Black Lightning 2×14: “The Book of Secrets-Chapter Four: Original Sin” Recap and Review

For a recap of the last episode, “The Book of Secrets Chapter Three: Pillar of Fire,” click here

***This post contains major spoilers for episode 2×14: “The Book of Secrets-Chapter Four: Original Sin.”

Black Lightning returned this week after a nearly one month hiatus and return it did.

As we start off this week, an old face we haven’t seen since all the way back in the first season finale, LaLa, makes his grand return. LaLa makes his way to Garfield High to find Jefferson, who has some questions for Mr.Pierce. LaLa who can’t seem to reconcile his past, has a tense squabble with Jefferson over the death of a childhood friend of LaLa. LaLa shoots Jefferson with his gun but Jefferson heals himself as LaLa becomes distracted with the voices inside his head.

Meanwhile in the lair at Gambi’s, Jennifer has some thoughts on what her new suit should look like. Gambi accuses of Jennifer of trying to look like a pop-star while Jenn doesn’t want to sacrifice style for practicality. Gambi and Lynn warn her that the most important thing is that the suit protects her.

Anissa is still grieving over Grace but Jennifer puts her in her place telling her that at-least her girlfriend is still out there, Jennifer’s one

Over at the ASA, Lynn, O’Dell, and members of the ASA are running tests on one of the metas, Heather. O’Dell warns Lynn that Heather is here to reach her full potential as a weapon, while Lynn argues that she’s there to get help and learn how to control her powers.

LaLa wants to know the real story of what happened to his best friend Earl. In a tense scene between the two, LaLa slowly recounts the murder of his best friend as Jefferson tells him the story of how he was found. Jefferson (as the former principal) told Earl to go to the cops as he was being harassed by the 100 which ultimately got him killed. LaLa and Earl we’re dealing for the 100 and Earl wanted out. LaLa got the 100 off his friends back but ultimately because Jefferson told Earl to get the cops involved, Tobias put the hit on Earl, and LaLa was the one that carried it out, killing his best friend to move up in the game.

Detective Henderson and Gambi are searching for Todd Green but unfortunately Detective Henderson finds that the boy is dead.

Back at the ASA, Lynn’s key card has been revoked and she can no longer, work with the meta. O’Dell is pushing the girl way past her limit in order to see what she can do as Lynn breaks in only to get escorted out by security.

Anissa finds out from Gambi that Grace had a foster brother and Anissa heads out to check if Grace is there. Grace is warned by the man at the door that trouble will find her if she doesn’t leave. As the man shuts the door on Anissa, the man is not actually a man and it’s actually Grace as it transforms back into her.

After his tense conversation with Jefferson, LaLa walks down the halls of Garfield as his old friend Earl becomes one with him, becoming the third tattoo and person from his past to haunt him.

At Gambi’s lair, Jennifer is really excited of her new suit and Gambi let’s her try on the foundation of the suit against his better judgement. As Jennifer moonwalks in her currently undone suit it malfunctions causing Jennifer to rethink if she wants a suit that’s stylish or one that’s safe.

Anissa comes back to Grace’s apartment this time in her suit as Lightning. As she wanders through the apartment she finds a dead carcass. Grace (as the man) confronts her and they fight hand to hand. Lightning gets her hurt whooped by Grace-man before it flees and jumps out the window.

At the Pierce residence, the family finally gets some down time to chow on some pizza and talk about their day to each other. After they each had an “interesting day,” Jefferson decides to be less than truthful as a camera over watches the family eating dinner. We see that O’Dell is the one watching the family.

In some type of weird re animation tank, we see the process of LaLa being brought back to life. LaLa wonders why they won’t let him die. A man watching over him tells him that his past is connected to Jefferson and until he unites the knot of his pain he can’t die just yet. LaLa decides that he must kill Tobias. LaWanda, the voice in his head tells LaLa that he must be ruthless.

Thoughts:

Man it was good to have Black Lightning back this week. Black Lightning finishes off the last episode of its “Book of Secrets” chapter on a high note for the series. More than last season, season 2 has been far more dour with levity being sprinkled in small doses. It was great too see the show get back to basics by allowing the characters to have some fun, like Jennifer designing her own suit, and seeing the family bond over dinner.

The return of LaLa was well needed as we had not heard from him since his “death” in season one. Once a big part of the show, the return of LaLa brought forth one of the most tense scenes in the shows history as LaLa recounted the death of his best friend and his argument with Jefferson brought him closer to reconciling his past.

Anissa’s search for Grace gives us way more questions than answers but also gives me the feeling that Anissa is getting close. With Anissa showing up dressed as Lightning, does Grace know that Anissa is a superhero?

Finally, Agent O’Dell might up being the biggest bad of the whole season as we find him using metas as weapons and spying on the Pierce family as he kills his own agents in the process. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it will be interesting to see what else O’Dell knows.

+Well needed levity to a mostly dour season

+Jennifer designing her own suit finally

+The return of LaLa

+Big bad O’Dell

+Intense conflict with LaLa and Jefferson

+Grace’s shapeshifting powers revealed