Black Lightning S03E12-13 Review: Crazy Crazy Odell

Black Lightning, Season 3, Episode 12: Motherless ID; Episode 13: Grab the Strap

Episode 12: Book of Markovia Chapter Three: Motherless ID
As we close out the four-parter "Book of Markovia" and move into the three-parter that closes out the third season, it's interesting to take a look at the whole third season of Black Lightning and look at how rather inconsistent everything has been. I'm not sure how much the random Crisis crossover has affected the writing and budget of the season, but I do know that I really did feel like the season seems to be juggling so many storylines but also not really delivering any of them super sufficiently. Take the Markovians, for example, whose presence in the show has been both large since everyone keeps bringing it up, but they're such a non-entity other than brief action scenes that it's hard to be really invested. Or take, say, Tobias Whale, who just spends the entire season so far more of a plot device that says racist things every now and then but otherwise is just kind of there. Or Lala, who gets a huge scene early in the season and is completely shoved into somewhere off-screen. Or the Sange and Perdi, who gets sort of brought up as something that is brewing in the background but also hasn't really been relevant at all. The only real constant, I feel, is the Pierce family members and their dynamic, as well as Agent Odell as an antagonist, and while that's certainly enough to carry the show, I really do feel like it could've been better.

What I am getting at is that finally, after 11 episodes of them being nothing but a vague presence shown sometimes in 2-minute commandos that participate in action scenes or the faceless data farm that Lightning blew up, the Markovians finally have a face as a villain that ends up serving as a common enemy that the Pierces, their assorted allies and the A.S.A. can join forces to fight against. Honestly, I knew that I spent a while watching the middle episodes of the season wondering if the Markovians are even that evil, or if the whole Markovian situation is just a super elaborate hoax for Odell to fuck with Freeland, but now they're basically just the bad guys that kidnapped Lynn and Tobias, and are on the verge of forcing Lynn and Dr. Helga Jace (speaking of characters that the show kind of left off-screen) to make the metahuman-stabilizing serum.

That said, I really did like the portrayal of Helga Jace as a complete sociopath that has no idea how to really interact with people and tries her best to pretend to be friendly and foster a relationship, and her interactions with Lynn throughout this episode is a constant highlight. Lynn and Jace's interactions are absolutely fun, and while Jace hasn't been my favourite character in season two (I always found her flat) this combination of self-preservation, sociopathy and her very clumsy attempt to 'befriend' Lynn is hilarious. Lynn, of course, isn't going to give Colonel Mosin what she wants, but while Odell is happy to manipulate Lynn with a combination of carrot and stick, Mosin is far more ruthless, using a combination of a zappy-zap Thor: Ragnarok neck shock chip and giving her some drugs to further her addiction.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Grayle is left behind alive by the Markovians for... for no real reason. Why didn't they just kill him? Whatever the case, he's just there for plot device reasons, as a middleman to allow Team Pierce and Team Odell to gather together under a common banner. This is basically the formation of  Black Lightning's version of the Outsiders. Basically, everyone with a bone to pick with the A.S.A. get gathered together. We've got Black Lightning, Lightning, Thunder, Gambi, Grace, Brandon, T.C., plus a bunch of A.S.A. loaners like Gray, Grayle and the metahuman lady Erica Moran. I absolutely love just how much Jefferson is throwing his weight around with the utterly long-suffering Major Gray, basically demanding a whole ton from the A.S.A. now that they basically need the Pierce metahuman squad to help out. It's just kind of a shame that some of the characters do feel like an afterthought. Grayle is just Mr. Exposition; Erica is just Little Miss Metahuman Soldier; Grace is just Anissa's love interest (that sparring scene, while entertaining, was kind of pointless); Brandon is just Jennifer's buddy who has a vendetta against Jace.

There's also the Painkiller/Khalil plot taking up a huge chunk of the episode's first half, which I admit has been a lot more engaging than I thought it would be. I absolutely hated how the Jennifer/Khalil romance had dominated so much of the previous season, but the way it's portrayed now is a whole lot more interesting. With the aid of TC, the good guys (well, mostly Jennifer and TC with Gambi and Brandon playing the role of a video game hint-giver) figure out what's going on with Khalil and Painkiller, and with TC's powers, they manage to enter Khalil's mind and basically walk around in a corridor set to trap the Painkiller Program behind a firewall, represented as a door. It's kind of low-budget, but the acting between China McClain and Jordan Calloway are genuinely well-done, carrying the scenes on their back. Calloway also does double-duty as the shell-shocked Khalil and the menacing Painkiller, and that's absolutely well-done.

I also do like basically just how the real Khalil personality is sort of essentially suicidal, already accepting his death at the hands of Tobias, and when confronted at the idea that he's gone around and killed his mother while under the guise of Painkiller, can you blame Khalil that he basically decides to shut down? It's not until Jennifer braves herself and risks her life (something that Khalil doesn't know) to turn into digital data and talk to Khalil and drag him out of his 'safe space' and lock Painkiller in the imaginary room that he finally snaps out of it. It's actually amazing just how much I'm invested in Khalil's redemption arc (such that it may be). I also absolutely love that while it's their love that ends up being the thing that shakes Khalil out of his stupor, it's also something that Jenn needs a lot of effort to do and it's not just that Khalil regains his senses when he sees Jennifer on the battlefield or something. It's a lot more satisfying, is what I want to say.

