Black Lightning 1×09: “The Book of Little Black Lies” Recap & Review

For a recap of the last episode “The Book of Revelations,” click here

This post contains Major Spoilers for episode 1×09 of Black Lightning, “The Book of Little Black Lies.”

As we start this week, Jefferson is still angry at Gambi for all his doing over the last 30 years, including accidentally getting his father killed. Jefferson takes his anger out on a punching bag.

Jefferson calls the Inspector over destroyed evidence and crooked cops. Black Lightning says he’s going to take out Green Light, even if he has to do it alone. The Inspector tells Black Lightning that he knows he was set up for Lady Eve’s death and that he’s going to take some vacation days to investigate. He tells Black Lightning that if he doesn’t come back alive, make sure his wife and his family know that he wasn’t crooked.

Jennifer and Anissa talk. Jennifer thinks she’s going crazy over the phone she destroyed with her powers. Anissa tells Jennifer that she has powers and that she’s not going crazy. Jennifer tells Anissa that she’s Thunder, Jennifer doesn’t believe her. Anissa then picks up the bed with Jennifer on it to prove her point. Jennifer runs downstairs to talk to Jefferson about it. Jefferson wasn’t amused that Anissa did that, but he confirmed to her that he was in fact Black Lightning.

Jefferson and Lynn are pissed at the way Anissa brought up this information to Jennifer. Lynn feels disrespected that Anissa would bring this up to her without bringing up to Jefferson or herself first. Lynn is now questioning herself, she thinks maybe if they would have told their kids earlier (like Anissa did to Jennifer) they could have stayed together. Jefferson takes the positive side and says that at-least his kids will be better than when he first started. Anissa, Jefferson and Lynn come up with a plan to go after Green Light. Jefferson tells Anissa to lay low and watch over Jennifer, but Anissa being the person she is tells them that they know she’s not going to do that and is going to end up sneaking out any way.

Lynn goes to talk to Jennifer. Jennifer asks her mom if she is Vixen. She unequivocally tells her she’s not Vixen or Supergirl, she’s just her mom. Lynn tells her she can’t exactly know what she’s going through, she’s just there for her.

Jefferson and Anissa go through files and find this corporation named Bend’s Corp that was making large payments to a company named Onshore Inc. Anissa remembers that there was a check from Jefferson’s dad to Bend’s Corp with the letters GTC (Gotcha). This gives them a clue into tracking Green Light down.

Gambi tracks down a man but first gives him poison from a Black Mamba to get him to talk. Gambi wants to know who made a weapon that directly mimic’s Black Lightning’s powers and that could frame him. The man gives him a name and where to find him.

Anissa and Jennifer track down the CEO of Bend’s Corp dressed in Barrack and Michelle Obama masks. Jefferson threatens to crisp the man if he doesn’t get the information he wants. The man eventually gives them the information.

Jennifer and Anissa talk. Jennifer still isn’t feeling this whole situation with having powers. Anissa on the other hand doesn’t really know how she feels about the codename Thunder. Jennifer just wants to be normal however Anissa tries to convince her that’s not what she wants. Jennifer hasn’t accepted who she is yet. Jennifer has been looking into Black Lightning and Thunder on the internet and comes across fan videos but also an article on how she’s challenging the patriarchy’s narrative of female heroes. Anissa feels really proud of herself.

Gambi and a man named Caleb Scott talk through the dark web about the weapons used to frame Black Lightning. Gambi has information on Caleb however and tells him the give him the name of the guy who built the weapon and hell lose Caleb’s information.

The Inspector goes on a stake out and finds the corrupt cops that have been going after Black Lightning. He gets all the pictures he needs with them with the weapons.

In a flashback scene, Gambi finds a meta-human with the power of flight. In the present, Gambi finds the same man frozen along with other meta’s. Anissa meets with Gambi. Gambi explains a bit of his backstory to Anissa. He tells her he used to be a scout and find other meta-humans. He’s trying to do the right thing but he just happened to work for bad people in the day, he’s just trying to clear his conscience. He gives her a bag with her suit and leaves.

Thunder, in her new suit and Black Lightning meet up to take down a lab. Black Lightning explains that anything could go wrong and that if it does the most important thing is that she gets away.

Lynn wants to talk to Jennifer but she’s not ready to talk yet. Lynn forcibly has a conversation. Jennifer realizes that her father and her mother broke up because of him having powers. She doesn’t want to save the world like her father or sister. She just wants to be a normal girl and go to prom. Nothing wrong with that.

Thunder and Black Lightning stake out and find Marin Proctor. Thunder reads the mans lips and learns that Martin Proctor knows there’s something wrong and want’s to move the lab tonight. Inspector Henderson goes after him.

Thunder and Black Lightning break into the lab. Thunder deflects some bullets and takes down some henchmen. Meanwhile Jefferson stops Martin Proctor and the engineer in charge of making the Green Light. Detective Henderson arrests the engineer while Black Lightning destroys the Green Light. Thunder and Black Lightning blow up the lab and leave.

Jefferson talk to Jennifer when he gets home. He tells her he kept these secrets to protect her. He’s doing the best to be honest with her. They watch a movie and have a moment.

Thoughts:

Jennifer jokingly asks her mom if she’s Vixen to which she says no she’s neither Vixen or Supergirl. Both Supergirl and Vixen are big players in the DC Arrowverse, however Black Lightning currently isn’t apart of that world…yet. While Black Lightning has dropped some DC names in the past, its great to see Black Lightning embracing itself in DC lore and showing that there are other superheroes in this world around.

Another no show week for Tobias Whale. While I barely noticed he was gone last week, this week I was shocked he wasn’t involved. However it was another solid episode, so no harm no foul, I guess. While we all love to see our favorite characters every week, to make the show work best sometimes however some characters need to be sidelined, hopefully we get a Tobias centric episode very soon.

Thunder is a straight up badass. She’s only been a hero for a few weeks but she’s already more popular than Black Lightning, saved Black Lightning more than once, and on top of it her suit is so dope. Can’t wait to see the whole superhero family in action one day.

Lynn is slowly coming around to being a little bit more…likable I would say. I get that some fans of the show may not love her character, but I think she’s slowly accepting more of her responsibility to help not only her kids but Jefferson himself. While it may not be this season, I hope Lynn one day accepts her role as a doctor and mentor to who her children and ex-husband.

Only 4 episodes to go this season. While its been a fun ride, with great pacing, mysteries, and enough action to go around, I cant wait to see what Black Lightning brings us next.