Without Scarfe to corroborate his evidence, Cottonmouth is released from jail.
Tropes appearing in this episode:
- Alas, Poor Villain: While viewers will be hard pressed to sympathize with Pete's death since he was raping his own grand-niece, Cornell was certainly shaken by his death, since he was forced to kill the one person who was nicer to him than most and believed in his musical talent while Mama Mabel made him a goon.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: One of Mama Mabel's sex workers is named Sister Boy. Mabel uses "him", but Sister Boy is dressed and coifed in a very feminine style. Trans, cross-dresser, feminine gay?
- Bait the Dog: Pete was a good guy who wanted a better life for Cottonmouth, but he also betrayed the family for extra cash from drug dealing because he thought the family business should have been his, not Mabel's. Also, he raped Mariah.
- Berserk Button: Cottonmouth laughing in Mariah's face and saying that she enjoyed her sexual abuse is what causes her to savagely beat him to death.Mariah: I... DIDN'T... WANT... IT!!!
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The flashbacks show Cornell and Mariah's.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Luke getting shot by a Judas round and collapsing on the ground in front of Claire.
- Continuity Nod:
- When discussing how to handle Luke's situation, Claire mentions that she has a lawyer friend who can help, teasing that Luke might be good to have Nelson & Murdock in his corner.
- Earlier, Claire tries to motivate Luke by telling him about the stuff that's been happening in Hell's Kitchen since he left. Luke scoffs at the idea that he should be like "that cat crawling around beating people up".
- Wilson Fisk's crooked lawyer Benjamin Donovan shows up to bail out Cottonmouth.
- The Corrupter:
- Mama Mabel for Cottonmouth.
- Shades for Mariah.
- Cry for the Devil: The whole episode serves as one for Cottonmouth, as the viewers have an insight into his backstory and the events that shaped him into who he is today.
- Dare to Be Badass: Villain version. Shades breaks into Mariah's place and taunts her for trying to follow the rules when she has it in her to be a crime boss like Mama Mabel.
- A Death in the Limelight: We finally get to find out Cottonmouth's backstory just in time for him to be killed.
- The Dreaded: Luke doesn't need to throw any punches to scare a bunch of crooks buying guns from Zip into running. Zip stands his ground, but looks rather annoyed at Luke's intrusion.
- Destination Defenestration: Cottonmouth gets pushed out the window of his office by Mariah.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Mama Mabel explains to Sister Boy that men will take their pain out on him because they can't take it out on their wives.
- The Don: We see Mama Mabel, Cornell Stokes, and Domingo, all running their own gangs.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mama Mabel Stokes was a ruthless crime boss and child abuser. But even she refused to let any of her people sell drugs, no matter how profitable crack was. And she was close to everyone from David Dinkins to Pappy Mason, as Shades recalls.
- Evil Matriarch: Mama Mabel Stokes was the head of a ruthless criminal organization controlling prostitution, gambling, and racketeering in Harlem.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: The kid on the street who is selling footage of The Incident recognizes Luke Cage, and Luke recruits him in his search for Domingo.
- Famed In-Story: When the kid selling footage of the incident recognizes Luke Cage, he says he has a friend with a Red
, and he offers Luke 4K for 4K. - Fingore: Mama Mabel cuts off Donnie's finger with pruning shears for daring to sell drugs in her territory.
- Flashback Cut: When Inspector Ridley suggests that Luke Cage is behind all the recent criminal activity, Misty has a flashback memory of having sex with him, which would be really bad for her if it came out now she's under suspicion of being corrupt.
- Foreshadowing:
- After Pete praises young Mariah and suggests she's going to be a lawyer. Despite his praise, the look she gives him isn't of a niece happy to be praised. It's guarded, scared.
- During the amputated finger flashback, Mama Mabel asks Donnie who gave him the idea of selling drugs on her turf. A close observer will notice that Donnie looks at Pete and gets shut down straight away, and while she doesn't say anything, the look Mama Mabel gives Pete suggests she knows he was behind it.
- Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: Mama Mabel refers to Tato Lopez and Salvador in Spanish Harlem as Puerto Ricans. There is also a Puerto Rican flag on the wall at Colon's Gym.
- Genius Book Club: An observing viewer will notice that Mariah has stacks of art books around her brownstone, including a book titled Baole and another about the MOMA.
- Immune to Bullets: Domingo's henchmen empty their guns into Luke. The bullets just bounce off him and into everything else. Luke doesn't even move at all.
- Internal Affairs: Inspector Ridley and her colleagues dismiss Captain Audrey, as the Scarfe ordeal happened on her watch, and turn their attentions on Misty, given that she was Scarfe's partner.
- Ironic Echo: When Cottonmouth suggests that Mariah wanted the sexual abuse, she beats him to death while shouting "I didn't want it!" Shades then enters the room and suggests that deep down she did want it, referring to her killing Cottonmouth.
- It Gets Easier: Shades intimidates Mariah by suggesting that when the moment comes, she'll realize exactly what she's capable of. His first remark after watching her kill Cottonmouth (which he had been about to do himself): "You got the nerve. You stepped up" and that the first time is the hardest. Indeed, Mariah is a lot more confident and ruthless as a criminal after this point.
- Karmic Death: Cottonmouth dies by getting thrown out his office window (like Tone), then beaten to death with a microphone stand (like Shameek).
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Mama Mabel is the pimp who is expected to provide protection for her male prostitute. When Mabel criticizes Cornell for not being there to protect the prostitute, Cornell says Sister Boy should learn to use his fists like a brother. She slaps him for that mentality.
