The Basement

The Basement is the sixth episode of the second season of the television series Luke Cage.
==Synopsis==
As a wave of violence rocks Harlem, everyone races to connect the dots between Piranha, Mariah, Bushmaster and the grisly find at the clinic.
==Plot==
Luke Cage and Piranha Jones escape from the Stylers led by Sheldon, who are trying to get to Jones. Cage manages to get Jones out of danger, although he injures his leg during escape. Cage then subdues the Stylers and demands Sheldon to tell him what Bushmaster needs from Jones, but as Sheldon refuses to talk, Cage and Jones escape before the Stylers call for reinforcements.
The news of the severed heads of Mark Higgins, Cockroach Hamilton, and Ray Ray being found at the Shirley Chisholm Complex opening fly around the city. Anansi realizes that Bushmaster was responsible for the murders and openly voices his disgust, before Bushmaster receives a call from Sheldon. He informs Bushmaster that Jones ran away with Cage, so he orders Sheldon to search the streets and find them at any cost. Receiving his order, Sheldon gathers the Stylers and tells them to spread out and search Harlem for their targets.
Hiding at the abandoned theater, Cage ponders why the Stylers are gunning for Jones, and realizes that he is working with the Stokes Crime Family. Jones admits that he had a partnership with Mariah Dillard and asks Cage to protect him from the Stylers, but Cage is hesitant to help Jones after what happened at the party. After avoiding the Stylers, Cage helps Jones with his sprained ankle and tells him to spit out everything about his work with Dillard.
Shades orders his men to maintain the security of Harlem's Paradise, preparing to the war with Bushmaster. Comanche returns to the club, as Shades is suspicious about his absence but fills him in on the situation with the Jamaicans. Comanche tells Shades that Dillard was responsible for Bushmaster's rampage, so they should leave her to take the hit but Shades refuses. Knowing that the Stylers are on the hunt for Jones to get a hold of Dillard's finances, Shades takes Comanche to find him on their own.
As Dillard is taken to the 29th Precinct Police Station, Tom Ridenhour informs Misty Knight that the NYPD has 48 hours to take the situation in Harlem under the control and prevent the ongoing gang war. Knight is against the involvement of the National Guard and ICE, so she suggests to ask Cage for assistance, although Ridenhour is skeptical about him. Ridenhour then confronts Knight on her actions regarding Hamilton that compromised the investigation and suspends her from the case.
Ridenhour goes to speak with Dillard in the interrogation room, noticing that he acts way too familiar with Dillard. Dillard prepares to leave, as she was not a suspect, but Ridenhour informs her about the attack on Jones and the Stylers' rampage in Harlem. He warns Dillard about the threat and promises to protect her, if she cooperates with the investigation. Dillard denies Ridenhour's accusations on her gun deal and refuses to disclose any information, leaving the precinct.
Jones tells Cage about his past experience with Dillard and her interest in offshore banking to become a legitimate businesswoman. He provided Dillard with an inside information on Atreus Plastics, which allowed Dillard to get back her investments tenfold. Wondering why the Stylers targeted him, Cage finds out that Jones has a power of attorney over all of Dillard's funds, which makes his extremely valuable to Dillard. Cage then refuses to get Jones to leave the city and decides to hand him over to the police, so they could build the case against Dillard. 
Shades and Comanche break into the Pop's Barber Shop but find the place empty, as the Stylers continue their search. D.W. Griffith notices them and calls Cage, telling him that the barbershop is not safe at the moment. Shades then decides to stake out at the barbershop, waiting for Cage and Jones to appear there. Sitting at the barbershop, Comanche questions Dillard as a leader of the Stokes family, but Shades assured him that she is coldblooded and dangerous, mentioning what she did to Cottonmouth.
Meeting with Gabe Krasner, Knight admits that she was intending to plant an evidence on a guilty suspect, but instead found his dead body, and now she might get fired from the force. Knight then asks Krasner for his opinion on doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, and Krasner tells her that there is no right answer to that, as no one can see the future. Kranser tells Knight that she should be honest with herself and figure out how to fix her situations, before she gets hurt by the chaos inside of her.
Bushmaster confronts Anansi on his disrespect but Anansi refuses to support his actions, such as the Shirley Chisholm Complex incident. Bushmaster argues that the Stokes family must pay for what they did, to which Anansi responds that he should just kill Dillard and walk away, as the current situation might put all Jamaicans in New York City in danger. Anansi is afraid that Bushmaster's obsession with revenge might kill him, but Bushmaster is certain that the war is the only course of action he can take.
Returning to the club, Dillard tries to reach out to Tilda Johnson and Shades, but none of them respond to her calls. Alex Wesley comes to see her, as Dillard remarks that everyone she ever loved betrayed her and she cannot trust anyone. Wesley tries to calm her down and reminds her that Shades is there for her, but Dillard does not even want to talk about him, admitting that the only person she could trust was, ironically, Luke Cage.
Cage and Jones talk about their fathers and how they both turned away from them, before Cage contacts Knight and tells her about Jones. He tells her not to come, since the Stylers might follow her, and Knight notices one of their cabs outside of the precinct by an identifying logo on the car door. However, the Stylers find their hideout and abduct Jones, so Cage rushes to stop them from leaving with Jones. With all Stylers taken out, Cage takes Jones away to find a new hideout.
