—Luke CageYou're absolutely right. I'm not gonna touch him, not the way I should. Since I can't touch the king, I'm gonna take his queen, his knights, his rooks... I'm knockin' all his pieces off the board.
Appearances
Featured Characters:
- Luke Cage (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
Supporting Characters:
- NYPD (Main story and recap)
- Detective Misty Knight (Main story and recap)
- Bobby Fish
- Chico Diaz (Main story and recap) (Death)
Antagonists:
- Detective Rafael Scarfe
- Joel Spurlock (First appearance)
- Harlem's Paradise
- Cottonmouth (Cornell Stokes)
- Zip
- Numerous unnamed others
- Councilwoman Mariah Dillard
- Domingo Colon
Other Characters:
- Crispus Attucks (Mentioned)
- WJBP-TV (Appears on screen)
- Tim (First appearance) (Voice only)
- Megan McLaren (Full name revealed) (Appears on screen)
- Biggie (Photo)
- Genghis Connie's
- Henry "Pop" Hunter (Photo) (Full name revealed)
- New York Bulletin (Named only)
- FDNY
- Kelly Knight (Mentioned)
- Reva Connors (Mentioned)
- Shameek Smith (Only in recap)
- Dante Chapman (Death in recap)
- Tone (Corpse, skeleton or other remains) (Behind the scenes)
- Charles Bradley (First appearance)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked)
- Mama Mabel (Mentioned)
- Madam C. J. Walker (Mentioned)
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Mentioned)
- Shirley Chisholm (Mentioned)
- Larry Bird (Mentioned)
- Kevin McHale (Mentioned)
- Robert Parish (Mentioned)
- Bill Russell (Mentioned)
- K.C. Jones (Mentioned)
- L.L.Bean (Mentioned)
- Jesus Christ (Invoked)
- Mayor of New York City (Mentioned)
- Diamondback (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Wolves (Mentioned)
- Bees (Mentioned)
- Birds (Mentioned)
- Crocodiles (Mentioned)
- Ghosts (Mentioned)
- Pigs (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Earth-199999 (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Earth (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- United States of America (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- New York (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- New York City (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Manhattan (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Harlem (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- St. Nicholas Avenue (Main story and flashforward)
- Crispus Attucks Complex (Main story and flashforward)
- Harlem's Paradise
- Malcolm X Boulevard (Main story and recap)
- Pop's Barber Shop (Main story and recap)
- Genghis Connie's (Destruction)
- Spurlock's Mortuary (First appearance)
- Marcus Garvey Park (Mentioned)
- 29th Precinct Police Station
- St. Nicholas Avenue (Main story and flashforward)
- Office of Chief Medical Examiner, Kips Bay (Mentioned)
- Roosevelt Island
- Harlem (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Queensboro Bridge
- East River
- Manhattan (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- New York City (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) (Mentioned)
- New York (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Fort Knox (Mentioned)
- United States of America (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
- Hell (Invoked)
- Earth (Main story, flashforward, and recap)
Items:
- Driving Miss Daisy (Mentioned)
- Mjolnir (Mentioned)
Events:
- The Incident (Mentioned)
Synopsis
Synopsis not yet written
Cast
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Luke Cage | Mike Colter |
| Cottonmouth / Cornell Stokes | Mahershala Ali |
| Detective Misty Knight | Simone Missick |
| Councilwoman Mariah Dillard | Alfre Woodard |
| Detective Rafael Scarfe | Frank Whaley |
| Bobby Fish | Ron Cephas Jones |
| Domingo Colon | Jacob Vargas |
| Wilfredo "Chico" Diaz | Brian "Sene" Marc |
| Zip | Jaiden Kaine |
| Connie Lin | Jade Wu |
| Joel Spurlock | Sedly Bloomfield |
| Megan McLaren | Dawn-Lyen Gardner |
| Police Officer | Jason Altman |
| Crispus Thug | Darik Bernard |
| Strung Out Girl | Tationna Bosier |
| Detective | Gabe Bettio |
| Himself | Charles Bradley |
Notes
- The Gang Starr song the episode is "Who's Gonna Take the Weight?", from their album Step in the Arena. Both the song and the episode focus on an individual stepping up to take on the problems of the streets.
- The songs featured in the episode are:
- A cover of Black Sabbath's song "Changes" by Charles Bradley
- "Ain't it a Sin" by Charles Bradley
- "Enemies All Around Me" by Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge
- Luke Cage listens to a censored version of the Wu-Tang Clan's song "Bring Da Ruckus" diegetically.
Trivia
- In this episode, Cottonmouth refers to Mariah as "Black Mariah", which is a reference to the alias of her her comic book counterpart. She seems to despise that name, but it wasn't expounded upon in future episodes.