Movies & TV / Reviews
Black Lightning 1.10 Review – ‘The Sins of the Father: The Book of Redemption’
Loading...[Warning: spoilers abound for those who have not seen Tuesday’s episode of Black Lightning.]
It’s easy to sum up Black Lightning — and thus sell it short — by calling it The CW’s “black DC show.” That’s not an inaccurate statement, to be fair. The show doesn’t hide from its blackness and instead celebrates it, similar to what Black Panther and Luke Cage do (albeit in very different ways). Unlike The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and even Arrow, there’s a grittiness and sense of realism that sets it apart in a major way.
But there’s more to this series than just the color of its hero’s skin and the culture that it lives in. Team Flash, Team Arrow and the Waverider might call themselves families, sure. But Black Lightning is literally about a superhero family in a way that the Arrowverse has yet to explore. When family dynamics come into those shows, it’s often in how the non-powered member of the family is a complication for the metahuman. Thus far, Black Lightning has explored the concept of family in a very different way. “The Sins of the Father” does an effective balancing act as it looks at both the families in Jefferson Pierce’s life — his “real” one and his adopted one in Gambi — and deals with the fallout from the past few episodes.
The main thrust of this week’s plot deals with Anissa and Jefferson’s attempts to figure out exactly where the kid that Gambi found out about is being stored. Anissa’s initial visit to the warehouse reveals that the kid isn’t alone, and he’s not dead either. All of the kids in there are alive and are being kept in some kind of cold storage. When she tells Jefferson, they suit up and head back out, only to find that the place has been cleared out and the ASA’s goons are there to try and kill them.
The episode arc not only allows the show to get its requisite action scenes out of the way; it also nicely frames the conflict Jefferson is having between his immediate family and with Gambi. It’s thoroughly understandable why Jefferson doesn’t trust his mentor at this point, and Jefferson actually explains it better to Anissa than last week’s episode had laid out. It’s nice to see a superhero series that isn’t obsessed with playing the “living the double life to family” card. Bringing Anissa and Jennfer into the know has been a smart way to keep this show moving forward, both thematically and plotwise.
The Jefferson/Gambi tension is part and parcel to classic superhero narratives, where the younger generation has to clean up the mess of their forebearers. That’s no surprise; the genre has always marketed itself to younger audiences. Black Lightning introduces that element, but then quickly pivots to mostly settle the mistrust that naturally comes out of such a situation. Gambi proves his worth when he gets nabbed by Proctor and rather brutally tortured for a CW show. By the time Jefferson comes to the rescue, Gambi is damned near dead rather than give Jefferson and his family up. I don’t doubt that the show will mine that mistrust at least a little more, and it should. Gambi’s redemption arc doesn’t quite feel earned yet, at least from Jefferson’s perspective. But getting them to a talking point this week is a really good, and important, step.
The main arc is fine storytelling, to be sure. But Jennifer’s subplot is where “Sins of the Father” really shines. In most shows, Jennifer would be the character viewers naturally hate. She’s the younger, more immature kid who goes against the grain of our protagonists. In some ways, she can be seen as analogous to William on Arrow. But showrunner Salim Akil and his writing team have done a bang-up job with her (as has actress China Anne McClain).
When Jennifer throws a tantrum at Anissa and chars a pillow, it’s the kind of thing that would be aggravating with most shows. That’s not the case here. Jennifer’s reasons make all the sense in the world. She didn’t ask for this, and she’s just had a ton of upheaval in her life. Episode writer Pat Charles nicely builds off the grounding that the show has established this far. Also, it helps that a) no one is in the wrong, and b) Jefferson talks with her later and helps her through it. This sort of family dynamic is one that many similar shows (CW and non-CW) try to capture and fail. That’s what helps Black Lightning be so good.
Of course, it also helps that we have some great villains here. Something’s clearly going on with Lala since he was resurrected, with Will being the latest ghost to visit him after Lawanda previously did. Lala is filling the gap nicely while Tobias is out of commission. His return gives new life — literally — to a character who seemed cut prematurely short when he died. He doesn’t seem to care if he lives or dies, nor does he care about anyone around him. That’s going to make things interesting moving forward. And Proctor and the ASA remain a threat, especially now that we know Vice Principal Kara Fowdy is their spotter. I predict some powers coming out of her sometime soon, and I’m looking forward to that.
Some Final Thoughts:
• You’ll notice that I am not Wednesday Lee Friday. Wednesday took this week off, so I’m filling in. She’ll be back next week!
• I love the way this show approaches humor in a natural, witty banter-type way. The back and forth with Lynn and Jefferson over his using electric vision to see through clothes is perfect.
• That said, the funniest point in the episode was the lady trying to drop appliances on Black Lightning’s head while he was talking with Two-Bits. “I’m sorry Black Lightning, but you worth a lot of money!”
• “Where’s everyone else at?” “It is bad English to end a sentence with a preposition.” “Oh. Where’s everyone else at, bruh?”
• I know it’s a typecast role for him, but I will never get tired of Gregg Henry playing villainous douchebags.
• Lala is reading the Egyptian Book of the Dead to learn the secrets of coming back to life, and the ten-year-old Egyptologist in me did a happy dance. Yes, I was a weird kid.
