Last week on Black Lightning, the Jennifer was finally let in on the big family secret. Unlike her older sister Anissa, Jennifer really isn’t all that interested in becoming a superhero. After all, she is a teen, and unlike how most of us would want to be like Peter Parker if we got superpowers, she just wants to go to prom and live out the life of a regular high school kid. Learning that her father has been a superpowered vigilante her whole life also made her feel lied to. Meanwhile, her father and older sister still have a city to save as the city is still flooded with the highly addictive drug (that is also giving kids superpowers) Green Light is on the street, so they do their best to shut down the supplier and the mysterious government agency behind the drug.
The episode begins with the local “CD Man” Two-Bits on the street peddling his wares. Being a local bootlegger, the man is able to see what’s going on in the street, where he sees a young child getting Green Light from a drug dealer. The kid has the superpowered reaction to the drug and starts to glow. Before the weirdness can even register to the guy, some blackhats from the ASA kidnap the child and take the child in a large white van. The child was taken to a storage room, the same one Gambi told Anissa about. As she goes to investigate, she sees countless children in this area all in some sort of suspension but kept alive. Anissa realizes that she needs to include her dad in on this and leave the warehouse.
Meanwhile, a resurrected (and talking to ghosts) La La is trying to get back into the game. In Tobias’ absence, he’s trying to get back to the top of the food chain at The One Hundred. With the sole supply of Green Light taken out, La La figures that old school drugs will need to make a return and want to flood the streets with it. His dealers are second-guessing him, especially because he’s always talking to what they perceive as “nobody.” This week, the ghost he speaks with is his relative Will (who he killed). One of his lieutenants second-guessed ad challenges him, to unfortunate results as he rips the guys ear off and shoots him. La La may be strange, but he’s still La La. After negotiating with a distributor (he gives his own mother up as collateral), he’s going to have some drugs to sell.
After Anissa tells her father of Gambi’s tip (and tells him to work through their differences) they investigate the warehouse, which has become empty. They realize that some ASA soldiers are there waiting for the two of them trying to shoot them down. Of course, a couple soldiers are no match for Black Lightning and Thunder, and they easily take care of them.
Because Two-Bits told Jefferson about the kidnapped kid (and that drugs are flooding the school), he tells Jennifer to not go to school. The frustrated Jennifer accidentally unleashes her power while arguing with Anissa, prompting Jefferson and Lynn to want to train and test her. Her father tells her that she needs to learn how to control her powers and Lynn takes her to her lab. At the lab while getting an MRI, we discover that her cells are made of pure energy, meaning that Jennifer’s powers are indeed powerful.
Meanwhile, Gambi has his own problems. His former boss Martin Proctor and a few ASA people come into his shop wanting to have a conversation with him. Gambi is ready for them and gets the drop with his guns, but after local people outside are threatened, Gambi goes with them to leave the store. There Proctor tells Gambi that he knows that Gambi knows who Black Lightning is since Black Lightning and Thunder found the warehouse after Gambi found out, meaning Gambi told them. Because Gambi is unwilling to tell the truth, it’s torture time. Even after getting his face pummeled in and being waterboarded, his lips are still sealed. Proctor then had Jefferson picked up by ASA operatives. Of course, Jefferson being Black Lightning, he’s able to turn the power in the safe house off, allowing Gambi to kill them. An injured Gambi tells Jefferson that Proctor still has a spotter, someone who reports to Proctor about any new metahuman children in Freeland.
The reveal of Proctor’s spotter was a welcome one. I thought it would have been Two-Bits as his ear was to the street. However, instead, it’s his own vice principal. Proctor meets with her where he reveals that Jefferson is Black Lightning, based on the power outage and Gambi’s escape after he arrived. Jefferson’s own second-in-command at his school has been working with the ASA and could end up being a formidable opponent to him.
Next week, it looks like the tides will turn against Jefferson as the law will be coming for him and the ASA will need to find out if he’s Black Lightning. Looks like Anissa and Jennifer will come and save their father!
