Luke Cage Season 2 recap: Episodes 3, 4 & 5

Episodes 3, 4 & 5 find Luke Cage drawing closer to answers as Misty Knight finds her place on the police force and Mariah Dillard seeks to secure a legitimate empire. All the while, the mysterious Bushmaster continues his play for Harlem.

On the season premiere of Luke Cage season 2, Harlem’s favorite defender found himself fighting for home turf against threats like councilwoman Mariah Dillard and the violent Bushmaster. With Netflix dropping all 13 episodes at once, we’re continuing our coverage by taking a look at episodes three, four and five.

So what happens next for Luke, Claire, Misty and the others?

How Misty got her groove back

One of the harder storylines to follow has been Misty Knight’s, who lost her arm in the finale to last year’s The Defenders. So it was great to see her finally rejoin the folks in blue, even if only on “light duty.” She’s off the big Mariah case though, which she doesn’t take lightly, but Misty continues to follow up leads (to the chagrin of her boss and fellow detectives).

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But her anger over her disability seeps into everything she does, leading to some major heart-to-hearts with Colleen Wing. Of course, heart-to-hearts on Marvel shows are never without a fistfight and Colleen encourages Misty to take her own back in a spectacular barfight sequence that shows how badass she is, even with just the one arm.

Followers of the comics know what’s coming next: an invitation from Danny Rand, the billionaire Iron Fist himself, to come down to Rand Enterprises and get fitted out for a robo-arm. While Misty’s not entirely used to it yet, we can count on her using it to punch through doors and take names soon enough.

Selling an empire

Mariah’s been trying to sell off her criminal empire and go legit for a few episodes now, and the three potential buyers slowly drop off the grid one by one. She doesn’t know if it’s Luke Cage or newcomer Bushmaster, a Jamaican based in Brooklyn who has a personal beef with her family, the Stokes.

Her plan breaks down into three parts: sell off her gun industry, use that money to invest in technology, and then ride her soaring new stocks to build a new clinic in Harlem that puts ‘Family First’ and redeems her bloody heritage. Her daughter, Tilda, is her first pick for medical director, but bringing her onboard is a slow process.

Bushmaster kills off the former head of the Jamaican clan and buys Mariah’s guns off her, only to then go into Harlem’s Paradise and threaten her to her face. She uses the money to open the Family First center, thinking herself safe but finds a set of severed heads at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Bushmaster, it seems, means business.

Hero for hire

Luke’s anger and pride starts getting the best of him, and when he eventually tracks down Cockroach, one of Mariah’s potential buyers, he finds the man abusing his wife. Luke loses control and beats Cockroach into unconsciousness, not only in front of his wife but also his child. When Claire comes onto the scene, she calls Misty and eventually tells Luke she went to go see his father without telling him. It blows up into a huge fight and Luke, in frustration, punches through the wall. Claire sends him packing (and starts packing her bags for Havana), and he’s so dazed from the day that he doesn’t see Bushmaster come up until the Jamaican slugs him to the ground.

The fight goes viral and leaves Luke with a concussion. He tries tracking Bushmaster down, which leads him to Tilda’s holistic herb shop and she makes him something to take the edge off his pain. There are more than a few sparks when she hands him the boutique baggie.

Eventually, Cockroach sues him for assault and Luke has to find $100,000 if he wants to avoid going to court. He eventually hires himself out to Piranha, the man who takes care of Mariah’s money, as entertainment for a party that night. While Luke gets annoyed at the selfies and tests of his powers, Bushmaster’s men infiltrate the party and try to make off with Piranha. Luke narrowly saves Pirahna from Bushmaster and ferrets him away to a safe house until he can figure out what to do next.

Next: Luke Cage season premiere recap: episodes 1 & 2

What happens next to Piranha, and has Bushmaster succeeded in discrediting Mariah for good? Luckily Netflix has released the whole season at once, so clear some space for some serious binge-watching!

Luke Cage season 2 was released in full on Netflix on June 22nd