Black Lightning Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 11 - The Book of Reunification: Chapter Two: Trial and Errors

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

Plot

With Tobias Whale having won the mayoral election by default and Lynn's lawyer suggesting a plea deal, Jefferson becomes more desperate than ever to find a way to take the fight to his archenemy. Luckily, Khalil has a lead on another old enemy who is on Tobias' payroll, but how far will Jefferson go to save the woman he loves from prison? Meanwhile, Tobias turns his attention to the new Lightning and the connection between Jennifer Pierce and JJ Stewart.

Influences

Daredevil: Born Again (supervillain devotes himself to destroying life of archenemy)


Artistry

The opening scene of Tobias playing Beethoven's 5th Symphony is great.

The use of colored light and the set design for the Painkiller/Looker fight is fantastic.


Technobabble

Lynn is able to develop a serum that can extract the silver element from anyone Looker controls.

A half-dose of Painkiller's venom can neutralize a metahuman's powers, leaving them alive but powerless.


Dialogue Triumphs

Detective Shakur: Why should I trust you, let alone help you?
Jefferson: Because now you know everything. All my cards are on the table. Look, Henderson said I could trust you. I'm trusting you with my life. Ball's in your court, man.


Continuity

Lightning attacks one of the courier shipments picking up the metagene samples from The Center for Gene Therapy and Genetic Research.

Lightning is caught on camera retrieving the gene samples.

Tobias orders a DNA scan to be run on the woman in the Lightning costume.

Jefferson and Gambi have a drink in public before Jefferson is due to meet with Lynn and her lawyer.

Keith Michaels says he thinks he can work out a reasonable plea deal that will see Lynn serving the bare minimum of jail time. Jefferson says that isn't acceptable, but Keith pointedly reminds him that he is Lynn's ex-husband, so he has no say. 

Lynn tells both of them to cool it and says she will decide whether or not to accept the plea deal on her own.

Tobias wins the mayoral election by default after his opponent, Councilman Holland, suddenly drops out of the race.

Chief Lopez meets with Tobias and asks for more next-generation DEGs. Instead, Tobias offers her meta-boosters and bracelets, telling her about his forcefield that depowers all the metahumans in Freeland except for the ones he has working for him.

Tobias gets the results of his DNA scan on the new Lightning and confirms that it matches Jennifer Pierce's DNA.

Anissa tells Lynn and Jefferson about her investigation into Tobias' metagene theft and gives them the frozen DNA sample container. 

TC tells Jefferson that he's been in contact with Khalil and that he has some information for him.

Khalil tells Jefferson about the secret ledger he retrieved in 410 and how Tobias has a lot of people on his payroll, including cops, lawyers, judges, public figures and barbers. He also mentions the mystery woman who was being paid 10 times more than anyone else, but who has no digital footprint. The only information he has on her is a codename: Looker.

Jefferson tells Khalil about Looker and how she apparently escaped ASA custody sometime during the Markovian War.

The payments to Looker began roughly three months earlier.

Khalil offers to go after Looker for Jefferson and bring her to justice, since there is an address for her in the secret ledger.

Khalil says he intends to come home to Freeland after he finally gets Painkiller's order to kill the Pierce family out of his head. He asks after Jennifer, but Jefferson and TC don't tell him about how her appearance has changed.

Jefferson tells Lynn what Khalil told him and how he thinks Looker was responsible for framing them both. He suspects one of the people being controlled ins Special Agent Kevin Mason, but he's going to need help to prove it.

Jefferson decides to approach Detective Shakur about his plan.

Something is still off with Jennifer's powers, which leaves her feeling like a drained battery.

TC was able to hack Uriah's social media account and determine that it was the police who set up the ambush for Lightning in 409.

TC also sets Uriah up with a date with JJ later that night.

Jefferson tells Detective Shakur about Looker and his belief that she is mind-controlling Special Agent Kevin Mason. Shakur is skeptical but says he will think about helping him, but he has another appointment that night.

Jefferson asks if the appointment is with Black Lightning. Shakur asks how he knew that and Jefferson reveals the burner phone he uses as Black Lightning.

Shakur is not happy about being manipulated but ultimately relents with Jefferson points out that he is trusting him with his secret identity and his life now.

JJ's date with Uriah goes well.

Detective Shakur sets up a meeting between himself, Jefferson and Special Agent Mason and arranges for three cups of coffee to be set aside for them. Jefferson slips the anti-Looker serum into Mason's cup.

Mason has an immediate reaction to the coffee and the silver element tries to escape after Looker speaks through him and he vomits up the element. Jefferson is able to catch it.

Mason confirms that he was being mind-controlled by Looker and says he is going to do what he can to help clear Jefferson and Lynn's names on his end.

Lauren meets with Gambi again. He once again apologizes, tells her about Tobias Whale being a crook and explains how he's been trying to work out a way to track down the energy emitter.

