Black Lightning, Season 1, Episode 11: Black Jesus - the Book of Crucifixion
This week's Black Lightning is a bit of a slower episode that's mostly self-contained. Neither Tobias Whale nor La-La make an appearance, and most of the drama is around the arrest of Jefferson Pierce when the ASA tries to capture him and 'acquire' the man they think is Black Lightning. There's an interesting bit where Gambi and Anissa has to work together in order to convince the ASA that Jefferson Pierce and Black Lightning aren't the same person, and the way they ultimately did it is to have Anissa run around in another part of the town with a moving hologram of Black Lightning -- something that's honestly quite hilarious.
Throughout the episode, Gambi ends up mending his bridges with Jefferson a bit more and returns as a part of his family, while Inspector Henderson gets a significant amount of focus as he ends up being so tired of sitting on his hands that he ends up cracking down on the corrupt policemen within the force and arrests Cayden or whoever that douchebag's name is, wanting to take his own war against the corruption within the Freeland police. Oh, and Vice-Principal Kara is torn between her friendship with Jefferson (who she doesn't believe is Black Lightning) and her loyalties to ASA.
The rest of the story, though, and the execution of the looming threat of the corrupt police force towards the persecuted black population in Freeland, is definitely felt. From their impunity to checking Jefferson Pierce's car, arresting him and threatening Jefferson's students when they try to bar him, and the humiliating strip-search Jefferson is subjected to, it's definitely a neatly well-executed showcase of how the 'bad cops' waving their guns and 'the law' around are terrifying. Thankfully, Henderson ends up being there to play the good cop and set things right again, which is neat. It's an episode of Black Lightning where the character of Jefferson Pierce -- the principal and a major figure in the community -- ends up being the focus as opposed to the lightning-swinging vigilante, and I do like it a fair bit.
Overall, though... the episode really does feel a bit weird as a standalone story so far into the season. With two more episodes left in this season that's building up to feature the ASA as the main villains, we appear to be shoving Tobias Whale and La-La for the next season and that honestly felt a bit strange to me. Oh well. This episode by itself isn't bad, honestly, and I did enjoy watching it.
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