Last week’s Black Lightning made it seem like things couldn’t get much worse for the Pierce family. Ishmael went after Thunder and Wylde, Tobias had imminent domain declared on the neighborhood where Jefferson’s father’s house stands, Jefferson was framed for embezzlement, and things just generally seemed to be going south fast. However, for as bad as things were last week, this week’s “The Book of Ruin: Chapter Four: Lyding” took things into even darker territory as Tobias began to enact his plan to take down the Pierce family and be the King of Freeland once and for all.
Need to get caught up on all the major details and stories from this week’s episode of Black Lightning? We have you covered. Here are all the major plot points for “The Book of Ruin: Chapter Four: Lyding”. Warning: Full spoilers ahead for the episode beyond this point. Read on only if you really want to know.
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The Family Trauma Continues
The episode opens with Jefferson, Jen, and Anissa go into the lab to celebrate a breakthrough with Lynn but they suddenly find themselves trapped in the lab. Lynn turns out to be the one holding them hostage, gassing them to take away their powers so they can be a “normal family”, literally causing them to hemorrhage horrifically. It turns out to be a nightmare that Lynn is telling her therapist about, but the therapist suggests that it could be her subconscious telling her that her family doesn’t need fixing, and if she continues to try, it could hurt them.
Jennifer
Lightning shows up and surprises Uriah, going live on her Instagram to make a plea for the school’s music program fundraiser, though after the broadcast, Lightning seems to be in pain and it appears that she can hear the original Jen in her head, saying it’s too much. At the police station, Detective Shakur is notified of the broadcast and he gives Black Lightning a head’s up that the chief is planning to target Lightning next. That’s probably not the only problem, though, as Ishmael has also been watching Lightning from the bushes. Given the threat that Jen/Lightning faces, Jefferson tells her to get off IG and lay low.
Jen ignores this, however, when Lightning is messaged by Uriah wanting to meet to thank her for her help with the school fundraiser. It turns out to not be Uriah but Chief Lopez setting her up. There is a brief altercation, but Lightning manages to escape.
Anissa
Gambi makes Anissa a new Thunder suit, one that will maintain her density for a period of time even after she disengages her powers. Later, Anissa is at the medical center and encounters Darius who is very freaked out and says they’ve locked him out of the database containing the information about the phony cystic fibrosis treatment. He says he will get what he’s already learned and then he’s leaving town. However, when Anissa goes to check on him at home, she finds him murdered.
More problems for Lynn
Lynn goes to work in her lab at the medical center and discovers that she can’t get in. Her privileges have been revoked and her research taken. The security guard privately tells her that it was Special Agent Mason who ordered it. She finds out that they are claiming the money Jefferson embezzled paid for her research which is why they took it.
Later, Lynn is home alone when Agent Mason shows up and arrests her for violation of civil rights. She’s taken to the Freeland jail, booked, and strip-searched — all on Tobias’ orders.
Ishmael
Gambi and TC fill in the Pierce family about Ishmael and they realize he’s a major threat. Black Lightning, after meeting with Detective Shakur to get a little time to do so, taunts Ishmael into coming to fight him saying that Freeland his city.
Painkiller
After the conversation with TC last week, Painkiller shows up, presumably in Freeland, to face down one of the people involved with Tobias. He takes out the henchmen and, after a bit of Good Cop/Bad Cop with Khalil, get the man to admit that there is a hidden ledger. Once Painkiller gets the location of that ledger that details how Tobias set Jefferson up, he kills the man.
Powerless
Tobias pays off the director at Monovista to get the device Lauren made. Val gives Tobias the vials of her power that Lynn made. After visiting his shrine to his dead sister, Tobias activates the combination of that devices and the vials. Anissa loses her powers just as she is nearly hit by a car outside of Darius’ home. Black Lightning loses his powers mid-fight with Ishmael. TC also loses his powers while in the Sanctum with Gambi and perhaps most catastrophically of all, Jen is out flying when her powers fail and she starts to fall uncontrollably to the ground below.
