This week on Black Lightning, Jefferson discovered Marcel — the teacher whose boy was killed in the crossfire last week — was participating in cage fights broadcast by Lala; Lynn was invited to dinner by an unwelcome host; Jennifer found herself the victim of fake news; and Grace woke up from her coma.
1. Fight Club
Jefferson gets suspicious about Marcel (Kedrick Brown)’s injuries, and shadows him to Lala’s arena. Firstly, it’s weird how none of the men in Freeland seem to able to process their grief sensibly; and secondly, it’s funny how, despite the COVID-19 pandemic not being a thing in the DCW Universe, virtual events have still become a big thing there. After Marcel loses a fight, Jefferson enters the ring, and passes his winnings to him. It was unique to see Marcel being invited over to the Pierce household: it feels like we see so little of Jefferson’s life as a teacher, that it was suddenly like he was throwing a cocktail party for his staff.
2. Marital Strife
Jefferson and Lynn continued to spar over her experimentation with superpowers, leading her to confess to their therapist that she feels she doesn’t fit into her family, and never has. Whale subsequently tricks her into meeting him for dinner, and Jefferson sees this, so he’s presumably left afraid that she’s turned on him. This attempt to divide the two sounds hokey, except Whale reveals he wants Lynn’s help finding a cure for ALS, which he discloses his sister Tori had, until a shady experiment cured her. He may be a murderous scumbag, but perhaps Lynn will see his proposal as a silver lining to his presence in Freeland?
3. Marital Bliss
Grace wakes up (in human form this time), and Anissa is so overjoyed that she gets Darius to fill out an online application to officiate a wedding: the two women get married in Grace’s hospital room. It’s a little ridiculous: I understand Anissa wanted to marry her before anything could happen, but it feels cheap considering how long this event has been built up to — fingers crossed they have a proper wedding by the end of the season, where the whole family can celebrate their union.
4. Fake News
A doctored video of Lightning from last week’s events is shown on a Faux News-esque commentary show (said video is unfortunately just footage from the last episode, rather than something shot with a camera on the scene.) After convincing T.C. to track down the person who shot the footage, Jennifer meets Terry Andrews (Tre Strokes), and he persuades her into hiring him as her social media intern. The verified social media accounts correct the lie, however, we start to see Jennifer’s use of the ionosphere to heal herself is starting to cause her arm to disappear, meaning very soon, she could actually lose control of her powers, and harm someone innocent.
5. Someone’s Gonna Get Killed
Gambi visits Monovista International’s R&D department, and gets to take home one of the DEG guns they’ve been developing — as Gambi’s subsequent test with the season 1 and 2 Black Lightning costume shows, these things are deadly. Lauren tells Gambi the guns have a stun setting, to prevent them from harming non-metahumans, but you just know a cop will disintegrate a civilian at some point. (Jefferson may’ve prevented the cops from killing someone at the start of the season, but it’s sadly inevitable.)
Bonus Thoughts:
– After this week’s opening dream sequence, it must be asked: why do Black superheroes’ powers always turn purple at some point?
– OK, what is up with Mayor Black’s hairline? He’s clearly, stubbornly clinging onto his front hair.
– Has that calendar from 1981 always been in Pierce’s kitchen? Is it an impromptu memorial for Alvin?
– It’s funny how this episode uses “Release the Beast” by Breakwater, which is what Daft Punk sampled for “Robot Rock,” and was aired the same day the latter group announced they were splitting up.
As always, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments, and see you next week.
