Black Lightning Recap With Spoilers: Black Lightning Strikes Back in “The Book of Resistance: Chapter Two: Henderson’s Opus”

To say that the third season of The CW’s Black Lightning has seen some major shifts and changes would be a drastic understatement. When it comes to the city of Freeland and the world of Black Lightning/Jefferson Pierce, everything has been turned upside down with the ASA occupation, the looming threat of the Markovians, and a growing resistance movement on top of it all. The result is a powder keg of secrets set to explode as Freeland reaches its breaking point. This week’s episode will see the series pick up in that same tense environment as things have taken another major shift: Agent Odell appeared to have been killed last week while Gambi may have stumbled upon a disturbing truth, neither of which developments can bode well for Black Lightning’s world.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Black Lightning, “The Book of Resistance: Chapter Two: Henderson’s Opus” below.

Things aren’t going well for Grace. Her medication is not working and she’s shapeshifting out of control — she’s in a child’s form when Anissa finds her, and she helps her with a relaxation technique to calm her down. That said, Grace is freaking out about the ASA and is worried that they will take her especially since Anissa’s powers haven’t come back. At the Pierce house, Jennifer looks at old photos of Khalil when Odell texts her. Meanwhile, Gambi confirms that Khalil and the ASA agent Painkiller is the same and he’s called Lynn to his bunker to get access to Pit so he can access the organization’s mainframe. At the church, the Resistance tries to form their next steps with the ASA closing in.

Jennifer goes to meet Odell but meets the acting director instead who reveals Odell was shot, but not dead. The acting director grounds Lightning and tells her that she can’t use her powers because of the Markovian threat. Jennifer isn’t buying it and asks for all the information the ASA has on Dr. Jace in order for the new girl to earn her trust. Meanwhile the Resistance makes a play with Henderson and the Reverend waiting for a bomb to go off at a checkpoint so that they can drive through, Black Lightning shows up and defuses said bomb ruining the plan. The next day, Henderson confronts Jefferson and they fundamentally disagree over how to deal with the ASA situation.

At the Pit, a new doctor flatters Lynn and the acting director shows up while she’s working with one of the stabilized metas. She wants them to be functioning at 100% so Lynn demands access to all the files. The acting director grants it but just for the Green Light Metas. At school. Jennifer and Brandon are talking when a Markovian attack drill starts and the pair duck into a safe place together. Jennifer tells him that she can help him find Dr. Jace. At the church, the ASA comes to break down the door — which is technically in violation of the law — but the kids aren’t there. They’re hiding at Two Bits’.

Anissa calls Jefferson to her place and asks for his help escorting children out of Freeland. Jefferson disagrees with her work with the resistance with Jefferson focused on his ideologies, but Anissa really needs his help. She’s worried about Grace, she’s still injured, and she needs him to step up as her father and help her. At the Pit, Lynn gets Gambi to the mainframe. In Freeland, the ASA continues their door-to-door terror campaign and clashes with what appears to be Markovians hiding in a house. Black Lightning shows up and neutralizes the threat much to the shock of the ASA forces, but when one of the ASA soldiers’ murders people, the acting director threatens Black Lightning by telling him she’ll call airstrikes on the city if he doens’t back down. In the Pit, Gambi discovers that indeed Khalil is alive and with the ASA.

Turns out, it’s a lot more complicated than Khalil is “alive”. The ASA keeps him in stasis and has a chip in him that mostly controls him. After confirming his memories are intact, Lynn wakes him up and he knows her from his files, he’s very cold. Gambi asks him to state his recent missions and he reveals all his atrocities, including the murder of his mother. Lynn returns him to stasis and is determined to save him, against Gambi’s advice. She tells him to leave. He reveals that he has now given her administrative rights to the ASA network.

Jennifer tries to find out what happens when her and Brandon’s powers merge, but he wants to know what she knows about Jace — which is nothing, so he kicks her out. Anissa takes a teen-form Grace to Black Lightning so he can get her out of Freeland. At the bar, though, the Reverend doesn’t trust Black Lightning and monologues, but ultimately, they move with the ASA nearby.

As Black Lightning attempts to get the kids out, things go south. The ASA shows up and the acting director tells the soldiers to kill the kids. Black Lightning stands between them and uses his powers to fight back. Anissa wants to go help, but Gambi won’t let her leave his bunker. Black Lightning gets back to the kids, but Grace has run away so Black Lightning leaves a girl named Natalie in charge while he goes to find her. Unfortunately, Grace turns into a leopard and attacks an ASA soldier and, then Black Lightning finds the mangled body. The leopard then menaces Black Lightning but shifts to Grace when she realizes it’s him — and that he’s Anissa’s dad.

At home, Jennifer gets the Dr. Jace files from the ASA while in the Pit, Khalil tortures his sparring partner and is given a new target to go after: Black Lightning.