"The Book of Rebellion: Chapter Two: Gift of Magi" – Black Lightning S02E09 Review

Well, that was a mess. It wasn't a hot mess. It was just a mess.

Why was it a mess? Because nothing happened? Or what happened didn't add up to anything. Yes, "Gift of Magi" is the middle of a "book", but it didn't seem to lead to anything. It's just the same old same old. Jennifer and Khalil are on the run. Tobias is up to... something. Inspector Bill isn't in the episode. No Garfield, no Lowry. No sense of time: is this all taking place in one night? Multiple nights?

And there's no Magi or Gift.

So what was the mess that messed things up? Honestly, the preceding paragraph pretty much sums it up. But there are a few more details. Black Lightning, Thunder, and Peter are looking for Jennifer and Khalil. And looking. And looking. And looking. They do manage to just miss Khalil and Jennifer, who are having their own little mini-adventure.

What mini-adventure? Khalil got nicked with one of Cutter's blades, which it turns out is poisoned. Jennifer originally figures that it's an infection and breaks into a hospital where she uses her powers to open a drug cabinet and takes some antibiotics. Jeff and Anissa are there and just miss her, although they eventually discover she was there. But... nothing comes of it.

Jennifer goes back to the mental hair salon or whatever the heck it is. Now she's not talking to Perenna (Erika Alexander), but a subconscious-Jennifer version of Perenna. There's also a straight-laced "fear" version of Jennifer,. Accessing all of this subconscious information lets Jennifer use her powers to detect the electricity in Cutter's (Kearran Giovanni) body. Cutter followed Jennifer there from the hospital. Jennifer shocks her unconscious, and cuts the woman with one of her own poisoned blades to force her to give up the antidote she has hidden in her necklace to save Khalil.

Also, earlier, Peter brought up Cutter's file. She's apparently a meta, a low-level telekinetic. Whether she's one of the Green Light Babies, I don't know and apparently neither does the creative team. It's kind of important, because if there's just metas hanging around, the Lightningverse might as well be part of the CWVerse. but it's starting to get a bit coincidence-straining that the metas popping up on the show have escaped the ASA's attention. Also, Cutter's real name is "Giselle Cutter". Don't you hate it when villains have real names that match their chosen vocations and villainy? Dr. Doom and Sinestro (and, heck Khalil Payne) never had a chance with names like those, and neither did Cutter.

Speaking of the ASA, whatever happened to them?

Meanwhile, some student named Todd Green (RJ Cyler) gets passed over for a university grant for encryption. He accuses the panel of racism, storms out, and gets an invite to meet with Tobias at Tobias' club. Todd goes there and Tobias lays the women-and-power "deal with the Devil" offer on Todd. Todd initially refuses, but when Tobias transfers $100,000 into Todd's account, Todd's eyes light up like dollar signs in an old cartoon and he's all in. Why Tobias needs someone who is a genius at encryption, he doesn't say. The creative team doesn't say. Todd doesn't say. It doesn't seem to connect to any of Tobias' current goals: buy out the clinic, determine if the Pierces are super-powered. so I guess Tobias has some other scheme.

Lynn tracks down Khalil's father Kito (Kendrick Cross). Although we're originally led to believe by his wife Nichelle (Yolanda T. Ross) that he's a jerk, and his rap sheet has numerous crimes on it, and Lynn takes a shotgun with her... Kito is a pretty harmless guy working at a diner taking out garbage. He mentions a "new place" that Khalil is staying at, but doesn't know where it is. So Lynn walks off, and thanks Black Lightning for wasting five minutes of my life on a scene that goes nowhere and accomplishes nothing.

Jeff eventually turns up the threshold on his electro-goggles and spots the barn where Jennifer has been hiding and using her powers on and off. They go there, but Jennifer gave the antidote to Khalil (and Cutter) and left. The episode ends with the two of them driving through Freeland, which is pretty much how the show ended two episodes ago.

Also, we get a closing tag of a teleporting guy (Tosin Morohunfola) who is a meta and maybe a Green Light Baby. He's beating up and killing a bunch of white guys in a bar. Our unnamed teleporter gets a call from an equally unnamed caller who offers him a job in Freeland. Teleporter Guy takes the job and leaves, and presumably he's another meta Tobias has hired.

And that's it until January 21, when Black Lightning moves to Monday nights and takes DC's Legends' spot while that show goes on hiatus until April. Which makes my watching/reviewing schedule a little easier, since that gives me two shows on Monday and two on Tuesday. Instead of the current 2/3 arrangement. Maybe I'll start doing reviews of The Flash.

If "Gift of Magi" was a mid-season finale, I must have missed the finale part. There's no cliffhanger, there's no resolution. Basically the episode seem to be in a holding pattern: Jennifer and Khalil are still on the run, Black Lightning and Thunder still can't find them, Tobias is still up to something vague and no doubt overly complicated, and makes a racist slur or two.

Other than the fact that it was the last episode before Christmas, I have no idea what the title "Gift of Magi" has to do with anything. Jennifer and Khalil take refuge in a manger of sorts (i.e., a barn), but there's no magi stand-ins, and no shepherd stand-ins, and Jennifer isn't giving birth.

I'm considering whether to continue reviewing Black Lightning. I'll watch it, because it's pretty rare that I give up on shows once I start them. But reviewing BL is a frustrating experience because there isn't that much to review. Things happen, Tobias schemes, the creative team starts dumping more metas on us. Jeff doesn't seem to have any kind of a job anymore. Peter's "death" and resurrection was glossed over and is now far in the rearview mirror. It would offend me more if they spent more than one episode on his death, but instead it's "Peter's dead/no he isn't/oh well."

The show has turned into a basic "Daughter of a main character runs away, he goes looking for her, eventually he finds her." If I want to see people running away, I'll watch Marvel's Runaways. Actually, I'll watch Runaways anyway. There's a show to review once the second season starts on December 21.
But for now, we'll have to wait until January 21 and see how "The Book of Rebellion" turns out. I don't think it'll end in tears: Peter's death episode ended in tears, but then he got all better the next freakin' episode. If they couldn't get rid of James Remar, they're sure as heck not going to get rid of Jordan Calloway and China Anne McClain. Rebellion" will just... end, and they'll move onto the next book.

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