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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Black Lightning Season 3 Episode 7: Henderson’s Opus

November 26th, 2019 by Todd Black Comments

One of the things I like that they do with Black Lightning is keep things moving and changing, but sometimes it doesn’t have the effect you would expect. “Henderson’s Opus” dealt with the increasing danger of the occupation, and that included the ASA having a new leader in Grey while Odell is healing, the Markovians being rooted out, and the Resistance getting more desperate.

During the Civil Rights movement, the biggest division amongst those fighting for Civil Rights was whether to take the path of violence to match their aggressors, or non-violence and take a better way. In that case it was the words of Malcolm X versus the preachings of Martin Luther King Jr. Here, we have the Resistance and Black Lightning. Or more accurately, Henderson and Jefferson.

It was great to see them butt heads on what to do, and where to draw the line, and I wish we had more of that in the episode. But sadly, we only got a scene or two. Furthermore, Reverend Holt up and saying that Black Lightning was a “sellout” because he defused a bomb was really lame. Especially after he’s done so much for Freeland.

The rest of the cast was really spread out this week, and it didn’t work too well overall. On one hand, having Gambi and Lynn find out about Kalil and his “current condition” was cool, and could lead to big things. But Jennifer basically screwing with that one guy because they have a unique fusion of their powers felt off. Furthermore, after all the talk of Anissa and Grace staying together, she sent her away on the railroad. So…yeah.

Seeing the ASA being even more aggressive though seems to indicate things are ramping up towards a climax. Especially with Kalil now being given permission (via Grey no doubt) for him to take out Black Lightning.

In the end, “Henderson’s Opus” tried to balance a lot of things, but didn’t go as good a job as it probably thinks it did.

Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!