While the rest of the Arrowverse is preparing for ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths,’ Black Lightning has been in the midst of its own crisis all season. A hostile foreign power is gathering on the outskirts of town while a hostile domestic power turns the city into a war zone. Oddly enough, Tobias Whale is the least of Black Lightning’s worries right now. The ASA is currently holding him prisoner, giving him the same daily interviews as anyone else. He sees what they’re doing though, and refuses. Unlike the other metas, he says, he will not be Agent Odell’s slave.
This episode brings back the Lynn-Tobias dynamic from a few episodes ago. It’s just as good now as it was then. Better maybe, now that she’s in the midst of a possibly relationship-ending fight with Jefferson. She’s not in the mood to listen to her husband with an activist streak, but she has to listen to a patient. Even a literal supervillain who has targeted her family on multiple occasions. He tells her the same thing Jefferson did: That the ASA is turning these kids into weapons. When Black Lightning and Tobias Whale are on the same page about something, something is seriously wrong.
Christine Adams as Lynn (Photo Credit: Mark Hill / The CW)
Meanwhile, Gambi has found a very telling news signal from outside the city. The ASA hasn’t mentioned the Markovians or the metas to anyone outside Freeland. As far as the rest of the country knows, Freeland is quarantined because of a SARS epidemic. SARS, huh? I haven’t heard that in, what? 10-15 years? What a depressing throwback that is. More importantly, since Gambi found a way to get a signal in, that means they can get a signal out. As Blackbird, Anissa approaches the resistance reporter and asks her to prepare a message.
Also making an official appearance with the resistance is Jefferson. Remember last week’s fight with Henderson and how dumb that was? Well, we get a little more of it here. Henderson goes to Jefferson’s house to ask for help, and Jeff initially rebuffs him. I gotta say “I can’t get down with your methods” got the world’s biggest eye roll from me here. I’m just glad the show moves on from this stupid argument quickly. Henderson asks Jefferson for help and he can’t refuse. The ASA has occupied the apartment building where their third grade teacher lives. They’re about to force her out and he asks Jeff to see if he can talk her into coming out peacefully. It doesn’t happen.
His former teacher tells him exactly why she refuses to leave the apartment. There are a ton of memories on that block. It was the site of a civil rights sit-in during segregation. It’s where she met Barack Obama when he came to visit the city. In addition to the memories, she also takes a few very polite jabs at Jefferson for not fighting the ASA when they beat him on video. She, a woman many years his senior, can’t go down without a fight like that. Yeah, that’s gotta sting. Jefferson decides he’s gonna fight. He dons his Black Lightning suit and tells Henderson to gather the resistance. As the ASA prepares to break down the door, he blows them through the air with a powerful lightning blast. Then Anissa shows up as Thunder with the Resistance fighters in full force. I’ve been waiting all season for a showdown like this.
Jordan Calloway as Khalil / Painkiller (Photo Credit: Mark Hill / The CW)
The Resistance occupies the apartment building and Thunder sets up guard posts before running into Painkiller. It seems the ASA sent him to deal with the Resistance. What follows is a fast, exciting fight scene between Thunder and Painkiller. There are no lightning powers, just quick dodges and hard hits through walls. The show doesn’t have a ton of time to spend on this fight, but it makes every second count. It’s just a fun, well-choreographed fight scene. It’s the biggest spectacle this episode has in its pocket, and it knows it. When Thunder knocks Painkiller through a window, I had a huge smile on my face. It was just so cathartic after a whole season of him tearing through everyone.
Black Lightning’s fight isn’t nearly as exciting. The ASA colonel, we learn, has been given electricity powers just like Black Lightning. At first, I thought this was going to be a big flashy showdown, where Jefferson has to contend with someone just as powerful as he is. Instead, we get a few seconds of light show before the electricity overwhelms the colonel’s body. Apparently the ASA didn’t think to give him a suit to deal with that. It’s a lame copout, but at least the show had the decency to give us one real fight before we had to settle for this.
Nafessa Williams as Thunder. (Photo Credit: Mark Hill / The CW)
Thunder races back from the fight to the Antenna where Gambi’s been trying to send out the reporter’s video to the rest of the country. There, he’s met a former pod kid calling himself Technocrat, or TC for short. He can talk to and hear computers, meaning the modern world is too overwhelming for him. That’s why he’s been hiding out in an old abandoned tower. He’s probably going to be very important in a future episode, but for this one, he’s just being introduced. He helps Gambi and Anissa with the computers, getting past the ASA firewalls, and getting the video uploaded.
The show manages to make three people staring at a computer reasonably exciting, which is an achievement. With the ASA closing in on their location, they have a limited time before they have to shut everything down. That, plus the chance that it may not upload at all, adds some stakes to what could have been a boring scene. Still, it ended with an odd stutter. With the group thinking they failed only to find out that, no, it actually did upload. OK, then. We don’t get to see what affect that has on the rest of the world yet. We might not for some time.
Jahking Guillory as Brandon and China Anne McClain as Jennifer. (Photo Credit: Mark Hill / The CW)
This episode packed a ton of story into 42 minutes. It felt like the show was speeding to a midseason stopping point. We check back in with Lynn and Tobias, where he finally convinces her that the ASA is up to some bad stuff. Like worse than he generally is. She finds the tanks of Green Light they plan to use to turn the meta kids into weapons. He has a solution for her: Break him out and give him cameoflage powers. That’s a terrifying proposition. I can only imagine we’ll visit it later though.
Before we can get a conclusion to this story, the ASA puts the facility on lockdown. Black Lightning joined the Resistance, so the ASA is no longer protecting the Pierce family. Gambi guides her out of the facility and to a van where he’s waiting for her. Upon getting in, she drops her bag containing all the Green Light she stole. So I’m guessing we’re getting a withdrawal episode sometime soon. Honestly, good. Lynn as an addict has been the most consistently disappointing story of this season, and I’d be glad to see them drop it.
Next week, the Arrowverse shows will be in the midst of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Black Lightning isn’t part of the overall crossover, but it looks like it’ll still affect the show. That’s why this episode had to move every story forward so much. We’ll definitely get some movement on these stories in next week’s winter finale, but it looks like much of it will be spent dealing with fallout from the Crisis. Black Lightning’s been largely separate from the rest of the Arrowverse until now. Next week, they’re going to run into some parallel universe.
Black Lightning airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on Black Lightning:
- Black Lightning Season 3 Episode 7 Recap
- Black Lightning Season 3 Episode 6 Recap
- Black Lightning Season 3 Episode 5 Recap
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