Hello and welcome back to The nerd shelf!
Today's post is going to be on the season two premiere of Black Lightning. It's based on the DC comic character of the same name. It's another Berlanti show but it's not in the Arrowverse. The show is about the retired Black Lightning who returns to the hero life and how it affects his family life. It's an action-packed superhero show that deals with real issues in an amazing way.
I fell in love with this show when it premiered at the beginning of this year. I love to see so much representation of different people on the screen and to have a black superhero on tv is great. I love how they talk about these issues that people of color and specifically black people deal with on a daily basis. I think it's great for people like me, who are white, to see these things. It's hard to understand what someone goes through when you never will have to go through those things and it's easy to go blind to those things. This show is doing an amazing job of dealing with these issues and manages to still be a fun superhero show.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
I'm going to be honest, I have mixed feelings about this premiere. There were some things that just felt way too rushed for me. I love the show and overall the episode was great but there were a few plot points that just didn't work for me. Let's get into it.
So Jefferson (Cress Williams) is dealing with the aftermath of the assault on the school. The school board does not like the fact that he was nowhere to be seen that day. They do not like the fact that they couldn't reach him at all and they don't like his excuse of being away with his family. I get why they are upset with him. They don't know that he is Black Lightning. He can't tell them either. He tries to argue his case but it doesn't go well. One of the members on the board, Dr. Napier Frank (Robert Townsend), talks to him alone and they have an argument. Frank thinks Jefferson is too stubborn. Jefferson makes a great point here though. Frank says that Jefferson has been too stubborn about not having security in the school and Jefferson tells him that the board always have money for metal detectors and armed guards but not for books or computers. There are better ways to help these children and help them to not end up in a gang or on drugs than these security measures. Let's educate our children. I think education and giving someone a hobby when they are growing up is the best thing you can o for a person. Does that mean that everyone will stay out of gangs or not take drugs? No. But I think it will reduce the numbers that we have today. I believe that some of the worlds biggest problems, racism, for example, is because people are ignorant and uneducated. It's not always about just pure hatred. These people might have grown up in a bubble of just white people and they have never met a person of color before. I know that that was the case of many of my classmates when I was younger. They don't understand and they are being fed hatred towards immigrants by politicians and news stories. Same thing with teen pregnancies. Why do they happen? Because people don't get a good education when it comes to sex if they even get one at all. Some of them might just not be careful and practice safe sex but I think that the lack of education plays a bigger part in it. We have these poor communities all over the world that don't get the opportunity to get a good education, to make something out of themselves without being in debt for the rest of their lives so they feel like their only option is to turn towards criminal activity to support their families. And if a school that has put so much effort into making these kids feel safe and trusted starts to have these extreme security measures they probably will feel even more unsafe. And they will definitely feel less trusted. I think Jefferson is right in this argument, they should focus more on a better education for these children.
In the end, Jefferson steps down as principal to save the school. This shows us how invested he is in this community and its children. He puts away his pride and decides that it's better that the school is here even if he's not involved anymore. I wonder what he's going to do now though. Is there a chance that he can still work at the school? We'll see.
So one of the plot points that I found very frustrating and rushed was when Henderson (Damon Gupton) confronts Jefferson about being Black Lightning. I like that he knows now but it felt a bit rushed to me. I feel like we never saw any hints of him putting it together, and maybe I just don't remember it from last season. I just think that we should have seen him figuring it out a little. To me it felt like the writers threw it in there. Do I feel like Jefferson should have told him earlier? Yes. I understand why Henderson feels so betrayed. If my best friend kept a secret like that from me for so many years I would have been pissed. That trust that we had would have been broken. But I also understand why Jefferson kept it from him. He feels like everyone who knows who he is will be in danger. And he's kind of right in that. But I also feel like they are in danger no matter what.
The government is keeping the Green Light babies in the pods and the families have to sue if they want to see them. This will cost a lot though and it's money that they don't have. Anissa (Nafessa Williams) thinks that she and Jefferson should help but Jefferson thinks that they have done their part and that they should let the justice system run its course. Anissa decides to go all Robin Hood and steal a shit tone of money from drug dealers and give it to the families. I loved the hallway fight scene, although all I can think about is Daredevil when I see one. I think it's great that she didn't use her Thunder costume because that would draw waaaaay too much attention. We see her at the end of the episode hiding more money in her closet. I feel like she's going to get into some trouble because of this. I like that Anissa is so passionate about helping people but sometimes I feel like she goes too far too fast. I feel like she needs to take a breath and think about some situations before jumping into them if you understand what I mean.
