Well, things perked up a bit. After a one-week hiatus, Black Lightning is back, and the show is still benefiting from having Jeff out on the streets rather than locked up in ASA custody. We also get Tobias doing more than just sitting in his cell being tortured. Like him or hate him, actor Marvin "Krondon" Jones III works as a deliciously villainous bad guy.
Bill Duke is okay as Odell, but Tobias is the one with skin in the game. His grudge against Black Lightning and the other Pierces is personal. For all Odell and the ASA contribute to the series as something for the Pierces to oppose, at the end of the day they're just a secret government agency. Tobias can be taken down, and come back, and be taken down again. The ASA can lose one representative (anyone remember Martin Proctor?) and bring in a replacement: Odell. When Odell eventually goes down, we'll get another government spook.
Overall, the ASA is a flaw in the series, one which I hope they fix eventually. Secret government organizations might work as far as the more social-commentary-oriented theme of Black Lightning, but The Flash, Arrow, Batwoman, and Supergirl have survived without for any extended period. Even DC's Legends of Tomorrow focused less on the secret machinations of the Time Bureau, and more on the father-and-son relationship between the Haywards.
So what is the ASA up to this week? With Odell at the helm, the organization continues putting the screws to Freeland. Odell still has Khalil doing wetwork for him, and as much as I like Khalil as a force of slaughter and mayhem, the creative team isn't giving him anything as a character. Khalil could be Generic Assassin 101 and he wouldn't be any different.
This week, Odell seemingly identifies Blackbird as Anissa, and sends Khalil to kill her when she tries to come back through the electrical force field perimeter around Freeland. The whole "Government occupies Freeland and seals it in an electrical bubble" is still the most improbable thing on the show. It makes you wonder what the world outside of Freeland is like. The whole concept takes me out of the show: Black Lightning is supposed to be realistic, but it's impossible to believe the rest of America has shrugged its shoulders and essentially said, "Freeland? What Freeland? The government has put up a more effective dome then the dome in Under the Dome, fighting off an invasion from a European government, and oppressing millions." Would that happen in our reality? Black Lightning is a social-commentary show: minorities are oppressed, the government does horrendous things to them, racism is prevalent. But the equivalent of CNN and MSNBC are nowhere to be found.
(And yes, Blackbird can waltz through the dome along with whatever refugees she's leading on any given week, but it's not like anyone else can.)
Minor character, Tavon, is out of town at a refugee camp, and doing a video log about how humans and metas have to work together. That's another minor problem I have with the show: where are all these metas they keep talking about? We saw a meta growing plants with the Perdi a few episodes ago, but in-story we have the Pierces, and we have the metas around them like Tobias and Khalil. And roughly one dies a week around Lynn. Word to the wise, if you're a meta and see Lynn approaching you, and your last name isn't Pierce, make sure your life insurance policy is filled out.
Tavon's parents want their son back, and go to Jeff. Jeff unwisely promises he'll get Tavon back to them, and asks Blackbird to bring Tavon back into Freeland. She warns it's a bad idea, and it is. The Singleys have evidence Tavon isn't a meta like someone accused him of, but do they really want to bring him back into the equivalent of a concentration camp? Not exactly parents of the month.
Khalil is waiting, and when Blackbird brings Tavon back, he attacks and poisons them both before they get away. Tavon dies shortly thereafter in Jeff's arms. Word gets around Tavon is dead, and the students at Garfield rebel against their soldiers. When Jeff intervenes, the soldiers beat him. Jennifer loses control of her powers, and new student, Brandon (Jahking Guillory), reveals he has a meta ability to absorb energy, including hers.
Jennifer meets with Odell, who says he "marched with Martin Luther King" and doesn't like seeing black men getting beaten. I like these little moments of humanity that actor, Bill Duke delivers, but there's never any context to go with them. Namely, is Odell really a deeper character than the typical government spook? Doesn't he have any pangs of conscience, knowing he's the one who indirectly set up the situation where a black man gets beaten? Or is he just spinning Jennifer another story? The creative team has Odell busy pulling so many strings and looking sinister, but they've forgotten make him a three-dimensional character. There's never any look behind the curtain to let us know if Odell is truly as human as he sometimes comes across, or if it's all just an act to get what he wants.
There's no such characterization for Tobias, either, but as I noted it isn't really necessary. He's the Big Bad, and gets some sympathy just because Odell has been torturing him with UV lights. This week, Lynn has to give Tobias some of the same MB4 that gives him super-strength and youthfulness, so she can harvest meta stabilization serum from his body. Tobias gets in a lot of shots at Lynn while he's her test subject, saying he's worked out Jeff is Black Lightning and he'll spare the female Pierces after he kills Jeff.
In another subplot, Inspector Bill gets booed by the Freeland citizens while toeing the ASA line. He eventually arrests Two-Bits (Jason C. Louder) and then Reverend Holt (Clifton Powell). And, ah, Two-Bits. He's the equivalent of Turk Bennett over on the Marvel/Netflix/Defender shows, and I've missed Two-Bits. Two-Bits is a street hustler with more characterization than Odell even though he's appeared ten times less. He's a black marketer and sometimes protester against the ASA regime.
Anyhoo, Bill eventually releases Two-Bits and Holt, and explains he's secretly been leading the resistance, and it's time to kick the ASA out of Freeland now their soldiers have beaten Jeff. The acting of Powell and Louder sells it here. Holt does a "And the scales have fallen from his eyes, turning Saul to Paul" bit, and Two-Bits is all "My man" with a broad smile. Credit also to Damon Gupton as Inspector Bill, who manages to look both smug and heroic. If Black Lightning was a more popular show, there's be fans out there by the hundreds speculating whether Bill is a recent convert or has been playing the long game all along.
I do wish we had seen more of Two-Bits. Various resistance members have flitted in and out, and a couple of them show up with Bill to greet Holt and Two-Bits. We haven't seen Two-Bits in almost a full season: why the wait?
In other subplots, Odell visits Anissa's home while she's out as Blackbird. Grace takes Anissa's form and poses as Anissa to throw Odell off the track. Gambi comes over to keep an eye on Grace while Anissa is out, and I like the Gambi/Grace chemistry, even if there isn't much of it. His cheery "Can I show you Anissa's baby pictures?" and Grace's smiling acceptance is one of those bits of characterization Black Lightning does well when it focuses on those bits.
Odell turns Jennifer-as-Thunder loose on the soldiers that beat Jeff, to "reprimand" them.
Lynn still takes Green Light, which apparently causes her to spew technobabble about DNA and protein strings at a mile a minute. It's not a good look for her, but I've never been a big fan of Christine Adams on Black Lightning. Most of the time she seems to be on the show to undermine Jeff, and Jeff hasn't been that Black Lightning-y this season anyway. I like the Pierce family dynamic, but the creative team shouldn't let it overwhelm the Black Lightning hero dynamic. And they've done so quite a bit this year.
Overall, "Chapter Five" at least gave us a decent end to the Book of Occupation. Next week, the Book of Resistance starts, and then Crisis The CW ads for it are airing, and show Black Lightning throwing some lightning. I'm curious to see if they integrate Black Lightning's more socially-conscious atmosphere into the other CW shows, or if they even bother to. Black Lightning still does it a lot better than Supergirl. I'd rather see Black Lightning as off in its own little Earth of the multiverse, rather than integrated into the other CW shows just so Black Lightning & Family can show up for a crossover once a year.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Written by Gislef on Nov 12, 2019
Gambi-Grace steal the episode without question.