I think Shades figured out Tilda’s parentage the night he met her. That’s probably why he never asked Mariah why she never told him. After they were introduced and Shades went downstairs with Che, he was staring hard at Tilda. It wasn’t jealousy. I think he was trying to figure out why Mariah never told him. And then he probably realized that Tilda looked a lot like Uncle Pete.
He’s very observant and good and putting two and two together.
I don’t think he did.
(I really hope he didn’t.) All that stuff happened before he knew anything about anything and it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge in the community/streets. If he did, I’d imagine he’d have been way more cautious with and sensitive to Mariah. I feel like he would have then understood her mistrust of and failure to fully love him, why she was drinking so much. I think he would have stopped romanticizing the night she killed Cornell in, unbeknownst to him, a straight up PSTD episode.
And frankly, if he knew and still went on to choke her out and call her a crazy bitch, then throw the whole Shades away.
100% agreed, no way did Shades knew about anything related to Mariah’s rape. He came in at the tail-end of her murder of Cornell, and likely assumed that “I didn’t want it!” was in reference to his criminal behavior on her behalf. That was, after all, why he was planning to kill Cornell.
It’s very obvious that Ma Mabel kept that secret close in the family. Cornell must’ve known (and I will never get the whole “he’s so sympathetic!” fan reaction when his final words were slut-shaming a rape victim), Pete and Mabel knew, but otherwise? The Johnsons most likely thought that Tilda was regular born out of wedlock, Shades would’ve been about 8 or 9 when this happened and utterly clueless, and Tilda didn’t look that much like Pete; in the lie that she believed, she assumed that she took after her mother rather than her lighter-skinned “dad.”
I’m pretty sure Ridenhour was the only outsider that Mariah confided in because as her first boyfriend and amicable ex she trusted him at the time. Nobody else knew. Shades’ concerns about Tilda came more from an unknown player coming into the business as well as how Mariah’s behavior changed once Tilda came around. Could Tilda, as a new age doctor, really be trusted with their secrets? (no) Would trying to reconnect with her distract Mariah from running the business properly? (yes) Was trying to reconnect with Tilda making Mariah distance herself from him to be more “presentable” to her daughter? (yes) All of that is more than enough to explain Shades’ behavior towards Tilda.
In Season 2, Episode 1, when we first see the Marvel villain — or Harlem Queen, depending on who and when you ask — she’s at dinner with her stockbroker and partner in business and pleasure, Shades (Theo Rossi). In real life, Woodard is more than 20 years Rossi’s senior, and the same assumption can be made for their characters. This, in part, is why when the waiter at the restaurant comes to the table in the scene, he mistakes Shades for Mariah’s nephew. Instead of getting angry, Mariah responds by picking up Shades’ hand and seductively putting his thumb in her mouth, then sucking it gently, making it clear to the waiter, the people around them, and the people at home watching, that there’s nothing platonic or maternal about their relationship. The best part about it? None of that was in the script.
“In the script she kisses Shades on the neck and then looks at the waiter,” Woodard explained to BuzzFeed News. “But before we shot the scene, I told Theo to go wash his hands with soap and water and not to touch anything on his way back. [When I did it], I could feel Theo wanted to laugh, and as soon as they yelled ‘cut!’ everyone on set screamed,” she said with a chuckle.
This obviously isn’t a problem for Luke Cage. The show is full
of interesting women, and with Shades and Mariah, we get a love story
that evolves into a morally complex thriller. Their relationship works
because Luke Cage’s creators thought deeply about the
characters’ motives, background, and sexuality. It’s the first time I’ve
seen a canon MCU romance with the same emotional depth as fanfiction,
and believe me when I say that Marvel fanfic writers know what’s up.
True! She’s really a bad person but you can see where she comes from, and she’s so convinced that the evil she’s doing is to ultimately protect Harlem, that you can’t convince her to stop.
What is also interesting and touching is that, despite not loving Tilda (and tbh who can blame her for that, it’s really sad for Tilda but we can understand Mariah), she still genuinely cares about her. Up until their breaking point, she always told Tilda she loved her, because she knew a child always needs to feel loved. She was a distant mother but she always tried to make her daughter feel loved. She didn’t tell her the truth about her origins and about her feelings because she knew it would break Tilda’s heart and she wanted to protect her. Of course, when Mariah finally broke and embraced her evilest self, she eventually broke Tilda’s heart. But as you said, it was her fucked up way of “helping” her daughter : breaking her heart so badly that no one could ever hurt her that bad again.
It’s people on Shuri Udaku’s internet who really think Shades DREADED Mariah’s… anything. I can’t relate. That man climbed into her personal space at every opportune moment.
Shades been sweating Mariah from moment he laid eyes on her. To the point she actually called him out about his thirst. Or do they not realize what that exchange meant when she asked Cornell , ‘Does your guard need a drink of water?’
And you’re right he almost always initiated physical contact. Intent on making sure she wasn’t distancing herself physically or emotionally.
This man has done everything but literally drool on her and people still convince themselves he was not interested in her sexually.
i don’t know the original context, but i do know there’s a significant number of people who have a gut-level negative reaction to m/f femdom or anything like it–the other side of the coin of the gut-level positive reaction society trains us to have to m/f relationships where the sexual and/or emotional power dynamic goes the other way–and “compliment” the man by imagining he has the “right” feelings about it and refusing to see what’s actually going on
That may play into it, since she’s much more overtly sexual. I tend to think her age and complexion account for MOST of the problem, either separately or combined.
There are seriously dummies out there who ended this season thinking he wasn’t really into her? Dude was in love. He says it when he has no possible ulterior motive for doing so.
He shoots a guy in the head for insulting her race and appearance, a guy they needed for business purposes. (Unfortunately the subtitles don’t translate what he’s saying, but it’s pretty racist and colorist) I was afraid starting this season that they might write it as him using her or what have you, but killing Arturo was a huge inconvenience, and he had no reason to do it other than genuine rage that this guy was tacking shit about the woman he loved.
@i-just-like-commenting EXACTLY! That was actually the first mistake in what ended up being a series of unfortunate events.😂 Even though a lot of what happened that led to their downfall ended up being Mariah’s fault ultimately, the first critical error was actually Hernan’s. He couldn’t let that slight to Mariah rock and so he killed the best buyer for their business on GP –which left them wide open to all the crap with Cockroach and Nigel/Bushmaster. It wasn’t the smart play (that Shades usually makes), it wasn’t the prudent play but he was going from his gut. And there was just no way he was gonna let some dude talk shit about his woman. He knew better, Shades is not easily rattled (they showed that fact about him on multiple occasions through both seasons) but he did it anyway. Not because he’s a hot-head or blood-thirsty, but to clearly show the audience that he was in love.
I don’t know what more these blind people need? They showed his feelings in context as seen above, also in actual lines of script…I mean, did they want Shades to carve it into his forehead? People are not only obtuse…but just plain old racist and sexist.
I can’t choose between Shades x Mariah and Shades x Comanche so I’m just going to put it out there + say BOTH. An AU where none of the bad shit happens + Mariah teaches Comanche how to dominate Shades + they both top the hell out of him. (Somehow I imagine Alex has a spreadsheet to keep a track of who’s turn it is with Shades). I want needy!slutty!submissive!Shades getting taken care of by his two great loves. (And definitely getting punished for flirting with Luke!)
If anybody wants me I shall be over here in hell.
I think Che already knew how to dominate him tbqh 😉
Mariah: You could be standing next to a person month after month, and then the next thing you know, you’re tearing each other’s clothes off. There’s a word for it.
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