Black Lightning on the CW

[j9ac9k]

It's nice that the family got their happy ending, but it does feel disjointed. Especially when apparently there's still bad news for Jen we don't know about or the (admittedly amusing) last scene of Lala getting the last laugh on Tobias's corpse.

I'm pretty sure the bad news was about how Khalil had to remove his memories of her.

And that's just cold that Jefferson left Tobias's corpse stuck up there. Too bad Tobias didn't get to feel the effect of being exposed by Looker's testimony and have his Mayorship and empire taken away, with the cops knocking at his door. If they skipped the crazy cop lady stuff and had Jefferson take down Tobias while the wolves were at his door about to lose it all while he was at his most desperate and angry, it might've helped the drama of that scene. Anyway, other than that, all my other criticisms about how rushed this was has been mentioned.

[Huntsman Spider]

I'm pretty sure the bad news was about how Khalil had to remove his memories of her.

And that's just cold that Jefferson left Tobias's corpse stuck up there. Too bad Tobias didn't get to feel the effect of being exposed by Looker's testimony and have his Mayorship and empire taken away, with the cops knocking at his door. If they skipped the crazy cop lady stuff and had Jefferson take down Tobias while the wolves were at his door about to lose it all while he was at his most desperate and angry, it might've helped the drama of that scene. Anyway, other than that, all my other criticisms about how rushed this was has been mentioned.

That's a fair point. I'd have loved to see justice come for Tobias after years of him getting away with his crimes, and having Black Lightning come back to deliver the coup de grace, as it were, would have been plenty satisfying on a visceral level.

[AnakinFlair]

I'm pretty sure the bad news was about how Khalil had to remove his memories of her.

And that's just cold that Jefferson left Tobias's corpse stuck up there. Too bad Tobias didn't get to feel the effect of being exposed by Looker's testimony and have his Mayorship and empire taken away, with the cops knocking at his door. If they skipped the crazy cop lady stuff and had Jefferson take down Tobias while the wolves were at his door about to lose it all while he was at his most desperate and angry, it might've helped the drama of that scene. Anyway, other than that, all my other criticisms about how rushed this was has been mentioned.

I just watched that fight, and my god- Tobias going full Kahn was just PAINFULLY bad. I wanted Jefferson to blast him just to shut him up.

[90'sCartoonMan]

I think the Jennifer/J.J. storyline was done the way it was due to now knowing if the Jennifer actress would actually commit to the final episode. They basically set it up such that either J.J. could stay in place though the end or present the bait and switch story if Jennifer came back.

Sounds right, but did they have to make JJ evil? They could've just had her fight Lopez and lose, go to the ionosphere and get turned back into Jen, then return and beat Lopez as a new, fully restored Lightning.

Did Jefferson not notice the spear or did he assume Tobias would miss it?

He probably wasn't even thinking about it. Jefferson definitely wasn't trying to kill Tobias.

Presumably he will be restated once the fraudulent charges on him have been cleared.

But why leave it up to us presuming? The best part of Jefferson Pierce's civilian identity is that he's a pillar of the community and someone young people can look up to. The most he did all season involved helping a teacher, not a student. Feels unsatisfying. If we do see Black Lightning again, I hope there's some throw away line about him being a principal still.

Hard agreed. Grace amounted to a whole a lot of nothing in this show. She only really exists to give Annisa urgency outside of the main plot. I don't even know what's Grace motivation for being a hero outside of the fact she married into a family of superheroes.

It's because Grace reads too many comic books.

And that's just cold that Jefferson left Tobias's corpse stuck up there. Too bad Tobias didn't get to feel the effect of being exposed by Looker's testimony and have his Mayorship and empire taken away, with the cops knocking at his door. If they skipped the crazy cop lady stuff and had Jefferson take down Tobias while the wolves were at his door about to lose it all while he was at his most desperate and angry, it might've helped the drama of that scene. Anyway, other than that, all my other criticisms about how rushed this was has been mentioned.

That would've been great to see, but I think the series needed to kill him off or he'd be spouting things like "I've come back from worse than this, just you wait!" Maybe he needed to be thrown in prison and then someone from the Shadow Board sends an agent from the League of Assassins to kill him while he's in custody.

[Captain Craig]

I just watched that fight, and my god- Tobias going full Kahn was just PAINFULLY bad. I wanted Jefferson to blast him just to shut him up.

