Last week’s episode of Black Lightning ended on a shocking note, one that left fans wondering what was going on in a way no other episode of The CW series had before. After exploding while spending too much time in the ionosphere, Jennifer Pierce was literally put back together only to emerge looking like an entirely different person. This week, the series picked up that shocking thread and offered some answers about who the woman really is and what it might mean for the series going forward.
The episode saw Tobias Whale move on to the next phase of his plan for Freeland and introduced a brand new threat to the Pierce family, not only offering some explanations for things but also leaving the series in a good place as it heads into a three-week hiatus. When the show returns, we’ll get the Painkiller backdoor pilot so there’s a lot of irons in the fire.
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Need to get caught up on the major details and stories from this week’s episode of Black Lightning? We’re here to help. Here are the major plot points for “The Book of Ruin: Chapter Two: Theseus’s Ship”. Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the episode beyond this point. Read on only if you really want to know.
An All-New Jen
The episode picks up where last week leaves off and after everyone has a freakout, it’s confirmed that the person who stepped out of the pod really is Jennifer, she just looks completely different. Lynn explains that the her genes are just expressing themselves differently. It really is her. No one really knows how to handle the situation. Jeff wants to turn her appearance back. Grace gives Jen a pep talk/hear to heart. Jeff can’t handle things and leaves. At Lynn’s lab, Jen gives herself the nickname JJ.
Black Lightning’s Back
Jefferson and Gambi investigate the mayor’s murder and realizes that La La is telling the truth and that the actual shooter was a significant distance away. He suits up as Black Lightning and meets up with Detective Shakur who brings him the bullet from the mayor’s murder. It’s magnetized, meaning it was never fired from a gun and a meta did it. Detective tells Black Lightning that the chief is plannign raids and no-knock warrants in her hunt for metas and makes a plea that the city needs him. Black Lightning says he’s back for good this time.
Gambi
At Monavista, Lauren works on her secret project with Gambi helping. Things go badly, another setback and while talking about the DEGs, Gambi suggests that they use promethium like in the guns and Lauren explains that it’s not as rare as he thinks and reveals a stockpile of it. Gambi later gives her a Go board that hides a biometric scanner that he uses to get her retina scan, presumably so that he can access that secret stockpile of promethium.
Call Him Ishamael
La La shows up and ambushes Destiny. he goes to take her out but her backup shows up, a ninja-style fighter, Ishmael. Ishamel and La La fight with Ishmael stabbing him with a sword and Destiny encasing him in concrete before he can revive. It’s later revealed that Ishamel is working on being accepted into the League of Assasins and has to kill 100 metas. He already has 96. Destiny offers Lightning, Black Lightning, Blackbird/Thunder, and Wylde as targets.
Tobias Whale For Mayor
Tobias Whale holds a press conference with Monavista launching the next gen DEG and announces his candidacy for mayor. He also has Val go to Lynn for medical tests. She encounters JJ while there and swiped a photo of JJ. Tobias runs it through a scanner and tries to figure out who JJ is so he can target her.
Everything Else
Anissa decides to take Grace on a real honeymoon after telling Jen that they’re married.
Jeff is so focused on taking out Tobias that he presses Lynn to create a meta booster from Val’s blood — she turns out to be a metahuman — so they can find out what her power is, not caring about the threat to Lynn’s sobriety at all.
TC shows JJ testimonials of how Lightning has helped them. She decides to suit up and after getting something to wear from Gambi, goes to help Black Lightning. Later, JJ and Jefferson patch up their relationship.
The show references the killing of Breonna Taylor in a sequence that sees the Freeland police execute a no knock warrant. The sequence first shows a tragedy followed by real-world footage of Black Lives Matter protests last year, then rolls the footage back and then plays out with Black Lightning intervening and preventing the tragedy.
