First off, let me say it feels so nice to be back this season. Since the finale aired in May (you can recap it here) it seems like there’s been little to no information given about where Season 2 is headed. I’ve always kept my excitement though as Black Lightning rocked Hall H at comic con (read that here) and I interviewed star China Anne Mcclain (Lightning/Jennifer Pierce) for details about this up and coming season (read that over here). Now that all this shameless self-promotion is over with, lets get it started!

***This post contains major spoilers for episode 2×1 of Black Lightning, ” The Book of Consequences- Chapter One: Rise of the Green Light Babies.”

Chapter One starts out with one of the green light babies, Issa Williams being brutally killed by cops in Freeland. Reverand Jeremiah Holt preaches about this shoot first mentality.

A week after the events of last season’s finale, Jefferson finds out from the Garfield school board that the school will remained closed and will not open until he is disciplined for his actions. His “mini-vacation” being the culprit for the mess it has caused.

ASA agent Percy Odell is investigating the green light pods and asks why Lynn was meddling with them. She tells him because of her knowledge of green light, she understands these kids more than anyone. He calls her a liar and tells her that her access to the pods has been revoked.

A worried Anissa shows Jennifer a video of her floating above her bed in some sort of energetic field. Jennifer requests that Anissa does not say anything to their parents.

Cyonide tracks down Kara Fowdy who has two of the briefcases seen at the end of the finale last season. The two fight in a parking garage before Kara surprisingly (and disappointingly) kills her with a heel to the throat.

After seeing Jennifer floating above her bed, Lynn and Jefferson argue over whats the best thing to do with her in her mental state. Jefferson says that he will train her, Lynn disagrees and tells him that maybe she should see a therapist. They begin to chat about other things including Odell’s chat with Lynn about staying away from the pods. Jefferson tells her that maybe he’s right, her work is in a lab, which makes Lynn defensive and she storms out saying that they don’t see eye to eye on anything right now.

Kara Fowdy, the former ASA spotter, is on the run and goes to Gambi (also a former ASA spotter) to offer him the briefcase in exchange for safe passage. When asked whats in the briefcase, Kara says “hell.”

Jefferson meets with a member of the school board who tells Jefferson to stop being so stubborn. Jefferson, who was offended, asks why there’s more money for metal detectors than actual books. Dr.Napier tells him that he wishes Jefferson cared for the students as much as Black Lightning and Thunder.

In church, families of the pod kids find out that the government won’t be able to give their kids back because its a “public health issue,”and basically they have to sue the government for their kids back. Reverend Holt asks the community to raise $500,000.

Jefferson is still focused on killing Tobias Whale and isn’t really focused on helping the green light babies right now. He understands, because he could have easily been one of those kids, but it’s not up to them to give the families their kids back right now.

Jennifer and her mom have an argument about her current condition with her powers and accidentally burns her mom. At first her mom is scared and runs to her room, but later Lynn finds her on the roof to make sure she is alright.

Anissa (dressed in all black) takes down almost an entire drug operation by herself, before taking all their money so she could give it back to the church for the Freeland families.

Black Lightning meets with Detective Henderson. Detective Henderson has it all figured out. He tells Black Lightning to take the mask off. Jefferson finally shows his face. For some reason Henderson thinks Thunder is Lynn, before asking if its Anissa. Henderson is pissed, but he lets him go.

Lynn, although pissed at Jefferson still, decides to not be petty and comes back to him because her family is there. Jefferson tells her that Henderson knows, he couldn’t continue to lie to him. Jefferson doesn’t want Henderson up in his business because he believes that anyone near Black Lightning gets hurt. Lynn believes that Jefferson is stressed and his powers died down because of some sort of electrical erectile dysfunction.

Gambi meets with Jefferson to tell him about the briefcase, Kara (whom Jefferson didn’t know was a ASA operative) brought to him.

Issa Williams, the green light baby who was murdered, comes alive right before he was about to be buried. His religious mother can’t stand the sight of him.

Jennifer and her bff Keisha talk about Khalil harassing her and the green light babies. Keisha thinks green light babies are freaks which makes Jennifer emotional enough to lose control of her powers. Jennifer locks herself in the bathroom until her family comes. Jefferson walks into the bathroom to find Jennifer in the bathtub in some sort of protective electrical aura. Jefferson grabs the scared girl, hugs her, and absorbs the energy, releasing her from the all the energy.

Jefferson finds out from Dr.Napier that they are closing Garfield down indefinitely. Jefferson decides to step down to save face and give the board an easy win.

Finally, Kara walks into Tobias Whale’s office to get the briefcase. Tobias tells her that Cyonide was one of the only things he cares about before harpooning her in the chest. Kara somehow breaks free and jumps out the window before Tobias has the chance to kill her.

Thoughts:

It was surprising to see the premiere start off so soon after the events of last season’s finale (only about a week), I expected some sort of time jump, maybe a couple months, but diving right into the fallout was a great decision. Jumping forward wouldn’t have allowed the premiere to keep a lot of it’s momentum going from the last season, as it seems like this season is definitely a continuation of last season’s story. I’m also glad this episode wasn’t called Fallout or something too right on the nose.

Cyonide dies? Count me shocked, as this was something I definitely did not see coming. Before the season, Cyonide was one of the characters who’s origins I was very interested in seeing. If she is dead and doesn’t return, this will go down as a dumb decision by the writers as she definitely had a lot of development potential. However, this is a comic book show, and in the realm of Black Lightning, resurrection has been a recurring theme in the show and its episode titles. Tobias’ line in the end kind of made it seem like she was dead without it really saying she was dead, if that makes sense, but I hope Cyonide does make her return soon.

The bathtub scene with Jefferson and Jennifer was very powerful and definitely a favorite of the series so far, you can tell Cress and China have great chemistry as father and daughter. Anissa and Jennifer are a great contrast as their both strong super-powered characters but their also so different in their development. Anissa learned to control her powers on her own, and is arguably just as strong and as controlled as Black Lightning, while Jennifer hasn’t really accepted her powers yet and is fighting them. All it takes is a judgmental comment from her friend to make her completely lose herself to her powers. Jennifer just isn’t as mentally and emotionally strong (being a 16 year old girl) as compared to her sister, whom is very in control of her powers. However, its unfair to compare the two, being that Anissa is at least 5 years older than Jennifer, Anissa was mentally strong enough to control her powers at her older age.

One thing i’m interested in seeing over the course of the season is Jefferson’s and Henderson’s relationship and how it evolves or devolves.

While not one of Black Lightning’s best episodes to date, it was definitely solid in terms of quality of the show, and setting up the rest of the season. This looks to be another terrific year for Black Lightning.