Shades returns to Harlem's Paradise, where Dillard laments over her dream being ruined because of Bushmaster and her own greediness. Shades tells her to stop pitying herself and do something about their enemies, mentioning Gwen's and Bushmaster's family and friends residing there. Dillard decides to wait until Jones is found before striking Bushmaster, and asks Shades who else knew about Tone's death, recalling what Ridenhour told her. Shades assures her that nobody else knew, besides Cottonmouth and Turk Barrett who witnessed it, but Dillard has her doubts.
Knight comes clean to Ridenhour about her intention to plant the Judas Bullet in Hamilton's apartment, after he tried to sue Cage and evade domestic violence charges. Knight is deeply concerned that if she sticks to Ridenhour's methods, the war on the streets will never stop, but if she continues as it is, she might become just like Rafael Scarfe. Ignoring Ridenhour's protests, Knight turns in her badge and handgun and resigns from the NYPD.
Cage brings Jones to the Mount Olivet Baptist Church where he asks James Lucas to provide a shelter for Jones, why he deals with the situation. Cage contacts Bushmaster via a Styler's phone and offers to resolve their quarrell in a fair fight one-on-one. Bushmaster accepts the challenge and meets Cage at the High Bridge, engaging in a duel with him. As Cage gains an upper hand, Bushmaster uses a paralyzing powder to neutralize him, before dumping Cage in the river.
==Cast==
Main Cast:
*Mike Colter as Luke Cage
*Simone Missick as Misty Knight
*Theo Rossi as Hernan Alvarez/Shades
*Mustafa Shakir as John McIver/Bushmaster
*Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard
Special Guest Star:
*Reg E. Cathey as Reverend James Lucas
Guest Stars:
*Peter Jay Fernandez as Captain Tom Ridenhour
*Thomas Q. Jones as Darius Jones/Comanche
*Sahr Ngaujah as Paul Mackintosh/Anansi
*Kevin Mambo as Sheldon
*Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Piranha Jones
*Heather Alicia Simms as Ingrid Mackintosh
*John Clarence Stewart as Alex Wesley
*John Scurti as Gabe Krasner
*Jeremiah Richard Craft as D.W. Griffith
*Darius Kaleb as Lonnie Wilson
*Tijuana Ricks as Thembi Wallace
*Sean Ringgold as Sugar
*Jade Wu as Connie Lin
*Andrew Pang as Detective Donnie Chang
*Warren Neal as Styler
*Patricia McGuinn as Pedestrian (uncredited)
*Warner Miller as Tone (archive footage; uncredited)
==Appearances==
===Locations===
*New York City, New York
**Gwen's
**Shirley Chisholm Complex
**Genghis Connie's Too
**Uptown Theater
**Harlem's Paradise
**29th Precinct Police Station
**Pop's Barber Shop
**BLVD Bistro
**Mount Olivet Baptist Church
**High Bridge
**Dontrell Hamilton's Apartment (mentioned)
**Red Rooster (mentioned)
**Crispus Attucks Complex (mentioned)
** (mentioned)
*Seagate Penitentiary, Georgia (mentioned)
*Kingston, Jamaica (mentioned)
===Events===
*War for Harlem
**Chase of Piranha Jones
**Duel at High Bridge
**Inauguration of the Shirley Chisholm Complex (footage)
**Ambush on Luke Cage (mentioned)
*Murder of Arturo Rey III (mentioned)
*Assassination of Nigel Garrison (mentioned)
*Murder of Cottonmouth (mentioned)
*Excavation of Midland Circle (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
===Items===
*Misty Knight's Prosthetic Arm
*Josh
*Judas Bullet
*Hammer Industries Shotgun
*Harlem's Hero (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
===Vehicles===
To be added
===Creatures===
*Cats (mentioned)
===Organizations===
*New York City Police Department
*Stokes Crime Family
*Stylers
*Irie Taxi
*WJBP-TV
*
*Mexican Cartel (mentioned)
*Atreus Plastics (mentioned)
*Rivals (mentioned)
*Glenn Industries (mentioned)
*Hammer Industries (logo)
*Hand (mentioned)
*Forbes (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
===Mentioned===
*Berchel
*Patricia Wilson
*Val
*Ray Ray
*Cockroach Hamilton
*Arturo Rey III
*Nigel Garrison
*Drea Powell
*Benjamin Donovan
*Desiree Jones
*Karla Ridenhour
*Tilda Johnson
*Mark Higgins
*Cottonmouth
*Donald Trump
*Ghostface Killah
*Shameek Smith
*Diamondback
*Pistol Pete
*Mama Mabel
*Turk Barrett
*Joel Spurlock
*Rafael Scarfe
*Barack Obama (photo)
*
*
*
*
*
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* (poster)
*
*
==Trivia==
*The Basement is a song from the album of the hip-pop duo .
==Music==
Song title 	Artist 	Location(s)
Piranha Run 	Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad	
*Luke Cage helps Piranha Jones stay ahead of Stylers.
Stylers Have Piranha	Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad	
*After talking to Misty Knight on the phone, Luke Cage discovers that a group of Stylers have grabbed Piranha Jones.
 	Bob Marley and the Wailers 	
*Luke Cage and Bushmaster meet for a showdown. Continues as Bushmaster paralyzes Luke, then kicks him off the bridge.
==References==
==External Links==
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Category:Luke Cage (TV series) Episodes