Thursday, November 29, 2018

Black Lightning Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 7 - The Book Of Blood: Chapter 3 - The Sange

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





Plot

As Anissa and Jefferson continue their battle against Looker and work to rescue Amaya's second baby, Khalil and Jennifer begin to rekindle their relationship and Jennifer reveals her powers to him.


Influences

The Black Lightning comics of Tony Isabella.


Performances

China Anne McClain does a fantastic job in this episode, showing Jennifer Pierce to be a young lady of great strength and compassion while simultaneously acting very much like a typical teenager in regards to thinking she can't trust her parents.


Technobabble

Jefferson's suit has a camouflage mode that allows him to blend in with his surroundings.

Looker was controlling The Sange with theta waves.

The neocortex is the part of the brain involved in sensory perception, motor skills and language.

There are theories about how theta waves help animals navigate in the wild and effect behavior when people are asleep.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Jefferson discovers several of the Perdi strung up, upside down, along the forest path he was following.)
Jefferson:
Damn.
Anissa: What?
Jefferson: Let's just say... someone clearly drew a line in the sand.

Jennifer: I miss the way things used to be when I felt like me. And my family. I miss the way we used to be. And I know that... things are never going to be the same again. And there's nothing I can do about it and I hate that.

Looker: I've tried to model myself after you. I always felt like you and I had a lot in common.
Black Lightning: Yeah, I doubt that.
Looker:  No, really. We both want the drugs and crime off the street. We both make sacrifices for people that we don't even know. And the thing that I like about you the most is that you fight for your people. I fight for mine. You are a proud African American. I am a proud White American.
Black Lightning: (deadpan) You're a racist.
(There is a pregnant pause.)
Looker: Now how did you jump to racist so quick?
(Black Lightning gives her a look as if to say "You can't possibly think I'm that stupid.")
Black Lightning: (looking to his left)
Nice flag.
(POV shot revealing a Confederate flag is hung on the wall.)

(Jefferson is tied up on an improvised electric rack. Looker's henchmen, thinking he is dead, cut the power and start to leave the room. A baby's cry is heard nearby. Suddenly, Jefferson laughs. The two henchmen spin around stunned.)
Black Lightning: (eyes still closed) There she is.
(Jefferson opens his eyes which glow blue.)
Black Lightning: My power doesn't come from the suit. Thanks for the charge, though.
(Jefferson breaks the ropes binding his wrists and starts fighting the henchmen.)

Khalil: Jen? I can't... I can't see nothing.
(An orange light flares up as Jennifer makes an orange ball of lightning in her hand. Khalil spins around and sees her, stunned. )
Jennifer: Can you see now?

(Anissa is trying to explain how she thinks Looker's powers work.)
Jefferson: Please stop.
Anissa: Dad, this is really... Listen, you gotta listen to me.
Jefferson: No. No. I will pay you to stop.

Gambi: Someone tried to assassinate me. I still don't know who. It's better that they still think that I'm dead. It's safer for your family that I stay dead.
Jefferson: You gotta know by now... you ARE my family.
(Jefferson hugs Gambi forcefully.)


Continuity

It is revealed that Looker's control over The Sange is not telepathic and she still needs to speak to her followers to make her intentions known. She can, however, sense the presence of her "element" and is able to track Amaya's babies through it.

Jennifer tells Perenna that she has been seeing Khalil. She also says she feels trapped by her parents' efforts to keep her safe.

Gambi is revealed to be monitoring local phone calls for any mention of the name Pierce.

Gambi is a decent artist and is seen sketching a motorcycle.

Khalil and Jennifer meet at the Garfield High Stadium.

Jennifer refuses to abandon Khalil and advises him to try and scare Reverend Holt away again to buy time with Tobias as they figure out what to do next.

Reverend Holt says he isn't scared of Tobias.

Tobias intercepts Khalil leaving the church. Khalil runs.

Jefferson leaves the baby he rescued with Inspector Henderson.

Jennifer saves Khalil from a mob of Tobias' men, using her powers to create a blackout and short out the tracker they are using to find him.

Jennifer reveals her powers to Khalil.

Looker can elongate her nails, turning them into claws.

Looker loses control of her followers after being impaled on a clothes rack in the abandoned mall.

Jefferson decides to hand Looker over to the ASA, despite them experimenting on metahumans.

Anaya's father is revealed to be alive. Her mother died in the battle with The Sange.

Anaya's father takes her and her babies back into the fold.

Grace is continuing to have the weird issues with her skin she had in 205. She once again calms it with her medication.

Jefferson tracks Gambi to his hotel room.

Jefferson shows Gambi the transmitter he found in the South Freeland woods that tipped him off that he was alive.

Gambi says someone tried to assassinate him but he still doesn't know who.

Lynn returns home to find Jennifer missing.

Perenna tells Jefferson and Lynn she doesn't know where Jennifer is and can't tell them without violating the rules of her profession. She does tell them that she's with a boy and that she has never worked with a metahuman as powerful as Jennifer before. She cautions them that causing her to push away from them now could have dire consequences for everyone.

The episode ends with Khalil and Jennifer driving off together, leaving Freeland.


Location

South Freeland.


The Winick Factor

The revamp of Looker from the comics is just strange. It's like the show was afraid to introduce vampires into the mythology of the show, so they create a metahuman that is essential a vampire but they give her some weird metal thing instead of blood for some reason. It's all strange and confusing and barely touched upon in the episode.


The Bottom Line

Not a bad episode and not as strange as last week but it's hard to say if this one evens out to "good." The Looker storyline ends with a whimper and little explanation for the weirdness from last week. Thankfully, it's the smallest part of the episode and the largest part - Jennifer and Khalil - is more than wonderful enough to make up for the rest. It's still unclear what's going on with Grace and everything involving John and Lynn's work lives seems to have vanished completely. But the trailer promises more Jennifer and Khalil next week, so that's something.

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