Black Lightning was one of the biggest surprises of the year (remember, they released it in January), and it showed how a DC Comics live-action series could rise up above the “typical” shows that Arrow and Flash have somewhat become. Mainly because of its shorter season. And while the season 02 premiere (which has such a long name I won’t write it out) wasn’t bad, it wasn’t up to the standard of the first season.
On one hand, I’m glad that they dealt with the fallout from the season 1 finale, which had a lot of characters doing a lot of things in a short period of time. Lynn is getting grilled by the ASA, Pierce is under fire from the school board because of his “absence” during the attack on high school, Anissa is wanting to do more with her powers to help Freeland, and Jennifer’s powers are manifesting in more ways than one. This is a lot of compelling drama, but it’s not done in a compelling way at times.
For example, Lynn’s desire to help the pod children, I don’t remember her even being near the pods in the season finale, so why is she so determined to “fix” things here? This, of course, led to some unnecessary drama between her and Jefferson.
Another “fallout” I liked was how they hyped up the tension between the people of Freeland and the police. It would’ve been easy for the children taken by the ASA to get returned and tie up that storyline, but instead, they ratchet it up a bit and have the government take custody of the children “for their protection”, which leads Anissa to go full Robin Hood and steal money from thugs so that the people can get lawyers to try and fight for their children.
Oh, and Deputy Chief Henderson figured out that Jefferson is Black Lightning, that was a good move, and a potentially big storyline for the season.
But then there was the vice principal (apologies, can’t remember her name) going to Gambi for help in exchange for the briefcase we saw at the end of the season. And while a good plot point, her two other seasons featured some of the cheesiest things I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a lot. She made her high heels weapons, and then killed Cyandide. And then when she went to Tobias Whale’s place to get the briefcase…he was just waiting there for her! Really? Was he waiting the whole time? And then he shot her in the stomach with his harpoon, which led to a really drawn out and awkward fight sequence…it was just weird.
Black Lightning can definitely bounce back from this, and personally hope it does, because this show shines when it wants to, and I want it to again.
Todd Black
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!
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