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Black Lightning 1.02 Review – ‘Lawanda: The Book of Hope’
Loading...This week’s Black Lightning, “Lawanda: The Book of Hope,” surpassed the series premiere in terms of world building, depth, shock, suspense, and even the body count. How long can a show like this keep up such a pace? It’s unclear, but I love what we’ve seen so far. This week we meet one of Jefferson’s former students, along with Anissa’s longtime squeeze. We also see that not all the fellas who dig Jennifer are lowlifes, even if they look like that hot criminal mugshot that went viral two summers ago. Spoilers for Lawanda: The Book of Hope follow.
I was kinda put off by Lynn’s attitude last week. After leaving her husband over being Black Lightning, she supported his alter-ego when their own daughters are in trouble. Most parents would probably do this, so I didn’t make a big thing of it. This week though, Lynn begins by recognizing this, and calling herself selfish for it. She’s not wrong. But she was pretty hard on herself. Meanwhile, Jeff seems to have some sort of lightning sickness. As I haven’t read the comic yet, I don’t know the whole deal with his powers—how do they impact him physically? Is there anything to Lynn’s assertion that he’s “addicted” to them? It’s impossible to know at this point. What we do know is that Black Lighting is NOT back—Jeff says so. Jeff wants Lynn back, and she’s close but not quite ready yet. They’re sleeping under one roof—in different rooms.
At a school assembly, we learn that Black Lightning busted up the Seahorse motel prostitute ring for like, a day. The Seahorse is back open. Then we meet Lawanda, whose daughter is being held and forced into sexual slavery for Latavius. It’s a shame Latavius is such an ass—he’s got a really cool name. Lawanda’s question is a valid one: Why did Black Lightning save the Pierce girls and none of the other girls? Jeff has no answer to give. Lawanda has a kidnapped daughter and a dead soldier husband, giving her something to fight for and not much to lose.
Tobias is concerned about the optics of Black Lightning’s supposed return. Lala is nervous, but confident he can handle it. Remember little Malik from last week? Lala had him shoot a water pistol full of red stuff at Jennifer, just to let her know how easily he can get to her. Yikes! This sends Jeff to confront Lala, and things escalate rather than settle down. Across town, Gambi encourages Black Lightning despite Jeff’s assurance that family is more important than the city at large. No wonder Lynn is not wild about Gambi.
I’m uncomfortable hearing Jefferson calling Lala, and before him Will, “boy.” Obviously, this is a racially loaded word, but is it less so when it’s an older black man saying it to a younger one? Is it merely a way for Jeff to impress on these fellas that they’re acting like children and not grown men? Is it meant to be infantilizing or is it a low-key sarcastic endearment? In any event, Lala threatens the Pierce girls again, and we can guess where that will lead.
Homophobes will want to stop reading this review here, because 18 minutes into tonight’s episode we learn that Anissa is gay! Her gal, Chenoa, seems cool. They’ve been dating a year and Chenoa is ready for the meeting-the-folks, hanging-with-her-friends stage of the relationship. Anissa’s reaction makes us wonder if this romance is doomed. Curiously, when Anissa tells Chenoa about breaking the sink last week—she suggests a counselor. Odd, right? Almost dismissive. You’d think she’d have more follow up questions. Does she know something? I’d be sad to think this relationship was a long con. I do love how casual Anissa’s orientation is revealed and accepted without incident by Jeff and Lynn.
Will is found before he can do any more damage. Despite being Lala’s cousin, Latavius shoots him dead and throws him out like trash. At the Seahorse, Lawanda is not giving up on her daughter. She’s in the parking lot with a video camera, trying to find evidence she can take to Henderson. Jeff implores her to leave, to give him time to fix things, to keep herself alive for her daughter. Long story short, Lawanda takes three in the chest from Latavius. RIP, Mama. But Lawanda used two cameras, and the 100 guys only found one. Oops.
I can’t help noticing that all these parents with older teen or adult children all look crazy young. No gray hair, no laugh lines, what the hell are these people eating and drinking to look this damn good? Even in the parlance of beautiful CW people, this cast is strikingly attractive. Now’s probably a good time to mention how good the music is on this show. Good beats, relevant lyrics, well designed to every scene. When can I buy the soundtrack already?!?
The most moving scene of the night is when Henderson let’s Jeff know that Lawanda is dead. His reaction is…expected. Jefferson laments that he could have saved her, saved her daughter, saved many more people who were hurt or killed while he was spending time with his family. It’s a huge question—how do our gifts obligate us to our community, our families, ourselves? Do minorities (whether racial, religious, or gender/sexuality based) have an increased obligation to ‘their people’ as they define them? Is this not a minority issue at all? Plenty of people grew up believing that every man’s duty is to protect those weaker than they. But where does that end? Jefferson, Lynn, and Gambi all wrestle with these questions—though two of them are on the outside looking in. Ultimately, Jeff intends to use his power to help people, knowing this may end his chances of putting his family back together.
Jennifer is back to school, they all are, but she’s acting out. She recently agreed to be the girlfriend of Khalil, a nice-seeming guy who is cleaned up after a rough youth. He’s determined to live right, which is why he’s not cool seeing Jennifer drinking during the day when she should be in class. Besides, nobody says YOLO anymore. Khalil is not possessive or controlling over Jen, but he’s very serious about the kind of future he wants, and what he will and will not accept. You’d think Jennifer would know that trouble brings more trouble. But she’s turning into the skid of being a screwup, which will probably get worse before it gets any better.
Lala’s many errors lands him in jail where Henderson is only too happy to have him. Luckily, because Black Lightning seemed ready to kill his ass. Does BL kill people on purpose? It’s hard to tell so far. Probably. He seemed to think he killed Will even when he didn’t. There’s a problem at the cop-shop though. Henderson seems to think his men are on the level. Clearly, they’re on the take. Tobias has no difficulty entering the jail from the back, getting past many cops and murdering Latavius as he sits in a holding cell–because a man who’d shoot someone’s mother is capable of anything–even ratting. Cops will probably be blamed for Lala’s murder, but that barely matters. Henderson has some serious house cleaning to do. Let’s hope he can without getting Serpico’d. Also, does Tobias seem super strong? At least he still thinks BL is dead. FYI, this is what he looks like in the comic–which makes the harpoon thing (it’s Tobias WHALE) a bit more thematically pleasing. He’s the White Whale, right?
By the end of Lawanda: The Book of Hope, a few things are clear. Lynn is out. She wants no part of being married to Black Lightning. I did enjoy her reminiscing about how she felt differently about her man being a hero when she was young. Anissa has powers, as we see once more when she foils a robbery instead of just buying sleeping pills. She seems to get called “bitch” a lot. It’s unsavory, and something I’m sure we’ll see more and more as her inner badass is revealed. No doubt she’ll have to save Jennifer’s um…”fast ass” before long.
Let’s state the obvious—this show is awesome. I’m still loving these women, as strong and alike as they are vulnerable and unique (which may sound like an oxymoron, but I promise that it isn’t). The urge to pick up some comics and read them is tempting, especially now that they’ve raised the question of whether or not Jeff is addicted to his lightning powers. I wanna know how they impact him physically, where they came from, all that jazz. But, I guess we’ll have to wait.
See you’s next week!
