History Recap / LukeCage2016S1E5JustToGetARep

* CallBack: Claire describes how [[Recap/Daredevil2015S2E11380 her co-worker Louisa got murdered in The Hand's attack]], and how Metro-General Hospital has done everything it can to blacklist her from practicing at any hospital in the New York City area, as well as how [[Recap/JessicaJones2015S1E13AKASmile she treated Luke Cage after he took a shotgun blast to the head]].

* CriticalResearchFailure: Coco suggests benign neglect as a strategy; stop antagonizing Luke and maybe he'll leave them alone. Except in reality it wasn't benign and it wasn't neglect. It was multiple systems intended to degrade and destroy black communities.

-->'''Stripper:''' Don't you need a gun?
-->'''Luke:''' I am the gun.

* SilentOffer: Shades writes down the cost of a single Judas bullet on a coaster and Cottonmouth is incredulous when he looks at it. But as the alternative is to let Diamondbank take over his territory, he makes immediate plans to raise the necessary revenue.

-->'''Hernan "Shades" Alvarez:''' ...Carl Lucas?

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Cottonmouth's response to Luke threatening to bill him if his suit gets damaged again.

* RealityEnsues: Cottonmouth has police officers on his payroll, but unlike Wilson Fisk he has nobody bribed in the Internal Affairs Bureau. This bites him in the ass since it means when said cops are compromised, he can't offer his goons protection from investigation, which compromises their loyalty. There is also the fact that in light of Fisk, IAB has no tolerance for any suspected corruption within the ranks, so the Cottonmouth crew don't have the free reign that Fisk's did. It doesn't take much for IAB to launch an investigation, beyond simply some discrepancies with Scarfe's official movements on the night of Chico's murder and the bombing at Genghis Connie's.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: The Judas Bullets contain metal salvaged from the Chitauri Invasion.

* BoomHeadshot: How Cottonmouth kills that henchman.

* CameraAbuse: The impact of the chunks of flesh emitted by the exploding Judas bullet in the test footage knocks the camera's tripod over.
* TheCameo: Rapper Jidenna opens the episode with "Long Live the Chief" alongside a montage of Luke lifting debris from a dumpster and Claire fighting off a would-be mugger.

* ShootingSuperman: Luke points how dumb it is for Cottonmouth's mook to shoot him with a pistol when he's already shaken off a rocket blast.

* CameraAbuse: The impact of the chunks of flesh emitted by the exploding Judas bullet in the test footage is enough to knock the camera's tripod over.

* HonorBeforeReason: Shade says that Cottonmouth's revenue problems will be solved if he just sells his nightclub, but he refuses.

* BitchSlap: Luke to the thug who shook down a stripper for her tips, and you can slap a lot harder when you have SuperStrength,
--Luke knocks him unconscious with a single blow.

* BitchSlap: Luke to the thug who shook down a stripper for her tips, and you can slap a lot harder when you have SuperStrength, knocking him unconscious with a single blow.

* BitchSlap: Luke to the thug who shook down a stripper for her tips, and you can slap a lot harder when you have SuperStrength.

* BitchSlap: Luke to the thug who shook down a waitress for her tips, and you can slap a lot harder when you have SuperStrength.

-->'''Waitress:''' Don't you need a gun?

* ThisCannotBe: Luke is surrounded on the floor of the club by several of Cottonmouth's men. Cottonmouth's men attack him, and Luke fights them off effortlessly. But Shades realizes, Luke's fighting style looks awfully familiar, and look of disbelief crosses Shades's face as he recognizes...

** Zip continues to try shooting at Luke even after the first bullet clearly didn't do anything to him. Somehow he didn't get word of the altercation Luke had with Cottonmouth's other thugs at the club.

* CallBack: Claire describes how [[Recap/Daredevil2015S2E11380 her co-worker Louisa got murdered in The Hand's attack]], and how Metro-General Hospital has done everything it can to blacklist her from practicing at any hospital in the New York City area.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Luke gets personally tailored for Pop's funeral. The shirt acquires five bullet holes before he makes it to the memorial service, but fortunately still looks just as good with the jacket on.
* BadBoss: Cottonmouth shoots the one henchman who suggests leaving Luke Cage alone.

* CallBack: Claire describes how her co-worker Louisa got murdered in The Hand's attack, and how Metro-General Hospital has done everything it can to blacklist her from practicing at any hospital in the New York City area.

