I was so psyched for the meta-human or alien like turn Black Lightning seemed to be taking this week, when I saw the little sneak peak at the end of episode five. When I finally saw the episode, I was left feeling unsure that Black Lightning could hang on to its core audience without a dose of some serious meta human power, or some appearances from other CW heroes.
My Thoughts
When Black Lightning first debuted, I was a huge supporter of the show crossing over into the Arrowverse. I was excited about the prospect of the Wests and the Pierces meeting one another and the banter that could occur between Dr. Lynn Pierce and Dr. Caitlin Snow among other great things I imagined for all the CW comic characters once they finally met. Once the show runner, Salim Akil, expressed his reasons for not wanting such a mix to occur, I respected his position and began to think of the show as he wanted it to be thought of- its own universe- the Lightningverse.
It deals with some things that the other shows can’t possibly touch so I get it. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel that though comics can be used to tell truths about society, they are also our means of escape from those hard truths and right now, Black Lightning may be wearing their audience out with the realness. The perdi and the sange story line is where I got mired down in the realness.
Perdi and Sange
So The Looker puts silver into white people to give them meta human abilities and forces them to be her slaves. Blacks basically live in the woods and share crop while whites live high and mighty. Sounds pretty accurate to life in the South for blacks at a time in the United States, and for some of us today. It just felt like this story could have been so much bigger and better than a racial Romeo and Juliet. Anaya’s family didn’t want to accept that she had a white baby and the Looker doesn’t accept her kind having babies with the Perdi. Seriously? Then again, we do have people advocating, openly, against interracial dating and marriage in the US Congress, so I guess it’s relevant. Sigh.
That’s my problem though. Comics can be so much bigger than we can be, and I feel like constantly going down this path with no levity from other heroes or other meta-human story lines, Black Lightning is going to tire their fan base out- and relatively quickly too. With so much going on around us, these shows become an escape for us. And to always have the political and racial agenda dialed up to 100 isn’t the answer, but that may just be me.
Khalil and Tobias
If I didn’t enjoy anything else, this fight was so on time! Tobias had been picking at Khalil and blaming him for the death of Syonide. He couldn’t wait to beat Khalil to a pulp, but I think he was a bit surprised by Khalil’s toughness. Khail did get that beat down, but Tobias better watch his back.
Other Things I was Thinking:
- *Anissa was the a true hero all on her own!
- *The representation of deaf actors was phenomenal. Hats off the BL for that!
- *I knew Gambi’s ass dropped out the bottom of that truck Nick Fury style!
- *Was the Looker putting the element into the baby, taking it out?
- * If the black baby had the element from birth, can the Looker put it into other blacks too? What will happen if blacks get it? Why wouldn’t she just use it to control everyone?
- *I can’t wait for Jennifer to tell Khalil about her powers- I wonder how he will react.
- *I feel so badly for Lynn. She was really just trying to do the right thing.
- *I can’t wait for Black Lightning to beat Tobias’ ass. He so needs to come down a peg or two or three.
What did you all think of “The Perdi”? Do you think Black Lighting needs to add a little more super to its super hero? Let me know what you think?
Black Lightning airs on Tuesday nights on the CW.
