It’s difficult to make amends when the secrets you’ve kept for years come to light, but this Tuesday on Black Lightning, Gambi attempted to redeem himself by being forthcoming, while Jefferson did the same to help Jennifer accept her new reality.
The episode opens with Jefferson taking out his anger from Gambi’s admission on a punching bag. That outburst spills over into a conversation with Henderson, as he berates the officer for passing his tip on to another officer who destroyed the evidence. After acknowledging Black Lightning’s innocence, Henderson agrees to help shut down the Green Light operation.
Upstairs in the Pierce house, Jennifer is still in shock from what happened with her phone, and thinks she’s going crazy. Anissa tells her that she’s not nuts, and that they both have powers. Jennifer naturally scoffs in disbelief, but Anissa proves she’s telling the truth by lifting Jennifer’s bed. Freaking her sis out further, Anissa says they’re just like their dad aka Black Lightning! When Jennifer dashes downstairs into her father’s arms looking for answers, his initial silence tells her everything.
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When Lynn arrives to the house, she tells Anissa that she was reckless and disrespectful for going over her parents’ heads. Anissa apologizes, but says she felt like she owed Jennifer the truth. This doesn’t calm Lynn’s panic, as she’s already worried about Jefferson and Anissa’s lives being in danger. Jefferson tries to ease Lynn’s mind by saying that if he and Anissa can pinpoint who or what is at the heart of the connection between Green Light and the vaccine his father was researching, then they can kill two birds with one stone.
At the courthouse, Anissa finds documents that show that a company called BenzCORP has been making monthly payments to OnShore Inc. — and immediately recalls seeing a check from BenzCORP made out to grandpa. Jefferson realizes that the company tried to bribe his father to kill the story, but he held onto the check as proof for his exposé. Meanwhile, Gambi sneaks up on former colleague Thomas Hidalgo, injecting him with Black Mamba venom. Gambi offers the anti-venom in trade for the name of the person who made the energy weapon that mimics Black Lightning’s powers.
Jefferson and Anissa, clad in all-black outfits and Barack and Michelle Obama masks, go to a law firm to get information on BenzCORP. When the crooked lawyer hesitates, Anissa grabs his phone and says she’ll figure out his passwords anyway. Jefferson takes a less patient approach and threatens the man with a zap, which causes him to give up the goods. “For the record, I voted for you both times,” he says.
Gambi follows up on the tip he got from Thomas and gets the drop on a hacker, procuring the name and address of the maker of the energy weapon. After, Anissa shows up at Gambi’s and asks why he and her father are on the outs. Gambi says he concealed his past involvement with the ASA, including seeing and doing terrible things, but is now trying to make things right. “Regardless of what you all may think of me, I will always care about you and your family, and I would do anything to protect you,” he says before giving her a new costume.
Anissa suits up and meets with her father, who warns her that the people they will fight in the lab are more than petty criminals and will consider their interference an act of war. Anissa understands how serious the mission is, and the two go the lab to take down Martin and his cohorts. Henderson, who was spying on Deputy Chief Cayman and got photo evidence of his boss’s illegal activities, arrives and arrests the doctor making Green Light, while Black Lightning and Thunder beat up ASA enforcers and destroy the lab. Martin and Cayman are seemingly able to escape.
Back at the Pierce house, Lynn pulls parental rank to get Jennifer to talk to her. Jennifer is still angry with her parents for not telling her everything, but she’s also sad because she feels like a freak. She just wants to be a normal teenager and go to prom, but wonders who will want to be with her—especially when powers caused the demise of her parents’ and her sister’s relationships. She also worries that she won’t be able to have children. Lynn tries to comfort her, but can only offer an apology.
Once Jefferson arrives he tells Jennifer that he understands her anger, but only kept secrets to protect her. He accepts that she is no longer a little girl and vows to be more honest with her from now on. Jennifer accepts her father’s apology, and invites him to watch a movie with her, reigniting their father-daughter bond.
What did you think of “The Book of Little Black Lies”?
