Spoilers ahead for “LaWanda: The Book of Hope,” tonight’s episode of Black Lightning.
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Tonight on Black Lightning, audiences got to meet Khalil, played by Riverdale‘s Jordan Calloway. He is the best friend and, now, boyfriend of Jennifer Pierce, Black Lightning‘s youngest daughter.
As Jennifer rebels against her structured life and her father’s authority at home and at school, Khalil wants something better for her. In an inversion of the standard boyfriend/girlfriend dynamic, he encourages her to respect herself and do better, while she loves him but has little patience for his lack of patience with her rebellion.
“We’re going to break [his heart a little],” China Anne McClain, who plays Jennifer, told reporters during a recent set visit. “He is a very great influence, which I really appreciate. He’s smart, he’s athletic, and he’s on his own path. He wants Jennifer to be along with him, but he’s like, ‘You keep messing up, this is not going to work out.’ It’s great to see the roles switch a little bit because usually that’s the girl telling the guy, listen you’ve got to get your stuff together. The rules are switched in this one and it’s very, very interesting. I love that. A lot of things happen between Jennifer and Khalil. It’s a whole journey throughout their story. I’ll just say right now that she really cares about him and he really cares about her, but they have some bumps in the road coming.”
On Riverdale, Calloway played the opposite: a date rapist and serial harasser of women, Chuck was the antagonist in one of the show’s earliest and most intense episodes. After fans were outraged that one of the only black men on the show was depicted so negatively, Chuck recently returned and claimed that he was looking to redeem himself — but after some bad luck, audiences have not seen him in a few weeks and it is not clear whether he will stick to the straight and narrow when he turns back up.
In the meantime, it seems Khalil will be around for at least a few episodes of Black Lightning…
Black Lightning airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following new episodes of The Flash on The CW.
