Black Lightning S01 EP13 Season Finale Review
Black Lightning ended its freshman season last night with an episode that managed to pull off a dramatic, action packed finale that manages to avoid narrative pitfalls of earlier episodes, for the most part. The conflict of the ASA came to a head along with the storylines concerning Tobias and Lala, and everything wrapped up cleanly heading into next season.
The largest offense this season has done that I have to get out of the way before talking about anything else, is the complete and utter uselessness of the Lala plot line. Tobias explained the return of Lala in this episode, basically saying that he payed money to have someone revived (That seems really useful, like, really really useful.) and that it is somehow a side effect that the revived gets tattoos of people he killed? He even gives Lala a fancy villain name with "Tattooed Man," though I have to wonder why Tobias would kill Lala himself and then spend so much money bringing him back to life...especially when it would be worthless. Out of nowhere Lala is suddenly in the ASA headquarters and coughs up a grenade, and Proctor leaves the room almost casually while we see a small explosion behind him and thats the end of Lala. No big death moment, just a random scene that seems worthless; Tobias could have easily gotten anyone to go in with a bomb, just seems like a waste of time in the end to have so much build up with Lala to ultimately be wasted with a not so great explanation.
The other villains of the show pulled off their parts to great effect. We got explanations in some exposition heavy dialogue about Cyanide and Khalil, telling us that Gambi somehow knew that Khalil was secreting venom from his body, and that Cyanide is not a robot like I thought but just has body armor under his skin (I have many questions about how that works). Tobias Whale and Proctor were the standouts though, Proctor mostly for comedic effect as I thought he looked funny and acted ridiculous, while his repeated use of the phrase, "Make America great again," further put parallels between him and President Trump. Tobias Whale took the fight to the ASA with their soldiers distracted, and it looked like Khalil single handedly took out every guard lol. No final showdown between Black Lightning and Tobias in this episode, which honestly felt like a missed opportunity especially since Black Lightning somehow found his way to the ASA's hideout in the end only a scene or two after it showed Tobias there (Did I miss something in another episode? Did Gambi say he knew where the headquarters were?). Proctor's death was pretty fast and clean, and I liked the twist that it wasn't actually the ASA at all, but just Proctor's rogue experiments. Makes me wonder if the real ASA will appear eventually, and this episode also mentioned Lady Eve's cartel which I don't remember seeing any hint of in episodes after her death, so maybe they'll show up soon too. But I have to ask, did all the children in the pods die? It never addressed that, it only showed Proctor's crimes being revealed to the news, and they didn't have the briefcase that the scientist said he needed to help the children. So are they dead now?
The events that transpired within Gambi's hidden cabin were also very entertaining, and very grim in tone and atmosphere as they prepared for an invasion. For a moment it seemed as though a character would actually perish, but it all turned out okay. Jennifer's powers kicked in in a big way for the finale when she restarted Black Lightning's powers, which hopefully leads into her becoming more a superhero later on, though her struggle with finding them useful and not wanting them should be great to watch. The music was also on point in this episode, it really helped to energize the scenes.
Shoutout to Henderson, he managed to make it into the finale though I can't say that he really played any part in the episode, poor guy. And yet again, Anissa's girlfriend is nowhere to be seen, they're broken up now, right? They have to be, they don't talk, Anissa went into hiding and so communications between them are down; I guess I should stop expecting to see her again somehow. The vice president was also missing, will she ever be revealed to Jefferson as part of Proctor's experiments? Who knows.
Well, in the end, Black Lightning had its problems. It had its issues in storytelling, such as the entire Lala arc, Tobias Whale vanishing for four episodes, and uneven balance between too many storylines, with characters being forgotten at every turn. But it was not bad, for all the errors the season made it made just as many rights. Black Lightning as a character was deep and compelling, offering a new type of hero the CW hasn't seen before as he tackled issues of racism and returning to the suit after retiring. His scenes involving his father in the finale were touching, and I'm excited to see more of him next season, along with his daughters who have both grown. Anissa is not as annoying as she started out, though I can't say I'm totally on board with her character still, and Jennifer is getting more focus which is what I was hoping for. The "will they wont they" of Jefferson and Lynn seems to be finally resolved, and Gambi's character has become easily my favorite, with one of the most compelling depth of all the characters. The villains were a more comic booky aspect of the show, but one I really enjoyed. For all of the ASA's faults, Proctor was an amusing character to laugh at, and I will always remember Joey Toledo and wish that it was him who Tobias had brought back instead of Lala. Khalil and Cyanide make up an intriguing pair of henchmen, but the true star was Tobias Whale who deserved to be the central antagonist, and hopefully will be next season. A great plus for me in the end was that Tobias brought back his harpoon from the first episode, hopefully we'll see more of it next season. I would be lying if I said the season cliffhanger was a good one, as I feel like we have seen Tobias declare that he'll kill Black Lightning twenty times before, so nothing new on that part.
