Black Lightning - The Book of Revelations - Review: "Aptly Titled"

Revelations indeed. Alvin's discovery. Gambi's secrets. Jennifer's powers. This episode revealed quite a lot of the show's secrets.

Anissa’s training began in earnest. It involved a holographic simulation and a lot of lectures about self-control. There were moments when I couldn’t help but think back to when I was teenager, and I was getting lectures from my parents. On more than one occasion, Anissa had that expression on her face.

For his part though, Jefferson did realize that, while he does need to teach Anissa to think things through and be cautious, he also needs to be careful not to change who she is at her core.

My favorite part of Anissa's training was when they broke into the morgue to get a look at Lady Eve’s body. They approached that cinderblock wall, and her first instinct was to smash it full power.

I loved the expression on Anissa’s face when Jefferson asked her how much force she would need was priceless. The idea of moderation never occurred to her.

At least the Pierces didn’t waste their money on tuition. Anissa spotted the clue on Lady Eve’s body that led them to the murder weapon and the bodies of the killers. I was actually surprised that they decided to wait at the site to make sure no one pulled anything before Henderson could gather the evidence.

Unfortunately, someone was sent to destroy the weapons before the police got there. Does Henderson really not get that his department seems to be more crooked than the cops in 1920s Chicago? The man is in some serious denial.

When Mr. Cannon Fodder showed up, Jefferson ordered Anissa to stay out of sight, but she could see how Cannon Fodder was handling the weapon. She got her father out of the blast zone just in time.

Lala returned to his territory. He put his top two minions back to work which was another favorite scene.

Their expressions, as Lala sits in the back and discusses killing them with LaWanda, were priceless. I had been wondering if this spirit is really LaWanda or just looks like her. The way she championed Lala killing ‘his dudes’ has me more convinced that that’s not really LaWanda.

The car scene was funny. The shower scene was creepy.

My question about the papers Anissa gave her mother were answered. Not only were the papers Anissa gave her gone, but the files and data at the lab were also gone. The ASA gets an ‘A’ in covering their tracks.

However, the thieves missed the ‘To Be Filed’ folder when they corrupted the computer system. Lynn discovered that the sample, collected by Jefferson’s father roughly 30 years ago, is a vaccine that shares active ingredients with Green Light.

She heads to talk to Gambi about it. The walls were closing in on Gambi at the top of the episode. By the end of the episode, they’d slammed shut.

The ASA representative, Martin Proctor, called Gambi on all of the promises he made in a effort to keep them from finding and hurting Jefferson.

I suppose, since the African American people on this show speak in realistic terms about the world they live in, it makes sense that the Evil Government Guy would speak just as frankly about how he feels about the people of Freeland.

As hard as Gambi tried, he couldn’t talk the ASA rep out of putting a hit out on Black Lightning. (One day this Gregg Henry is going to play a good guy and I am not going to believe he is really a good guy.)

Gambi continued to try and convince Jefferson to back off his investigation. I can’t believe he really expected Jefferson to hear him and play it safe. He finally realized that he couldn’t keep doing this dance.

When Lynn went to Gambi to ask him about the analysis she completed, he makes it clear that he needs to confess his secrets to Jefferson. We finally know Gambi’s secrets.

First, he’s not Italian. He’s Jewish. Second, he was an agent of the ASA sent to find the meta-humans created by the vaccine they were secretly giving the people of Freeland in an effort to make them docile.

When Gambi realized the vaccine was also killing children, he tried to stop it by slipping information to a reporter, Jefferson’s father, Alvin. That action led to Alvin’s murder. That guilt is what’s driven Gambi to take care of Jefferson all these years. Gambi hopes that the truth will convince Jefferson to stop being Black Lightning.

Jefferson can’t really hear anything Gambi says. He’s too consumed with the sense of betrayal.

Jennifer got her powers a lot sooner than I expected. I was expecting that revelation to be held back until the season one finale. She was, as expected, completely freaked out. It was right in line with the relationship they’ve established between Anissa and Jennifer that she would go straight to her big sister.

This has got to be Lynn’s nightmare. Everyone in her family is meta, and they will probably all be out fighting crime and making her worry.

As usual, I loved this episode. We got more pieces of the big picture. Lady Eve was more important than I originally thought. I’m looking forward to Jennifer learning the truth about her father. Heck, I’m just looking forward to next week’s episode.