Red Stewart reviews the season 2 finale of Black Lightning…
What in the world happened to this show? I remember when the teaser trailer first debuted and, while I wouldn’t call it anything revolutionary, it was still an indication that this was going to be a good serial- The CW’s response to Luke Cage in some ways. And the first three episodes from the first season seemingly indicated that this would be the case, with the three of them forming a trifecta of strong storytelling.
But since then, we’ve gotten nothing but downs with very few ups, and when I say downs I mean trench-deep downs. This is a show that thought it would be smart to throw-in hundreds of different plot lines, some regurgitated from previous superhero shows, alongside ridiculous magic science that has yet to be fully explained. There was so much potential here to create something powerful that I am honestly baffled it went this far south.
The season 2 finale, “The Omega,” wasn’t as bad as some of the previous episodes, but the fact that it repeated so many of their mistakes without even attempting to correct them left me frustrated beyond belief. As a cap-off it was both decent and terrible at the same time, and that all boils down to bad plotting, starting with the beginning wherein we see Gambi attempt to calm down Jennifer after her emotions ignite her powers beyond control. And the truth is, I just don’t care.
Readers will recall that Jennifer’s transition from rebellious high school student to vigilante enthusiast was one of the few things I praised the writers for doing well, however they ended up botching it by literally reiterating the same dumb conflicts we’ve seen a gazillion times- comic book character defies their parents, comic book character goes crazy with power, and, my personal favorite, comic book character lets their powers go so overboard that it shuts them down. I distinctly remember an episode of the Teen Titans cartoon that did the same thing with Cyborg; heck, scratch that, I remember an episode of X-Men: Evolution that did the same thing years prior. Smallville and Supergirl tackled it as well.
It’s tiring at this point. The Black Lightning writers don’t do anything new with this plot point, and it only serves to create temporary drama when Gambi is burned and knocked unconscious by the excess radiation. Don’t worry though- within the next few scenes, he’s back on his feet as though nothing happened.
Elsewhere, Tobias enacts a plan to both draw out Black Lightning and kill him by starting riots in the city via actors while also shutting down Freeland’s power grid. It’s an actually intriguing scheme that, yet again, fails to live up to its potential by never diving deep into the political commentary of riots. This is not helped by the fact that the fight choreography that we do get between Jefferson, Anissa, and Tobias’s Masters of Disaster is terrible. It’s slow, poorly-shot, poorly designed, and features poor integration of stunt performers. For fans who gave the Arrow season 4 final fight between Oliver and Damien heat, I ask you to watch this scene from Black Lightning– you will find it makes that duel look like something out of Daredevil.
There are some decent things the writers do, such as ending the relationship between Tobias and Cutter relatively well, revealing Agent Odell’s knowledge of the Pierce Familys’ secrets, finally getting Tobias into prison, and (hopefully permanently) killing off Lala for good. However, all these good actions are undone by their other decision to bring back certain characters.
To be honest, I do feel a little hypocritical here as, in the past, I have defended decisions to kill off characters in superhero films, despite said character guaranteed to come back (ex. Superman in Batman v Superman and half the cast of Avengers: Infinity War in Endgame). In my defense, the problem with Black Lightning is that it has done it too many times. It’s gotten to a point where a character death is a pure joke- if anyone can easily come back, why bother killing them off? Shock value is one thing, long-lasting drama is another, and now there is no impact to their return; none.
I honestly don’t know how you can fix the series at this point. It needs a showrunner who understands how to balance budget with storytelling and how to create a narrative that isn’t sidelined by last-minute subplots. I noted before that the ratings for the show have been in the toilet, and the season 2 finale didn’t help. The CW has always been lenient on this front, but considering the first season used to bring in, on average, 1.5 million people, I would highly recommend that they take some form of greater production control.
At this point, Black Lightning is a true embarrassment to the comic book medium.
Rating – 5/10
Red Stewart
