Black Lightning 3×13: “The Book of Markovia: Chapter Four: Grab The Strap,” Recap & Review

For a recap of the last episode, “The Book of Markovia: Chapter Three: Motherless ID,” click here

***This post contains major spoilers for episode 3×13: “The Book of Markovia: Chapter Four: Grab The Strap.”***

With Lynn being kidnapped, Jefferson starts the episode off reminiscing about 22 years being with Lynn and being the superhero Black Lightning. Jefferson knows the depth of addiction and he knows that his powers aren’t enough to save Lynn. There is one thing he can do and that’s fight and that’s what he is going to do.

Doctor Stewart and Jace are working on the stabilization cure when General Mosin stops by to see the progress. There hasn’t been enough progress on the stabilization cure and Mosin is mad. That is until a new man named Gravedigger (Wayne Brady) comes and tells Mosin he is in charge now. Gravedigger tells Lynn theres 94 of his people in pods he needs for her to fix. She tells him no but Gravedigger uses his power of persuasion and tells her to “make the cure as fast as possible,” and Lynn immediately starts to get to work on the cure.

Khalil doesn’t have the strength to fight in the upcoming battle after being freed from himself in the last episode. Khalil is obviously still working through things and can’t get over the fact that he killed his mother. Jennifer is still there for him but Khalil can still feel the other Khalil inside his head.

Dr.Jace realizes that Gravedigger used his powers on her and gives Lynn an antidote to free herself from Gravediggers mental domination. The override allows her to make something other then the cure that will free her from the suggestion.

At the ASA HQ, all of our heroes are hanging out before the big battle. Jennifer is on her phone minding her business when Anissa comes over and asks her why she’s still hanging on to Khalil. Jennifer gets mad and storms out and Brandon is about to go running after her but Grayle stops him. Grayle informs that Brandon needs to dig deep because in every simulation Brandon has failed. Brandon gets mad and is about to use his powers when Jefferson shows up and Brandon walks out.

Khalil is ready to leave and skip town when Jefferson walks into the Sanctum. Jefferson apologizes saying he should have done more but Khalil doesn’t accept the apology. Jefferson respects his decision to run off but Khalil still decides to leave.

Back in Markovia, Gravedigger is back to see Lynns progress. Lynn says she’s made two cures but Gravedigger projects into her mind for her to go faster. Lynn asks for his blood, because he’s a stable meta and she could go faster if she had his blood. Gravedigger is irate that she would like at his files.

During the briefing, Grayle, Grey, Jefferson and Gambi come up with a strategy to get his wife. At the end of the briefing, Grey gives them another mission, to get Tobias Whale. Jefferson isn’t too thrilled about this saying that the mission is Lynn but the ASA needs his unique bone marrow structure.

TC, awkwardly starts hitting on Erika, one of he meta’s. He eventually touches her ear which sets her off. Sergeant Grayle is watching this play out on his phone. Team Lightning/ASA is about to squad up and head out when the last member arrives, Khalil, and they head to Markovia.

On the plane ride, Anissa is pissed that Khalil is here but Gambi has a plan just in case something goes awry. Grayle tells Jefferson that Grey had a kill horn put in Erika’s brain to kill Jefferson just in case something happened. However, TC saw this, and when he was awkwardly flirting with her he actually shut it off. Khalil tells Jennifer that his mom always respected her mom and she would want him to save her, plus he wants to save Freeland instead of kill it. Brandon is also freaking out on the plane, since his powers are earth based. Khalil comes over and does his jitsu maneuver he learned to shut Brandon down since he can’t poison people anymore.

After several hours, the plane finally arrives. Jefferson splits his team up and is the first one to jump off the plane and take out the first wave. Grace Choi enters the facility camouflaged as General Mosin and takes out a few guards to get access to the main computer. Black Lightning and Thunder are stuck when an invisible wall shows up. Their powers don’t work against the wall until they start using Erika’s powers of photosynthesis. Anissa hits her as hard as she can so Erika can store up energy and break through the wall.

Lynn uses Gravediggers blood sample to give her his powers and uses them on Mosin to escape when he comes to move her. Jennifer and Khalil are working together until they have to split up. Gravedigger shows up and fights Khalil. Gravedigger can sense the lack of tissues in his brain and can see all the stuff inside his head.

Black Lightning finally finds Tobias Whale and Tobias says nice to see you Jefferson. Black Lightning tells him they’re not on a first name basis and Tobias starts going into detail about Lynn. Black Lightning eventually knocks him down. Brandon on the other hand finally finds Dr.Jace and is about to kill her when Sergeant Grayle stops him.

Gravedigger gets the drop on Black Lightning and shoots him down from behind, leaving Jefferson lying there down on the floor. Jennifer finds her mom, and every one is accounted for except Black Lightning. Gravedigger comes to the plane and says that if Lynn doesn’t come back with her everyone dies. Lynn goes until Black Lightning shows back up.  Black Lightning then shocks him, knocking him down. Lynn tells Jefferson she loves him and the rest of the family helps each other back to the plane.

Thoughts:

Black Lightning is back, baby! After being set up in last weeks episode, we knew the war with Markovia was finally here and “Grab The Strap” delivered on every level, giving us the no-doubt best episode of the season, maybe the series, so far.

If there’s one thing Black Lightning doesn’t do enough of, it’s action, but when it decides to, the result is normally something really epic. “Grab The Strap,” gave us everything and more. Gravedigger vs Khalil, Gravedigger vs Black Lightning, Brandon almost getting payback on Jace, Lightning and Khalil teaming up, Jefferson saving Tobias, the episode delivered on multiple levels.

In what could have been the season finale in any other season (this is episode 13), season 3, despite some lulls, has done a great job setting up the conflict with Markovia giving us the epic team up we knew we wanted, even Grace got in on the action. With a team this big, and full of different heroes, Team Lightning is now as strong, if not stronger than any other team in the Arrowverse. While I don’t think we will get a team up like this for some time, it was great to finally see the show capitalize on it’s great potential.