This week’s episode felt a bit like filler in that not that much happened that particularly impacted the overall plot. Not in a very big way. Sure, they showed that The 100 introduced a new drug, brought on Tobias’ sister and now the two of the are working together to kill Black Lightning, but this felt like an episode that crept the plot forward, rather than pushed it. Given how early in the season it is and that it’s a short one at that, a filler episode – or at least one that feels that way is a little strange.
The most interesting thing in this episode was the Lady Eve scene. What…in the holy hell…was she doing? That scene left me feeling all kinds of dirty. It wasn’t because she was casually sucking out someone’s insides while having a conversation with Tobias. It was that the person was alive while she was doing it. When the close up shot on their face came on screen I thought they were moving just because of what Lady Eve was doing. But no…the second close up shot revealed that they were actually alive. But they have an autopsy cut on their torso? What the hell was going on in that scene.
Anyways. Ignoring that. The conversation between her and Tobias revealed a couple of things. Firstly, Tobias is not the big bad and he does in fact work for and not with Lady Eve. This makes me think that perhaps sooner rather than later, he will be taken out like Lala and Lady Eve will be the “final boss.” Or at the very least she will be the villain of season two (if there is one). Secondly, The 100 seems to be a group within a group. I thought that The 100 was THE group and Lady Eve was the actual leader of the gang. Turns out that Lady Eve is seemingly one of top persons in the organisation that apparently gave Tobias The 100 and oversees it.
I said previously that it was The 100 that introduced the new drug – Green Light – but I think that this same organisation is responsible for it. The 100, I think is solely involved in terms of its distribution (although we don’t know if Jefferson’s old friend or the two boys Anissa saw selling to her students are in The 100). I feel like that the drug was something that came from higher up in the chain of command than Tobias. Even Gambi and Jefferson think so. Like Jefferson noted, the transportation and storing of the drug was far more sophisticated than what a street gang was capable of.
I wish that Black Lightning had ignored the sounds of Anissa fighting off the homophobic thugs and paid attention to the distribution hub for the drugs. In fact, I don’t think it was very necessary to have had those two incidents tied together at all. The only purpose for that was to have Gambi find Anissa’s footprint. Which will likely lead to him discovering that Anissa has powers, but that could have been done in a different way. It just feels like, in that instance, the show was unnaturally prolonging Black Lightning finding out about Lady Eve and/or the organisation. Which I think he would have had he followed the container.
Speaking of Gambi, I’m starting to not trust him. This was the second time he had lied to Black Lightning about something. The first time was when he erased the footage of Tobias at the scene of the shooting at the march. Now he lied about seeing anything in the security footage from the cameras in the vicinity of where Anissa (whom he didn’t recognise) beat down those thugs. What is Gambi playing at here?
In her conversation with Tobias earlier in the episode, Lady Eve set him on the task of killing Black Lightning. Tobias’ sister is going to help him achieve that…and part of her plan is to turn Khalil so that he hates Black Lightning first? I’m not too sure where she’s going with that. Or the writers for that matter. I expect that it will reveal itself down the road but right now, how and why Khalil hating Black Lightning will enable them to then kill the man is kind of questionable. I don’t see why they need him for that.
Speaking of Khalil, I agreed with Jefferson about Jennifer spending too much time at the hospital with him. I do think that as his girlfriend Jennifer should be there to support him in his time of need, but she also needs to focus on her education. She needs to find a balance between being there for him and focusing on her studies and at the moment it looks like she cares more about the former than the latter. She didn’t drop track because she never wanted to do it in the first place, she dropped it so that she could spend more time in the hospital with Khalil. Honestly, she is far too young to be making decisions like that. She could take a break from track, but not drop it entirely.
I was waiting on Khalil to talk some sense into her and tell her she shouldn’t have dropped it. He was her voice of reason when she decided to start drinking her life away after the kidnapping. That’s what I loved about him; he could reign in her recklessness. Instead he made it worse! He dropped “ride or die” on her and it felt like such a moment in which she was shackled. “Ride or die” is a commitment. A heavier one that she’s way too young to me making. At least how it was presented here. And it looks like she’s feeling pressured and none too enthusiastic about it.
Random thoughts:
- Does she look scared to them?
- Well that nurse was certainly out of place.
- Jefferson on the other end of the table looking so pleased with himself.
- A hoody is not enough to cover your face.
- Screw the board!
- Tobias: “Since I technically still have warrants in Freeland I can’t be out and about.” You were in Freeland last week….
- Doesn’t he think people will make a connection between him and Black Lightning seeing as every time someone calls him with a crisis Black Lightning solves it?
- HE JUST SAID HE CAN’T GO INTO FREELAND.
Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9 PM on The CW.
