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Black Lightning 1.12 Review – ‘Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain’
Loading...It’s interesting to hear Proctor describe the ASA’s plans for Freeland. It’s no shock that it’s a group that wants to create super soldiers, since every super hero milieu has some variation on that. Hell, that’s how we got Captain America in the first place. But how little would you have to know about the black community, or about poor people in general to think entire communities would remain “docile” as you took their children away? Yes, sad people with no hope may turn to drugs to cope. But when poor, hopeless people have something to fight for–they do not back down.
Remember Tobias Whale? He and Black Lightning have had bad blood for decades, and that hasn’t changed. In fact, Whale’s latest scuffle with him left the crime lord with some major physical damage. Even though BL wasn’t directly responsible, Tobias also holds him accountable for the death of his sister—among others. When Syonide and Tobias enter a meeting with Proctor, we know that he’s further up the chain than we thought. In fact, Tobias is getting Lady Eve’s job. Her death was a tragedy, he says. I love his description of what drug dealers actually do. Like the ASA, drug dealers presume clients will die sometimes. Cost of doing business, right? Proctor needs Black Lightning, and he needs him alive. Who’s gonna help with that? The newly mobile Khalil. He’s super-hot…and super taken in by all this bullcrap.
There’s some kind of emergency at Lynn’s place. She needs Jeff to come home immediately. What is it? A spider…which is super adorable. It’s a seduction, one that we weren’t really expecting. As if Lynn would need help with a spider. After some hot lightning giggity, Lynn and Jeff decide that they shouldn’t tell the girls that they’re getting back together—at least until they’re sure that they are. Yes, ignoring that you love each other is stupid. But relationships need more than love to work—regardless of what trashy romance novels would have us believe. Tragedy and stress brought Jeff and Lynn closer though, which is common. Just ask every decorative woman in an action movie.
We’re reminded that Tobias and Syonide are impulsive, moody, and kill-happy. Killing the guy who saved your life is not too cool. Tobias was the one who brought Tori into this, not Duane. Anyway, Jefferson sees Khalil walking around and sporting his new dreads. As expected, Jeff gives him the standard speech about education and community—which Khalil ain’t tryin’ ta hear. How is it so obvious to everyone but him that he’s being used and manipulated by bad people? Because he’s a dumb kid, I guess. Shame, since Khalil will either end up dead or squandering his potential. You can tell by how angry he gets whenever someone asks him how he’s walking. Plus Khalil lied to his mom. You only lie to your mom about medical stuff when you know it’s bad.
Elsewhere, a Tommy Hidalgo might be able to locate Proctor. Gambi is more persuasive than you think he will be, but it’s still gonna take time. As expected, Jeff has words with Jennifer about Khalil. He has good reason to tell her to stay away, and he’s less elusive about it than most TV parents would be. Of course she thinks she knows Khalil better than Jeff does. * yawn * Of course Jennifer immediately answers Khalil’s text and they share another romantic rooftop meeting. She’s far too open to picking up where they left off, but not 100%. When she hesitates slightly and asks one reasonable question about his visible metal spine—Khalil freaks out and storms off.
Now’s a good time to talk about kids use of the word “finally.” Khalil was without the use of his legs (which is obviously very serious and difficult) for at most, a few months. Less than a year. Jenn has been dealing with her powers for maybe a few weeks. Both of these kids repeatedly use the word “finally” for being out of these situations. I’m not sure if that’s just funny because kids are funny about what they think a long time is—or if these kids are particularly unaware of the world as a whole because they’re so sheltered. One thing I will say for Jennifer though, is that she has pretty good taste in cakes.
Was Lynn trying to “fix” Jennifer? No, she wasn’t. That whole confrontation was pretty unfair to her. She’s a scientist, so when she has a problem it makes sense that she’d use science to address it. If your kid has super powers and she hates them, it makes sense to a) help her control them, and b) investigate whether there’s a way to suppress them. That’s not the same as saying the powers or bad or that she needs fixing. A short game of telephone escalated that difference of verbiage into a situation where Jefferson felt attacked and devalued by his wife, causing her to launch a verbal tirade in return. Will that put the kibosh on their reconciliation? Unlikely. But it was uncomfortable to see all the same.
Lala is also back to work. We learned this week that he’s got a trigger phrase—like in one of those old spy movies. Say a phrase and it controls him like a sleeper agent, the Manchurian candidate, etc. The phrase is a good one too. “The Devil Deals the Cards.” Who is the Devil? Spoiler alert—It’s Tobias. He’s rounding up his men so he can capture Black Lightning alive and give him to Proctor so they can complete the mission to create super soldiers. The plan is a reasonable one. Khalil will make a scene at the school. When Black Lightning shows up to stop it, they’ll capture him. Tobias and Syonide along with Lala and Khalil should be plenty, right? This brings together a lot of people and points that we’d been making all season.
Khalil doesn’t want to do it, and is reminded that his deal was “Legs for Loyalty,” which should have been the first clue that Tobias was up to no good. Jennifer appears to have been right when she said Khalil wouldn’t hurt her, but who knows how long that’ll last. Thunder wastes no time getting involved, and finally has the problem we foresaw weeks ago. She exhaled at the wrong time. It’s entirely possible that Syonide figured out her pattern or that breath was a factor in her strength. Syonide is, after all, damn good at what she does. As such, Thunder takes a bit of a beating while Jennifer hangs back. I’m not blaming her—she doesn’t have a disguise and isn’t practiced.
Black Lightning gets stomped even worse. Tobias has under-armor that protects him from the lightning. He gets a few great hits in before Khalil can hit him with some sort of poison dart. What’s in it? Greenlight? Can’t be, that would make people fight harder. Between whatever’s in the vial and a big hit to the chest, Black Lightning is dead. Tobias calls it, and thunder confirms. Dead. It’s not even out of the question that Black Lightning could die—even on an eponymous show like this one. There are more heroes, and plenty more villains. But no…this is when Jennifer comes in and does her thing. What begins as a happy accident ends up being an electrical charge that brings Jeff back from the dead. Meanwhile, the treacherous Miss Fowdy sees enough to report back to her buddies at the ASA.
Everybody reaches the safe house, but the threat is far from over. Fowdy tells Proctor that Black Lightning is dead. Proctor reminds Fowdy that he doesn’t care about anyone or anything except the experiment’s success. Back at bad-guy headquarters, Tobias explains his plan to Lala. They killed Lady Eve, and now they’re gonna kill Proctor. Somehow, I don’t think that’ll work. We won’t find out until next week though, when the season finale answers all our questions.
See you’s then!
