Luke Cage (season 2)

Luke Cage, the bulletproof defender of Harlem, has become a celebrity. His friend D.W. Griffith attempts to earn him some money through merchandise and an app that tracks Cage's whereabouts. He spends his nights trying to stop a group from distributing drugs under his name. Following the secret battle at Midland Circle,[lower-alpha 2] Misty Knight is recovering from the loss of her arm and does not intend to return to police work, until she discovers that up to 30 of the criminals she previously sent to prison have now been released due to her late corrupt partner Rafael Scarfe. One of these criminals is Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton, who is looking to buy Mariah Dillard's criminal empire alongside drug smuggler Arturo "El Rey" Gomez III and Jamaican gang leader Nigel Garrison. Griffith helps Cage identify El Rey as the "Luke Cage" drug cartel leader and turns him over to Knight's captain Tom Ridenhour, while Garrison is murdered by John "Bushmaster" McIver, who survives several gun shots and has arrived from Jamaica planning to take Harlem from Dillard.

Bushmaster visits holistic doctor Tilda Johnson to get ingredients for augmenting the plant nightshade, which he uses to heal his wounds and increase his strength. Johnson is Dillard's daughter, and is also visited by her mother, who wants to publicly reunite with Johnson, after years apart, to improve her image and transition into a legitimate business woman. She organizes for El Rey to be released on bail and sends her lover Hernan "Shades" Alvarez to complete the sale with him. When El Rey refuses, and disrespects Dillard, Shades kills him. Knight is now on "light duty" and unable to pursue leads, but directs Cage to Cockroach. Cage believes he is indestructible, but Cockroach is able to injure him with the force of a close-range, high-power gun. This bothers Cage's girlfriend, former nurse Claire Temple, who is struggling with her inability to help Cage as well as his reluctance to mend his relationship with his estranged father James Lucas. Johnson agrees to give her mother another chance. Cage later finds Cockroach beating his family in their apartment, and severely beats him.

Knight lets Cage leave Cockroach's apartment before her rival detective Nandi Tyler, as well as Tyler's partner Mark Bailey, arrive. Knight is later reprimanded for this, but Ridenhour explains that he cannot suspend Knight due to her high status within the department as a disabled hero. Knight later practices fighting with one arm, and lets out some frustration, with Colleen Wing, who Knight had been defending when she lost her arm.[lower-alpha 2] With El Rey dead and Cockroach in the hospital, Shades turns to Garrison; he finds Bushmaster instead, who is more than willing to pay Dillard the money. Cage later arrives looking for Garrison, and fights several gang members who are armed with different weapons. Bushmaster secretly films this and trains in front of the footage. After meeting with Lucas, Temple confronts Cage about his anger, and he lashes out. She asks him to leave, and he is ambushed by Bushmaster.

Bushmaster knocks Cage unconscious, and footage of their fight spreads across the internet. Seeing this and recognizing Bushmaster, Johnson begins investigating the ingredients she sold him. When he wakes up, Cage decides to further investigate the Jamaicans and returns to the site of his fight with the gang members along with Knight. They discover Garrison's body, and Knight is able to talk to the owner of the building who grew up with Bushmaster and explains that he intends to right the perceived wrongs committed against his parents. From evidence at the building, Cage visits Johnson and she gives him medicine to help with his concussion. Bushmaster visits Dillard, and reveals that his ancestors were once in business with hers. Shades follows him back to a restaurant run by his acquaintances, while Shades' friend Darius "Comanche" Jones—who has been clashing with Dillard—secretly reports to Ridenhour. Cage's friend Bobby Fish leaves to serve as an organ donor for his sick daughter, and Cage is served by a process server.

Cockroach sues Cage for attacking him, and Cage agrees to pay him $100,000 rather than risk going to court. Broker Raymond "Piranha" Jones invests the money from Dillard's sale to Bushmaster in the plastics company of Mike Higgins, who Dillard blackmails into agreeing to a corporate merger that increases the profits of her new shares considerably. Higgins subsequently disappears, while Dillard uses her new "legitimate" fortune to open a Family First center in Harlem. She reveals all of this to Johnson, hoping that they can run the center together. Piranha throws a party to celebrate their successful venture, and hires Cage—who is looking for a way to pay Cockroach—to appear at the party. Cage ultimately saves Piranha when some of Bushmaster's men attempt to kidnap him. Knight is given a robotic arm by Wing and her billionaire boyfriend Danny Rand. She considers framing Cockroach before finding his body. At the opening of her center, Dillard discovers the severed heads of Cockroach, Higgins, and Shades' employee Ray Ray.

