Black Lightning S02E02 Review: Truth Hurts

Black Lightning, Season 2, Episode 2: The Book of Consequences, Chapter Two - Black Jesus Blues

The second episode of Black Lightning's second season is... interesting. The pretty small scale of the story that the first season attempted to tell caused it to flow at a pretty great pace, revolving almost entirely around the Pierce family and Tobias Whale. This episode, on the other hand, works a bit more like a more traditional superhero show. There's a breakout among the many tube-babies that Lynn is working on. Some dude breaks out, vomits out light before dying, which in turn activates the metahuman-of-the-week, Wendy Hernandez, a confused and mentally-troubled girl with destructive wind powers. Throw in the fact that Gambi apparently captured her some 30 years ago, and in addition to waking up with powers and a mental illness, poor Wendy has to deal with the whole displaced-out-of-time deal.

We get some action scenes out of the fights with Wendy, but at the end of the episode, Black Lightning manages to talk Wendy down (albeit with the aid of some well-placed lightning bolts), befriending her and managing to convince her to go back into the pod, at least until a cure is found.

Wendy's psychosis might be a writer's trick to handwave not having to develop her too much beyond causing the audience to sympathize with her, but the other metahuman-of-the-week, Isa Williams, introduced in the season premiere, also figures out greatly, and I do really love how they made him feel like a real child. It's the same argument that Lynn has with the shady government agent she's forced to work with, where they just sort of drag Isa around with a bag on his head.

Lynn, in contrast, manages to befriend Isa by treating him like a human, even bringing him to their house. Granted, Lynn does feel secure in that two out of the four people in her hosuehold are accomplished superheroes, but still... Isa's truth-causing ability manages to raise some mean words to be spoken amongst the Pierce household, but interestingly enough it's Jennifer that ends up befriending Isa the most and makes him realize how to control his power. Although, really? No one realized it's eye contact that triggers the power? In any case, Isa ends up choosing the other choice available to metahumans created by Green Light, who have unstable genes... he chooses to instead live the rest of his potentially short life with his family, instead of going back into the pod.

Speaking of other metahumans and choices, the episode focuses mostly on Anissa, among the Pierce family. Anissa is basically pretty happy about everything that's going on, riding a high and posing for photographs and the adulation of the crowd. This ends up translating to her civilian life as well, where she goes around sleeping with some singer, much to her chagrin of her ex Grace. This leads to an argument with Jefferson when Jeff basically has to deal with Wendy Hernandez on his own. This showboating combined with the illegal stealing she did last episode, this is probably not going to end well for Thunder.

Khalil, meanwhile, gets pretty brutally abused by Tobias via a chess game, noting how he's reckless and his recklessness caused the death of Syonide. Khalil then attempts to talk to Jennifer, who pretty hilariously just pushes him over the side of the rooftop. It's a neat contrast between the situations of these two people -- Khalil makes it clear that he has no choice to do what he did at the school because Tobias will kill him otherwise, while Jennifer has a very good support system in her family.

Tobias himself is seen several times in this episode, wrapping up loose ends regarding the murder of Alvin Pierce, including a bit with Marcellus, clearly a mentor figure that Tobias is fond of. It's... it's pretty brutal, shall we say, although at least Tobias made it quick. It kind of feels like padding, honestly, although Krondon is a great enough of an actor to make the scene nice to watch.

The Jefferson Pierce subplot in this episode is... m'eh? He resigns as principal, and has an argument about Napier about the replacement, a "white saviour", Mike Lowry. It's a repeat of "do what is best for the school, not for Jefferson Pierce" plot of the previous episode, although that final scene at the school assembly is cheesily sweet.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Wendy Hernandez isn't a character in the comics, but she seems to be inspired by Wendy Jones, a wind-manipulating metahuman called Windfall who was a member of a group called the Master of Disaster that fought the Outsiders, a team of whom Black Lightning was a member. Windfall would later renege from the group, assist the Outsiders, and found work in the Suicide Squad.