Black Lightning: Season 2/ Episode 5 “The Book of Blood: Chapter One: Requiem” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Black Lightning continues to suffer by not having a true villain, but it may use the existence of new, or newly revealed, and old metahumans to compensate.

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Network
CW
Director(s)		Michael Schultz
Writer(s)		Lamont Magee
Air Date		11/13/2018
Introduced This Episode
Deacon	Rob Morean
Anaya	Birgundi Baker
Councilman Kwame	Eric C. Lynch

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Noteworthy Facts & Moments

• Grace opens up to Anissa about her past which includes having an unreliable However, she doesn’t reveal she is some kind of metahuman. One which doesn’t have control on the appearance of her skin when she is feeling emotional. Something Grace takes pills for.
• Anissa might have accidentally discovered, somewhere in S. Freeland, a place where a lot of metahumans, if not Green Light kids, have made a home.
• Tobias is back to his old ways by using Councilman Kwame to do his bidding.
  • He does this using the information Martin Proctor had in his briefcase. Which seemingly holds more than enough information for Tobias to rule Freeland by blackmail.
• Thanks to Dr. Jace, half of the pod kids die using a serum Lynn came up with.
• It appears Gambi might be dead.
• Though it isn’t clear what month or day the show is on, Tobias notes it had been 20 years since he met and unofficially adopted Syonide.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Where is Jennifer getting her weed from?
2. Was it the Russians who put a hit on Gambi?
3. How big is Freeland exactly?
4. What in the hell was coming out of Deacon’s face? Also, what may have happened to Anaya? Were they possibly being hunted, hence him being “overprotective” and paranoid?

Highlights

Expanding Known Metahumans & Making Them Seem Important

Despite Issa seemingly like he could become Jennifer’s boyfriend, and Perenna maybe Jennifer’s therapist, largely, most of the metahumans we’ve met don’t get much development. At least if they aren’t Jefferson’s daughters or an associate of Tobias. So with Grace being revealed to be a metahuman, us meeting Deacon and Anaya, and them maybe being part of, or hunted, by other metahumans, it seems the show is finally taking advantage of the interest they can bring to the show. Add on, because of Dr. Jace, the pods kids have been awakened – FINALLY – there is digging into their lives and rehabilitating them. Heck, seeing what the ASA may do with them since their family and friends are now older, possibly moved away, or dead.

Jefferson Letting Anissa See Him Cry

Though Tobias has a low-key emotional moment as he eats the food that was made to commemorate Syonide being 20 years by his side, Jefferson steals his thunder (no pun intended). For with him mourning Gambi, who he refuses to believe is dead, he is a hot mess. I’m talking fighting in Two-Bit’s bar, and not even as Black Lightning but himself. So him allowing himself to cry in front of Anissa, be vulnerable, that was something. Not just because it was Anissa, but because you don’t see a lot of Black fathers, especially who are close and have rather healthy relationships with their children cry like that. Usually, when the dad is respectable, he is the kids’ rock, the goofy funny one, and his emotions are rather suppressed – at least the ones which deal with vulnerability. So for him to cry like that was something quite noteworthy.

Low Point

This Show Badly Needs A Villain

While I like Tobias, he has not been crafted in such a way to be the show’s top line villain. If anything, he feels like a placeholder at this point. Someone to act as a segue until a true threat to Jefferson and Freeland is presented. Which has become such a problem that I felt the need to make a new template for otherwise, I’d have to drop the show. For this show, as likable as it is, it has long lived off Jefferson’s relationship with his family more than making his life as a superhero interesting. Problem is, as much as he butts heads with his daughters, and is working on healing his relationship, that part of the show isn’t strong, or interesting enough, to maintain fan loyalty. It’s something for Black media websites and critics to hail and praise but that’s it.

Was Gambi’s Death Supposed To Mean More?

Even without checking if the actor who plays Gambi is signed up for more episodes, it is hard to believe this show killed him off. Making his death perhaps being meant to put fans on notice not seem real enough to think its true. Especially since no name thugs “killed” him. Rather than Tobias, a possible new villain, or maybe someone from the ASA we were formally introduced to.

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