Black Lightning on the CW

[Jim Kelly]

She's knows everything about the brain, but she's still learning about the heart.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I almost wonder if the mom is hiding something at work...

[vitruvian]

Similarly I'm surprised at the dinner with Henderson that Anissa didn't outright point out that much like Henderson is complaining about folks caught in the crossfire of Black Lightning's actions the cops in real life (and likely here) aren't always all that much better, and we already know the cops are corrupt.

I do think it was amazingly messed up the way Jefferson referred to people dying as collateral damage. It's one of the few times I actually sorta agreed with Lynn.

Except that none of what has happened has been people caught in the crossfire or collateral damage. None. Zero. Zilch.

Lawanda is shot by Lala. Period. Whether she was partially inspired to stand her ground due to Black Lightning saving Pierce's daughters or not, it's still completely her choice to be trying to rescue her own kid, and completely on Lala. A crossfire would be a situation where Black Lightning was fighting the 100 some place that a fire fight wouldn't be taking place otherwise, and either his blasts or their bullets found an unintended target nearby. If one of the girls held captive at the hotel, or someone across the street, or even a john had caught a bullet when BL went in after his girls, that would have been collateral damage due to someone being caught in the crossfire of a fight between him and the 100, but Lawanda is not that - she is *direct* damage by the 100, with BL nowhere around.

Likewise with the march and Khalil and the reverend. A peaceful march, with all attendees including Khalil showing up of their own volition, is not a fight unless someone like the 100 chooses to make it one, and was not BL's idea. The 100 sent gunmen with orders to shoot marchers; BL rightly anticipated that the marchers would be in danger with a suspiciously absent police force, and successfully stops one gunman but not another. The bullets were not flying because Black Lightning showed up to fight the 100; the 100 gunmen were *always* going to target the marchers. Therefore, again this is *not* an example of civilians getting caught in the crossfire between Black Lightning and the 100; those who got hurt, like Khalil and the reverend were *not* collateral damage, but direct victims of premeditated violence by the 100. If Henderson wants to criticize Black Lightning for failing to protect everyone in the march, that might be fair except for the glass houses 'well then why weren't you there?' factor, but there is no way of interpreting the scene in which Black Lightning's presence caused any bullets to hit anyone, not even say by ricochet off of his shields; had he not been there, we have every reason to believe that dozens of marchers would have been killed instead of two severely injured.

So even if we didn't have reason to believe the cops were corrupt, even the central point of Henderson's argument doesn't hold water, and all Jefferson really has to beat himself up over is that maybe he inspired people like Lawanda and the Reverend and the marchers to make riskier choices than they would have otherwise... but to take on too much of that guilt is to deny other people the right to make their own choices about whether it's worth it to fight for the community. But bottom line, none of the violence directed towards civilians, and none of their deaths, are on him... at least yet. Or at least, they're only on him in the sense that he takes on guilt for not being able to *stop* them, but they are certainly not directly or indirectly caused by his actions. If in the future, an electric blast goes awry and fries someone with a pacemaker, or 100 thugs shooting at him miss or have their bullets ricochet off his shield and hit an innocent bystander, or he causes something to explode or burn down with civilians in the vicinity, then and only then will we be able to say that innocent people became collateral damage due to being caught in the crossfire. But until then, even if the 100 escalates attacks on civilians, that is neither collateral damage nor those civilians being caught in the crossfire... that is direct damage done by one party and one party only, the 100.

[Agent Z]

Been tired so I haven't had a chance to really react over here about the new episode. Lots of fun once more.

I wonder if the show's ever going to address the whole easy access to guns thing the show is showing with all the gang kids? Probably not but I mean...like every single gang related kid seems to have one.

Love watching Grace and Anissa but it's amusing to remember that Anissa in the comics was the passive one in comparison to Grace. Though given her injuries and all I'm wondering if Grace is even aware Anissa has powers or not.

And while I appreciated the whole "Cops are putting black people into prison for NOTHING." bit, it rings a bit hollow when coming from a man who's literally peddling drugs that are killing kids. And who already has 2 strikes. But either way I at least get the situation since ultimately the cops aren't much better in Freeland and ultimately Jefferson DOES know Two-Bits.

Similarly I'm surprised at the dinner with Henderson that Anissa didn't outright point out that much like Henderson is complaining about folks caught in the crossfire of Black Lightning's actions the cops in real life (and likely here) aren't always all that much better, and we already know the cops are corrupt.

I do think it was amazingly messed up the way Jefferson referred to people dying as collateral damage. It's one of the few times I actually sorta agreed with Lynn.