There are a bunch of minor stuff, too. Jefferson and Anissa's discussion about Lynn's addiction to Green Light and Jefferson regretting not doing anything about it a couple of episodes ago is brought up, but it's also brushed aside very quickly. Anissa and Grace, like I mentioned before, has a bit of a scene but ultimately it's just there to remind us that Grace can do kung-fu. But overall, with most of the episode's focus on Khalil/Painkiller's mind-scape and cutting back and forth to both the formation of the Outsiders and Lynn's time among the Markovians, this is mostly set-up, but it's decent set-up.
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Episode 13: Book of Markovia Chapter Four: Grab the Strap
And then we're immediately off with the Outsiders preparing for battle. Half of the episode is our hodgepodge group of heroes and anti-heroes sort of gathering and preparing for the fight, and the other half is the actual fight itself. We do have a bunch of interesting scenes, like Brandon being a bit of a loose cannon that is quick to anger and wants nothing to do with playing nice with the A.S.A.; we've got TC's awkward flirting with Erica (which is a ploy to deactivate Erica's kill-order chip); we've got the scene between Anissa, Jennifer and Grace in the mess hall; we've got Khalil suffering from PTSD and Gambi helping him out, and Jefferson later convincing him to stick around; Jefferson's own drinking-alone-at-the-bar scene... it's all very great scenes, and while some of these characters have had a lot less screentime than the others, I really do like this series of scenes leading up to the battle.

While all of this is going on, in Markovia, Lynn has convinced Jace to help her out to basically pull a Tony Stark -- pretend they're working on what the bad guys want them to work on, while work on something else. Lynn's original attempt at being defiant to the end ends up backfiring, though, when Colonel Mosin shows up with Markovia's own metahuman soldier, Gravedigger, a dude with a cross-shaped scar who has a mind-control voice. Forced to work, Lynn ends up manipulating Gravedigger into giving her some of his blood (as a sample from a stable metahuman) before making one of those 'give yourself metahuman powers' serum. Okay, then.

I could very easily see a world where this episode is split into two episodes, one where our heroes train through teeth-clenched teamwork with the A.S.A, and another focusing entirely on the assault, but the fact that both are lumped together ends up with a very exciting, tense hour where we build up the impending assault and actually go through with it. And... admittedly, thanks to the show's budget, a lot of the fights are off-screened and some characters just have like a single scene of helping out (like TC and Grace) and just basically hanging out in the background. It's not quite as obvious budget-saving as the Masters of Disaster fight at the climax of the second season, though, and I didn't mind it that much. Most of the characters that are relegated to the side at least get a chance or two to show off them using their powers, like Anissa and Erica breaking down a door before staying behind to hold off the enemy.

There are a bunch of main objectives for our heroes -- rescue Lynn, rescue Tobias, and later on, also rescue Dr. Jace... and the latter, of course, is a huge bit of point of contention for Brandon. I felt like the Brandon/Jace conflict was utterly one-dimensional, though, and while it sucks that the storyline was basically a bit of an afterthought -- Sgt. Grayle just knocks out Brandon and evacuates with Jace because they don't have time to fuck around -- it's nice that at least the conflict is addressed?

Introducing Gravedigger in this episode also ends up with an actual threatening force for our heroes to fight against. I'm not sure why that teleporting metahuman is completely absent (remember Instant?) but Gravedigger's fight against Khalil in the corridor is absolutely well-done, and I really do like that it makes Jefferson's decision to talk to Khalil and bring him along actually feel like it's making a difference instead of just adding another body to their team -- Khalil being a cyborg means that Gravedigger's power doesn't work on him.

Lynn, meanwhile, whose plan would've been absolutely terrible if she had done this at any other point in time other than the time when her family is making a superhero team to save her, mind-controls Mosin and and engineers her own escape, before regrouping with the others. So that's nice. Black Lightning, meanwhile, is forced to evacuate Tobias Whale, and we get a pretty fun bit of Tobias mocking Jefferson about knowing his identity all along... Krondon doesn't get anything to really do this season as an actor, but at least he gets a lot of good lines and if nothing else, seeing Tobias mock Jeff is always fun.

The raid on Markovia is exciting and very quickly-paced, and when Gravedigger manages to knock out Jefferson Pierce and holds most of our heroes at sway with his voice powers, it does seem like our heroes are going to have to go home switching one hostage to another... but then Black Lightning zaps his way back to the extraction zone and manages to knock out Gravedigger. Gravedigger works very well as a mini-boss, and, surprising me (since we still have three episodes left) the Outsiders basically make out of Markovia with all of their members intact and basically everyone except for Tobias Whale accounted for. Ultimately, though, a very fun arc-closing episode and probably the most solid hour of Black Lightning's third season.


DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Gravedigger is a name used by seven different characters in DC comics prior to this, and the character featured in Black Lightning is an amalgamation of several Gravediggers. His name, Tyson Sykes, is taken from the second Gravedigger, an agent of the organization Checkmate with the rank Rook and having telepathic powers due to injecting himself with an alien serum, but his design, particularly the cross-shaped scar on his face (and details about him we learn from the next episode) pegs him more as being based on Ulysses Hazard, the first Gravedigger, an African-American soldier of World War II who conditioned himself with strict training to become the peak of physical prowess. Due to the racism of the time, Ulysses is frustrated that he is relegated to menial tasks, and Ulysses goes off to prove himself by single-handedly invading the Pentagon, and eventually becomes a one-man strike unit called "Gravedigger". 
• Jefferson off-handedly refers to his team as 'the Outsiders', a reference to, of course, the superhero team that Black Lightning is most closely associated with.