Tonight was the penultimate episode of Black Lightning‘s first season, “The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain” and it saw some major developments in Black Lightning‘s fight against not just the mysterious A.S.A. but Tobias Whale as well.
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Tobias (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III) returned in tonight’s episode, tasked by Martin Proctor (Gregg Henry) to capture Black Lightning/Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) and bring in alive. To do that, Tobias enlisted the efforts of Khalil (Jordon Calloway), ex-boyfriend and friend of Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain) whom he recruited to his service by arranging for him to have his ability to walk restored. If that wasn’t enough, the episode also saw Lynn Pierce (Christine Adams) and Jefferson come back together only for Lynn’s research into isolating Jennifer’s metahuman gene to potentially tear them apart again.
The episode closed out with Black Lightning very nearly losing the fight with Tobias as well as his life, but Jennifer used her powers deliberately for the first time tonight and saved his life, sending the whole family along with Gambi into hiding at a cabin in the woods. We know from the preview for next week’s season finale, “Shadow of Death: The Book of War”, that Jefferson and his family will end up facing off with Tobias and the A.S.A. once and for all, but before we get there, we still have some pressing questions from tonight’s episode. Read on for the things we are still puzzling about.
What’s next for Jefferson and Lynn?
Tonight saw Jefferson and Lynn rekindle their romance after years of being divorced. While the couple has remained close and raised their children together as a family, Jefferson’s role as Black Lightning drove a wedge between them in the past and appeared like it would do the same in the present. However, we’ve seen Lynn become more immersed in Jefferson’s vigilante life especially as their two daughters have developed metahuman powers as well. Tonight, the couple got back together, but decided not to tell their girls yet — probably a good call considering Jefferson later discovered that Lynn had been working to isolate the metahuman gene to potentially come up with a way to suppress it for Jennfier’s sake.
While the couple appeared to be on the outs again, when Jefferson nearly died in his fight with Tobias Lynn was there with the family as they fled into Gambi’s cabin. So what’s next for the couple? Other than the obvious need to survive Tobias and the A.S.A.’s next move, it seems likely that Jefferson and Lynn will if nothing else move forward as a family. Family has been central to the show since its debut and audiences have only see the Pierces grow even through the adversity of discovering metahuman powers. It’s also been clear that Jefferson and Lynn still love each other very much so there’s always that hope, as well.
What about the 43 missing kids?
The episode also confirmed the number of missing kids in Freeland connected to the A.S.A at 43, but also noted that only 36 pods appeared to be in the facility Anissa (Nafessa Williams) saw before they were moved. Tonight’s episode made it clear that Jefferson was continuing to try to locate them before they could be moved again.
However, with there being 36 pods for 43 kids, we have to ask what happened to the other seven? We know that at least one died last week after being moved, but as for the other six their status is unknown. While death is a possibility, we can’t help but wonder if some of those missing kids are out and about, working under Martin Proctor’s orders.
How can Khalil walk again?
One of the bigger surprises of the episode was the return of Khalil and, specifically, that Khalil can walk again after being paralyzed earlier this season. As there previously appeared to be no hope for Khalil, the big question was how he was able to return with his ability to walk restored.
The answer turns out to be that Tobias Whale made him a deal: loyalty for legs, and then, when Tobias was gravely injured in a fight with Black Lightning, the A.S.A. finished the work for him. While Khalil came back a changed young man for his experiences — being paralyzed as a result of a shooting was no doubt a hugely traumatic experience, not to mention the treatment — he also showed signs of wanting his previous life back. However, Tobias has no plans to let Khalil do anything but his bidding.
The big question we have — other than was Khalil’s dreadlocked appearance intentionally similar to that of Static Shock — is how the A.S.A. was able to restore his legs and what else they are capable of.
What’s up with Syonide’s arm?
Related to questions about Khalil’s fancy new spinal implant, we want to know what is going on with Syonide (Charlbi Dean) and her arm. In Syonide’s fight with Thunder, Tobias’ hench woman is injured on her arm and we briefly get a look at the injury. While there appears to be blood around the nasty-looking gash on Syonide’s arm, inside the arm is definitey not muscle and bone. Did the A.S.A. or Tobias fix an injured Syonide in exchange for loyalty like they did with Khalil?
What is Tobias’ endgame?
One of the bigger reveals tonight was that Tobias already knew that Lala (William Catlett) was alive and well. He knew, we discover, because it appears that he is responsible for not just Lala’s death but his resurrection as well. More than that, we find out that it wasn’t the A.S.A. who had Lady Eve (Jill Scott) killed, but Tobias. Now, Tobias plans to go after Martin Proctor with the plan to be fully in charge of Freeland.
With Martin focused on his experiments, we can’t help but wonder what Tobias’ plans for Freeland are and if they in any way involve the 36 missing kids in the pods.
What is Martin Proctor up to?
Martin Proctor has been a shady and frightening figure since we met him a few episodes back, but tonight, the A.S.A. mastermind appeared unnerved and frantic. We’ve seen him get like this to an extent when it came to capturing Black Lightning and ordering Kara Fowdy (Skye P. Marshall) to bring him more test subjects. With things not exactly going his way, we have to wonder if Martin is losing control of his Freeland experiment or if there’s someone he’s answering to that is less-than-pleased.
Will Kara Fowdy turn on Martin Proctor?
It was a shocking twist when Garfield High’s vice principal was revealed to be working for Martin Proctor, but since then we’ve seen Kara Fowdy appear to have serious misgivings about things — especially when it came to Jefferson Pierce being suspected of being Black Lightning. Martin Proctor being dismissive of her hasn’t appeared to help, either. With the kids at the school in the crosshairs, Kara didn’t seem like she was all-in with the plan tonight which makes us wondering if, like Gambi (James Remar) before her is starting to have a change of heart.
Did you have any pressing questions about tonight’s Black Lightning? Let us know in comments!