Anissa speaks with Lauren and while not revealing the whole truth of their work together or that she's a superhero, he shows Lauren her research that Monovista is stealing the metagenes out of young mothers.

Lauren agrees to help Gambi with finding the emitter, but not to help him - only to figure out who is stealing from her employee and got them involved in some shady business.

Red attacks JJ and Uriah and Uriah is shot in the crossfire. Red says that everyone she cares about will die if she doesn't quit being Lightning.

Uriah dies after telling JJ to keep fighting to make the world a better place.

Jennifer and TC mourn Uriah's death together.

Khalil confronts Looker in a mental battle, where he and Painkiller gang up on the psychic vampire.

Khalil doses Looker with a half-dose of his venom, telling her she won't get the rest of his antidote until she confesses to everything she did to help Tobias Whale frame the Pierces. 

Gambi and Lauren discover that there are veins of Promethium buried around the Freeland tunnels, making it all but impossible for them to find the emitter by tracking its energy signature.

Jefferson tells Lynn that Detective Hassan is en route to arrest Looker and Agent Mason is working with them.

Jefferson proposes to Lynn again but she wants to throw a proper wedding for Anissa and Grace before she thinks of remarrying herself. She does, however, agree to "celebrate" with Jefferson that night.

Tobias recognizes Khalil from the security footage of his attack on Jesse Gentilucci's office.

Tobias calls Ishmael and tells him that there are some loose ends that need tidying up.


Location

An unnamed location outside of Freeland, where Looker is hiding out.


Untelevised Adventures

Looker escaped from ASA custody sometime during the War with Markovia.


The Fridge Factor

Uriah is killed purely to give Jennifer more angst ad dies because of her waning powers.


The Bottom Line

An oddly flat episode, despite everything that takes place during it. Uriah's death is just gratuitous and the reiintroduction of Looker seems like a bit much, despite her fight with Khalil and Painkiller being the visual highpoint of the episode. Jefferson coming to an accord with Detective Shakur also feels like it should have come earlier in the season. All in all it isn't bad, but it does seem very thrown together and none of the dialogue really sings. 

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.

Black Lightning Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 6 - The Book Of Blood: Chapter 2 - The Perdi

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




Plot

As Jefferson and Anissa confront the strangeness in South Freeland, Tobias orders Painkiller to take out Reverend Holt. Meanwhile, Lynn must deal with the aftermath of the deaths of half the children in her care and Freeland's response to the news.



Influences

Romeo and Juliet (the conflict between two houses and the forbidden romance between children of both houses), the Black Lighting comics of Tony Isabella and the series Batman and the Outsiders (character of Looker).


Artistry

The fight between Tobias and Painkiller may be the best in the show's history in terms of cinematography and sheer brutality.


Trivia

Emily Briggs aka Looker first appeared in Batman and the Outsiders #25 in September 1985. A mousy, quiet bank-teller who lived an ordinary life with her husband, Emily was abducted by the people of an underground civilization known as Abyssia. It was revealed that Emily was the last of their royal line and that she was destined to undergo a transformation that would coincide with the passing of Haley's Comet. For some reason, this triggered Emily's metagene, causing her to develop immense psychic powers, peak physical prowess and stunning good looks. She would later be attacked by vampires and turned into one, though her powers protected her from the worst of the traditional vampire weaknesses. She could be exposed to sunlight and holy objects have no effect on her, but she still must ingest blood to survive and no other form of sustenance can sustain her.

The Arrowverse version of Looker seems to be a metahuman, whose powers are similar to vampirism in that she can infect other people with an element that makes them super strong and super fast. She is a racist who took over South Freeland, creating her own race of Sange with superpowers who took over the city and forced the black residents into the woods.

Mention is made of the nation of Markovia in a radio report Gambi hears while he is shaving. In the comics, Markovia is a fictional nation in the DC Universe and home to the hero Geo-Force, who was part of the Outsiders along with Black Lightning.

The names of the two groups in South Freeland- The Sange and The Perdi - seemed to be based on the French words for :"The Blood" and "The Lost".


Technobabble

South Freeland is made up of two groups - The Perdi and The Sange. The Sange are white folks with powers who terrorize South Freeland and call the other folks, mostly black folks, The Perdi.  The Sange live in South Freeland proper. The Perdi live out in the woods. The Sange are also gun-runners and have been doing so for 30 years, shortly after a woman called Looker came to South Freeland.

Looker controls something she calls The Element - the silver substance that came out of Deacon when he died. It is this Element that turns ordinary people into Sange.

The Element can be transmitted to children at conception. This is why Looker senses that The Element wound up in Anaya's babies after Deacon impregnated her.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Gambi questions the thug who was hired to kill him.)
Thug: I don't know who hired me! I got paid! I did the job.
Gambi: Obviously you didn't do the job. Or you wouldn't be sitting there.

