​ "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Two: Maryam's Tasbih" – Black Lightning S03E02 Review

The occupation of Freelance continues.

There aren't a whole lot of surprises this week on Black Lightning, in "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Two: Maryam's Tasbih", Jeff and Lynn argue. Odell is a big ole bag of dicks except for the occasional "human" moments. Jennifer goes to school and sulks. Gambi sneaks. Inspector Bill blusters. Lala is off doing whatever he's doing.

One big revelation is that Khalil (Jordan Calloway) shows up. Although Khalil isn't doing much better than James Olsen over on Supergirl. The creative team can't seem to decide what to do with him. He's been a Tobias enforcer, Jennifer's romantic interest, a tortured traitor, and now mind-controlled puppet.

We also get the return of the Perdi from last season. So if you wanted to see the citizens of East Freeland again, "Maryam's Tasbih" is the episode for you.

Speaking of the title, Maryam (Zoe Renee) is in the episode. But she doesn't play much of a part. Primarily, she makes Odell look like even a bigger meanie than he does usually. Not only is he capturing young metas, but he's capture young Muslim metas. Maryam is literally falling apart as Lynn makes her exercise her meta power of camouflage. Which doesn't speak well of Lynn.

Jeff calls Lynn on it, and the two of them argue about their situation. Odell has figured out Jeff is using his electrical powers to block out surveillance on the couple and, for a brief bit, a conversation he has with Maryam.

I mentioned Khalil above. He's the first subject of Odell's new brain chip, which lets the ASA agent brainwash Khalil. Odell tests the chip by sending Khalil to kill his mother. Khalil does so without batting an eye.

Gambi needs a comm drive to contact Anissa outside the big-ass force field, and convinces Bill to help him. One of Bill's detectives has been taken away, so Bill goes to the old Club 100 where Commander Williams (an uncredited Christopher B. Duncan) has set up base. Bill makes a lot of noise to distract the soldiers while Gambi (wearing a holographic disguise) steals the comm drive he needs.

Have I mentioned I like Damon Gupton as Inspector Bill? I did? Good. Granted, the creative team doesn't seem to know what to do with him. Like with Khalil, Bill has gone from generic police guy to Jeff's friend to Black Lightning's friend to Black Lightning's enemy to Jeff's enemy. But Damon Gupton is funny, unlike Jordan Calloway. The character does best when partnered up with Gambi: Bill has a perpetual "You've got to be shitting me with all this tech you keep whipping out" attitude. And I sympathize with him: how much tech does Gambi have, anyway?

Anissa survived the blast from last week, and has taken the meta refugees to the Perdi. Anaya (Birgundi Baker) and her father (who is finally named Thierry, and played by Warren Snipe) aren't too thrilled to have refugees there drawing the ASA's attention. Anissa beats some Perdi upside the head and tells Anaya to toe the line. Anaya agrees, and warns Anissa they'll never trust her again. I wasn't aware they trusted her in the first place, so this whole exchange doesn't mean much.

The Markovians have arrived near Freeland and are preparing to invade it. There's a tough Markovian commander who knows Anissa is coming when she starts attacking his patrols, and calls for Phase 2. Then that plot just peters out.

As I noted, Lala (Will Catlett) is around. He has the briefcase Odell and Tobias both want, and he's holding onto it figuring Tobias will come after him. Lala goes after a former 100 member who is now selling food on the black market, lets the guy shoot him, and then comes back to life. The black marketer runs off, and his gang pledges their allegiance to Lala. I wish they would either figure out what's going on with Lala, or tell us. He's another character who has gone through quite a bit in the last two seasons. And he's barely connected to the main plot and the Jeffersons these days.

The most interesting character is arguably Commander Williams, although I wish they would do a bit more with him than just the sneering military commander. For instance, he derisively calls Jeff a "meta" this episode. But... Williams is a meta, too. Does he hate metas? Does he hate himself? Does he agree with Odell, or is he just playing along? Why does Odell trust him?

Odell (Bill Duke) still shows moments of humanity. Like taking a video of Jeff and Lynn to Jennifer. But then he turns around and does some really evil stuff, like sending the programmed Khalil to kill Khalil's mother, Nichelle. Is he good? Is he bad? Psychopath or sexy cad? I can appreciate the actor doesn't want to do unrelenting evilness every week, but that's why he's getting the big bucks. What's the point of trying to humanize Odell but then have him do something really obnoxious?

I suggested last week the Markovians might be a pretext by the ASA to lock down Freeland, and Jeff mentions the possibility this week. But we see enough of the invading Markovian force to figure they're real. It still seems odd to me to have a small foreign country so blatantly invading the U.S. Even if the U.S. doesn't want to fight a war on American soil, can't they bomb the heck out of Markovia?

Jennifer breaks up a fight at school, and secretly uses her powers to beat up the fighters who turn on her.

And that's about it for "Maryam's Tasbih". It's not so much a single story as it's a lot of disparate plot threads. I like Black Lightning, and I like the characters, but the characters and stories are at their strongest when they're interacting. Jeff and Lynn are off on their own. Anissa is off on her own. Jennifer is off on her own. Bill and Gambi are working together a little bit, but they're off from everyone else. Tobias doesn't appear this week, but last week he was locked up in a cell.

Black Lightning seems to be all over the map. One also suspects if the rumors are true, a lot of this will be erased in time for the mid-season break and the show's crossover into the Multiverse and the appearance in the CWVerse Crisis. Which is what a lot of the CW superhero shows do: "Let's wrap up at least some of the plot threads so we can party down for our big crossover event of the year."

However, I'm looking forward to Black Lightning and his family meeting the CWVerse superheroes. I figure we won't get a DC Legends crossover: because that team got the short-end of the stick last year during the crossover event. But the prejudice and government scumminess we got last year on Supergirl is mild compared to the ASA's grip on Freeland. Ditto for its treatment of metas: The Flash touched on that briefly back in the first season. Anyone remember General Eiling? Besides Clancy Brown being welcome anytime, I'd like to see an Eiling/Odell team-up.

Overall, I'd like to see Black Lightning wrap up the current occupation storyline. For no other reason it's separating the cast into bits and pieces, and they're at their best when they're working off of each other. Right now, the ASA shenanigans are keeping them from doing that. Wrap it up in another six episodes, that will get Black Lightning halfway through its season of 16 episodes, work them into the Multiverse during the Crisis, and continue from there.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?