Black Lightning: The Book of Consequences: Chapter Two: Black Jesus Blues

October 16, 2018 8:06 PM - Season 2, Episode 2

Jefferson must break the news to his students and faculty that he is stepping down as principal. Struggling with his new life as Painkiller, Kahlil pays a visit to Jennifer in hopes of mending things. Meanwhile, Tobias continues to enact his plan.

AV Club recap - Black Lightning expands its universe, for better or worse

TV Fanatic recap

posted by oh yeah! (6 comments total)

The ending got to me. I teared up a little with the call and response that Jefferson taught the students, with them doing it back to him. I had forgotten about it until that moment.

Issa's power sure is useful, and dangerous. Not sure if it's a power I would want.
posted by numaner at 11:44 PM on October 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

I am slow on the pick-up: Jennifer is a generator, and Wendy is windy. Oh, comic books, never change ;)

That said, I'll echo numaner's comment in the last episode, appreciating the blackness of this show. The dialog doesn't feel forced, and the references are sometimes quite biting.

But because of how African American people were (and still are) the majority of the cast, both in the forefront and in the background, I was surprised to see so many white parents present when Jefferson talked to the students' parents, where it almost felt like a 1:1 racial representation.

I'm also concerned that the new, white principal hasn't yet appeared, and instead is a mysterious presence in the episode. I'm again worried about something particularly comic-bookey happening -- a prior nemesis returns, or he's a former sheriff who wants to turn the high school into a prison.

Still, this show is so much better than Riverdale (not intentionally damning this with faint praise, I swear).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:21 AM on October 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

I almost wish the new white principal is just a bad guy and then Jefferson gets to be principle again at the end of the season, because having the white guy be "normal" and then things work out fine would mean the "white savior" problem Jefferson was worried about would actually happen, and as impressed as I am with the writing so far, that's some very dangerous grounds for them to tread, in terms of what the audience want, and what the writers think is "politically correct" to do.
posted by numaner at 10:54 AM on October 17, 2018

Filthy light thief - we didn’t see Jefferson have a meeting with parents (unless they were in the auditorium too?), wasn’t that first meeting between him and the faculty members?
posted by oh yeah! at 12:55 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think they can get a few more colons and semicolons in the title if they try harder.
posted by Justinian at 3:18 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

the names of "books" also bother me because there were multiple books in the first season, but this one so far seems to be one book with multiple chapters. but it's only the 2nd episode so we'll see.

yeah the first time he spoke to the group of adults were the faculty, and there's was an even mix of diversity. but in the auditorium there was a majority black students and parents.
posted by numaner at 4:10 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]