The paralysis wears off in time for Cage to swim to the surface, and he returns to the church to find Piranha missing. Ridenhour attempts to convince Knight to return to work, and tells her about having an informant working for Dillard. She instead works with Cage to find Piranha. Dillard realizes that Ridenhour has an informant herself, and questions the loyalty of her men. Meanwhile, Bushmaster captures Piranha, uses him to take all of Dillard's money and assets, and then kills him. Cage and Knight find the body. Ridenhour meets with Comanche, who is panicking about potentially being caught, but Shades follows Comanche to this meeting. Comanche kills Ridenhour, and then Shades shoots Comanche, making it look like Ridenhour did it. Dillard rushes to go into hiding with Johnson, but is caught by Bushmaster who leaves them in a burning house as revenge for the Stokes family burning his mother alive. Bushmaster then claims the Stokes family's nightclub, Harlem's Paradise, as his while Cage saves Dillard and Johnson.

At the request of Temple, Rand—who defends the rest of Manhattan as the Immortal Iron Fist[lower-alpha 3]—meets up with Cage and insists on helping him find Bushmaster. Realizing that he would need to be healed following his escape from the police, they begin searching for Johnson but do not find her at her shop or at Harlem's Paradise. Working with a tip from Turk Barrett, they investigate an abandoned warehouse where the Jamaicans are attempting to grow more nightshade, but it requires the conditions of Jamaica. Cage and Rand fight their way through the men there, and destroy the lab when they do not find Johnson or Bushmaster. Knight and Ridley discover Tyler's betrayal and arrest her. Because Piranha was tortured before giving Dillard's money and assets to Bushmaster, these are legally returned to her and she reclaims Harlem's Paradise. Embracing her Stokes heritage, she has everyone at the Jamaican restaurant murdered, and then burns Anansi alive to send a message to Bushmaster. Shades is unsettled by her new behavior.

Dillard takes the lead of a coalition of gang leaders from throughout New York, promising to take out Bushmaster, who is angered by the use of his name on the new heroin supply. He attacks the refinery where the drugs are being produced, shutting it down with Cage's help. Bushmaster flees when Cage refuses to let him destroy evidence of the drugs. Cage then visits Dillard, and tells her that he will no longer protect her. Dillard announces a free concert at Harlem's Paradise to ensure that there will be enough people around that Cage will show up to protect them from Bushmaster anyway. Johnson offers to help Bushmaster kill Dillard, showing him a secret entrance to the club and giving him extra nightshade as a final boost of strength. Shades confesses all he knows to the police, but they need proof that Dillard owns the gun used to kill Anansi. He goes to the club during the concert, and is with Dillard when Bushmaster attacks. Cage and Knight are able to stop Bushmaster, but he gets away when Cage refuses to kill him. Dillard is arrested.

With Dillard in prison, the other gang leaders go to war in the streets of Harlem. Shades suggests to Cage that he replace Dillard to prevent a new crime boss taking over. Cage threatens Italian boss Rosalie Carbone, ensuring she stays out of Harlem. In prison, Dillard makes moves to gain power and orders the murders of all of her former contacts and employees. Johnson helps Bushmaster begin to recover from his nightshade use, and he chooses to return to Jamaica. He tells her that Dillard must still burn. Johnson decides to visit Dillard, who tells her that Harlem's Paradise is her birthright. Johnson then gives Dillard a slow-acting poison, and she eventually dies while Cage is visiting. Johnson has her mother cremated. With Dillard dead, Shades' deal no longer holds and he is arrested. When Dillard's will is read, it has been changed so the club now goes to Cage. This angers Johnson, and concerns Knight who worries that Cage will become a criminal like Dillard. Cage still accepts the club, and establishes himself as the new "sheriff" of Harlem.