Marvel's Luke Cage S01E01 "Moment of Truth" Recap

Luke Cage is living a quiet life, by his own choosing, sweeping hair up at Henry "Pop" Hunter's barbershop. He is an escaped convict trying to live a life of integrity to the best of his ability. He also happens to have incredible strength and virtually indestructible, impenetrable skin. But we'll learn more about the origins of these features as this show progresses. Pop thinks that Luke should use his skills to help people, and Luke ponders how his dead wife Reva used to say the same thing. Luke also works part-time as a dishwasher at Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes' nightclub, Harlem's Paradise. Cottonmouth is a high-ranking crime boss. Luke heads to work determined to get his next portion of salary so that he can pay what he owes in rent to Connie Lin, his landlady. At work at Harlem's Paradise, Luke is put on shift as a bartender to fill in for another employee called Dante who had called in sick to work. While working, Luke meets a beautiful woman named Misty Knight.

Meanwhile, Dante isn't actually sick. The reason he's not come into work is that he's interrupting an arms deal that's set to go down between some of Cottonmouth's men and another gang leader named Domingo Colmon's men. Dante is engaging in this shootout with his friends Shameek and Wilfredo "Chico" Diaz. When the situation goes bad, Dante begins to panic about the circumstances to Shameek kills him so he and Chico can get away with the money from the deal.

Luke and Misty go home together and have sex. She gets called away to investigate the crime scene of the shoot-out, as she works for the NYPD as a detective. She lies to Luke about her job when he asks her what she does for a living. He wants to see her again, and she says she'll know where to find him since she knows where he works. Misty looks over the crime scene with her partner Rafael Scarfe. The two of them impound the Hammer Industries weapons that Stoke was selling in the deal.

Cottonmouth meets a man called "Shades" Alvarez, who has been sent by Stokes' supplier Diamondback to help him with the situation that has flared up with the deal going wrong. Cottonmouth's cousin is Mariah Dillard, who works as a city councilwoman. She wants more money to fund her cause and is determined to get it to keep from being audited.

Luke is at work at Harlem's Paradise when he spots Shades walking in. He recognises him from prison, knowing his name to be "Shades", and keeps a low profile to prevent being noticed by him. Once Shades has walked by, Luke leaves.

Cottonmouth tracks down Shakeem, steals back his share of the money, and beats him, demanding to know where the rest of the money is. Shakeem doesn't want to talk so Cottonmouth proceeds to beat him to death. Some time after, Misty and Rafael are tasked with examining Shakeem's body after it's dumped onto the street.

Mariah has Cottonmouth send some of his men to extort money out of the local business owners through intimidation and threats. Luke walks in on Connie Chin and her husband being threatened by these men. They try to attack him but Luke easily overpowers theme to his superstrength. The men are either beaten by Luke or flee once they see how strong he is. Connie tries to pay Luke as a token of gratitude but he refuses the money, saying he's he one that owes her money. She tries to hire him but he won't take on the responsibility as a paid job, simply promising that he will protect them without receiving money for it.

Marvel's Luke Cage is available for streaming on Netflix.