Black Lightning - Black Jesus: The Book of the Crucifixion - Review

The main plot of this episode, Jefferson’s arrest, played out exactly as I expected when Proctor announced that Jefferson Pierce was Black Lightning. Proctor would do something to capture or contain Jefferson, and Gambi would find some way to have Black Lightning be seen somewhere else, while he was in custody, to convince them that they can’t be one and the same.

That said, there were a lot of nice character moments in the arrest sequence. Jefferson trying to talk Jennifer down from revealing her powers during a stressful situation in which many could have been hurt.

Actually, he had to talk both of his daughters off that ledge. Then there was the, relatively, large group of students ready to physically fight for Jefferson.

Jefferson was able to pull himself off that ledge too. In the face of this injustice he remained aware that losing his temper could get him killed.

More young men, I’m thinking of my cousin who let his temper land him in the back of a squad car, need to remain aware of the dangers of losing their tempers in situations like this and handle them smarter.

I was surprised that they didn’t gloss over the intake procedure or the number of times that Jefferson had to force himself to calm.

The main reason to watch this episode was to see Henderson finally take a stand and do something to clean up his department.

He put together a case strong enough to get a warrant to arrest Caymen. He even used a little blackmail to do it. In the end, it was Henderson that got Jefferson released not Gambi or Fowdy.

I liked Henderson’s speech when he announced his promotion.

One of my questions about the ASA is what are they doing with their test subjects? The scene in the new lab gave us no information. I’m beginning to think the kids in the cryo-units are just a MacGuffin.

I almost felt bad for Jennifer. All three women felt helpless in the face of Jefferson’s arrest, but at least Lynn and Anissa had something concrete they could do.

Lynn was looking for a defense attorney, and Anissa was providing evidence that Jefferson couldn’t be Black Lightning, because Black Lightning was still out and about. But all Jennifer could do was sit and wait.

Gambi and Anissa’s efforts worked. VP Fowdy (what a name!) believed that she was right, Jefferson Pierce is not Black Lightning. She actually looked relieved.

Unfortunately, the evidence wasn’t enough to convince Proctor to call off the unit assigned to transfer Jefferson to some black site.

The major result of the episode was for Gambi and Jefferson to take another step closer mending their relationship. Their relationship will need to be redefined, but at least it should be less uncomfortable for Anissa.

This was one of those episodes where the story was incredibly predictable, so it fell to the characters to keep me interested. Because of the character work the episode turned out to be pretty good, but I wouldn’t call it one of the best of the season. Bottom half. Then again, I don’t think there have been any hard duds from this show this season.

What did you think of the episode?