Black Lightning: The Book of Blood: Chapter One: Requiem
November 13, 2018 8:40 PM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe

It's spoilers all the way down.

*The tv-listing blurb seems to be summarizing the next episode. The main thing about this episode is that Gambi gets chased by a car full of gunmen until his SUV gets exploded and he is apparently really dead. (Also Anissa hooks up with Grace, who has powers of some sort.)

TV Fanatic review
posted by oh yeah! (11 comments total)
 
Well, that was weird. I assumed Gambi's death was a fakeout of some kind, and was unmoved by everyone's grieving as I kept waiting for the reveal. But it seems like they really did kill him off. If so, I find it annoying and a waste of a good character. I guess it was supposed to be shocking in its pointlessness, like most actual deaths, but it came so far out of nowhere that it just doesn't work for me at all.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:46 PM on November 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


What oh yeah! said, exactly. Felt like a fakeout even though it didn't look like as such, felt like it was out of nowhere, I'm still thinking "this isn't real." They're just going to off the guy in the first five minutes of episode 5, really?

I just don't care about any of Anissa's hookups and am I supposed to? I can't remember who they are or why she suddenly pledges her affection to this one, but maybe don't sleep with the girl if you know she's going to bug off again later.

Was also disgusted at that evil scientist being all, "You're a hero! You saved 14 lives!" while everyone else dies.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:46 AM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Not going to lie, I was surprised by the lack of a Gambi surprise at the end of the episode. And we are SUPPOSED to hate that one scientist. They spent a few words on setting her up while still in prison. A good part of Black Lightning seems to be about atonement and compassion, or so it seems to me, so she counts high on the villainy chart.
posted by Samizdata at 12:03 PM on November 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


They hadn't found Gambi's body, or even DNA, by the end of the episode so there's still a chance he's not dead.

The subplot with Anaya, her dead boyfriend, the quicksilver substance, and the final scene with the cop was weird. Were we supposed to know what was going on? I feel like I missed something.
posted by plastic_animals at 5:00 PM on November 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


They hadn't found Gambi's body, or even DNA, by the end of the episode so there's still a chance he's not dead.

This review/article (warning, auto-play video at link) seems to believe Gambi is really dead. I'm still very puzzled/annoyed. Like, Black Lightning is so much more grounded in reality than the rest of the DC CW 'verse that if they kill off a character I would normally have no problem believing in the death. But, still, you can't kill a character off a superhero show in the opening teaser and off-camera and expect your audience not to think it's just a fake-out. If they wanted me to believe Gambi was killed, they needed to show the actor's face during his dying.

The subplot with Anaya, her dead boyfriend, the quicksilver substance, and the final scene with the cop was weird. Were we supposed to know what was going on? I feel like I missed something.

I don't think we were supposed to know what Anissa saw flitting around outside the car, but the cop had some of those quicksilver things moving around under his skin. And my dvr blurb for the episode starts "Jefferson and Anissa work together investigating the hometown of a creepy man at the clinic and make a shocking discovery", which presumably is what will actually be in the next episode. I don't know if the blurb-writer just screwed up, or if there were massive edits between the time the summary was written and the episode was actually delivered.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:31 PM on November 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


I wasn't really expecting Gambi to come back this episode. I figure he's got to stay dead for at least two or three episodes--or maybe even until the end of the mid-season break--and then pop up again when least expected.

I haven't really been reading spoilers this season, so I didn't know this was coming. That was until I was reading the comments on the Flash review over at AV Club and one of the posters just threw it into the comments. So I knew to expect his death, but I still thought the initial car chase was a fake out for the viewers. I mean there is just no way you can start with that music and not have something bad happen in this type of a show. I anticipated that he was going to get away from the gunmen and then get ambushed or taken out by a sniper in the final scene.