* RealityEnsues: Cottonmouth has police officers on his payroll, but unlike Wilson Fisk he has nobody bribed in the Internal Affairs Bureau. This bites him in the ass since it means when said cops are compromised, he can't offer his goons protection from investigation, which compromises their loyalty. There is also the fact that in light of Fisk, IAB has no tolerance for any suspected corruption within the ranks, so the Cottonmouth crew don't have the free reign that Fisk's did. In particular, the cops do note that the timing of Scarfe's movements on the night of Chico's murder and the bombing at Genghis Connie's are suspicious given there are periods of time where Scarfe can't be accounted for.

* HiddenDepths: Coco, one of Cottonmouth's goons who has been reading a book on "politics and the social conditions that created hip-hop," draws a connection between it and their Luke Cage conundrum, suggesting that "benign neglect," i.e. leaving Cage alone, may be preferable to antagonising him. He gets shot in the head for his troubles.

* RealityEnsues: Cottonmouth has police officers on his payroll, but unlike Wilson Fisk he has nobody bribed in the Internal Affairs Bureau. This bites him in the ass since he can't offer his goons protection from investigation, which compromises their loyalty. There is also the fact that in light of Fisk, IAB is hinted as having no tolerance for any suspected corruption within the ranks, so the Cottonmouth crew don't have the free reign that Fisk's did. In particular, the cops do note that the timing of Scarfe's movements on the night of Chico's murder and the bombing at Genghis Connie's are suspicious given there are periods of time where Scarfe can't be accounted for.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Luke gets personally tailored for Pop's funeral.

* BlasphemousBoast: Shades claims that Hammer Industries's special bullets are called the Judas because they're what you'd use to "kill Jesus".

* CallBack: Claire describes how her co-worker Louisa got murdered in The Hand's attack, and Metro-General Hospital has done everything to blacklist her from practicing at any hospital in the New York City area.

* DonutMessWithACop: When Perez tells Scarfe that he's tasked one of the property sergeants with removing Domingo's weapons from evidence, Scarfe skeptically says "that fat, donut-eating bastard's gonna get us burnt".

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Cottonmouth attempts to tarnish Luke Cage's name and reputation by having his thugs shake down shops and extorting payments from shop owners. Cottonmouth claims that they need to pay for the "Luke Cage stupidity tax". This backfires, as Luke gets a standing ovation for his eulogy towards Pop. Luke also makes Cottonmouth's plan backfire by getting back the stolen items for all the people who come to him.
* HiddenDepths: Coco, one of Cottonmouth's goons who has been reading a book on "politics and the social conditions that created hip-hop", draws a connection between it and their Luke Cage conundrum, suggesting that "benign neglect", i.e. leaving Cage alone, may be preferable to antagonising him. He gets shot in the head for his troubles.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Cottonmouth attempts to make innocent shop owners and businesses pay for Luke's interference with his protection racket. Instead, Luke ends up protecting these people and since he isn't extorting them, wins Harlem's heart over Cottonmouth. Had Cottonmouth chose to practice benign neglect and not try to fix their Luke Cage problem, he would probably had kept his VillainWithGoodPublicity image instead of "enemies masking as friends".

* RevengeByProxy: Bobby Fish describes Cottonmouth's shakedown tactics as this - if he can't drive Luke out of Harlem, he'll make the locals do it.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Cottonmouth's speech at Pop's funeral receives unanimous agreement and approval from the people attending the funeral. He even earns a round of applause after finishing his eulogy. However, Luke manages to outdo him.

* BlasphemousBoast: Shades claims that Hammer's special bullets are called the Judas because they're what you'd use to "kill Jesus".

* ThisCannotBe: Luke is surrounded on the floor of the club by several of Cottonmouth's men. Cottonmouth's men attack him, and Luke fights them off effortlessly. A look of disbelief crosses Shades's face as he recognizes that Luke is Carl Lucas, who he thought had died escaping from Seagate.
* TooDumbToLive: One of the guys that fights Luke on the floor of the club is the very guy who broke his arm trying to punch Luke at Genghis Connie's in the first episode, and clearly didn't learn his lesson there.

* TheCameo: Rapper Jidenna opens the episode alongside a montage of investigation efforts by the detectives.