So the cops are going after Green Light babies. Well, they are using this as an excuse to be brutal towards young black people. There's one kid that we see in the news at the beginning of the episode, Issa (Myles Truitt), who is killed by the cops. But then later we see him coming back to life and crawl out of a body bag. His mother starts to say that she doesn't want anything to do with him. In the beginning, it seems like she was in shock and she says something about it not being real. I mean who wouldn't be in shock if you saw someone come back to life. But the rest with her saying that she doesn't want anything to do with him I feel was a cause of his powers. We see them under his skin and after that, she pushes him away. I wonder if his powers have to do with fears. He runs away and then we see him at the end of the episode in some abandoned warehouse. I feel like we are going to see him again.
Lynn (Christine Adams) wants to work on the pods. She is being questioned by the ASA and the agent who is interviewing her knows that she's lying. Jefferson doesn't like that she wants to work on them which is kind of hypocritical. She has been studying Green Light for a while now and she probably knows more than anyone else at this point and she wants to help so why shouldn't she? I mean the only reason I can find to why she shouldn't is because she has to work with the ASA. The agent who interviewed her is going to find out what she's hiding. Anyway, she gets to work on the pods in the end.
Kara (Skye P. Marshall) is on the run from everyone at this point. She's going to her car when Syonide (Charlbi Dean) comes out from the shadows. They have a fight which was so great. I love seeing women being badass on screen. I loved Karas shoes and how they turned into weapons. But here's another plot point that I had trouble with. Syonide's death. Why. It felt so rushed to all of a sudden kill her. They built her up to be this dangerous and scary henchwoman to Tobias (Marvin "Krondon" Jones III) all throughout last season and now she's just dead. I don't know I just didn't like how they did that.
Kara goes to Gambi's (James Remar) shop and she wants help. She wants out of the ASA and out of the city, maybe even country and she'll get the briefcase for him if he helps her. I don't know if she knows what's in the briefcase but she knows that it's worse than they think. Gambi tells Jefferson and I loved this scene. I loved that he finally knows who Kara is. Gambi agrees to Karas offer and she goes to Tobias apartment. She has these weird glasses on and I wonder if Gambi gave them to her. Tobias shoots his harpoon into her stomach. I thought she was a goner when that happened but she cuts the line and throws herself out of a window without the briefcase. Tobias says that Syonide was the only thing left in this world that he cared about and that makes me think that he will be more ruthless than ever.
The last person I want to talk about is Jennifer (China Anne McClain). Jennifer is floating and glowing in her sleep. She's not in control of her powers and to be honest I think it's because she doesn't want anything to do with them in the first place. If you don't understand them how can you control them? She accidentally burns Lynn and Lynn looks really scared for a moment before realizing how it affects Jennifer. I loved the scene on the roof with them.
Jennifers best friend, Kiesha (Kyanna Simone Simpson) is not helping either. She's talking about people with powers and calling them freaks. She doesn't know that Jennifer is one of them but again this has a lot to do with ignorance. She doesn't know any better. And she's probably afraid of it. Jennifer freaks out and locks herself in her bathroom and tells Keisha to go home. Here's another thing that I didn't really like. The way that Anissa and especially Lynn was reacting to this rubbed me the wrong way. Lynn was crying and they are acting like everything about her powers doing what they are doing is wrong. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about it but I feel like Jennifer would feel better if she didn't cry. Jefferson goes into the bathroom and Jennifer is sitting in the bathtub and she is just in a glowing bubble. She doesn't know how to stop it and Jefferson pulls her out and kind of absorbs her powers. Lynn did describe Jennifer's powers as a battery last season so I feel like it makes sense. I mean Jennifer obviously needs to deal with this in some way and I don't think Lynn's idea of her going to therapy is necessarily a bad thing. It's going to be hard because she can't actually fully open up, but she needs to talk to someone or train with Jefferson. She needs to learn how to control her powers.
Okay, those are my thoughts on the season premiere. I love this show and I'm really excited to watch the rest of this season. The thing I want to see the most right now is Jennifer learning how to control her powers.
/Johanna
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