Black Lightning, Season 1, Episode 4: Black Jesus
Definitely a step up from the previous episode, although that's not a particularly high bar to clear. The fallout from the previous episode is definitely more effective than the episode itself, and dealing with that is easily the theme of this episode, at least for the secondary characters. Anissa "Thunder" Pierce has to deal with the euphoria of having new powers, a new almost-girlfriend and what to do with them. Tobias Whale has to deal with what seems to be someone who put him in power, Lady Eve, question his legitimacy and his methods due to the fact that Black Lightning's alive. Khalil has to deal with the fact that he's been shot in the spine and has to try to walk, and Jennifer has to deal with dealing with Khalil's injury. Less-prominent are Gambi and Lynn, who take a backseat compared to the previous episode, but Lynn's clearly still dealing with her own issues on whether Jefferson Pierce taking up the spandex is a good idea or not.
Meanwhile, Gambi's all mysteirous and shit, keeping Tobias Whale's identity a secret from Jefferson inn the previous episode, and now keeping Anissa's superpowers a secret as well.
And Jefferson Pierce's big character arc in this episode is genuinely engaging in a way that the previous one fails to deliver. "Drugs are bad" is a story trope commonly seen in television, but Black Lightning's journey as he goes to bust this new drug called Green Light, and Jefferson Pierce's journey as a principal as he tries to argue with the board of directors on whether to expel his student, Bernard, who OD'd on the drug, believing that Bernard deserves a second chance.... only for Bernard to throw himself back into the dregs of drug-dom in the third act... you can really see the multiple pressures pulling at Jefferson's mind. Between having to deal with Jennifer's sassy remarks in this episode, poor Jefferson's pulled in all directions by the board of directors that's more concerned about public image, by the anger about drug dealers in general, by disappointment in Bernard, and the neatly conflicted feelings that Jefferson has in dealing with his old friend-turned-drug-dealer, Two Bit.
It's overall a very solid episode for Black Lightning himself, and I really appreciate that... but I don't think the episode would've been as effective without all the extra scenes. I am not as invested in Khalil as much as I am in the other characters, but this episode makes his fight to walk, and his subsequent vulnerability to being used by Tobias Whale as an outlet for Black Lightning hate-speech, is very neat. Tobias's own seething anger as he forces himself to stand still and only respond in witty snarky comebacks to Lady Eve is well done, as is his anger in beating up the coroner, before finally bringing in his sister Tory (a character original to the show, I believe), who puts the whole 'use Khalil' thing into Tobias's mind.
Anissa, meanwhile, goes through her own vigilante spree, while in her civilian life she talks up about how Black Lightning's awesome and has saved lives, and who could not get charmed by Jefferson's dopey-ass smile as he listens to his daughter unknowingly praise and defend his alter-ego in front of that clearly-flustered inspector? Anissa's trying to be a vigilante and beat up a couple of street drug dealers, tangentially trying to loosely tie Anissa's journey to Black Lightning's plot in the episode, but I absolutely loved how her first attempted punch ends up nearly killing the two druggies, a very realistic over-reaction and under-estimation of her powers. It's a very powerful scene (and, to be fair, if all of us found superpowers, we'd accidentally punch or burn someone to death in our first night out as a vigilante) and Anissa's expressions really shows how much talking big about being a superhero is to actually accidentally near-killing a drug dealer.
Anissa later beats up a bunch of gay-phobic assholes, stomping her ground in some good old-fashioned DC-comics Thunder reference, causing a gigantic earthquake that distracts Black Lightning and causes Gambi to strangely lie about knowing the identity of whoever caused the crater. Jury's still out on whether Gambi's evil, but I don't think CW can pull off "oh noes, the old, kindly mentor manipulating events is evil all along!" twist twice with a straight face.
Overall, a pretty solid episode and a pretty solid entry to the show.
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