Continuing on from last week’s episode, in which Anissa and Jefferson learned about each other’s superhero alter egos, the episode went just as I had expected. When it came to another story line in this episode, the one involving Lady Eve, that one didn’t turn out as expected. Or, rather, I didn’t see where it was going until right up to the last second. Mostly because of preconceived notions I had.
Lynn and Jefferson took the news about Anissa’s superheroing about as well as anyone would think, which was badly, and of course with Anissa being Anissa, she was not there for their disapproval at all. Anissa was, in my opinion, a bit too snappy with Lynn at the beginning of the episode when she was voicing her concerns for why she didn’t want her be a superhero. Plus a little misguided in telling Lynn that she didn’t know what she was going through. Clearly Lynn knew of Jefferson’s powers and his identity as Black Lightning. Didn’t it occur to her that her mother would have been on that journey with him and witness his struggles first hand?
Poor Lynn, just as she came to accept Jefferson as Black Lightning after nearly a decade of hating it, she now had to deal with Anissa doing the same thing that he was. The person in question being her child this time, I could completely understand why she was so against it. I was happy when she sat down with Anissa and told her exactly why she didn’t want her to do it instead of just telling her “no” like she had earlier in the episode. Anissa though, still wasn’t having it; she had superpowers and she intended to use them for the good of the people of Freeland. Like she told Lynn, her parents did raise her that way after all.
It didn’t much help Anissa’s case, however, that she made some dumb decisions since she got said powers. Like destroying the statue at the school and, the main concern of this episode, giving Lynn Alvin’s box of research. In this episode Lynn and Jefferson theorise that it was because Anissa gave Lynn the research that got Alvin killed that that was why Lynn’s lab was broken into. But in the last episode there was zero indication that that was the case.
In fact, the show made a point to make it look awfully suspicious that Lynn’s research assistant was on the phone with someone when he saw her comparing Jefferson’s brain scans to those of someone on green light. There was nothing during or after the scene in which Anissa gave Lynn the box that suggested Lynn would be in danger because she had it. It felt like such a disconnect anytime someone brought it up and I’m hoping it’s just a case of the character’s thinking that that was the reason and that it truly isn’t. The show didn’t play it that way though.
Gambi, ever the suspicious, shady character, provided his own explanation as to why Lynn was attacked and I didn’t buy his either and he offered up his explanation before Lynn and Jefferson considered Alvin’s box. It was too easy for him to have found that answer and it was too random a motive; why would the show go off on an unnecessary tangent like that? I didn’t trust him any more when it was revealed that he had enlisted the help of Lady Eve to make the two men who attacked Lynn disappear. Clearly he knew who they were and why they were there. Why else would he personally see to them being eliminated and go to Lady Eve for it no less? Isn’t he supposed to be out of whatever business it is that they used to do together?
Speaking of, it really doesn’t look like he’s out of whatever business they did together. Not only did he get her to kill Lynn’s attackers, he advised and urged her to get Tobias under control. He was far more actively involved in making sure that the man’s presence was kept under wraps than I thought he was. He even went out and killed Joey Toledo to send Tobias a message himself. At the behest of Lady Eve! What the hell is Gambi doing? At this point it’s like he’s playing for both teams; working to uphold the criminal underworld while at the same time working to dismantle it. The show is taking too long to contextualise his actions. Gambi is unattractively confusing as a character.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Gambi was the one who killed Mr. Poe. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gambi had something to do with the same experiments and misisng children that Alvin’s research was about either. Clearly Lady Eve and the people he “used to” work with had something to do with it. The second that Mr. Poe’s name came up, it was predictable that once Anissa went to see him, we’d find out that he was dead. This episode pushed the box of research as the reason for Lynn’s attack far too hard for that not to be the case and his death only seemed like a way for the show to confirm that it was. He was killed around the same time that Lynn was attacked after all.
I thought that discovering that Mr. Poe was dead would make Anissa reconsider being a superhero. That for a moment she’d have second thoughts since her actions were the direct cause of his having been murdered. But nothing like that came up. In fact, the next time we saw Anissa she was perfectly normal. Happy even, because Lynn had come to accept her being a superhero and told her as much. Thankfully, Lynn’s acceptance came packaged with a whole new super-suit for Anissa – which she asked Gambi to make – and after this episode we won’t ever have to see her first one ever again. A gold strip of paint on her eyes does not work to hide her identity at all.
Jefferson came around as well, but only because he got Tori killed (didn’t see that coming) and that caused him to get into a bit of self reflection. Something that should have happened with Anissa in this episode when the exact same thing happened with her. But I digress. Now both Lynn and Jefferson are on board and he will train Anissa in the ways of crime fighting.
Another death I didn’t see coming was Lady Eve’s. I really thought that she was going to get out of her funeral home alive. She seemed like such a big character, with such presence, reach and power – more so than Tobias’ – that I assumed that she would stick around and be the ultimate big bad once Tobias had been dealt with. That isn’t going to be the case apparently. Tobias is quite impatient, reckless and a little restless to boot, so at this point I think that he will have a hand in his own demise.
I’m really curious as to where Lady Eve’s assassins got their guns from. We haven’t seen anything like them in the show yet, not that I recall, and the only one we know of so far who is capable of making anything like them is Gambi. I don’t think – I at least hope – that he had nothing to do with their creation. Despite the beams they emitted looking like Black Lightning’s lightning bolts, it didn’t occur to me that he would be framed for Lady Eve’s murder until Henderson called him. Given the fact that Black Lightning has never killed anyone before, I’d think that the police would be more skeptical about his being the culprit. Not that they would have any other explanation, but that they wouldn’t be so quick to assume. It also looks like Lady Eve’s criminal activities weren’t known to them.
I have no words for the final scene in this episode with Lala and LaWanda. I am positively baffled by what is going on there and will just wait until it’s all explained later. I won’t even try to guess. Honestly that scene made me give up on trying to figure out this show, what it is, where it’s going and what it’s trying to be because it was so random and different from anything we’d seen so far. Maybe it will make sense when everything is revealed.
Random thoughts:
- It’s not unreasonable that The 100 would come after Jefferson as Jefferson and not Black Lightning.
- Slow your roll Anissa. Let Jefferson get on board with your being a superhero before you go making plans.
- Man they are really positioning this box as the reason for Lynn’s attack.
- Lol Jennifer is too sharp for their lies.
- Toledo’s henchman looks like Hurt Bae’s ex.
- I hate how Tobias consistently disparages Black people.
- Lady Eve doesn’t realise that she’s just spurring Tobias on.
Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9PM on The CW.
