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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Black Lightning Season 4 Episode 4: A Light In The Darkness

March 2nd, 2021 by Todd Black Comments

It’s very fair to say that Black Lightning is going in a very interesting direction for its final season, but not unlike other DC/CW shows, the show at times trips over itself. And “A Light In The Darkness” proves that at points.

For example, the killing of Mayor Billie Black was predictable in all sorts of ways, and yet if you saw the opening scene with him, Tobias and the other officials, you’d think that their last encounter never happened because he fully trusted Tobias and had no inclinations that bad things could happen. That was just dumb. As was the very meta-hating police chief blaming the heroes for “getting in the way” when “she could’ve gotten to him” and yet that wasn’t the case and she likely knew it.

Then there was Lightning, who at the end of the episode went back to the Ionosphere to “recharge” and was vaporized despite the fact that the last time she did it she saw her own arm do the same thing. Did she seriously just forget? Or think it wouldn’t happen again? And we all know she’ll get put back together, so that kind of kills the “fear factor” if you will.

Finally, and arguably most importantly, the “Fake News” storyline came back in the dumbest way possible where the news lady Lightning schooled last week blasted her for saying that she “somehow edited the footage to make her look like a hero” even though it was the news lady that did the doctoring…and the people at the bar bought it! All the while praising Black Lightning and saying he wouldn’t do “any hacking”. Say what now?

Thankfully, that’s the part where we can look at the more positive things.

The speech by Henderson’s protege (who turned up after being gone for a few episodes) painted a good picture as to why he’s up for helping Black Lightning. And I appreciated how it wasn’t just about how Black Lightning saved Freeland, but helped him personally by telling him to go back to school and stay out of trouble. That shook Jefferson loose and that’s good for what’s coming.

I also liked how his Fight Club adventures (as predicted) weren’t a one-off and that led to Jennifer finding out and having yet another fight with Lynn. Yes, they’re now on the same page, and that’s good, but I’m glad they kept pushing things in a certain way instead of retreading old ground if you will.

Secret Agent Gambi continues to shine in his very hands-on and under the covers…I mean…undercover…operation. You do have to wonder where this is all going to end up, especially with that new electric secret project, but it’s by far the most consistent storyline this year so it’s more than earned the benefit of the doubt.

In the end, “A Light In The Darkness” did stumble in a lot of ways, but it was able to work despite it, so we’ll see how it goes from here.

 

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!