History Recap / LukeCage2016S1E3WhosGonnaTakeTheWeight

* DirtyCop: Scarfe is on Cottonmouth's payroll and makes a deal with him after killing Chico, the sole key witness to the arms deal heist.

* SmarterThanYouLook: Scarfe figures out that Luke Cage busted up Cottonmouth's business before Mariah did.
* SmugSnake: Cottonmouth's associates and henchmen love to act all smug and superior to him when he fucks up.

* SourceMusic: Luke plays "Bring Da Ruckus" by Music/WuTangClan on his headphones as he goes to tear apart Crispus Attucks.

* ChessMotif: Luke explains to Bobby Fish that he's not gonna go directly after Cottonmouth (King), he's gonna go after Mariah (Queen), the knights and the rooks.

** Cottonmouth tells the coroner, "Nothing humbles a man like gravity" when explaining the death of Tone, who died when Cottonmouth threw him off a building. Cottonmouth will also die in part due to gravity.

** During an argument with Mariah Dillard, Cornell calls her "Black Mariah," a reference to her comic identity. [[BerserkButton Mariah HATES being called that]].
** Cottonmouth firing a bazooka at Cage is a direct reference to [[http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Power_Man_Vol_1_20 the cover]] of ''Luke Cage, Power Man'' #20, Cottonmouth's very second appearance in the comics.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Once Chico tells Scarfe about Luke, he gets strangled to death by a tie.

* NoOSHACompliance: Crispus Attucks has only one entrance and exit. Either Harlem has decayed to the point that New York City planners can't be bothered to tell them, "You guys seriously need to put in a fire exit or two," that fire exit does exist but has been boarded up, or Cottonmouth is so determined to protect his stash that he overlooked the fact that his money is highly flammable.

* VillainousBreakdown: Cottonmouth has one of these after Luke tears through Crispus Attucks, causing the police to seize all of his money and Mariah's name to be dragged through the dirt. Cottonmouth begins smashing objects in his bar with a baseball bat. He's able to calm down a bit when Scarfe shows up to inform him that A) he's killed Chico and B) he knows who and where the man hitting the stash houses is.

!!Tropes:

* BerserkButton: Just like her cousin, Mariah Dillard does ''not'' react well when Stokes, already angry because of Luke attacking Crispus Attucks and his other stash houses, calls her by her nickname "Black Mariah", causing her to pick up her martini glass and chucking at his head while angrily telling him not to call her that.

* ContinuityNod[=/=]CopsNeedTheVigilante: When Misty and Scarfe are conversing about how vigilantes aren't restricted by the rules and regulations cops have, Scarfe comments about seeing the Incident up-close and remarks that "unless this sidearm that I'm wearing suddenly turns into [[Film/{{Thor}} some kind of magic hammer]], this whole job is irrelevant." Misty disagrees and doesn't see vigilantes as any more than a thorn keeping the cops from doing their job.

** Cottonmouth tells the coroner "Nothing humbles a man like gravity" when explaining the death of Tone, who died when Cottonmouth threw him off a building. Cottonmouth would also die in part due to gravity.
** Cottonmouth showing that he'll push Mariah's BerserkButton in a fit of anger becomes important when he [[spoiler: later pisses off Mariah so much that she kills him.]]

* HyperCompetentSidekick: Scarfe did in one night what everyone else on Cottonmouth's payroll couldn't: Kill Chico and identify who has been hitting him and where he is. There is a reason he acts all smug.
* IfIWantedYouDead: Cottonmouth accuses Domingo of being the one behind the attacks on his stash houses, but Domingo says "If my people were to hit you, you'd be dead. ''Muerto''."

* IronicEchoCut: The stoned woman in one of the stash houses tells Misty, when pressed to give a description about Luke, "[[DistractedByTheSexy He was fine.]]" Smash cut to Mariah angrily asking Cottonmouth, "What do you mean, everything is fine?" This one takes advantage of the double entendre for using "fine" - describing Luke and the situation for Mariah and Cottonmouth at present.

* MythologyGag: During an argument with Mariah Dillard, Cornell calls her "Black Mariah", a reference to her comic identity. [[BerserkButton Mariah HATES being called that]].
** Cottonmouth firing a bazooka at Cage is a direct reference to [[http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Power_Man_Vol_1_20 the cover of ''Luke Cage, Power Man'' #20,]] Cottonmouth's very second appearance in the comics.

** Chico decides to step up and take responsibility for his actions, his confession to his crime gets him killed by Scarfe.

* NoOSHACompliance: Crispus Attucks has only one entrance and exit. Either Harlem has decayed to the point that New York City planners can't be bothered to tell them "you guys seriously need to put in a fire exit or two", that fire exit does exist but has been boarded up, or Cottonmouth is so determined to protect his stash that he overlooked the fact that his money is highly flammable.

** Scarfe gives off this vibe when he sees Cottonmouth, acting in an extremely disrespectful way and seeming totally convinced that his police shield makes him unassailable. Cottonmouth only retaliates by calling Scarfe "Virginia Slim"[[note]]What else do you call "A skinny white bitch"? [[EvilLaugh Hahahahahahahaha!!]][[/note]], instead of killing him, if only because Scarfe had killed Chico and also told them who's been hitting their stash houses.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Cottonmouth doesn't yet know that Luke is invulnerable, so going after him with a bazooka would seem like this, though the audience knows this level of force is completely appropriate. It still isn't enough given that Luke had previously survived Kilgrave ordering him to blow up his own bar. However, Cottonmouth did know that Luke just walked out of a fight with over 20 heavily armed men, so he was probably being [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]].

* VillainousBreakdown: Cottonmouth has one of these after Luke tears through Crispus Attucks, causing the police to seize all of his money and Mariah's name to be dragged through the dirt. Cottonmouth begins smashing objects in his bar with a baesball bat. He's able to calm down a bit when Scarfe shows up to inform him that A) he's killed Chico and B) sells out Luke to him.

* CurbStompBattle: Continuing the trend in the series. The mooks in the Crispus Attucks can't even hurt Luke as he plows through them.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Two times.
** The one time when Chico decides to step up and take responsibility for his actions, his confession to his crime gets him killed by Scarfe.

* SmugSnake: Cottonmouth ain't Wilson Fisk. Thus, his associates and henchmen love to act all smug and superior to him when he fucks up.

* Foreshadowing: Cottonmouth tells the coroner "Nothing humbles a man like gravity" when explaining the death of Tone, who died when Cottonmouth threw him off a building. Cottonmouth would also die due to gravity.