Rev. Holt: If I'm wrong, you can take that money and buy your own clinic. Name it after your momma, for all I care. But you're not getting mine. Understand? Now, if I'm right - and I know I am - you can tell Tobias I said he can keep his money... and he can kiss my holy ass. You understand?

Tobias: (To Painkiller) Stop thinking. You're not very good at it. Just do what I tell you.

Painkiller: Yo, why are you even giving me the time of day?
Jennifer: This whole Painkiller thing is not you. We've all been through a lot. Plus, I don't want you to make any more mistakes. 'Cause you've made some bad decisions this year. Like, really bad.
Painkiller: I also made some good ones too.
Jennifer: Oh yeah? Like what?
(Painkiller takes her hand and kisses it.)


Continuity

Looker is revealed to be a woman of power in South Freeland, who has built up a network of people who are "part of her." out of former drug addicts and local officials. One of them, Jake, refuses to do her bidding, saying that she is worse than The Drugs And The Perdi and has the "worms" crawling under his skin pulled out. This kills him instantly, leaving a dried out husk behind. The worms come out as a silvery liquid, like what came out of Deacon when he died in 205.

Looker asks her followers to "follow The Element."

Gambi is revealed to be alive. We see him torturing one of the men hired to kill him, before shooting him after figuring out he doesn't know anything.

Dr. Jace's actions in 205 resulted in the deaths of 14 Green Light Babies.

Reverend Holt is the pastor of the Freeland United Methodist Church.

Rev. Holt refuses to take Tobias' money, recognizing Councilman Parker as his stooge.

Tobias orders Painkiller to kill Reverend Holt.

Painkiller discovers that Tobias was behind the attack that saw him paralyzed in 103.

Lynn only has 18 patients left - 14 children injected with the original vaccine and 4 users of Green Light. A near-riot breaks out at the press conference where she announces this and tells a grieving father they can't announce which children are still alive yet.

A radio report mentions a war in Markovia following the mysterious death of King Victor and the battle not going well for the Royalists.

Gambi is revealed to have survived the assassination attempt on him by the use of a trap door in his van.

Anissa finds Anaya and informs her that Deacon is dead. Her father has no idea who Deacon is.

Lynn is ambushed by the grieving father from the press conference, rear-ended in her car as he runs out and starts pounding on the class while trying to show her a picture of his daughter.

Painkiller tells Jennifer that Tobias is why he was paralyzed and that Tobias asked him to kill Reverend Holt.

Jennifer says she will help Painkiller to figure things out after he says he's only staying with Tobias because he has nowhere else to go.

Anissa delivers Anaya's baby only to discover that she's having twins. She winds up having one light-skinned baby and one dark-skinned baby.

Jefferson discovers that Anissa went to South Freeland as he visit Gambi's shop and sees her tracker lighting up on the computer.

A man named Joshua is revealed to be Deacon's killer. He was jealous that Anaya chose Deacon over him, as they both apparently impregnated her at the same time.

Anaya's mother tells Joshua that by killing Deacon, he has started a war.

Painkiller tries to scare Reverend Holt into leaving Freeland. When that doesn't work, he shoves him down and leaves, after Reverend Holt isn't scared even after being half-strangled to death.

South Freeland is run by two factions - the super-powered Sange gun-runners and the Perdi farmers. A woman called Looker controls The Sange.

Anaya says most of The Sange don't want to be Sange and had it forced upon them by Looker.

Anaya says Looker hates the Perdi and will stop at nothing to get her babies.

Tobias beats up Painkiller and threatens to kill him unless he kills Rev. Holt and his own mother.

The Sange are revealed to have super speed and super strength and Looker seems to control them as if through a hive-mind.

Gambi assists in the fight with The Sange remotely using an armed drone.

Jefferson speculates that Looker is a metahuman and one of the original kids who got the Green Light vaccine like him.

Anaya gets away with to Freeland with the white baby.

Anaya's parents and the other baby disappear.

Painkiller visits Jennifer and tells her he is going to go away.

Anaya's black baby is given to Looker, who becomes determined to get the white baby as well.


Location

South Freeland.


The Winick Factor

The apartheid metaphor for The Sange and The Perdi is really clumsy and heavily forced.


The Bottom Line

Jefferson says it best. "This is some weird stuff." While it's easy to see how the show runners might want to avoid the standard vampire tropes in regard to introducing Looker, the silver liquid element is as weird as the fact that South Freeland is ruled by a metahuman gang and nobody knows it or had done anything about it despite the government being shown to he heavily invested in controlling metahumans. Hopefully this will get explained in more detail next week. As is, the best parts of this episode involve Jennifer and Painkiller and not the actually superhero stuff.