Black Lightning on the CW

[Immortal Weapon]

The number of unresolved plots.

- Gravedigger in general. He's still on the loose and will find another way to enact his plans

- Whatever it is that Odell's daughter doing turning people into living CPUs in cyberpunk Wakanda

- Lady Eve. How she came back from the dead and her disappearance

Am I missing anything?

[GamerSlyRatchet]

The number of unresolved plots.

- Gravedigger in general. He's still on the loose and will find another way to enact his plans

- Whatever it is that Odell's daughter doing turning people into living CPUs in cyberpunk Wakanda

- Lady Eve. How she came back from the dead and her disappearance

Am I missing anything?

Sort of related to Lady Eve, but we didn't really know more about Lazarus Prime, the old man that was reviving people. How he was doing it and WHY he was doing it.

All the pod kids/Outsiders that were just shipped up to that school. Not really an unresolved plot point, but just pretty weird that they were never mentioned again after the previous season. Same with Brandon/Geo-Force. There was an interview that mentioned he was going to return, but it never happened.

[Frontier]

Sort of related to Lady Eve, but we didn't really know more about Lazarus Prime, the old man that was reviving people. How he was doing it and WHY he was doing it.

All the pod kids/Outsiders that were just shipped up to that school. Not really an unresolved plot point, but just pretty weird that they were never mentioned again after the previous season. Same with Brandon/Geo-Force. There was an interview that mentioned he was going to return, but it never happened.

Speaking of Lazarus Prime, the end of the series seemed to imply Lala was going to take over from Tobias.

[90'sCartoonMan]

Well that was a mostly unsatisfying end to a very uneven series of events. I liked everything with Jefferson and him in that limbo-like place, plus his final confrontation with Tobias that needed to happen...but the other stuff didn't really work for me. Lynn had nothing to do, Khalil's plot was resolved by just making him forget, Lopez was an afterthought, and Jen...well, at least it was nice to see China back and do a random dance at the end. Way too much time was devoted to JJ if she was just going to end up being this weird evil ionosphere glaze thing. If she and Jefferson spent more time together and he kept thinking things were off about her, maybe it would've made more sense.

They also didn't resolve the idea that Jen only cares about being Lightning and isn't thinking about her future. Is she going to go off to college? That end scene with the family didn't give me the sense of a true ending because Jeff passed the torch to his three daughters completely unprompted by anything. I guess he needs to step down to focus on his marriage? And why is Gambi retiring again?

Painkiller Not Picked Up at The CW

Darn it. I really liked the idea of them exploring some duality themes.

I feel mixed about this finale. It certainly had some highs, but you could tell they had to rush so much and that they had plans for at least two more seasons. I did like the flashbacks to the younger Jefferson. I don't think we explored his earlier Black Lightning outings too much, and that's something that always interested me. He ultimately had to break his code and kill Tobias (even if it's murky if it was self-defense or not) and that's why he retires as one of Freeland's protectors. This time, though, he knows others can pick up the fight and he doesn't have the guilt he had before.

It was kind of a cop-out in that Jefferson was so insistent on not killing Tobias, but considering how intense the fight was, it felt like kill or be killed and Jefferson was just trying to win.

Even what should've been a delightful scene, where the family celebrates Anissa and Grace's wedding, felt pretty off. Again, this might be due to COVID complications or even BTS drama, but there's no reactions to Jen's reveal, Jefferson and Lynn reconcile off-screen, certain actors barely share any screentime together, etc. 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.

Yeah, so disjointed for the final scene we got of our main characters. I think the bad news was TC was going to tell Jen that Khalil has no memory of her. That was handled poorly.

I'm not sure how I feel about what happened to Tobias. Like, okay, on one hand the whale gets harpooned, but Jeff technically kills him unintentionally and is forced into doing it, which isn't what he actually wanted. I guess Jefferson was still the better man in the end.

Was Tobias the harpooned whale? Wasn't he quoting Ahab from Moby-Dick? Feels like mixed metaphors.

Oh great, they freed Lala. What a weird way to end the series, not with the Pierce family but with Lala looking at a dead Tobias still hanging there and, presumably, planning to take over for Tobias and run Freeland as the new Big Bad, which just seems kind of silly when the show is ending. Like, you end with this character whose fate was pretty much done and then end it so ominously? Like, I guess they felt him being trapped in concrete was leaving his character unresolved and wanted to show him come up on top, but it just didn't feel right.

It felt more like a final punchline to me. "Lala always comes back, so...the final shot is him coming back!" I think it also might mean that crime in Freeland is never going to be completely eradicated and that with Tobias gone, Lala will fill the void. Heroes will always have work to do.

The number of unresolved plots.

- Gravedigger in general. He's still on the loose and will find another way to enact his plans

- Whatever it is that Odell's daughter doing turning people into living CPUs in cyberpunk Wakanda

- Lady Eve. How she came back from the dead and her disappearance

Am I missing anything?

