Black Lightning - season 1 (The CW) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

The show really started to click with tonight's episode. The conspiracy involving the mysterious ASA's attempt to pacify unruly black urban populations with a vaccine is sort of the plot of Serenity crossed with the real world horror of the Tuskegee experiments. The development of Gambi is interesting; he's spent the last three decades trying to protect Jefferson and his family, but he's a product of the white power structures that ravaged this community in the first place.

The scenes with Jefferson and Anissa together, first training and then out in the field, were a lot of fun.

The scenes with the resurrected Lala and his visions of Lawanda are just bizarre.

I admit, the angle in this show of the hereditary passage of super powers, is really an interesting take that I think is way better realized than in Fox's X-men series (that disappeared?) anyway, this show's take on it is really interesting.

Yes, one of the key differences is that metahumans only exploded onto the scene four years ago on Earth-1, while they've existed for at least 31 years here. It opens up intergenerational storytelling opportunities that aren't available to the main Arrowverse.

I figured that Jennifer's powers were going to be a slow burn, so I was pleasantly surprised to see them flare up in tonight's episode.

And I especially liked that that first thing she did was go to her sister about it. I'm sick of the pointless secrets on the other shows.

 

[Sam Favate]

This show is doing things differently from the other CW shows, and that's good. It keeps this one fresh. I've been enjoying this season, although the resurrection of Lala smacks of stuff we've seen on Gotham.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I thought the scene between Jennifer and her mother was a great little piece of writing and acting.

Also, it appears that both Supergirl and Vixen are real heroes in this world. So it could be Earth-38, which happens to have an active Vixen like Earth-1, or it could be another earth that happens to have doppelgangers of both Vixen and Supergirl.

 

[ponset]

The Lala storyline keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Been enjoying the Father, Daughter superhero teamups.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I've been really impressed with how they've handled Jennifer as a character. She could easily be an excruciatingly obnoxious petulant teen, but she’s not.

China Anne McClain plays her angst as a deep, weighted sadness. And the writing supports that. She’s not like most teenagers, thinking about tomorrow and next week. Jennifer had a very defined idea of what she wanted from her life, and she’s smart enough to see how this development is likely to derail that.

At the same time, she uses humor beautifully to let her family in; she’s struggling, she doesn’t hide that she’s struggling, but she still finds ways to make them laugh and bring them close.

Remar’s made a career out of playing villains, but he brings a wonderful quiet kindness to Gambi. A scene in this week's episode particularly stood out to me: When Neema’s friend came by Gambi’s shop with the missing posters, Gambi knows exactly what’s going on, and why. But he doesn’t let any of that through. Instead, he takes the time to listen so she knows she’s heard, and then he agrees to put up one of her posters. He lets her have her hope, and he doesn't burden her with knowledge that she can't do anything about. Either Black Lightning and Thunder are going to rescue Neema and the other metahuman children, or they're not.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Renewed for Season 2

 

[ponset]

Some epic fight scenes between BL & Tobias and Thunder & Syonide.
Jennifer uses her new found powers for a good cause.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This is probably my second favorite of the DC CW shows, after "Legends". I love the gritty, street-level storytelling like the first couple "Arrow" seasons -- but with more social commentary, organic to the story being told.

Jennifer uses her new found powers for a good cause.

I've been really impressed with how they've handled Jennifer's storyline. With the wrong writing and performer, the character could easily have been an excruciatingly obnoxious petulant teen.

But China Anne McClain plays her angst as a deep, weighted sadness. And the writing supports that. She’s not like most teenagers, thinking about tomorrow and next week. Jennifer had a very defined idea of what she wanted from her life, and she’s smart enough to see how this development is likely to derail that. The conversation with her mother a couple episodes back was deeply affecting.

At the same time, she uses humor beautifully to let her family in; she’s struggling, she doesn’t hide that she’s struggling, but she still finds ways to make them laugh and bring them close.

And then this week, when she's convinced that her powers are a curse and she just wants to be rid of them, she's put in a situation where her powers allow her to save her dad's life.

The whole sequence of Jefferson getting arrested in the previous episode was riveting television. He got completely blindsided by the A.S.A.’s bold play, but he made the absolute most of his very limited time.

Having Jennifer see him being taken away in handcuffs had to be his absolute nightmare, but he couldn’t comfort her because he had to prioritize keeping her safe: there is a shadowy government agency snatching up children with powers, and he knows his own powers flare up at emotionally charged moments. So even while he’s being yanked down the hallway by police, he’s very carefully and very subtly coaching Jennifer to keep things under control. And it’s a triumph of his and Lynn’s parenting that she is able to do it.

And it’s telling that even though she’s only sixteen, Jennifer realizes the necessity of it much quicker than Anissa does. Still, when Jefferson’s older daughter comes charging out of the school on a warpath, he’s able to call her off as well — and she listens.

It’s a remarkable string of character moments, with arguably the three most powerful people in Freeland exercising incredible restraint in the face of agonizingly blatant injustice.

And the sequence where he talks down the students who rose up to his defense was particularly powerful; he may have been the one in cuffs, but he surrendered none of his dignity and moral authority. In how he carried himself, in the decisions he made, he was not diminished by the frame job. Only the people executing it were.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Strong finale tonight. Things got a bit too on-the-nose with Gregg Henry's shady government operate, especially with an overly familiar line that was repeated twice. But the payoff of the season's arc was satisfying, the flashbacks were well done, and the family development was welcome. I like the Pierce family, and therefore I invest in all of the other stuff. I really liked the payoff for Jennifer's story arc this season.

And nice use of Sly and the Family Stone at the end.

 

[mattCR]

Really great finale. I enjoyed it a great deal; music throughout was great.. lots of possibilities for S2.

 

[NeilO]

Yes, a very powerful finale and great first season to the show.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just got added to Netflix so I'll be watching it in the near future.

 

[Gary Seven]

Just got added to Netflix so I'll be watching it in the near future.

Outside of the US (Mexico at least, when I visited), the CW shows are labeled as Netflix shows. I assume that is the reason they show up so quickly on Netflix when the season ends.

As a side note, while I was there, I binge watched STiscovery.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Better late than never, I just started watching this show yesterday. I'm through 3 episodes.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm though seven episodes so far and I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm though seven episodes so far and I'm really enjoying it.

I lost my hard drive on my DirecTV 4K Receiver so no recorded programming for me to watch from yesterday at 10:30 a.m. until about 1:00 p.m. today. So I watched the final 6 of the 13 episodes on Blu-ray between yesterday and this morning. I thought the show was excellent with a heavy emphasis on family and community. I can't wait for the second season.