Black Lightning: The Book of Blood: Chapter Two: The Perdi
November 21, 2018 3:55 PM - Season 2, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Anissa tracks down her missing clinic patient Anaya. Lynn deals with the fallout of the lab incident. Khalil must make a hard choice.
The episode synopsis is missing on IMDB, and the one from last week that was supposed to be for this one isn't very good, so I wrote my own
Den of Geek review
The episode synopsis is missing on IMDB, and the one from last week that was supposed to be for this one isn't very good, so I wrote my own
Den of Geek review
The fact everyone (except Jefferson) were mourning Gambi made it pretty clear that he'd escape. His escape flashback was unnecessary, though it was fun to see. Also, does anyone realize Gambi is alive? They seem to have moved on pretty well, and missed the fact that there was an armed drone trying to shoot down the sange.
Really, this episode was fun, and at moments pretty honest, but there were so many gaps in logic and plot here.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:15 AM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Really, this episode was fun, and at moments pretty honest, but there were so many gaps in logic and plot here.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:15 AM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't think they noticed the drone except for the guy that got killed by it. But I was expecting Jefferson to find the drone debris and figure it out. Alas...
posted by numaner at 12:38 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by numaner at 12:38 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wow, this show is burning through Outsiders references like they're kindling, and now with this episode we're throwing Looker and the the Markovia situation (with the death of King Viktor and the civil war that was mentioned on the newscast) onto that fire. Who's next? Halo? Other Aurakles? Metamorpho? There is no way I'm going to buy Prince Brion showing up.
As with Dr. Jace, I don't really know why they're bothering to name drop characters that aren't anything like their comic book counterparts. I think people who watch these shows are kind of past the point where we get excited just to see or hear the most obscure references just for the sake of being referenced. We get it, there is comic book history related to the characters you're showing, and yes, Jefferson and the Pierce family have an association with the Outsiders. Now move on. You're creating your own world and your own show, and as viewers, we're either here for that or we aren't. You don't need to tease us. In fact, I'd pretty much prefer it for you to do your own world building. Sure, it's great to incorporate characters (Tobias and the One-Hundred, for example) where it makes sense, especially if you can still keep them, at least in some part, true to their origins, but it is pointless to create a brand new character in a completely new situation and then just slap on the name of an existing character that hasn't yet appeared on TV or in the movies.
It's not that I even liked the original Looker. I thought she was a terrible character right from the start and a poor addition to the team (and evidence that Mike W. Barr was overworking himself or hitting a really bad creative slump and dragging Jim Aparo along with him), but at least she wasn't this racist, energy-sucking cult leader. (I guess her energy-siphoning abilities keep her looking much younger than Jefferson, even though they should be contemporaries, assuming the vaccine theory is true.)
I know this show is devoted to exploring racial tensions, but I'm not sure that it needs to jump out into the backwoods of Freeland to do so. There's enough going on in the city proper that adding some kind of rural Hatfield and McCoys racial feud seems like an unnecessary diversion.
I kind of thought Jennifer was going to come clean to Lynn and ask her to help Khalil. Maybe they'll get there yet.
I have no idea how Jefferson missed the drone overhead. Even if he didn't see or hear it, I though he would have picked up on its electrical signature.
I also was kind of hoping that for once (just once) a fish tank was going to survive a fight in one of these types of shows. Would it be too much to ask that the owner of the tank care enough about his fish and his property not to destroy the tank and flood the place? It's not that I'm a fish afficionado or anything, I just want to see the trope subverted for a change.
posted by sardonyx at 8:44 PM on November 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
As with Dr. Jace, I don't really know why they're bothering to name drop characters that aren't anything like their comic book counterparts. I think people who watch these shows are kind of past the point where we get excited just to see or hear the most obscure references just for the sake of being referenced. We get it, there is comic book history related to the characters you're showing, and yes, Jefferson and the Pierce family have an association with the Outsiders. Now move on. You're creating your own world and your own show, and as viewers, we're either here for that or we aren't. You don't need to tease us. In fact, I'd pretty much prefer it for you to do your own world building. Sure, it's great to incorporate characters (Tobias and the One-Hundred, for example) where it makes sense, especially if you can still keep them, at least in some part, true to their origins, but it is pointless to create a brand new character in a completely new situation and then just slap on the name of an existing character that hasn't yet appeared on TV or in the movies.
It's not that I even liked the original Looker. I thought she was a terrible character right from the start and a poor addition to the team (and evidence that Mike W. Barr was overworking himself or hitting a really bad creative slump and dragging Jim Aparo along with him), but at least she wasn't this racist, energy-sucking cult leader. (I guess her energy-siphoning abilities keep her looking much younger than Jefferson, even though they should be contemporaries, assuming the vaccine theory is true.)
I know this show is devoted to exploring racial tensions, but I'm not sure that it needs to jump out into the backwoods of Freeland to do so. There's enough going on in the city proper that adding some kind of rural Hatfield and McCoys racial feud seems like an unnecessary diversion.
I kind of thought Jennifer was going to come clean to Lynn and ask her to help Khalil. Maybe they'll get there yet.
I have no idea how Jefferson missed the drone overhead. Even if he didn't see or hear it, I though he would have picked up on its electrical signature.
