The Review at the End of the Universe
Black Lightning has completed its first season so it’s time to podcast about it and deliver our impressions of the first season in its entirety. The discussion covers perfect families, too many villains, Tobias Whale as a James Bond villain, reality vs. Superhero plotting and representation on television. We also resolve the cliffhanger around whether…
“Shadow of Death: The Book of War“ Black Lightning ends its first season with the Pierce family taking a collective stand against the A.S.A. and Tobias manoeuvring himself to the top of Freeland’s political food chain. Family has been a really strong theme in a thematically rich season of television. At the core of everything…
“The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain” Black Lightning prepares for the season finale with the return of Tobias and forward movement on what the A.S.A. has planned for Freeland. In many ways this episode is more of a recap in preparation for the season finale and the episode greatly suffers for this…
“Black Jesus: The Book of Crucifixion” Black Lightning deals with the inevitable risk of the authorities discovering the secret identity of a superhero when Jeff is arrested to investigate various suspicions. Pretty much every superhero story gets around to the authorities getting wind of the true identity of a superhero so this sort of plot…
“Sins of the Father: The Book of Redemption” Black Lightning continues its build towards the the season finale by further fleshing out the history of Freeland and the backstories of the characters involved. All told this is an episode about the past coming back to haunt various characters. Gambi is at the mercy of the…
“The Book of Little Black Lies” Black Lightning once again focuses on family as Jennifer contemplates the implications of having powers and tries to find a way to move forward. This show should definitely be applauded for moving quickly in a way that doesn’t feel rushed. Jennifer only found out that she has powers last…
“The Book of Revelations” Black Lightning focuses on Anissa’s training as a number of long buried secrets that could change the Pierce family threaten to become known. It should be obvious by now that family is at the core of this show and will inform the bulk of every episode in some fundamental way. After…
“Equinox: The Book of Fate” Black Lightning reflects on the events of the previous episode and takes steps forward into the second half of the season. I was more critical of last week’s episode than I have been of some of the others because it focuses on the elements of the show that don’t quite…
“Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder” Black Lightning spends some time focusing on personal connections when Jeff learns that Tobias Whale is still alive and in town. This was definitely coming sooner or later and there’s a lot of emotional weight behind it thanks to the information that has been given about Jeff’s relationship with…
“And Then the Devil Brought the Plague: The Book of Green Light“ Black Lightning dives into character back stories to develop Tobias Whale and explore the Pierce family history. World building isn’t one of this show’s problems. Most of the scenes so far have been instrumental in building Freeland as a well developed location that…
