When we left the Pierce family, they had manage to escape the A.S.A, but not without some serious emotional damage. During the season two premiere, we got more questions and some gasp-worthy revelations! Here’s our review for “The Book Of Consequences: Chapter One: Rise of the Green Light Babies”!
Green Light is wreaking havoc in Freeland, and this is just the start of things.
One aspect of Black Lightning that we love is that the show’s writers and creators don’t shy away from real topics and family dynamics. This episode featured stirring scenes dealing with police brutality involving the murder of a young black man, and people in the community addressing that use of force.
Green Light is still a major problem in Freeland, and it’s giving police another reason to kill young black men and women. Add to that, the A.S.A won’t let the family’s of the people in pods to visit their loved ones or hear details of their status because they feel the government “owns” them, and the people of Freeland are fed up.
It’s Green Light and its effects that are reverberating around Freeland and causing the Pierce family to take a long, hard look at the dangers that surround them, and if they can have a normal life anymore.
One of the biggest issues this episode is the miscommunications or non-communications within the Pierce family.
Jennifer’s powers are starting to get out of control. Lynn feels like she needs to talk to a therapist, but Jefferson isn’t convinced of this. Plus, who would she talk to? She’s a metahuman. She can’t exactly bring up her concerns to someone who hasn’t gone through what she has.
During one confrontation with her mother, she accidentally uses her powers and burns Lynn’s shoulder. Eventually, Lynn finds her on the roof and hugs her, but it feels like things are going to be fair from okay.
Then there’s Anissa. She has her father’s same righteous sense of justice, but when he tells her to pull back and that they can’t help those families sue the government or get the pods for them, she takes matters into her own hands.
Anissa goes out in disguise, but not as Thunder, to raid drug dealers and steal all their cash. From there, she takes it to the church so they can have money to fund their legal battles.
Lynn, who was working on the Green Light victims in the pods, gets taken off the case by an extremely fed up man from the A.S.A. When Jefferson tells her its for the best, she doesn’t believe that. In fact, she’s so against it that she goes to Gambi. He pulls strings and gets her put back on the job.
This causes a huge fight between her and Jefferson.
“I’m doing what you do. I’m using my gifts to help Freeland.”
He can’t argue with her there, but she still parts on bad terms with him.
Everything comes to a head when Jennifer gets extremely worked up after seeing a video of Issa Williams, the young man killed by police at the beginning of the episode, come back to life. The only way her powers go back to a baseline is after Jefferson hugs her to him and absorbs all her excess energy.
They might need some counseling together to move forward, but one thing is certain, they need to keep talking and stay tight. This walking alone thing that Anissa’s doing seems like it could end up with her in trouble. There’s also the fact that Khalil is still calling Jennifer.
The event that will hit Jefferson hardest is the fact that if he wants to keep Garfield open and accessible to these kids he cares about so much, he’s forced to resign. He’s absolutely their scapegoat when it comes to the attacks at Garfield, but his hands are tied if he wants to keep the school open.
Messy times ahead, y’all.
On top of the family tension, Jefferson must also come face-to-face with the lies he’s told his best friend. Henderson pieces together who Black Lightning is, and to say that he feels betrayed is an understatement.
I can only hope that Henderson comes to understand Jefferson’s reasons for hiding his identity and that of Thunder. The more people know who is Black Lightning, the more people are at risk of being taken and tortured for that information.
On Gambi’s end of things, he’s approached by a very unlikely person in Kara Fowdy. After Kara got into a death match with Syonide in a parking garage and ended up the winner, Kara knows she needs to get out.
She goes to Gambi and promises him the briefcase if he’ll wipe her from the A.S.A. She wants a clean start and far, far away from Freeland.
“What’s inside the case?”
“Hell.”
That sounds ominous and probably insanely accurate considering who has the case. This leads Kara to Tobias Whale’s apartment. A very short fight ensues, but before they get after it, he tells her that Syonide was one of the last people he cared about.
So far, Tobias is losing a lot more people than Jefferson in this fight, and I feel worried for what that means. Tobias is already a forced to be reckoned with, but when he has nothing to lose? That’s scary.
Kara ends up with a harpoon to the stomach but manages to escape before Tobias kills her. How she survives the fall out of the window, I don’t know, but we’ll see what happens with Kara.
This season is going to come at us fast now that the foundation has been set in season one. Green Light is the obvious problem that needs to be taken care of, but Jefferson’s need for vengence against Tobias and stopping his reign on Freeland will dominate this season.
Hopefully, the family dynamic will continue to be realistic as the Pierce’s go through some trying times in relation to Jennifer’s powers, Anissa’s charitable contributions, and Lynn’s work on the pods. Also, Jefferson needs to get back in that school. He’s fantastic for the community, and they all know it! They’re just afraid of all his power and influence.
What do you think is coming for Black Lightning? Let us know in the comments and check out our SDCC interviews with the cast HERE! Here’s look at what’s coming next week!
Black Lightning airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW!
