Episode 1

Something special goes on in Black barbershops as the afternoon drags on. It’s a steamy day in present-day Harlem and Pop’s barbershop is home to that mix of trash talk and Black machismo that comes from cutting hair all day with the fellas. New Orleans funk band Ernie & The Top Notes play as we overhear boss man Pop hold court about the latest NBA draft.

Luke Cage is the shop’s handyman. He’s burly and mysterious. He schools the young bloods about Pat Riley, the NBA coach who led the Lakers to five NBA titles. When a woman picking her son up from the shop flirts with him, he politely declines her offer to get coffee. Pop teases him about it and we learn that these two men have something in common beyond just working together: “I shook everything else after I got out. Cigarettes, paranoia...but the pacing,” Pop says, “I do it, too.” Both men have spent time behind bars.

Pop has a lot of nicknames for Luke: Power man, Mr. Bulletproof. It’s during this conversation that we figure out why. Luke picks up a washing machine like it’s an empty cardboard box. “You should be out there helping people. Like them other fellas downtown,” Pop says, referencing the crop of superheroes that have sprung up. Luke says that his ex — Pop’s daughter — used to say the same thing. “You think I asked for any of this?” Luke asks. “I was framed, beaten, and put in a tank like some exotic fish.” Another clue to Luke’s mysterious past: his powers weren’t acquired by choice. His only ambition is to be left alone.

As Luke leaves the shop later that night, he runs into Chico, one of the younger barbers who talked smack in the shop. Chico’s in a hurry and drops a gun on his way out the door. Luke looks at him cautiously, but Chico says something about the sweeper not being his father and then jumps in the passenger seat of a car driven by Shameek, the other loudmouth youngster from the barbershop.

Harlem’s hottest spot is a nightclub owned by Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes. Don’t let him catch you using his nickname, though: “Cottonmouth” is his street name, from his former life as a full-time thug. His Harlem club makes good on the Black Renaissance's American Dream, a place for Black people to gather and spend their money at a Black-owned business. While Luke tries to be anonymous, the Stokes family is infamous in the neighborhood. Cottonmouth’s cousin is Black Mariah, a local city councilwoman who likes to look past her cousin’s dirty dealings and believe their family is completely legitimate.

“Politics is where the power is, Cornell,” Mariah says. But who cares about politics when it’s Cottonmouth’s weapon dealing that’s helping her fund a costly revitalization project? “When the smoke clears, it’s n------ like me that let you hold on to what you’ve got,” Cottonmouth counters.

A dealer named Domingo arrives to Cottonmouth’s private balcony. The two shake on a wholesale deal for a cool million dollars. “UPS ain’t the only brown that delivers,” Cottonmouth says with a grin, not knowing that in a Harlem parking lot, his men are being robbed. Three gunmen roll up on the trade off between his guys and Domingo’s. A simple robbery escalates into a shoot-out. The shooters are Chico and Shameek, from Pop’s shop; and Dante, a bartender at Cottonmouth’s club who took the night off to pull off the heist. When he gets second thoughts about his involvement, Shameek shoots him.

Luke moonlights at the club as a dishwasher. When Dante calls in sick, Luke steps up in his place to earn the tips. He pours a Cosmo for a striking woman who seems, in a word, grown: She’s a few years older than the club’s typical millennial crowd and isn’t impressed by Cottonmouth’s flash. She and Luke flirt and sleep together that night. In the morning the woman gets a call from work — she’s an auditor, she says. But in reality, she heads to the junkyard, the scene of the previous night’s shoot-out. She’s Detective Misty Knight and the lot is a crime scene.

Cottonmouth is taking heat from everyone over the shoot-out. Domingo, the buyer, thinks it was an inside job. Diamondback, Cottonmouth’s disgruntled weapons supplier, is even more upset. He’s sent a man named Shades to oversee Cottonmouth’s attempts to recoup the money (from the thieves), and the weapons (from the police). Black Mariah’s pissed, too: She used federal election funds to renovate his club, money that she expected to be returned to her after the sale. If the money isn’t replaced soon, she could be facing an audit that could end with jail time for everyone.

Cottonmouth’s cronies eventually catch up with Shameek (Dante ratted him out before his death) and convince him to meet with Cottonmouth about the money he and Chico stole. Luke sees Shameek and Shades come through the back entrance. Luke has a flashback to his time in prison where it looks like he and Shades shared a cell. When Cottonmouth beats Shameek to death, it’s expected, but also a little sad. Pop was a mentor to Shameek, Chico, and Dante — he’s devastated that they’re twisted up in Cottonmouth’s thuggery.

When Misty and her partner, Scarfe, find Shameek’s body, Scarfe suggests Chico is the prime suspect. But Chico is hiding out with his half of the bounty, scared shitless. Instead, finding the bartender who took over for Dante is the next move (despite Misty’s protests). Looks like Misty and Luke Cage will be reunited in the daylight hours.