In an attempt to assuage Jennifer about her powers, Anissa disclosed her and her dad’s secrets, only to receive blowback over – you guessed it from the title – the years of lies. As Jennifer struggled to accept the truth, Black Lightning and Thunder discovered the police and the ASA are both behind Green Light, forcing Inspector Henderson to grapple with the secrets and lies he’d been made complicit in all this time, while Gambi struggled to absolve himself of his own ones.
1. Normal Girl
I must applaud the writers for avoiding the temptation of making Jennifer like Spider-Man or Ms. Marvel, a kid who gets powers and starts yelling “woohoo” as they go bounding around town. Anissa was an activist who found superpowers to be a new weapon in her arsenal, whereas Jennifer, who was noticeably housebound in this whole episode, very much wants to just be a teenager, and leave responsibility to the future.
Namely, Jennifer sees responsibility as raising children, not fighting crime and injustice, which could stem from her mother’s absence during her separation from Jefferson. Her discussion with her mother brought to mind Black Widow’s confession in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but unlike that clumsy scene, this one effectively communicated a fear of a lack of choice, instead of falsely equating sterlization with the inability to start a family.
2. “I would have voted for Obama a third time if I could”
How fun was it seeing Jefferson and Anissa don those Point Break masks to interrogate the banker? Admittedly it was hard to hear Jefferson behind that Obama mask and I was unclear who Anissa was meant to be, but it was still a striking, bleakly comical moment of father-daughter time. The banker’s claim that he voted for Obama twice was hilarious, not only because it brought to mind the infamous line from Get Out, but because it also showed how panicked he was.
3. Vixen and Supergirl
When talking to Lynn about their family secrets, Jennifer jokingly asks her mom if she’s Vixen or Supergirl. Now for those keeping track, Vixen exists in the main CW DC Universe, while Supergirl lives on Earth 38: so either Black Lightning exists on its own Earth, or Jennifer is extra attentive to reports on those crossover events. Hey, I’m all for a third iteration of Vixen on TV if they still can’t bring Megalyn Echikunwoke back.
4. New costume
I feel the show had its cake and ate it with Thunder’s bootylicious starter outfit, because they designed that objectifying costume only to then depict perverts on the Internet going on about her butt. Still, that led perfectly into Gambi’s peace offering for the Pierce family this week, with Thunder’s glorious new gold armor. The soundtrack, with its shout outs to the late Sandra Bland and Erica Garner, made for an absolutely perfect introduction to this new symbol of strong black women.
5. Gambi’s redemption
While not trying to sound too profound, isn’t Gambi is basically a 20th century slave catcher who grew a conscience? He rounded up young black people for an elite group who wanted to examine and make physical specimens of them. He was part of a truly horrifying scheme, and one wonders if the only way he can truly make it up to Jefferson is if he put his own life on the line, a life for a life essentially. We’re nearing the end now, and we’re well due for another appearance from Whale, who’s still off mourning his sister: let’s just hope Gambi doesn’t try anything too foolish.
Bonus thoughts:
– Again, not trying to be too profound, but Anissa and Jennifer didn’t choose to have powers just as they didn’t choose to be black.
– No Lala or LaWanda this week.
– Cool girls don’t look at explosions either.
– That’s not what Disney DVD menus look like, by the way.