I'm half expecting that Khalil's spine WILL heal and isn't severed and Whale just paid off Khalil's Doctors.

I do wonder if given Anissa LOVES Black Lightning's work that Jennifer will thanks to Whale's work with Khalil become the one who actually try to take Black Lightning down (not knowing he's her dad). Thunder and Black Lightning versus Lightning...

Also...is it jut me or does the show bring up and then just ignore the whole way Greenlight seems to give people superpowers? I mean Bernard tore off a urinal, threw it with enough force to crack it and had to have TWO lightning blasts to stay down... I know humans in real life can do some amazing things especially when not in control of their actions but...that just seemed like outright super strength.

2 Bits' point was that 30 years was a disproportionate sentence for a crime a white person would have spent less time in prison for. It isn't that he's innocent, it's that his punishment wouldn't fit the crime.

[PyroTwilight]

2 Bits' point was that 30 years was a disproportionate sentence for a crime a white person would have spent less time in prison for. It isn't that he's innocent, it's that his punishment wouldn't fit the crime.

I mean. I could grasp the point being brought up but it wasn't really addressed as such in the show. But it really doesn't make sense in the context as such.

It's one thing to sell drugs that aren't doing any real harm to others and pointing out the way police and the government punish that, and trying to apply that point about a super drug that kills a ton of its users and can apparently give them vague super strength that can kill even more.

[Jim Kelly]

I almost wonder if the mom is hiding something at work...

I definitely got that feeling.

[90'sCartoonMan]

Jeff is really feeling the weight of his dual responsibilities as Black Lightning and the principal, where he's trying to save people in both identities and still losing them. I think it's probably going to get even worse with Khalil. Could this be his super villain origin story and Whale does something to give him some sort of powers to compensate for losing the ability to use his legs and then send him after BL?

We definitely need to see a story that focuses more on Henderson. I like how this show isn't afraid to shy away from police officer bias, but it does raise the question of just how much Henderson can do for his community.

We also got to hear more of the Black Lightning song by Godholly, including the line "This is our Superman, Robin, and the Bat". I'd like to think this song actually exists in-universe.

Inspired by THE OUTSIDERS comic book we saw last week, I have an idea how BLACK LIGHTNING can be referenced in the Arrowverse but yet not be incuded.

On THE FLASH, we find out that Joe's favourite new TV show is BLACK LIGHTNING, when Vibe is over to the house one night. Cisco gets zapped by the TV which causes him to vibe the world of BL.

The STAR team realize this is an alternate Earth. However, when Cisco tries to breach onto this other Earth, he's stopped by Gypsy. She tells him there's a prime directive that no outsiders can contact this Earth--if they did, it would cause a whole mess of problems on the order of destroying the Multiverse as they know it.

So there's a Monitor system to ensure that no one breaches into this world.

That'd be kind of fun.

The Vice Principal can't have the D so she is coming after his J-O-B.

Book it.

I can understand her frustration at being Jeff's errand woman. Does he even have a secretary? Wasn't there a line about how the board would get rid of him and bring in someone else not as connected to the community? Guess that means the Vice Principal wouldn't be promoted to his position.

Not sure what you mean here. Are you talking about her testing her new found powers? It is a superhero show when all is said and done. It's only going to be so "grounded". Thanfully.

Yeah, I mean, it's not like I'm NOT expecting this story, but it clashes a little bit with the rest of the plots. Before discovering her powers, Anissa believed in speaking out and marching and protesting. Now that she has powers, she seems to suddenly think those things don't matter and all she needs to do is "fight bad guys". What's that going to accomplish? She needs a specific goal/target, otherwise she's just another meta who wants to fight crime and could exist in any environment. Even fighting the drug dealers in this episode just amounted to knocking them out. I do like her subplot, I just want it to fit more into the Black Lightning saves his city from Whale and the 100 story.

[Frontier]

We definitely need to see a story that focuses more on Henderson. I like how this show isn't afraid to shy away from police officer bias, but it does raise the question of just how much Henderson can do for his community.

It feels like Henderson's only role on this show so far is to complain to Jeff "Jefferson there's only so much I can do, it's just that I can't actually do anything," which forces Black Lightning to get involved.

