Black Lightning came back from a short hiatus tonight, and dropped a pretty big bombshell along the way.
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Major spoilers for tonight’s episode of Black Lightning, “Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder“, below!
Tonight’s episode saw Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning (Cress Williams), as well as Anissa Pierce/Thunder (Nafessa Williams) both on their own crusades, with Jefferson tracking down Tobias Whale (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III) and Anissa destroying a Confederate statue on her college campus. Towards the episode’s end, their journeys intersected, after Lynn (Christine Williams) was put in danger by Lady Eve’s (Jill Scott) gang. Anissa happened to be nearby, and ran to protect her mom, only for Jefferson to show up and see Anissa as a threat.
The two then duked it out, until Anissa was knocked unconscious on the floor. Once that happened, Jefferson quickly realized that the masked woman he was fighting was actually his daughter, and he and Lynn rushed her home.
Later, Anissa woke up in her bed, with Jefferson and Lynn both by her side. Jefferson was still in his Black Lightning suit — meaning Anissa finally knows her father’s superhero identity.
So, how does the show move forward from here? Considering all of the elements at play, it’s almost too difficult to tell.
For one thing, Anissa’s newfound role in Freeland’s superhero world — and now knowing her father’s secret identity — adds a whole layer to Jefferson’s crusade, especially when coupled with Lynn making peace with his superhero activity. And Anissa being unmasked in front of her parents further complicates things as well, but could end up leading to her having a larger role in Black Lightning’s crusade (and getting that updated costume from Gambi).
And of course, Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain) is expected to factor into this new shift in some way, even if she wasn’t present at the hospital fight. After all, it can be argued that her parents and sister won’t be able to keep this a secret for too long, especially with Jennifer starting to use her own powers.
“Parents aren’t exactly supposed to keep secrets from their children. This should be an open environment where we can talk, and ‘You guys always tell me talk to you about stuff, but this is something you kept from me,’” McClain told reporters back in December. “Because the girls don’t know that their father is Black Lightning. She’s just like, ‘What?!’ She feels like her world has been turned upside down and there’s some anger and some resentment there for sure.”
What did you think of this latest Black Lightning plot twist? Sound off in the comments below.
Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