Mind you, even if his death is supposed to be permanent this season, assuming the show is still on the air two or three years from now, it's perfectly possible for the writers to come up with a way to resurrect Gambi, especially since we didn't see him die or hear that a body was recovered. I'm in agreement with oh yeah! here: for this kind of death to be taken seriously by the viewers we need to be shown that it happened.

I'm really confused about Anissa's romantic subplot as well. She couldn't look her hook-up in the eye and say she wasn't going to hurt her, so I thought that was the end of the relationship, but while at the hospital Anissa seems to be talking to somebody on the phone and her tone and words implied she was speaking to a lover, so I was a bit confused by that.

Outside of loading Lynn with extra guilt, I also don't know what we're supposed to take away from the evil-scientist-is-evil plot. There was never any attempt to give her a redemption or an apology arc, so we know she has no regrets about performing illegal and unethical procedures. So it's not really too much of a surprise when she manipulates Lynn into performing an unethical procedure. Maybe it's just an easy way of cutting down on potential metas by halving the number of green lightning kids with powers. Given that, it seems like the waste of an existing DC character that could have found her purpose in one of the other properties down the road.
posted by sardonyx at 8:35 PM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


I agree that they should've "killed" Gambi at the end of the episode, it would've added more for shock value, regardless if it's fake or not. This episode should've been more about Anissa and the clinic, as well as whatever the hell politicking Tobias is up to. Hopefully the next episode rounds it out more.

I'm also confused about who Anissa was all sweet on the phone with. It might be Grace coming around, but that's a stretch. Or she's running back to that famous musician. Either way she's kind of terrible to date.

I like that they're staying consistent with the "Books" and "Chapters" titling scheme. Last season's episode titles were all over the place.
posted by numaner at 8:50 PM on November 14, 2018


I also love the style of the graphics they are using with the chapter headings.
posted by Samizdata at 3:50 AM on November 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


> sardonyx:
"Outside of loading Lynn with extra guilt, I also don't know what we're supposed to take away from the evil-scientist-is-evil plot. There was never any attempt to give her a redemption or an apology arc, so we know she has no regrets about performing illegal and unethical procedures. So it's not really too much of a surprise when she manipulates Lynn into performing an unethical procedure. Maybe it's just an easy way of cutting down on potential metas by halving the number of green lightning kids with powers. Given that, it seems like the waste of an existing DC character that could have found her purpose in one of the other properties down the road."

A major theme we have seen so far is the "zero fucks given" outlook of authority as befits Freeland. The idea that the Agency would countenance said bad doctor as a potential low cost asset who would be under their thumb cheaply ties into that, as I read it.
posted by Samizdata at 2:23 PM on November 15, 2018


I get that. And it's no surprise an evil/morally dubious government agency would force a unscrupulous doctor to work for them. I just question the value of using an existing DC character (who wasn't evil even if she was scientifically myopic) for this purpose, especially as she plays a major role in creating two other DC characters, one of who is intricately involved in major Titans story lines--story lines that you'd figure the Titans people would want to claim for potential plot material for their show. It's not as if the DC universe has a shortage of purely evil doctors on its roster.

It could easily be argued that the Black Lightning production team has an equally strong claim on Dr. Jace as the Titans production team does, given both Jefferson's and Dr. Jace's comic book history with the Outsiders, I just think the Black Lightning people have wasted her potential and that she'd be of better use in Titans.

I realize that this show and Titans aren't necessarily in the same universe and the Black Lightning people said they'd never get involved in Arrowverse crossovers, so I don't know what the procedure is for handling characters that exist in across multiple franchises. We've seen Arrow characters being pulled from the line-up so they could be used in the movies. We've read that there was a moratorium on the use of certain Bat-related characters. Dr. Jace isn't a major character, but she is an important supporting character to certain sets of heroes, which was why I was initially surprised to see her used in this way.
posted by sardonyx at 7:45 PM on November 15, 2018


My internet is out tonight, not sure how many days it will take to get it restored, whoever feels like posting the episode 6 thread please go ahead.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:41 PM on November 20, 2018


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