I laughed so hard at that moment. I get that it is at its core a literary conceit from Moby Dick. However it was really "pop culture" popularized in Star Trek II, was it not?
I just couldn't help hear him and not think Ricardo Montelban is that you?

[Frontier]

I wonder if Jefferson was still planning to mindwipe Tobias.

[Captain Craig]

Tobias broke that gadget that Gambi made did he not? Tobias memory of the Pierces history & secrets was in long term memory.
I felt that was a story breakdown. Jefferson mentioned wiping short term memory then Gambi just starts talking about "memory wipe" but being able to isolate those memories.
Just one more thing of "let it go and enjoy the escapism".

[j9ac9k]

That would've been great to see, but I think the series needed to kill him off or he'd be spouting things like "I've come back from worse than this, just you wait!" Maybe he needed to be thrown in prison and then someone from the Shadow Board sends an agent from the League of Assassins to kill him while he's in custody.

Oh, I agree that by this point, Tobias had to die. I was just saying it would have been more satisfying to see him lose it all right before the fight with Jefferson to bring more to that moment. But then again, none of the resolutions here had the proper buildup or a satisfying conclusion. I like where they went with everything, (almost) but they clearly needed more time to craft good drama out of it.

And the scenes they did have fell kinda flat. Is it me, or in that opening scene where they think Jefferson is dead, it felt like the characters didn't even really believe it. It felt like any other scene during the show when they're fighting with each other.

[Toreador]

Haven't been a steady watcher of the show, watching some episodes off and on (missed most of last season) over the years but kept up along with this last season. But JJ's heel turn seemed an abrupt change at the last moment. If the writers left a plot line for China to come back they could have come up with a better way to resolve the JJ/Jen 'twin' problem.

An easy fix would have been to adapt/modify the Halo's (from Batman and the Outsiders) origin to fit JJ's situation. With Jen's frequent trip to the ionosphere inhabited by the energy aliens one alien got curious and got to close to Jen during a power up causing Jen to overcharge and blasting herself. When Jefferson went up to collect the energy he scooped up most of the alien along with some of Jen (the alien being energy was able to gather itself more easily than Jen). Being reconstituted caused the alien to have a memory loss and latch on to Jen's memories believing she was Jen. Seeing Jen in the finale caused JJ to regain 'her' real memories as an energy alien. I think if the show continued JJ could have later developed her powers to be more like the Halo in the comics.

On Instagram she mentioned that someone close to her died in 2018 and she coped with it by burying herself in her work. She realized just how unhealthy that was and getting tired of the industry in general so she dealing things back and getting herself together.

This would be Cameron Boyce (Luke in the show 'Jessie' and Carlos in the Descendants movies) who China was close friends with when they were both Disney kids. She took his death pretty hard.

[Frontier]

Oh, I agree that by this point, Tobias had to die. I was just saying it would have been more satisfying to see him lose it all right before the fight with Jefferson to bring more to that moment. But then again, none of the resolutions here had the proper buildup or a satisfying conclusion. I like where they went with everything, (almost) but they clearly needed more time to craft good drama out of it.

And the scenes they did have fell kinda flat. Is it me, or in that opening scene where they think Jefferson is dead, it felt like the characters didn't even really believe it. It felt like any other scene during the show when they're fighting with each other.

I guess that just goes to show how much this family has been fighting or arguing with each other to the point where it just isn't that big a deal any more.

[Huntsman Spider]

Haven't been a steady watcher of the show, watching some episodes off and on (missed most of last season) over the years but kept up along with this last season. But JJ's heel turn seemed an abrupt change at the last moment. If the writers left a plot line for China to come back they could have come up with a better way to resolve the JJ/Jen 'twin' problem.

An easy fix would have been to adapt/modify the Halo's (from Batman and the Outsiders) origin to fit JJ's situation. With Jen's frequent trip to the ionosphere inhabited by the energy aliens one alien got curious and got to close to Jen during a power up causing Jen to overcharge and blasting herself. When Jefferson went up to collect the energy he scooped up most of the alien along with some of Jen (the alien being energy was able to gather itself more easily than Jen). Being reconstituted caused the alien to have a memory loss and latch on to Jen's memories believing she was Jen. Seeing Jen in the finale caused JJ to regain 'her' real memories as an energy alien. I think if the show continued JJ could have later developed her powers to be more like the Halo in the comics.




