the end of the episode, Pops taught him to stand up and not just hang back, and he intends to live up to that.

It helps that there’s a pretty good engine to the story as well. The idea that everyone’s trying to find Chico – Pop, Cottonmouth, and the cops, creates some dramatic stakes and intrigue for the episode. The scenes where Misty and her partner patrol a basketball court feels like a cheesy establishing moment, but having these three different groups with three different interests all pursuing the same man leads to some interesting intersections among them. (And a corny “so it’s you” moment between Luke and Misty.)

But as has often been the case in these Netflix shows, the most interesting characters are the villains. I’m far more invested in Councilwoman Mariah and Cottonmouth’s conflicting but connected efforts to build themselves to legitimacy or control than I am in Luke deciding to become a hero again. Part of that is just the acting. As Alfre Woodard demonstrated in a brief but potent scene in Captain America: Civil War, she has the chops to make her character compelling. And Mahershala Ali has been the standout of the show so far, communicating all sorts of different emotions when he learns from his underling that the hit on Chico didn’t go down as the “Code of the Streets” demands and that Pop, with whom he has a history, was a casualty. There’s a blandness to Luke Cage himself, a sense in which he’s the generic reluctant good guy. But the people he’s facing have a great deal more personality and intrigue to them.

There’s far less intrigue in the story of a mentor figure dying and motivating their ward in the process. Pop has been a boon to the series in its opening pair of episodes, with another Wire alum in the Marvel Netflix universe elevating the show, but the end game of his presence being Luke proving himself a hero by shielding a young child and losing his father figure in the process, provoking him to take up the cause of justice is fine, but not especially novel or compelling. The way the episode is shot, and the superb editing of scenes where another stellar song is spliced with scenes of violence and of the villains debating what to strive for make it better. But at the end of the day, the bad guys, and an undeniable sense of style, can’t completely make up for the protagonist having to muddle through a hoary cliché.

The scene with Cottonmouth in the barber shop was ok. But almost everything else is just meh. Every. Single. Thing. is so cliché. We have already seen this exact same story dozen of times.

Also Pop has the good guy role here, but what an asshole. The way he coaxes Luke, that's not respect. And there's actually a telling sign a little before, he gets closer and lower his voice to speak about Cottonmouth, while 10 seconds earlier he was openly speaking about Luke's situation and powers. Clearly he wasn't helping out of goodness and knew he would collect this favor. And yet, Luke's going to go on a crusade in his name.

Story could have been solved, so plot needed escalation. And so Cottonmouth's guy just goes against direct order to lay low and wait for the morning. He was there and saw that his boss agreed to talk it out with Pop, making his boss a liar. And he just spread a neighbourhood's old man's shop with machine gun... I mean, 10 minutes into the show you know this is way too unsophisticated to be the kind of message that Cottonmouth has ever used. But his guys doesn't apparently. And he doesn't know that him and Pop got history, like everybody in the neighbourhood probably does. Really garbage writing.

And then what ? It's not like it's a huge organization. Luke could literally take care of every single person involved there in one hour and nobody would know what happened. How do you do a whole season with that ?