Black Lightning Recap: Everything You Missed in the Season 4 Premiere
One of the few The CW series to air its complete its season last year while the COVID-19 pandemic [...]
Freeland
It's been a year since the "Markovian War" and while the anniversary is something that is being noted, it doesn't appear to be something that anyone is really celebrating. Freeland is now dealing with another violent threat, that being a gang war between the 100 and the Kobra Cartel. Not much has changed in terms of police prejudice and violence, either. Cops are still pulling over and brutalizing young black men and there's a new Chief of Police, Ana Lopez (Melissa De Sousa) who wants to "document and tag" all "undocumented" metahumans as she blames them for Henderson's death and Freeland's issues.
prevnextJefferson
The episode also finds Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) in a bad place. He's still mourning Henderson and is having family issues as well -- he and Lynn (Christine Adams) are in counseling but it's not going well and his relationship with his daughters is also strained. He's also declared Black Lightning dead but is still using his powers. Most notably, the episode sees Jefferson attack the police who are harassing a young black man and then, later, uses his powers against one of the gang members who go after Jennifer (China Anne McClain). Both instances show a much more aggressive and violent Jefferson than we're used to. The police end up in the ICU and it's said that the gang member is crippled.
prevnextLynn
Lynn is working in a lab and despite her claim that she is doing well with her sobriety, she's still obsessed with the metahuman formula that she created last season. She's seen doing a bit of vigilante work herself as a way of testing her research, having injected herself with Gravedigger's persuasion powers to see how long they last. She also takes Anissa's (Nafessa Williams) side when it's revealed that Tobias Whale (Marvin "Krondon" Jones III) is alive and Anissa says he needs to be killed in order to keep them all safe.
prevnextJennifer and Anissa
Grace (Chantel Thuy) remains in a coma. Jennifer has been using her powers to fly on a regular basis and she and Anissa are going out as a Thunder and Lightning team, taking out the drugs that the gangs are spreading through the city. After taking out a particularly large shipment, Thunder and Lightning are set up and Jennifer/Lightning is shot by an energy weapon. While she recovers quickly, at the end of the episode when she's flying she suddenly loses power and passes out, falling through the sky.
prevnextA mystery ally -- or not
Jefferson gets a call from Henderson's phone and someone tells him that Henderson gave him the number and that they need to meet. An unseen Jefferson meets with this person, who claims that Henderson was his mentor and Freeland needs Black Lightning, but he isn't sure he trusts him. Later, Jefferson has a letter from Henderson that vouches for this man but it's soon revealed that he works for the police department and is part of an investigation into the attack on the two police officers earlier in the episode and, yes, he suspects Jefferson.
prevnextOdds and ends
Tobias is using his money to work his way into control of Freeland again as well as to get on the board of directors for the lab where Lynn works. Lala (William Catlett) wants Jennifer dead. Gambi (James Remar) is visited by a woman from his past and given a job offer from an organization that he clearly doesn't trust and it's also revealed that the pair of a romantic history. Also, Gambi tries to get through to Jefferson about his grief and how the city needs Black Lightning, but no dice.
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