Luke and Claire discuss how to free the hostages inside of Harlem's Paradise. Meanwhile, more of Diamondback's past is revealed.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Alone with the Psycho: Boone realizes this is the case when he sees the copious scrawling inside Stryker's Bible.
- Bridal Carry: Luke carries an injured Misty like this at least twice.
- The Bus Came Back: Blake Tower, who left New York after Reyes' murder, has returned and probably taken her place to help out with the hostage situation in Harlem. It was probably not a very long departure, given that Luke Cage and season 2 of Daredevil are happening concurrently.
- Cain and Abel: Directly referenced by Stryker when he compares himself with Luke.
- Call-Back: Like "Who's Gonna Take the Weight", the first shot is an exterior shot of people fleeing from gunfire. Only it's Harlem's Paradise instead of Crispus Attucks. Luke even refers to "going Crispus Attucks" on the hostage takers.
- Continuity Nod: Blake Tower references Frank Castle's rampage and his fear of someone like him getting his hands on the Judas bullets.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Diamondback's plan is criticized by Shades for being impractical, as he is making up things as they go along. Against expectations, it actually ends up working: Luke gets arrested by the police at the end of the episode and Diamondback escapes again (thanks to Zip knowing about Cottonmouth's secret getaway), though a couple of mooks get arrested, including ironically enough Shades, who discovered and investigated the smuggler's tunnels under Harlem's Paradise, which got him into a fight with Misty and Claire, and got him knocked out.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Former Headbutting Heroes Claire Temple and Misty Knight bond in the smuggler's tunnels under Harlem's Paradise, particularly over working together to kick Shades's ass.Claire: You've got some moves.
Misty: Thanks, you too.
Claire: My father.
Misty: My uncle.
[[both laugh]] - Freudian Excuse: Willis was born out of wedlock because his father's legitimate wife couldn't have a child, until Carl was born (Carl was considered "the miracle baby," by his own admission). Willis and Carl were best friends since they were children, but then one incident where they stole a car ended up landing Stryker in juvie (Carl was sent into the Marines instead), where he was forced to kill in self-defense and ended up going to prison. His mom died from cancer after he got arrested, since his father stopped giving them money, and since then Stryker blames Luke for being the favored child and the reason his whole life went to Hell.
- He Knows Too Much: While he doesn't find out the whole truth, Boone ends up finding out just enough to figure out Luke Cage is as innocent as he seems from Diamondback himself, who promptly kills him so he can't him investigate further and connect the dots.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Misty; fortunately Claire turns up to stabilize her.
- Indy Ploy: Diamondback's strategy in the hostage situation. Shades isn't pleased with it.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Between Blake Tower and the NYPD over the hostage crisis.
- Just Between You and Me: Diamondback tells his entire backstory to Damon Boone, who lampshades this trope just moments before Stryker caves his chest in with a super-glove punch. Stryker never intended to let Boone walk out.
- Heal It with Booze: Claire sterilizes her hands and Misty's wound with alcohol, then sews her up with dental floss.
- Hostage Situation: The shootout between Luke and Diamondback ends up leaving several people trapped inside Harlem's Paradise with Stryker's thugs holding them until they find and kill Luke.
- Iconic Item: Claire makes a point of crushing Shades shades underfoot.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Misty when Claire starts chewing out Luke over his Worst Aid.
- Lovely Angels: When Shades discovers where Misty and Claire are hiding, the two unarmed women work together to take him down.
- Mouth of Sauron: Stryker doesn't talk to the hostage negotiators, he has Damon Boone be his mouthpiece at gunpoint, telling everyone that Luke Cage is the hostage-taker. No one on the outside ever hears Stryker's voice to compare it to Luke's.
- Mythology Gag:
- One of Diamondback's thugs calls Claire "Night Nurse".
- Misty's arm injury. In the comics, Misty loses her right arm in an explosion, and gets a bionic one from Tony Stark. She still does lose her arm, in The Defenders .
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: At the end of the episode, Luke's decision to save Candace results in the police arresting him.
- Oh, Crap!: Councilman Damon Boones has this realization when Stryker hands him his personal Bible, and Boone leafs through it, seeing it is full of notes and scribbles, Stryker's personal, portable Room Full of Crazy.
- One Bullet Left: Diamondback has only one Judas bullet, but Mirah has arranged for the ESU to be equipped with whole magazines of the Judas 2.0. Fortunately Diamondback misses his shot and Luke lets himself be arrested quietly.
- Only Sane Man: Shades against Diamondback, who doesn't appreciate his minion questioning him.
- Plausible Deniability: The fact that the highest ranking cop in the mobile command center is Inspector Ridley is something that suggests to both her and Blake Tower that the brass want any blowback from the hostage situation to be on her.
- Plot Hole: Stryker says that he went to juvie while Carl went into the Marines. But Carl is two years younger than him, so either he would have been too old to go to juvie or Carl would have been too young to join the Marines.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Shades is reluctant to hold civilians hostage inside Harlem's Paradise because he knows they are surrounded and outmatched by the police outside.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Blake Tower wants to stall the possibility of a violent confrontation between Luke and the Judas-armed ESU because he knows it's only a matter of time before these kinds of weapons end up on the streets. After all, Frank Castle shot up dozens of criminals with regular bullets, and would've done much worse with Judas bullets.
- Room Full of Crazy: Willis hands his Bible to Councilor Damon Boone, invites him to open it. When Boone does, he finds that every single line is highlighted, underlined, notated... Willis has turned the entire bible into his room full of crazy.
- Sadistic Choice: Diamondback forces Luke into one when the police are about to storm Harlem's Paradise and he threatens to drop Candace from a great height. Either he saves Candace and lets himself get arrested by the police, or he runs away from them and leaves Candace to die. He picks the former.
- Secret Underground Passage: Luke and Misty hide in a Prohibition hideaway under the kitchen, known only to the staff who worked there. Zip helps Diamondback escape through another tunnel to the outside.
- Shout-Out:
- Before dropping Candace, Diamondback says, "Bye, Carl. [beat] Bye, Felicia!"
- Shades asks Diamondback, "Whatchu' talkin about, Willis?" to which Willis says now is not the time to tell jokes.
- Diamondback, when directing his henchmen to corral the hostages:Diamondback: Take Diet Obama upstairs, Ty! Keep a gun on him until I get up there.
Damon Boone: Take your hands off me! You can't do this...
Diamondback: Yes We Can!
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: Diamondback plays a record of "Son of a Preacher Man" at the start of his Just Between You and Me to Damon Boone where he tells him about his background as the son of Reverend Lucas.
- Tap on the Head: A mere dope slap from Luke knocks out one Mook.
- Trading Bars for Stripes: Carl and Willis were caught stealing a Corvette for a joyride. Reverend Lucas talked the judge into sending Carl to the Marines to straighten him out, where he joined Force Recon. Willis received no such aid from his father and was sent to juvenile detention.
- Unusual Euphemism: Misty asks Claire if she's had coffee with Luke yet.
