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S03.E15: The Book of War: Chapter Two: Freedom Ain't Free


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(edited)

After learning that Gravedigger (guest star Wayne Brady) and the Markovians are coming to attack Freeland, the Pierce family prepares for war.

Oz Scott directed the episode written by Pat Charles.

Airdate: 3/2/2020

black-lightning-episode-315-the-book-of-

Edited by Trini
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"You know, now that you mentioned it, I always heard of a guy in my family who fought in WWII. They said he took out Nazis in hand-to-hand combat and dump their bodies in quickly-dug graves. They never said that he came home. You think this 'Gravedigger' guy is related to me? Are you high, Lynne? I mean, seri- . .  . shit. Sore spot. Come back!"

As cliche as it might be, having Gravedigger as Jefferson's grand-uncle being the reason why he has stable metahuman abilities works for me. Also, next week is the finale, so the one-on-one battle won't be dragged out through May. Sadly, it also means a lot of dangling plot lines would need to find resoultion . . . Khalil's struggles with Painkiller, whether Grace actually lives through next week after she got engaged to Anissa, whether Brandon will kill Dr. Jace, La La dealing with Lady Eve . . . and a certain grumpy albino who hasn't been seen much this season.

There will be a fourth season, right? I mean, the potential is there for the writers to lose their minds explaining how in the almighty fuck shit that harsh went went in Freeland, especially now that it's been retroactively set on Earth-Prime. It'll be a tough to sell the series taking place in a world where Flash and Supergirl exist.

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Why was Painkiller walking down the middle of the street. The truck behind him  probably wasn't interested in him, they just wanted him to move out of the way so they could get to where they were going. Their road rage and the subsequent beat down of Painkiller was inevitable. "We're going to be late for karaoke you A-hole, use the sidewalk like a normal human!"

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(edited)

Well now I'm just mad they waited so long to introduce Gravedigger. He's way more interesting and formidable a villain than 'Markovia' or Tobias this season.

And now it looks even more stupid that Lady Eve gave Gambi the Briefcase, if she really needed to get her old job back. I knew that plot twist was too convenient. Or did she give it to him so that the ASA could take out Gambi? Not sure if the writers are being really dumb or really smart.... Guess we'll find out in the finale.

I know it's all sci-fi mumbo-jumbo, but I don't think Painkiller should have been able to trap Khalil from the way they explained the firewall earlier.

Brandon needs a new record to play, because "Jace killed my mom" is already old. What is his arc again??

Wish I could be happy for Anissa and Grace but ... happily ever after is rarely an option on these shows.

*SIGH* Didn't we just learn a lesson about fighting together, and 'no more secrets', Jen?

Edited by Trini
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The twists with Gravedigger keep on coming!  So, not only is he the original meta, but he is Jefferson's grand-uncle, which explains how Jefferson, Anissa, and Jennifer inherited the meta gene.  Ah, family drama!  Also, he wisely binged previous seasons/episodes... err, did "research", and pretty much now the entire team operates.  Combined that with his normal powers and the new ones he can wield thanks to Lynn's formula, and I can see why everyone is just a wee bit concerned here.  Wayne Brady continues to be an interesting and effective choice for the role.

Anissa and Grace now plan on getting hitched, so hopefully nothing bad happens to either one of them (of course, Grace would be the more likely character to get taken out) next week.  Especially since Gambi is officiating it!

Despite his best efforts, Khalil falls and Painkiller rises back up.  I wonder how he will factor into all of this.

Lady Eve and Odell sharing the screen was as unnerving as I figured it would be!

Looks like Lala ain't backing down any time soon!

Still thinking something big is going to come out of the identity of Brandon's father.

Season finale next week!  For some reason, I imagine this isn't going to end with Jefferson and Gravedigger making peace and doing a Whose Line Is It Anyway? style hoedown or song styles!

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4 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

The twists with Gravedigger keep on coming!  So, not only is he the original meta, but he is Jefferson's grand-uncle, which explains how Jefferson, Anissa, and Jennifer inherited the meta gene.  Ah, family drama!  Also, he wisely binged previous seasons/episodes... err, did "research", and pretty much now the entire team operates.  Combined that with his normal powers and the new ones he can wield thanks to Lynn's formula, and I can see why everyone is just a wee bit concerned here.  Wayne Brady continues to be an interesting and effective choice for the role.