[vitruvian]

Yeah, I mean, it's not like I'm NOT expecting this story, but it clashes a little bit with the rest of the plots. Before discovering her powers, Anissa believed in speaking out and marching and protesting. Now that she has powers, she seems to suddenly think those things don't matter and all she needs to do is "fight bad guys". What's that going to accomplish? She needs a specific goal/target, otherwise she's just another meta who wants to fight crime and could exist in any environment. Even fighting the drug dealers in this episode just amounted to knocking them out. I do like her subplot, I just want it to fit more into the Black Lightning saves his city from Whale and the 100 story.

I tend to think she's working her way up to that.... right now she's still learning what her powers can do, and only just figured out how to reliably activate them. Both the dealers and the homophobes assaulting her new girlfriend kind of put themselves in her way, rather than her having to seek them out. I mean, is she even sure yet that she's bulletproof when using her density powers, vs just being able to bounce heavy blunt objects falling on her?

Once she gets a better handle on things, it's possible she will start trying to work her way up the 100 food chain. She could also consider using her powers in service to the kind of activism she's already engaged in, but between the factor of not being able to exactly shield more than one or two people in the march with her body, concern for her family's safety (oh the irony, of course), and apparently conspiracy theories about the government capturing and experimenting on metahumans being alive and well, it will be more than understandable if she goes the secret identity route.

[vitruvian]

It feels like Henderson's only role on this show so far is to complain to Jeff "Jefferson there's only so much I can do, it's just that I can't actually do anything," which forces Black Lightning to get involved.

Even beyond Jefferson putting on the costume again, much more of the police being ordered not to do anything much about the 100 and Freeland could start to see local activists going beyond the reverend's peaceful protests and joining organizations like the New Black Panther Party and the Huey P. Newton Gun Club... then you'd get Henderson going on about how people are taking the law into their own hands and folks on the other side (if the writers let them have any coherent arguments) asking again what they're supposed to do then if the cops won't show up, as well as whether 2nd amendment rights don't apply to black folk as well as white - and Jefferson, who has probably been working hard to keep guns and everything else out of his school, being really torn on the issue.

[Jim Kelly]

The series is taking its time to set up the main characters and the basic direction. Every episode they drop a few hints that there's more going on. And they also slowly edge the reality a little bit further out of the ordinary into strange territory.

I like that deliberate process. It shows that they have thought through far beyond the first season--as I think there's a lot they won't get to in the next nine episodes. There's things that won't pay off for a long time. That's very different from the other CW super-hero shows, where they only seem to plan out one season at a time, and even within that season, they don't always know where they're going.

I think that Inspector Henderson is being back burnered for now, because there's probably a big story they want to do about the police force, but it's too big for this season. In the first episode, when Jefferson told Henderson about his police stop, the Inspector said those probably weren't his guys (or something to that effect). Which made me pay attention. Maybe Henderson has his own trusted men on the force and others have theirs. Eventually,by season two or three, we could see Henderson and Black Lightning working together against the dirty cops, to clean up the community.

[AJBopp]

The series is taking its time to set up the main characters and the basic direction.

The characters: yes. The main direction, I think, was set up pretty clearly in the first scene of the first episode, when Jefferson is lecturing his daughter on "returning violence for violence only multiplies violence adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars." That's exactly what's happening now that Jefferson is bringing violence to the 100 and what lies behind them. Where the show can ultimately take this setup is very intriguing.



Inevitably, there are going to be super powered villains in this show, but I almost think it will lose something vital when they are introduced. I'm really liking the storyline that a person with extraordinary powers struggles so much to bring positive change to an ordinary world.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I definitely got that feeling.

I'd say that it would be either a way to remove the powers from BL so that they can be together or that she got somehow roped into something that would stop people like BL that had powers...

[Immortal Weapon]

Jeff is really feeling the weight of his dual responsibilities as Black Lightning and the principal, where he's trying to save people in both identities and still losing them. I think it's probably going to get even worse with Khalil. Could this be his super villain origin story and Whale does something to give him some sort of powers to compensate for losing the ability to use his legs and then send him after BL?

I don't think Khalil will be a super villain. The plan is to use him as a tool to turn the community against BL.

[vitruvian]

I don't think Khalil will be a super villain. The plan is to use him as a tool to turn the community against BL.

I'm still not sure how they plan to play that angle, when BL wasn't carrying a gun and the gunmen were targeting the crowd, including Khalil, before BL even showed up (to their knowledge, it wouldn't be obvious he was shadowing the parade route before jumping in). It would make more, if not much more, sense to blame the reverend for organizing the march that put them in harm's way, but as it is, the most you can blame BL for is not being 100% effective in protecting them. Maybe that's enough for people to turn on him, but they would kind of have to give up on any other form of resistance to the 100 as well.