Red Stewart reviews the thirteenth episode of Black Lightning season 2…
It’s admittedly started to amaze me as to what the thought process behind the writing team for Black Lightning is. I recall commenting in a previous review that it seemed like they were doing what the Supergirl showrunners did in the first two series, which was to throw a bunch of ideas at the wall and see what stuck. With the amount of sideplots tossed into their already overburdened narrative, it begs a simple question- do they expect to be cancelled early-on at some point and are simply trying to get as much material adapted as possible?
Because we are currently living in the Golden Age of Superhero Television, we don’t exactly have a model to look back on in terms of what the average length of a serial should be. Smallville ran for 10 seasons, but we all know the original creators left after the seventh. Arrow seems on track to do an eighth, but who knows what will happen to the Arrowverse as a whole after the impending Crisis on Infinite Earths. And of course, we are all aware that the majority of the Netflix MCU shows have gotten cut short, meaning we may never find out how many seasons were planned for Daredevil and the other Defenders.
So the truth is, we don’t have a definitive answer, and because we don’t have a definitive answer, a natural reaction to having the chance to adapt a comic book to the small screen would be to give as wide an access as possible. It’s either that, or the writers don’t have much of a concrete plan outside of something regarding metahumans and experimentation.
I say all this because, with “Pillar of Fire,” the writing team decided to focus on the following four facets in descending order of interest- the fallout from Grace’s power fluctuation, Jefferson trying to become Principal of Garfield again, Jennifer going out on the hunt for Tobias, and Tobias and co. tracking down the pod kids as agents from a small state called Markovia begin looking for them as well.
As you can imagine, the latter are two are the more interesting ones. They also happen to be the ones that were better developed this season. So why attention was given to the first two is a mystery to me. The truth is this: I just don’t care for Anissa and Grace’s relationship. I respect the showrunners for attempting to be progressive by showing the first ever interracial LGBT relationship on superhero television, but at the end of the day, if it isn’t properly written, I can’t, by default, invest in it. And that was always the case here- they literally forgot about this plot point during the first season, and then haphazardly forced it back into the second, expecting viewers to just accept it.
Then there is the school issue. Jefferson losing his position as a result of Tobias and Khalil’s attack was an intriguing writing decision, and one that I thought could cause some fascinating effects down the line. Alas, that was not meant to be. I’ve complained enough about Principal Lowry in the few episodes he has appeared in beforehand, so I won’t dig too much here. All I’ll say is that there was significant room for improvement, especially since we barely saw Jefferson at Garfield High this season (at least to my recollection). Ergo, like with the above, I did not find myself caring much about whether or not he would get back his title. We only witnessed a couple of the ramifications of Lowry’s apparent evilness, and they certainly weren’t enough to convince me to start hating the guy.
Then there are the two other A plots, both of which coincidentally revolve around Tobias, which may or may not explain why they were more entertaining. Jennifer wanting to track him down for what he did to Khalil was an organic decision, as was Tobias moving forward with his goal of obtaining all of the ASA’s metahumans. It was thrilling seeing him and Cutter engage in espionage moments, with their relationship providing Krondon with yet another opportunity to expand his range as an actor.
Jennifer was fine from a story standpoint, but her action pieces have a long way to go. Part of the issue is that, visually, her powers just aren’t well-rendered yet, and the way she uses them is no different from the way her father does, the only difference being the color of the electricity. It might be too late for the remaining three episodes, but if there is a third season, hopefully the stunt crew and VFX artists will look to the comics for some creative inspiration.
Overall, “Pillar of Fire” was an enjoyable enough episode. Contrary to last week’s “Just and Unjust,” it was much better paced. But by devoting time to things like Choi and the state of the principalhood, I would genuinely like to know what the larger game plan is for this show.
Notes:
-Am I the only one who noticed that the SFX for Jennifer’s powers sounded exactly like the speedster movements from The Flash?
Rating – 7/10
Red Stewart
