Anyone who watches Black Lightning could have seen the clash of ideas between Jefferson and Anissa coming ten thousand light years away. And of course “The Book of Consequences: Translucent Freak” brought it live. It also brought us Jennifer’s reunion with Khalil, Tobias’ lies, and Lynn’s worst fears to the surface.
Jefferson and Anissa
Anissa has been head strong and militant from the season one premiere. Once she got powers, it was easy to predict that she would take those powers straight to the streets to help Freeland. Well, she’s become helpful alright. She’s been robbing drug dealers, arms dealers, and anyone else illegally getting money in order to give it to the church. It’s a good cause, but it doesn’t sit well with her dad. It isn’t safe and it isn’t the superhero code he chooses to be governed by.
What Jefferson didn’t expect is that Anissa would reject his code and that is exactly what she does. Her code is more like Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary “. The clash comes when Jeff confronts her and in true Anissa fashion, she doesn’t back down- she digs in. Even when he gives her the classic “as long as you live under my roof” speech, she decides she won’t live there.
Though there spat doesn’t last long, it drives the generational narrative extremely well and highlights some tough age-old questions. What does it mean to be a hero today as opposed to what it meant yesterday? Is there ever a right time to steal-from anyone?
Anissa moving into Jefferson’s boyhood home is probably the best thing for both of these head strong heroes. With those two and Jennifer coming into her own, the current Pierce home can only hold so much power all at once.
Detective Henderson and Tobias Whale
Poor Deputy Detective Henderson. He feels betrayed by a system that will let a guilty man go free and continually betrayed by Jefferson and his seemingly non stop revelations. Though he knows that Tobias is guilty, there is no evidence to tie Tobias to anything. Tobias has managed to stay young and fancy free all while committing a multitude of murders and no doubt master mining several more crimes including the still unknown briefcase mystery.
Detective Henderson’s short lived victory of arresting Tobias seems to have only served as a vehicle for his exoneration. Can you imagine Henderson’s anger at Tobias’ smugness as he leaves the police station and speaks about hoping the Pierce family finding peace? Jefferson’s? Tobias is probably only going to see his release as a license to sow more discord and chaos on the streets of Freeland. His party at the club seemed to foreshadow that.
Jennifer and Khalil
The more someone tries to pull you apart from someone, the more you want to be with them. Or at least it seems that way sometimes. For Jennifer, it seems to be the more you try to put someone in a box, the more they seem to want to come out. Jennifer has been working on controlling her powers by putting her emotions into a golden (or is it diamond) box. Those emotions seem to be ruled by two sources- her fear of out of control powers and Khalil. She has thought about fighting him and then the thoughts switched to sweeter moments of them together.
Everyone has told Jennifer to stay away from him, but at the end of the episode she chooses to give in to his attempts to reach out to her. No one knows what this reunion will bring, but I hope that it brings Jennifer some comfort. Khalil now has abilities. He will understand that she is a metahuman. The question is, can she trust him? Can she trust him with her secret? With her family’s secret when he is under Tobias’ thumb?
Lynn’s Greatest Fear
The doctor that Lynn has been forced to work with was always going to be a problem, but now that she has stumbled upon her children’s DNA, the problem has been magnified tremendously. The doctor seemed to speak dreamily about dissecting and studying a metahuman family and the wonders of the metahuman gene being passed through DNA. Lynn tried to hide the horror on her face, but was unable to do so. What is she going to do to get this woman off of her family’s trail? Was the conversation with Jefferson about killing earlier a foreshadowing of what she may have to do again to protect her girls? And maybe to protect Jeff? I can’t wait to see how this story pans out!
Other Things I Was Thinking
*Tobias is so self-loathing.
*Jefferson has to make up with Detective Henderson. Tell him everything and squash it.
* What’s in the phone Fowdy gave Gambi?
*Zero tolerance in schools- very tricky topic. As a school administrator I struggle with this one.
What did you all think of “The Book of Consequences: Translucent Freak”? Sound off in the comments! Black Lightning will return to the CW on Tuesday, November 13th.
