Welcome to The A.V. Club’s Luke Cage binge-watch. From Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2, A.V. Club contributor Caroline Siede will be watching and reviewing every episode of the Marvel series’ first season.You can follow along and comment on the whole season on the binge-watching hub page or chime in on the individual episode reviews. For those watching at a more moderate pace, reviews by Ali Barthwell will run every other day beginning Monday, October 3.
The internet has done a pretty solid job of pointing out the need for more female characters in live action superhero properties (not that studios seem to be listening). But what too often gets left out of the conversation is how much more dire the lack of representation is for women of color than it is for white women. After all, even if they aren’t starring as heroes themselves, white women are at least still present in superhero adaptations as love interests, comic relief, and supporting characters. Women of color aren’t even allowed that.
Just look at the Marvel movies. Zoe Saldana remains the only woman of color in a prominent role in any of the 13 current MCU films (the upcoming Black Panther, thankfully, is about to change that). Things are a little bit better on the TV side of the Marvel universe (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has two Asian-American female leads), but Jessica Jones and Agent Carter—the two shows most lauded for their feminism—feature virtually no women of color. And as I wrote in my Jessica Jones binge-reviews, that’s just embarrassing.
I give all that context because I want to emphasize what a huge deal it is that this episode of Luke Cage centers on not one, not two, but three complex, well-developed women of color. It would’ve been easy for Luke Cage to focus solely on the black male perspective and leave out the experiences of black women. But “DWYCK” proves that Luke Cage its far more thoughtful about its feminism than Jessica Jones ever was about its racial politics.
Mariah, Misty, and Claire take center stage in this episode. For Claire that means doing what she does best: Being the world’s most badass nurse. But for Mariah and Misty, it means stepping out of their comfort zones.
Shades informs Mariah that it’s now her responsibility to be the face of the Stokes crime syndicate. And though it’s not a role Mariah is at all comfortable with, she puts her honed political skills to work as she calls a meeting of Cottonmouth’s most loyal customers. Her initial plan is to sell off her cousin’s business and move back into legitimate politics via an anti-Luke Cage platform. But when Diamondback arrives to throw a particularly bloody wrench into the works, she improvises like a pro. She sells him on a new idea that could revolutionize his business model: Give up the illegal gun trade and start selling weapons to the police that are strong enough to take down superhuman vigilantes. “I like the way she thinks,” Diamondback purrs to Shades.
While Mariah gets comfortable in the criminal world, Misty is facing a very different kind of challenge: Herself. After harassing Claire in the last episode, Misty is forced (well, technically she volunteers) to talk through her issues with a psychologist. While she’s used to kicking ass and taking names in the street, it turns out Misty is far less comfortable tackling her own demons.