If you were in the New York City area last night and tried to watch Black Lightning, it was nowhere to be found. While the rest of the country got the next installment of The CW’s superhero family drama, our local affiliate thought there was something more important we needed to see: The Jets getting blown out by the Patriots 33 to 0. I swear, between this and debuting Marvel trailers during championship games, there’s someone out there who’s only pleasure in life is tricking comic book nerds into watching sports. Though if that was the goal, you’d think they’d spring a less boring game on us.
Well fortunately, there’s always pira— I mean watching it legally on the CW app the next morning. ASA-occupied Freeland is still a terrifying dystopia. Last week, they made a revived Khalil kill his own mother, and now he’s tearing up other metahuman kids in monitored fights. And also quoting Pol Pot. Because quoting historical figures is how this show tells us character alignment. As upsetting as conditions are inside the ASA facility, Agent Odell’s even starting to win over Jefferson and Lynn. Lynn just wants to see the pod kids and captured metahumans get better. Both she and Jefferson know Odell just wants to maintain his supply of human weapons. Even still, if Lynn can save some lives, she will no matter who she works for.
Bill Duke as Agent Odell — Photo: Annette Brown/The CW
This is Agent Odell’s episode. The whole hour is basically him running the show, manipulating everyone to get his way. Even Jefferson, who’s been the voice of resistance this whole time, is briefly under his spell. Odell presents him with a watch that, when Jeff runs 10 volts of current though it, gives him a shiny new suit. Jefferson is suddenly much more willing to hear what Odell has to say now that he looks so good. When Odell promises he can go home and be with his daughters, Jefferson is ready to do almost anything.
Odell tells him some ASA soldiers were captured by the Markovians. He rescues them, he’s free to go home. Of course, once he gets there, the mission turns out to be a little more complicated. The soldiers getting captured was part of the plan. They were to wait for additional firepower in the form of Black Lightning, then capture Dr. Jace. Jeff isn’t happy about it, but he goes along with it anyway. Doesn’t want to give Odell an excuse to deny his freedom. Yeah, the scene is suspect, but it’s been too long since we saw Black Lightning in action. Two episodes without seeing him suited up makes you hungry for some proper superhero action. Even if it is a little compromised.
China Anne McClain as Jennifer and Bill Duke as Agent Odell — Photo: Annette Brown/The CW
And boy does the action get compromised this week. The reason Agent Odell is such a competent manipulator is that there appears to be at least a little bit of truth to what he’s saying. The Markovians are making advances into Freeland. The sickness infecting the detained metahumans is manmade, and appears to have been sent in by Dr. Jace. We don’t know how much of this is actually true, though. As we saw when Odell pressured a locked up Tobias Whale for information about his briefcase, he’s playing all sides. Who’s to say the virus isn’t part of some larger plan? Maybe it’s Odell’s way of tricking Lynn into making his metahuman weapons stronger.
Then there’s Jenn. Of all the people Odell manipulates, this was the hardest to watch. He tells her that Markovians killed Khalil’s mother. Now, we know that’s not true. We know it was Khalil acting on Odell’s orders. But, the Markovians do exist, and they’re a convenient scapegoat for whenever you want someone to do something for you. The news makes Jenn mad enough to do anything Odell says. He has her destroy a data facility outside of town. Destroying that gave him the location of a Markovia safehouse. Khalil tears the place apart. In an episode filled with good fight scenes, this was easily the best. Watching Khalil as Painkiller tear through opponent after opponent was mesmerizing as well as scary. We don’t yet know what implications this’ll have, but I’m grateful for the good fight choreography.
China Anne McClain as Lightning — Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW
Honestly, the best part of the episode is that we’re finally out of the ASA facility. I was getting tired of every other scene taking place in a sterile cube. Odell may be a manipulator, but he did send Jeff and Lynn home when he said he would. Hopefully, this means we’ll be seeing a lot more suited up Black Lightning for the rest of the season. Those facility scenes really wore out their welcome this week, especially since everything outside of it was so good. Jenn got some great character moments, first mocking her sister for being out all night, then showing the new transfer kid from the rich school where all the supervillain attacks took place at Garfield High. She gets to be funny this episode, and that’s the Jenn I want to see more of.
And we finally, finally, got to catch up with Grace Choi. This show’s had a lot going on since episode one, but last season, it felt like they forgot about her, outside of one or two episodes. Here, she gets back in touch with Anissa and asks for help. Anissa still loves her and promises to help her control her shapeshifting. I like them together, and Grace has the potential to be an interesting character. As long as the show gives her story some proper airtime. Having Anissa take her in is a good step, and I hope their relationship figures more heavily into the plot.
China Anne McClain as Jennifer and Nafessa Williams as Anissa — Photo: Annette Brown/The CW
This episode feels like the real beginning point for the season. We’ve spent two episodes with our titular superhero trapped inside a cage, and only occasionally checked in on what his daughters are up to. Anissa’s exploits as Blackbird were fun, but the show kinda ran out of things to do with that story in this episode. Now that the whole family’s back together, we can see how they adapt to the ASA-controlled Freeland police state. That’s what I’ve been waiting for all season. Plus, we got to see how many strings Odell’s pulling. If the show’s setting him up to be this season’s villain, it’s doing a fantastic job. Three episodes in and I want to see Black Lightning punch him.
Black Lightning airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on The CW
Previously on Black Lightning:
- Black Lightning Season 3 Episode 2 Recap
- Black Lightning Season 3 Premiere Recap
- Black Lightning Season 2 Finale Recap
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