The CW's Black Lightning - Episode 2.07 "The Book of Blood: Chapter Three: The Sange"
When Black Lightning and Thunder are attacked by Looker and her clan, they fight to get her to release control over the Sange. Jennifer and Khalil continue to grow closer.
In 2018, it has become very difficult to keep up with every television show out there. It's even more difficult to provide adequate coverage on this site about the episodes that air every week. Not every show can get full coverage because of my busy and hectic viewing schedule. As such, some reviews will now be condensed to give only some summary thoughts. But it also affords a space for me to jot down my thoughts on the various episodes. And so, here are my thoughts on this week's episode of The CW's Black Lightning.
"The Book of Blood: Chapter Three: The Sange" was written by Keli Goff and directed by Eric Laneuville
The detour to South Freeland seems to end just as quickly as it began. Jefferson and Anissa protecting Anaya's babies while eliminating the threat from Looker is the priority throughout this hour. And yes, this hour is more focused than the previous one. However, it still covers some pretty broad strokes when it discusses the racial overtones of this story. That has always been a strong element in this show. The creative team has a profound message to say when it comes to the way that these heroes look and see the world. Here, the conflict mostly boils down to Jefferson rightfully calling Looker a racist because of who she controls and persecutes as well as the Confederate flag that she proudly displays. There really is no nuance to her as a villain at all. She's just the immediate threat because she wishes to hurt the babies. That makes her absolutely evil. She will target two defenseless children just because they pose a threat to her reign. She is a powerful adversary too. She doesn't have to solely rely on the people she controls in order to do her bidding. She is just as capable in a fight too. However, she foolishly believes that Black Lightning's powers come from his suit and not Jefferson having metahuman abilities. Moreover, no one seems to care that Jefferson Pierce is Black Lightning. That's not a big deal at all. That further creates a divide between Freeland and South Freeland. It makes it seem impossible that these two communities don't know anything about each other from the past 30 years or so. That's strange. All of this is building to a showdown of the metahumans though. It concludes with Thunder slamming Looker into a wall with her losing her control over everyone else. That freedom means that this conflict is over and that the community of South Freeland can start to rebuild. It won't be easy because of years of prejudice and violence. But everyone has the ability to take the first step forward - like Anaya's dad accepting the babies. Meanwhile, Jefferson and Anissa are completely fine with Looker being delivered to the ASA despite the experiments that they run on metahumans. This could be a story that continues in the future. Or it could just remain a strange detour the show took this season while setting up some of its additional storylines. The most pressing of which is Jennifer revealing her powers to Khalil in order to save his life. He feels incredibly torn at the moment because he can't get the reverend to leave town. He is afraid of what Tobias is capable of doing. And so, he runs. He has Jennifer to support him. She believes that there is no one in the world who can truly understand her. She has been isolated for too long and made to feel atypical. She no longer has a normal life. Everything that she once had and dreamed about is gone. It's over. As such, she believes it makes sense to just escape with Khalil. They hit the road together. And yet, her therapist warns Jefferson and Lynn that Jennifer is more powerful than any other metahuman out there. That means she could be very dangerous if she doesn't have complete control over her powers. And finally, Jefferson discovers that Gambi is still alive. He's pissed that he lied to him and made him believe that he was dead. However, he is so happy to know that Gambi is alive too. Of course, no progress is made as to who ordered this hit on him. That means the rest of the world still assumes him to be dead.
