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Black Lightning #1.13: "Shadow of Death: The Book of War"

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  • Black Lightning #1.13: "Shadow of Death: The Book of War"

    Talk about the Black Lightning season finale here!

    Here are some pics:


  • #2
    I'll be damned if that wasn't an entertaining season finale, the second good one in 2 weeks.

    The Pierce family all kinda reminded me of the Incredibles, all working together to beat up a bunch of highly trained military soldiers while a lot of rap music plays in the background. I'm so glad this show is renewed for next year and it's a breath of fresh air with the lack of melodrama found in other shows, at least for now.

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    • #3
      It was a really great finale. It wasn't as action packed as I expected it to be, but in a way that worked out great because there was a ton of character development here.

      We saw flashbacks to everyone's pasts here--We finally got to see Alvin, Jefferson's father, and Alvin instilling Jefferson with a lifelong love of education and self-betterment. That went a long way to better show us Jefferson’s enmity against Tobias, because we now know just how much Jefferson lost when his father died. Jefferson apologizes for hiding under the bed when Tobias came, and Alvin tells him that’s exactly what he was told to do. Jefferson also apologizes for the violence he’s committed and perpetuated as Black Lightning, and gets a very important message from his father: “Peace ain’t always peaceful.” For his part, Alvin apologizes for leaving his son so soon. Both men are crying, but their time is up now. Alvin tells his son to go back and finish his business.
      There was Gambi’s conversion from ASA goon to superhero mentor, Anissa’s own inquisitive quest for justice — we see Gambi warn Alvin to stop pursuing Tobias as young Jefferson watches from the car. We later cut to Alvin’s funeral, where Gambi realizes how alone Jefferson is without his father.

      Even Jennifer manages to evolve here, as she realizes that despite her previous misgivings, that her abilities can be used for something good. Instead of bandying the "I just wanna be normal" trope here, she starts to embrace the superpowered side of herself. She still isn't fully embracing the idea of being a costumed superhero, but seems more content with an support role. If I had to compare her, I would compare her to a healer in a video game. Healers typically don't go straight into the melee themselves, instead they stand back and let the fighters/tanks do all the work while buffing them up and making sure that everyone's stats are good. That seemed to be Jennifer's role here, and she was really great at it.
      That isn't to say that she didn't kick a few asses, however. It was highly satisfying to see her use her powers in an unexpected way when she whooped Proctor's butt and knocked him out. Even Anissa and Jefferson seemed surprised by Jennifer revealing this new side to herself.

      Proctor was such an cartoonishly racist guy that my black boyfriend couldn't help help but laugh every time he came on screen... and he laughed again when he kept on saying "make America great". In a way I'm glad he's out of the picture now, so that next season we can focus more on the more legitimate threats such as Tobias whale, Lala, and the others. Seeing an cartoonishly racist guy get knocked on his ass was great though... very fun to watch.

      So the pod kidnappees are finally saved, and the black citizens of Freeland see once more that their “paranoia” was right all along. I especially loved this line from one man on local news: “The government put crack in the ghettos, they gave heroin to white folks in rural areas, and then they came back and put Green Light in Freeland. They gonna put something else somewhere else. Ain’t nothing new.”

      With the ASA vanquished, Tobias uses Proctor’s severed thumbs (a lovely macabre touch) to open a secret briefcase. We don’t see what’s inside, but only get a Pulp Fiction-style glowing light effect, except this light is green, like the drug. Whatever it is, it seems to instill Tobias with confidence. Calling himself the “King of Freeland,” he declares that his first order of business is to finally destroy Black Lightning.

      rating: 10/10

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      • #4
        Arrow and Flash both had great whole seasons in their debut and Black Lightning followed that trend. Hopefully, this continues with season 2! I really like how they avoided having Jefferson and Tobias square off once again in the finale because it was likely Jefferson would've finished the job, this time. But they saved Tobias and now he's the full main villain for season 2 which is great because a BOSS!

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