I also was kind of hoping that for once (just once) a fish tank was going to survive a fight in one of these types of shows. Would it be too much to ask that the owner of the tank care enough about his fish and his property not to destroy the tank and flood the place? It's not that I'm a fish afficionado or anything, I just want to see the trope subverted for a change.
posted by sardonyx at 8:44 PM on November 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
> sardonyx:
"I also was kind of hoping that for once (just once) a fish tank was going to survive a fight in one of these types of shows. Would it be too much to ask that the owner of the tank care enough about his fish and his property not to destroy the tank and flood the place? It's not that I'm a fish afficionado or anything, I just want to see the trope subverted for a change."
Dunno. It tidily showed both how savage Tobias was along with how he doesn't really care for anything else but the appearance of propriety.
posted by Samizdata at 4:13 PM on November 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
"I also was kind of hoping that for once (just once) a fish tank was going to survive a fight in one of these types of shows. Would it be too much to ask that the owner of the tank care enough about his fish and his property not to destroy the tank and flood the place? It's not that I'm a fish afficionado or anything, I just want to see the trope subverted for a change."
Dunno. It tidily showed both how savage Tobias was along with how he doesn't really care for anything else but the appearance of propriety.
posted by Samizdata at 4:13 PM on November 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Also that he's too much of an asshole to care about his poor innocent expensive fish.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:08 PM on November 26, 2018
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:08 PM on November 26, 2018
I do not get why we have to have "the Sange" and "the Perdi." Just...huh? Why do we have cute names for the races now? Also, how the heck has Anaya had children with vastly differing skin tones?
Yup, Gambi's not dead, duh! Also has pretty buff arms for an old guy.
"We'll talk about this later, young lady." Hah!
I loved that Anaya had a deaf dad.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:10 PM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yup, Gambi's not dead, duh! Also has pretty buff arms for an old guy.
"We'll talk about this later, young lady." Hah!
I loved that Anaya had a deaf dad.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:10 PM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Whenever fish tanks explode in these scenarios, I just can't help but think of the clean-up involved. Yes, mister evil mastermind dude (because it's always a dude) is the power broker in the city/state/country/organization, but even he will have to be inconvenienced a bit because the movers have to come in and move the furniture, and then the carpet guys have to come in and rip out the old, wet carpet and underpad, dry the floors and lay down the new broadloom. Not to mention all of the furniture that now needs to be replaced, and you know that stuff was custom ordered, so now it's a six or eight week delay.
Then there's the all of the documents or papers or computers that have potentially gotten soaked, and it's hard to run a business when all your plans are laid out to dry or when you've first got to restore all your henchman's contact information in a reloaded version of Outlook set up on a new computer that has to be added to the network and upgraded with all the military-level security and encryption protocols that evil organizations require.
Plus there's always the possibility that priceless art work suffered water damage as well, and even if it was only purchased to make a statement ("see what I can afford"), having to write it off for the insurance value doesn't leave visitors to the office with the same impression as when they're faced with whatever Old Master greeted them before chaos descended upon the office.
And what about all of the damage that happens when the water has seeped through the floor and made a mess of the ceiling below? And what's in that room below the office? The bedroom? The server room? The garage? It's just damage and inconvenience and lost time all around. I always figured that a bad guy intent on ruling the world has better things to do than to deal with the after effects of water damage.
As for the names used to refer to the two warring factions, at first I thought with the Perdi they were going for something like the French "perdu" (lost) but then when they added Sange that didn't make much sense, especially if they were somehow trying to reference blood or sanguine.
I don't speak Creole, but it really came across (at least to my ear) that they were trying to use some sort of (possibly) made-up or bastardized Creole for these names, and that really didn't sit very well with me.
posted by sardonyx at 9:28 AM on November 27, 2018
Then there's the all of the documents or papers or computers that have potentially gotten soaked, and it's hard to run a business when all your plans are laid out to dry or when you've first got to restore all your henchman's contact information in a reloaded version of Outlook set up on a new computer that has to be added to the network and upgraded with all the military-level security and encryption protocols that evil organizations require.
Plus there's always the possibility that priceless art work suffered water damage as well, and even if it was only purchased to make a statement ("see what I can afford"), having to write it off for the insurance value doesn't leave visitors to the office with the same impression as when they're faced with whatever Old Master greeted them before chaos descended upon the office.
And what about all of the damage that happens when the water has seeped through the floor and made a mess of the ceiling below? And what's in that room below the office? The bedroom? The server room? The garage? It's just damage and inconvenience and lost time all around. I always figured that a bad guy intent on ruling the world has better things to do than to deal with the after effects of water damage.
As for the names used to refer to the two warring factions, at first I thought with the Perdi they were going for something like the French "perdu" (lost) but then when they added Sange that didn't make much sense, especially if they were somehow trying to reference blood or sanguine.
I don't speak Creole, but it really came across (at least to my ear) that they were trying to use some sort of (possibly) made-up or bastardized Creole for these names, and that really didn't sit very well with me.
posted by sardonyx at 9:28 AM on November 27, 2018
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I'm glad Khalil is finally pushing back against Tobias, but man was that fight predictable. You'd think he would train himself better ever since Tobias started mocking and abusing him. And why didn't he use his darts on Tobias?
I'm not sure what to make of Lynn in this episode, it was kind of an extension of her deal with the last one, and while there's some great acting moments, it didn't really go anywhere. I guess the episode itself already had too much stuff in it.
Oh yeah and Gambi's alive like we all thought and also tortured and killed a guy that was trying to kill him. I guess there's that too.
posted by numaner at 3:59 PM on November 21, 2018 [2 favorites]