What about Jefferson's job? If he's not going to be Black Lightning anymore, I'd at least like to see him returning to teaching the younger generation.

[wleakr]

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.

[Frontier]

Well that was a mostly unsatisfying end to a very uneven series of events. I liked everything with Jefferson and him in that limbo-like place, plus his final confrontation with Tobias that needed to happen...but the other stuff didn't really work for me. Lynn had nothing to do, Khalil's plot was resolved by just making him forget, Lopez was an afterthought, and Jen...well, at least it was nice to see China back and do a random dance at the end. Way too much time was devoted to JJ if she was just going to end up being this weird evil ionosphere glaze thing. If she and Jefferson spent more time together and he kept thinking things were off about her, maybe it would've made more sense.

Agreed.

They also didn't resolve the idea that Jen only cares about being Lightning and isn't thinking about her future. Is she going to go off to college? That end scene with the family didn't give me the sense of a true ending because Jeff passed the torch to his three daughters completely unprompted by anything. I guess he needs to step down to focus on his marriage? And why is Gambi retiring again?

Well, Gambi's got a new girlfriend...

Darn it. I really liked the idea of them exploring some duality themes.

Maybe Khalil can visit Central City.

It was kind of a cop-out in that Jefferson was so insistent on not killing Tobias, but considering how intense the fight was, it felt like kill or be killed and Jefferson was just trying to win.

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

Yeah, so disjointed for the final scene we got of our main characters. I think the bad news was TC was going to tell Jen that Khalil has no memory of her. That was handled poorly.

I thought the season 3 ending of the Pierce's power walk was a better ending.

Was Tobias the harpooned whale? Wasn't he quoting Ahab from Moby-Dick? Feels like mixed metaphors.

Sounds like Tobias.

It felt more like a final punchline to me. "Lala always comes back, so...the final shot is him coming back!" I think it also might mean that crime in Freeland is never going to be completely eradicated and that with Tobias gone, Lala will fill the void. Heroes will always have work to do.

I don't know if that's a very satisfactory way of ending your series though, rather than on the protagonists finally happy and at peace.

What about Jefferson's job? If he's not going to be Black Lightning anymore, I'd at least like to see him returning to teaching the younger generation.

It feels like the least we've seen of Garfield all season, although I feel like we maybe saw it as much as we did in season 3.

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.

Yeah, that's the only way it makes sense how much they pushed JJ before OG!Jen came back.

[Immortal Weapon]

What about Jefferson's job? If he's not going to be Black Lightning anymore, I'd at least like to see him returning to teaching the younger generation.

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

[j9ac9k]

The Jennifer actress is already out. And honestly, as much as I like the Anissa actress, her powerset on its own is underwhelming. And the shapeshifter isn’t much better.

I would guess that's a budget thing. They seemed to want to keep the action scenes to mostly hand-to-hand with a few enhancements, or a powered up finishing move, but no real "super power" fights.

It seemed to me Anissa was more powerful earlier on in the show. Again, probably a budget thing.

[Frontier]

I would guess that's a budget thing. They seemed to want to keep the action scenes to mostly hand-to-hand with a few enhancements, or a powered up finishing move, but no real "super power" fights.

It seemed to me Anissa was more powerful earlier on in the show. Again, probably a budget thing.

She really didn't get to do much this season other than fight low-level thugs.

Her biggest fight was probably with Grace against Ishmael and she lost that one.

[Anarchist]

When has Grace ever done anything remotely notable?

She was probably the character whose potential was wasted the most during this show.

[KabutoRyder]

When has Grace ever done anything remotely notable?

She was probably the character whose potential was wasted the most during this show.

I absolutely LOVE Grace Choi from the comics, so their TV take on her is something that will likely infuriate me until the end of time.

[Immortal Weapon]

When has Grace ever done anything remotely notable?

She was probably the character whose potential was wasted the most during this show.

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.

[Captain Craig]

I finally got around to watching the finale and it seems the discussion here has already covered the main unsatisfactory points.
For a show that was really rocking for 2, 2.5 seasons it really ended in a disappointing manner. Still, the show gave Jefferson/BL some big exposure that I hope future projects are able to capitalize from.

[The Darknight Detective]

I finally got around to watching the finale and it seems the discussion here has already covered the main unsatisfactory points.
For a show that was really rocking for 2, 2.5 seasons it really ended in a disappointing manner. Still, the show gave Jefferson/BL some big exposure that I hope future projects are able to capitalize from.

I basically agree, though I suspect Covid didn't help matters for the show. For most of the Black Lightning's run, though, it was damn good.

[Frontier]

When has Grace ever done anything remotely notable?

She was probably the character whose potential was wasted the most during this show.

Even the finale alludes to more background stuff about her that the show will never get to dive into.

At least she mauled a guy as a tiger?