Luke Cage - Netflix
Another winner from Netflix and Marvel.
It can be a little slow at times as Luke himself is very calm in his delivery of.... well, everything.
But fortunately for him everyone around him was great (outside of the cheesyness of Shades who I liked, but thought he wasn't quite the look for the role his character he played), and quite memorable.
The musical cameos were a good touch and one special guest appearance (as himself), which turned into a multi-guest appearance (as themselves) was really well done.
I'm actually hoping to hear about it tomorrow morning on the radio.
edit:
There may be some that think DD sets the standard, and that JJ had a few too many episodes, but I think Luke Cage did well on the balancing act of competent progressive story with plenty of references to real world people/drama/events, action beats, musical direction, overall MCU connectivity and moderate pacing.
Hell, I could even see a fashion trend coming out of this show if marketed correctly. LOL
actually I should probably jump on that..... money making opportunity for real.
final edit:
This show is unapologetically black, from the liberal but natural use of the N-word, the musical selection, obviously the cast, but also the direct correlation to the present problems on-going in today's society, and I love not only Netflix for making it, but Marvel for allowing it.
One of the things that sets the MCU apart from the DCCU, is that it takes place in the "real world". Real locations, real cities, and when it can, as seen countless times in Luke Cage, referencing real people, events and problems.
They took great care to reflect the actual societal make-up of the region with heavy focus on Black and Latino communities in this show.
It's no wonder Netflix went down yesterday, as I'm sure this show is doing quite well for Marvel/Netflix right now.
This show may not have had the highest highs of the Netflix MCU shows (that goes to parts of DD S1 and S2, especially The Punisher in S2), but it wasn't far behind, and certainly more consistent, IMO.
One of the best things about this show was that it wasn't just about Luke, or his villain, or this other character or that other character. It was about all of them, and the town it self. the entire community, as a whole. Now I could just be on a Luke Cage Marvel Netflix high right now, but this was a good show.
Stranger Things is still probably my favorite thing Netflix has done, but that takes nothing away from Luke Cage.
I can't wait for a season 2 or a follow-up in whatever form comes after The Defenders, and with Netflix ramping up for more original shows, I really hope that bumps us up to 3-4 Marvel shows a year.
Next year we have Iron Fist S1, followed by The Defenders, and possibly even DD S3
2018 could be JJ S2, The Punisher S1, and LC S2.
With the amount of references and foreshadowing done in Luke Cage, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Heroes for Hire show combining JJ, LC & IF into one show w/ Misty and Colleen who maybe split to their own show.