BLACK LIGHTNING 4.6

 

RECAP - BLACK LIGHTING  4.6:  "The Book of Ruin - Chapter Two:  Theseus' Ship"

Changes are rampant in Freeland, and none moreso than within the Pierce Family itself.  After becoming dissipated amongst the ionosphere, Jennifer is rescued by Jefferson, only to undergo a metamorphosis of a physical nature that changes her appearance completely (and thus, allowing actress China Anne McClain to exit the role).  On top of that, we have Tobias making bold moves, Lala and Destiny continuing THEIR war, and Chief Ana Lopez assigning Det. Shakur to the Metahuman Task Force.  The cauldron of trouble is brewing once again for the fair city, and it's going to take the return of Black Lightning to set it right.  NOW....if the Pierce Family can just park the squabbles, get on the same page...they can work on exposing Tobias and finally taking him down. So, let's break down what happened this week...

The big story this week was Jennifer's reappearance....albeit with a DIFFERENT appearance.  To say that the family is taken aback is an understatement.  And TC...supportive of Jen as always...shows her the new look she's now sporting.  And to say the least---she's freaked out!  The family is also taken aback...understandably so.  Everyone is trying to figure out what happened, but with testing and re-testing, Gambi's concluded that---compared to Jennifer's old DNA sample...that it's a match, and that this IS Jennifer Pierce.  While Anissa, TC, Gambi, and Grace are more receptive to this being Jen, Lynn is still a bit cautious, and Jefferson----nope.  He can't handle it.  He keeps thinking that he "lost" Jen somewhere in the ionosphere, or that he did something when he absorbed her into him that changed her, and he wants the "old" her back---but Gambi TRIES to convince him that no matter what he says...that's Jennifer, and he's just going to have to accept it. 

Things don't get easier as Jen is then examined by Lynn at her lab....just to double check.  But everything seems to check out.  Lynn warns Jen to not use her powers and rest, and lay low for awhile.  Val---Tobias' assistant---arrives for her checkup with Lynn.  Val has ALS, and she's trying to see if she can get treated and possibly cured for it.  Lynn is going along with it because she feels she can help.  Val walks in on Jen and Lynn, and Lynn lies and tells Val that Jen is her niece.  With that, Jen takes off, and Lynn goes to work on Val.  Val looks suspicious, and reports the incident to Tobias, who does a facial scan based on the picture Val took of Jen, only to find out that Jen's face isn't found anywhere....she's virtually and unknown.  This makes Tobias even MORE interested in what's going on.  

We see Jennifer and Anissa reconnect, and it's like they were never apart.  Despite the change in physical features and stature...Jen is starting to accept her new body, and Anissa is supportive.  As is Grace, who had earlier told her how difficult it was when she started using her powers as a shape-shifter.  Anissa also tells Jen to be patient with their dad, as he's gotta have time to come to grips with it.  Anissa also tells Jen about her and Grace being married.  Jen encourages her and Grace to take a honeymoon, which the newlyweds DO discuss later on in the episode.  

Jen bumps into TC, who says he can get her a new ID, new everything, and it would help when she's out in the field.  Jen isn't sure, however.  And wonders if she made a mistake in the first place.  TC shows her clips of people and kids who were and are inspire by Lightning.  This brings a smile to Jen, only to be interrupted by an alert that shows there's a crime in progress.  TC encourages Jen to go out, and she does wind up at The Sanctum, where she bumps into Gambi.  Gambi says that she can't fit into her Lightning suit anymore, but she can go out in something else he whipped up quick.  She then heads out, and assists Black Lightning in subduing some cops who were doing no-knock searches in town for anyone having a gun or is a meta.  Black Lightning happened upon a couple of cops who broke into a couples home, and the man had a gun, ready to fire.  Black Lightning had a dream about what would happen should those cops kill an innocent black man, but snaps back to disarm them without harm.  He was warned early on by Det. Shakur about the raids, and Shakur asked if he was back...and he said yes.  Jen and him easily dispatch the cops and their weapons, and take off.  Later on, we see Jen outside her bedroom window, and Jefferson comes out, and they finally chat.  Jefferson is finally convinced that this is his daughter.  

As for Jeff and Lynn, however, there's still some work.  They took a step back this week, when Tobias made a bold move to have a press conference to announce the police being given the new DEG guns, but that he was running for Mayor of Freeland.  Jefferson finds out from Lynn that not only is Val afflicted with ALS, but that she has meta powers.  As he and Gambi discovered earlier through video footage, the Mayor's assassin came from far away, and wasn't Jen or Lala as everyone had thought.  When Black Lightning met up with Det. Shakur, he got the bullets from the autopsy, and they were magnetized.  Bringing this info to Lynn, he wondered what Val's powers were, and Lynn wasn't sure.  He asked her to inject herself to find out, see if they could use it to their advantage, but Lynn was worried about her sobriety, and he basically told her to shoot up.  They fight about it, and Lynn throws him out of the lab.  Bad move by Jefferson, who'd been SO critical of Lynn's use of Green Light and these meta powers.  

Lala meets up with Destiny for a showdown, intent on killing her, but she's got a few surprises for him...namely an assassin with super powers.  Lala thinks he got the drop on her, but she saw him coming, and was prepared.  Lala is shot, and even though he's "dead", the Tattoo Man always rises.  However, Destiny made it a tad more difficult, as she had Lala encased in concrete, like Han Solo frozen in carbonite from "Empire Strikes Back".  She then has him in her office, and offers the assassin more work.  As he's used to tracking down metas, she gives him more work---and shows him pictures of the Pierce Family.  He agrees to the deal.

Finally, we see Gambi continue to work Lauren over at Montevista, by helping her with her energy source.  She hits a snag in yet another test, but they figure out that what she needs is Promethium.  Turns out, the woman has quite a stash in that building, which causes Gambi some concern.  So, he brings her a gift later:  a copy of the game that she beat him at the one time.  While she's flattered by the gift, it turns out that he hid a camera in it, to get her eye signature, so that he can open up the vault where the Promethium is.  

This was a good episode.  It didn't take a very long juxtaposition to explain away Jennifer's change, and it allowed the family time to readjust---thought it seemed to take Lynn and Jefferson longer.  Anissa and Grace jumped right in, as well as TC and Gambi...so she's got a support system to help her adjust to her newfound looks.  This is going to be beneficial to an extent as that means the police don't have a name to link to the face of this new Lightning.  Tobias thinks it's the "niece", but has no idea it's Jennifer.  How long this ruse lasts before Chief Lopez, Tobias, and anyone else catches on...we'll have to see.  I am NOT sure what kind of game Gambi is playing with Lauren, but I have a feeling it's NOT going to end well.  And I feel the Chief has bitten off more than she can chew, but she likes to flex her power, and she has NO IDEA just how manipulated by Tobias she is.  He's still pulling all the strings, and with him possibly being Mayor, it sets up the team to have to deal with him sooner than later.

And how long will it be before Shakur is exposed as working with or even associating with Black Lightning?  And the Pierce's have a whole OTHER bunch of trouble in the form of this assassin who just took the job from Destiny and the Kobra Kartel to take them out.  So, look for THAT fight to come up real quick.  And what of Lala?  Will he escape his prison and fulfill his quest to eliminate the Kartel, and put The 100 back in the driver's seat of the Freeland Underworld?  We shall see?  

What do YOU think of New Jen?  And what do you think of this assassin on the hunt for the Pierce's...as well as what Tobias has in store IF he becomes Mayor?  Subscribe and leave a comment below....wanna hear YOUR theories!

Until next time....the Power is OFF!