This would be Cameron Boyce (Luke in the show 'Jessie' and Carlos in the Descendants movies) who China was close friends with when they were both Disney kids. She took his death pretty hard.

What you outlined would have made more sense, yeah. And yeah . . . I can understand that on some level.

[Lightning Rider]

Just finished watching this final season, I've enjoyed belatedly reading everyone's comments (Frontier's dedication to full episode summaries is impressive). This show probably isn't on people's minds anymore but I wanted to discuss and speculate about the CW writing formula.

It goes without saying that I was disappointed with the trajectory of the show, especially this last season, and it's a pattern many have observed on other Arrowverse shows as well. On BL specifically, I found it so odd and painful to see the Pierce family fighting all the time, typically for unreasonable and arbitrary reasons. Jefferson and Lynn were particularly petty, selfish, and vindictive. It was especially disappointing because the first season or two of the show gave us a very competent, communicative, emotionally empathetic family. They were still realistic, but aspirational. Not to mention unresolved plot-lines, plot details brought out at the last minute, choppy editing, and poor dialogue.

I guess my question is, why do these tropes always emerge in later seasons of CW DC shows? Does it come from the top down, from the showrunners to the writers? Is it a network-wide thing? It's probably impossible to pinpoint exactly how it happens, but between Flash and BL relying on these features for several seasons in a row, it can't be a coincidence. Or is it that the melodrama feels organic when a character's journey is just beginning, and they aren't able to recapture the sincerity of the drama beyond that initial arc?

[Frontier]

Just finished watching this final season, I've enjoyed belatedly reading everyone's comments (Frontier's dedication to full episode summaries is impressive). This show probably isn't on people's minds anymore but I wanted to discuss and speculate about the CW writing formula.

It goes without saying that I was disappointed with the trajectory of the show, especially this last season, and it's a pattern many have observed on other Arrowverse shows as well. On BL specifically, I found it so odd and painful to see the Pierce family fighting all the time, typically for unreasonable and arbitrary reasons. Jefferson and Lynn were particularly petty, selfish, and vindictive. It was especially disappointing because the first season or two of the show gave us a very competent, communicative, emotionally empathetic family. They were still realistic, but aspirational. Not to mention unresolved plot-lines, plot details brought out at the last minute, choppy editing, and poor dialogue.

I guess my question is, why do these tropes always emerge in later seasons of CW DC shows? Does it come from the top down, from the showrunners to the writers? Is it a network-wide thing? It's probably impossible to pinpoint exactly how it happens, but between Flash and BL relying on these features for several seasons in a row, it can't be a coincidence. Or is it that the melodrama feels organic when a character's journey is just beginning, and they aren't able to recapture the sincerity of the drama beyond that initial arc?

Thank you for the kind words .

I don't know if it can really be ascribed to being on the CW or the writing team in general or the demands of network television. I feel like some of the issues/trajectories of the final season were there in season 3 to some extent, but maybe COVID also effected things to some degree.

[GamerSlyRatchet]

I guess my question is, why do these tropes always emerge in later seasons of CW DC shows? Does it come from the top down, from the showrunners to the writers? Is it a network-wide thing? It's probably impossible to pinpoint exactly how it happens, but between Flash and BL relying on these features for several seasons in a row, it can't be a coincidence. Or is it that the melodrama feels organic when a character's journey is just beginning, and they aren't able to recapture the sincerity of the drama beyond that initial arc?

Probably a combination of factors. Maybe they were struggling with ways to bring personal conflict to the family without resorting to CW-brand melodrama. Maybe there were notes to have it fit a "house-style" of storytelling. And maybe the sudden cancellation and behind the scenes conflict affected season 4 production in a lot of ways, especially with all of the unresolved plotlines. But yeah, I think the Pierce family dynamics took the hardest hit by the end.

but maybe COVID also effected things to some degree.

This factor as well.

[Frontier]

Probably a combination of factors. Maybe they were struggling with ways to bring personal conflict to the family without resorting to CW-brand melodrama. Maybe there were notes to have it fit a "house-style" of storytelling. And maybe the sudden cancellation and behind the scenes conflict affected season 4 production in a lot of ways, especially with all of the unresolved plotlines. But yeah, I think the Pierce family dynamics took the hardest hit by the end.

I really wonder what happened between Cress Williams and China Anne McClain.