Marvel's Luke Cage Season 2 Review: 4 Ups And 5 Downs

2. A Few Poor Character Choices

While Alfre Woodard is having a blast as Mariah, the same can't be said for watching her key relationships this season. Following on from Season 1, she and Shades (Theo Rossi) are attempting to establish themselves as the power in Harlem, but it's never a relationship that feels earned or particularly natural.

Their romantic chemistry especially is nowhere to be seen; at times there's something a little too strange about it, others it just falls flat. Shades, ultimately, is tired of being treated like one of Mariah's henchmen, another point we're reminded of time and again, and it doesn't really lead anywhere unpredictable.

That goes for a number of character decisions across the season, where they flip-flop between different allegiances or going down one path or another almost at random, simply to keep the wheels spinning.

Perhaps most annoying to long-term fans of this universe, though, is Claire Temple. While she and Luke start the season together, and Rosario Dawson is once again great, circumstances for her away from the show for the majority of the season, with a stretch of episodes where she's not even mentioned. Claire helps make Luke a more interesting character emotionally, and is great in her own right too, and that presence is keenly missed for large parts of the season, and it would've been particularly interesting to see her there for some of the choices Luke makes.