- Mythology Gag: Cottonmouth mockingly calls Luke, "Harlem's Captain America." In the comics, the experiment which gave Luke Cage his abilities was an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier Formula that transformed Steve Rogers.
- Never Mess with Granny: Mama Mabel looks like your kindly old grandma and while she doesn't have superpowers or fighting skills, she cuts off a drug dealer's finger. Damn.
- News Travels Fast: David Griffith, the kid selling film of the "Incident," says, "I see and hear everything. The streets know what you've been up to. Everyone's talking about it."
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Luke plans to leave Harlem rather than be blackmailed by Cottonmouth. Then Mariah kills Cottonmouth, fixing that problem.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Mariah finishes off Cottonmouth by beating him with a microphone stand after pushing him out of his office.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: Luke says this verbatim, when threatening to throw Domingo off a bridge unless he talks.
- Origins Episode: This episode is one for Cottonmouth in flashback, but ironically climaxes with Mariah brutally murdering him in a moment of passion and rage.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Mama Mabel didn't kill Pete because he was abusing Mariah (she sent her to college abroad to fix that), she had him killed because he betrayed her.
- Ragin' Cajun: Mariah calls Damon Boone a Stamford carpetbagger, and then tells him to get his Marigny ass out of her house.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Mama Mabel wants Cornell to help Pete take Donnie out, and then later Cornell has to kill Pete.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Shades delivers one to Mariah about how much the Stokes-Dillard family has fallen, pointing out how back when he was a kid, Mamma Mabel was a matriarch and pillar of Harlem's community.Hernan "Shades" Alvarez: Do you remember me? From when I was a kid?
Mariah Dillard: No. Are you one of those that used to follow Cornell around like a puppy?
Shades: Hmm. I didn't have shit. I grew up in the street. But the one name that always rang out was "Stokes." You needed a Thanksgiving turkey? "Go see Mama Mabel Stokes." School clothes? "Mama Mabel Stokes." Your old man put his hands on you? "See Mama Mabel Stokes and it would never, ever happen again."
Mariah: Your point?
Shades: Your family name meant something! Harlem's Paradise meant something! Everyone from David Dinkins to Pappy Mason showed that woman love. But what does that family represent now? A washed-up gangsterling? An empty politician who'll be lucky, at this time next year, to be a greeter at the Harlem Hair Expo?
[Furious, Mariah tries to swing at Shades, but he catches her hand and locks it in a vice grip]
Mariah: You don't talk to me like that.
Shades: I can talk to you any way I want! Because you've got no power to shut me up. Do you like how it feels? Being so powerless? Being pushed around by other people?
Mariah: What do you think?
Shades: I think, that when you get the nerve, you're gonna be surprised. At just what you're capable of. - Robbing the Mob Bank: Played for laughs when Luke takes not money, but a sweatshirt from Domingo's gym to replace the one Domingo's mooks shot full of holes.
- Sadistic Choice: Cottonmouth blackmails Luke with information about his past as Carl Lucas: Either he works for Cottonmouth or he gets out of Harlem.
- Shout-Out:
- Zip says the Hand Cannons he's selling will make your day.
- Misty Knight tells Priscilla Ridley that they started calling her Inspector Gadget after she was promoted. Based on Ridley's semi-amused look, this has been going on for a long time.
- Shades says former Mayor David Dinkins and gang leader Pappy Mason showed Mamma Mabel love. Pappy Mason has been referenced in many Hip-Hop songs, including "The World Is Yours" by Nas. Another song by Nas, "Made You Look," was used in the Luke Cage trailer.
- Cornell told Mama Mabel he watched Video Music Box with Salvador's little brother, Domingo.
- Shooting Superman: As Luke fights his way into Colon's Gym, two of Domingo's men point guns at him.Luke Cage: I guess you guys haven't heard about me, have you?
Domingo Colon: Take him out.
[Luke just stands motionless as Domingo's men empty their guns into him. Their bullets ricochet off him, and hit everything else in the gym, including some of Domingo's own men. The only damage to Luke is that they put lots of bullet holes in his jacket.]
Luke Cage: ... I'm about sick of always having to buy new clothes. - Slut-Shaming: Cottonmouth says Mariah wanted to be raped by Pete because she allegedly wore skimpy outfits and flirted with him. Mariah does not take the insinuation well.
- Soft Glass: Averted when Mariah belts Cottonmouth over the head with a bottle. It does not break. His head just about does. Then she beats him harder and shoves him through a window to fall to pain on the floor below. The rest of his death is painful and doesn't involve glass.
- Start of Darkness: Cottonmouth killing Pete on Mabel's behalf is what pushed him away from being a musician and towards becoming a gangster.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: When Misty refers to the internal affairs inspector as Priscilla, after the agent had called her Mercedes, the agent responds, "I prefer Inspector Ridley."
- Thicker Than Water: Mariah tells the reporter, "Family first, Robin."
- Titled After the Song: Gang Starr's "Manifest" from 1989.
- Two Roads Before You: When Cottonmouth tries to blackmail Luke into becoming his thug, he is presented with the choice of running or staying to fight.
- The Unreveal: Luke fills in Claire about his Back Story, but the only thing we hear is that he's so estranged from his father he prefers to let father think he is dead.
- Wham Episode: Cottonmouth, the seeming Big Bad, is murdered by Mariah. Luke is also shot with a Judas round, piercing his bulletproof skin.
- White Shirt of Death: Luke when he gets shot.