I had a blast watching the CW's newest hero, and I can't wait to have him return next season for another serving of heroic fun.
The largest offense this season has done that I have to get out of the way before talking about anything else, is the complete and utter uselessness of the Lala plot line. Tobias explained the return of Lala in this episode, basically saying that he payed money to have someone revived (That seems really useful, like, really really useful.) and that it is somehow a side effect that the revived gets tattoos of people he killed? He even gives Lala a fancy villain name with "Tattooed Man," though I have to wonder why Tobias would kill Lala himself and then spend so much money bringing him back to life...especially when it would be worthless. Out of nowhere Lala is suddenly in the ASA headquarters and coughs up a grenade, and Proctor leaves the room almost casually while we see a small explosion behind him and thats the end of Lala. No big death moment, just a random scene that seems worthless; Tobias could have easily gotten anyone to go in with a bomb, just seems like a waste of time in the end to have so much build up with Lala to ultimately be wasted with a not so great explanation.
The other villains of the show pulled off their parts to great effect. We got explanations in some exposition heavy dialogue about Cyanide and Khalil, telling us that Gambi somehow knew that Khalil was secreting venom from his body, and that Cyanide is not a robot like I thought but just has body armor under his skin (I have many questions about how that works). Tobias Whale and Proctor were the standouts though, Proctor mostly for comedic effect as I thought he looked funny and acted ridiculous, while his repeated use of the phrase, "Make America great again," further put parallels between him and President Trump. Tobias Whale took the fight to the ASA with their soldiers distracted, and it looked like Khalil single handedly took out every guard lol. No final showdown between Black Lightning and Tobias in this episode, which honestly felt like a missed opportunity especially since Black Lightning somehow found his way to the ASA's hideout in the end only a scene or two after it showed Tobias there (Did I miss something in another episode? Did Gambi say he knew where the headquarters were?). Proctor's death was pretty fast and clean, and I liked the twist that it wasn't actually the ASA at all, but just Proctor's rogue experiments. Makes me wonder if the real ASA will appear eventually, and this episode also mentioned Lady Eve's cartel which I don't remember seeing any hint of in episodes after her death, so maybe they'll show up soon too. But I have to ask, did all the children in the pods die? It never addressed that, it only showed Proctor's crimes being revealed to the news, and they didn't have the briefcase that the scientist said he needed to help the children. So are they dead now?
The events that transpired within Gambi's hidden cabin were also very entertaining, and very grim in tone and atmosphere as they prepared for an invasion. For a moment it seemed as though a character would actually perish, but it all turned out okay. Jennifer's powers kicked in in a big way for the finale when she restarted Black Lightning's powers, which hopefully leads into her becoming more a superhero later on, though her struggle with finding them useful and not wanting them should be great to watch. The music was also on point in this episode, it really helped to energize the scenes.
Shoutout to Henderson, he managed to make it into the finale though I can't say that he really played any part in the episode, poor guy. And yet again, Anissa's girlfriend is nowhere to be seen, they're broken up now, right? They have to be, they don't talk, Anissa went into hiding and so communications between them are down; I guess I should stop expecting to see her again somehow. The vice president was also missing, will she ever be revealed to Jefferson as part of Proctor's experiments? Who knows.
Well, in the end, Black Lightning had its problems. It had its issues in storytelling, such as the entire Lala arc, Tobias Whale vanishing for four episodes, and uneven balance between too many storylines, with characters being forgotten at every turn. But it was not bad, for all the errors the season made it made just as many rights. Black Lightning as a character was deep and compelling, offering a new type of hero the CW hasn't seen before as he tackled issues of racism and returning to the suit after retiring. His scenes involving his father in the finale were touching, and I'm excited to see more of him next season, along with his daughters who have both grown. Anissa is not as annoying as she started out, though I can't say I'm totally on board with her character still, and Jennifer is getting more focus which is what I was hoping for. The "will they wont they" of Jefferson and Lynn seems to be finally resolved, and Gambi's character has become easily my favorite, with one of the most compelling depth of all the characters. The villains were a more comic booky aspect of the show, but one I really enjoyed. For all of the ASA's faults, Proctor was an amusing character to laugh at, and I will always remember Joey Toledo and wish that it was him who Tobias had brought back instead of Lala. Khalil and Cyanide make up an intriguing pair of henchmen, but the true star was Tobias Whale who deserved to be the central antagonist, and hopefully will be next season. A great plus for me in the end was that Tobias brought back his harpoon from the first episode, hopefully we'll see more of it next season. I would be lying if I said the season cliffhanger was a good one, as I feel like we have seen Tobias declare that he'll kill Black Lightning twenty times before, so nothing new on that part.
I had a blast watching the CW's newest hero, and I can't wait to have him return next season for another serving of heroic fun.
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