Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Black Lightning Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 5 - The Book Of Blood: Chapter 1 - Requiem

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Jennifer agrees to meet with Khalil, who is feeling the pressure to take up more and more responsibilities in Tobias' organization. Meanwhile, the tension continues to build between Lynn and Dr. Jace as Anissa takes on a job at the free clinic and Jefferson investigates Gambi's apparent death, while still refusing to believe that his foster father is truly dead.



Influences

The Black Lightning comics of Tony Isabella and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Gambi's van is similar to Nick Fury's)


Performances

It's all too rare for an actor to underplay a scene where they are mean to be drunk, but Cress Williams does a fantastic job playing Jefferson as a realistic, quiet drunk.


Artistry

The opening sequence of Gambi fighting Tobias' men set to Dean Martin's Ain't That A Kick In The Head is well-blocked and well-shot.

Showing the flashback sequences to Khalil and Jennifer's talk at the end of the last episode in black and white is a nice touch.


Technobabble

Gambi's delivery van is modified with bullet-proof windows and an AI that advises him as to the damage of his van.

Dr. Jace finds a way to save all of the Green Light Babies using Lynn's serum. The problem, she says, is that they looked at each pod as an individual organism. By treating them as a collective unit, and increasing the serum dosage 28-fold to account for the number of vaccinated kids and spinning the cells, it will stave off the cellular deterioration and reach a gestalt with overall stability in the entire collective. This is later revealed to be a lie, however, as Dr. Jace faked the simulation and killed most of the Green Light Babies in the process.


Dialogue Triumphs

Jennifer: I just miss this place. I miss the teachers. I miss my friends. I miss... I miss being called the Queen of Garfield.
Khalil: (snorts) You hate that name.
Jennifer: Yes, I really do. But I would kill for it right now. Because it would mean that I'm actually in school and not locked in the Pierce Penitentiary because my parents think the world is too dangerous for me to live in.

Councilman Kwame Parker: Is this what your version of a law-abiding citizen looks like?
Tobias: Depends on what law you're referring to. I adhere to the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten. Either you're dining or you're dinner.

Jefferson: (To Henderson) You have no idea what my life is like. The sacrifices I've made. This city.. I've given everything for this city, man. My blood, my sweat, my tears...and it just takes. It just takes. And takes. And takes... takes....

Tobias: Like it or not, every successful person remembers two things in life - the first time they tried caviar and the first time they could enjoy it without worrying what it cost.

Two-Bits: (To Black Lighting) You just can't be sneaking up on people like that! Man, I could have shot you! (quieter) If I had a gun. Which I don't. Because I'm on probation.


Continuity

Gambi can speak Japanese.

Six staff members at the free clinic resigned after the bomb scare in 204.

Anissa takes a volunteer job at the free clinic.

Jennifer ignores another text from Khalil.

Tobias blackmails a councilman named Kwame Parker over the fact that he took money from Martin Proctor.

Anissa helps a pregnant woman named Anaya. The father of her baby is an overprotective man named Deacon.

Anissa finds out Henderson knows about her secret life as Thunder.

Henderson tells Jefferson and Anissa about Gambi's apparent death. He says nobody saw him get out of his van before it exploded.

Jefferson doesn't tell Henderson about Gambi's secret life.

Lynn gets her formula for a cure for the Green Light Babies finished. Despite this, the prognosis is 50/50 as to whether it can save their lives given how far gone most of them are.

There are 28 Green Light Babies who are fading.

Lynn refuses to start human trials until there's a chance they can save all the Green Light Babies.

Anissa goes to Grace's apartment and tells her that she would want to spend a day with her if she only had one day left to live.

Anissa and Grace spend the night together, but the next day Grace says it was a mistake.

Grace says her family was not always present and it made her independent.

Grace says Anissa was the first person who could get behind her barriers.

Grace is shown to have something strange happening to her skin that generates an audible clicking noise. She is taking some kind of medication that stops it.

Jennifer refers to the fight with the ASA agents in 113.

Lynn goes to Gambi's apartment to find an gold pocket watch that has a picture of Jefferson with Gambi. It is revealed to have the inscription "Gambi, Thank you for always being there, Jefferson."

Councilman Parker holds a press conference announcing that an anonymous donor is paying to move the free clinic to a safer neighborhood and will be hiring new staff for it and buying new equipment. He says the donor is a man who has just reentered the community and wants to help but refuses to answer if it is Tobias Whale or not.

Jefferson gets drunk at Two-Bits' bar and beats up a man who gets handsy with a waitress.

Tobias paid off the reporter who asked if he was the anonymous donor.

It has been 20 years since Tobias adopted Synoide.

Tobias says that Khalil is the only family he has left and threatens to kill him if he fails him again.

Two Bits tells Black Lightning that the word on the street is that people think the government killed Gambi but that nobody saw him get out of his van before it blew up.

Deacon dies in the free clinic, after running in bleeding. He asks Anissa to find Anaya and save his baby. After he is dead, some strange kind of clear viscous substances pours out of the wounds in his head.

Anissa is able to track Deacon to South Freeland using Gambi's CCTV scanner.

Khalil stops by Jennifer's window to check on her and see how she's doing after Gambi's death.

Dr. Jace faked her simulation and the resulting experiment results in all but 14 of the Green Light Babies dying.

On the way to South Freeland, Anissa is pulled over by a Sheriff Clark, who seems to have worms crawling under his skin. We hear some of the same noises we heard early when Grace was alone. Anissa drives off, with the Sheriff apparently content that she's been scared out of South Freeland.


Location

South Freeland.


The Bottom Line

An interesting episode if only for all the questions it raises and how little idea we have about the answers. Is Gambi really dead? What's the deal with Grace? What is Tobias' plan for the land where the free clinic is? What's going on in South Freeland? What will the aftermath of most of the Green Light Babies dying be?  Throw in some great character development across the board and this season is starting to pick up.


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