Marvel Cinematic Universe: Every 2018 Project Ranked Worst To Best

If there's one real fault in the second season of Luke Cage, it's that it could've taken a page out of Iron Fist's playbook in cutting its episode count down from 13 to 10. By the end of the season, it definitely felt as though its narrative was overstaying its welcome, but - despite that - Luke's second go-round turned out to be a pretty solid outing.

Easily the biggest criticism of the first season was that the show stumbled once Cottonmouth left the picture halfway through only to be replaced by the scenery-chewing Diamondback, resulting in a season that felt tonally divided. Luke's sophomore year, fortunately, doesn't make that mistake, capitalizing on the great established villain at its disposal in Mariah Dillard while introducing the scene-stealing Bushmaster into the mix eager to take her down, with Luke himself stuck in the middle, forced to protect a woman he despises from a man armed with solid motivation for the sake of doing the right thing.

Throughout the season, the cast fired on all cylinders, with everyone given some quality stuff to work with, like Mariah's brutal confession about how and why she doesn't love her own daughter, and even Iron Fist made an appearance that proved just how well he and Luke work together on screen. And like that character's second season, Luke's ended on a setup for a third - with our hero in a perilously dark place as the new owner of Harlem's Paradise - that may never see resolution, the show the second casualty in Netflix's big purge, a disappointing end to a sophomore year that shined incredibly bright.