[SNIP]

Despite his best efforts, Khalil falls and Painkiller rises back up.  I wonder how he will factor into all of this.

[SNIP]

Still thinking something big is going to come out of the identity of Brandon's father.

Gravedigger's research probably missed the data on TC, let's hope his computer skills can give them the edge.

Gravedigger will probably underestimate Painkiller, since he didn't fight the real Painkiller, the one with the computer brain and the poison everything.

Wow, Brandon's father could be important since it could be just about any male that has been shown on the show.

How come we never see my favorite Meta, that one assassin that poofs around like Marvel's NightCrawler?

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Poor Jennifer.. Hubris... Gravedigger is the first official meta.. But he had the gene and I gotta imagine that means whichever sibling he had that spawned one of Jeff's parents had it to... So ima go out on a limb abd say some other person in history along the way activated their meta powers... 

I hope in the next crossover before all the mess hits the fan we get an episode of ppl just talking to each other.. Possible differences between greenlight Particle Accelarator  dark matter metas... How long Jeff has been dealing with being a meta... Meta genetics as the only ones I remember who had meta kids Are Jeff and Barry... Well I guess we don't need a huge crossover just Barry and Iris on BL.. Or the pierce Fam on Flash... Either way works... 

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(edited)

Forgot to mention:  Props to Jordan and the stunt team for the Khalil vs. Painkiller fights. I think they're some of the better 'self vs. self' fights I've seen recently. I wasn't even thinking about there being a stunt double while watching.

Somewhat related: Out of the other CW/DC shows that have done characters with warring personalities (Caitlin/Killer Frost on The Flash; Sam/Reign on Supergirl), I think Khalil/Painkiller is the one that has the best explanation and makes the most sense. The others were either vague or contradictory about how the mechanics of two personalities in one person worked.

I do wonder how they are going to resolve this situation with Painkiller. Clearly the firewall isn't working, and removing the chip will kill Khalil (again!). Can TC reprogram him somehow?

 

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

The twists with Gravedigger keep on coming!  So, not only is he the original meta, but he is Jefferson's grand-uncle, which explains how Jefferson, Anissa, and Jennifer inherited the meta gene.  Ah, family drama! 

Forgot to mention this, too. It's a complication that makes sense, but I don't know if we really needed it, or needed it right now. It seems like it's mainly here to make it harder for Jefferson to kill him.

Maybe they'll have someone else (Tobias? Painkiller?) kill Gravedigger. On the other hand, I don't think the writers really want to do that - Gravedigger in his short time here has been one of the better antagonists - so a better option might be to subdue him and stash him in a stasis pod. On the other other hand, people regularly come back from the dead here, so maybe they will kill him.

 

3 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

I hope in the next crossover before all the mess hits the fan we get an episode of ppl just talking to each other.. Possible differences between greenlight Particle Accelarator  dark matter metas... How long Jeff has been dealing with being a meta... Meta genetics as the only ones I remember who had meta kids Are Jeff and Barry... Well I guess we don't need a huge crossover just Barry and Iris on BL.. Or the pierce Fam on Flash... Either way works... 

I also really wanted to see a crossover between the shows, but it was probably too late to plan anything for the current season for either show. I hope they do something next season.

Edited by Trini
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20 hours ago, Trini said:

And now it looks even more stupid that Lady Eve gave Gambi the Briefcase, if she really needed to get her old job back. I knew that plot twist was too convenient. Or did she give it to him so that the ASA could take out Gambi? Not sure if the writers are being really dumb or really smart.... Guess we'll find out in the finale.

I kind of feel like they're making this Lady Eve/Lala plot up as they go, which is kind of unusual for this show. It just comes across to me as if they wanted to use these characters, but weren't sure how to fit them in, and now each week keep coming up with some new angle that doesn't fit with what came the week before.

13 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

How come we never see my favorite Meta, that one assassin that poofs around like Marvel's NightCrawler?

Agreed (even though he reminds me more of the awesome but sadly ignored Larry Hama creation, John Wraith). Instant had a really great intro at the end of S2, then his subsequent appearances (very few) really didn't give him much of an opportunity to shine.

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The thing that bugs me with Gravedigger is that the dude has mind control powers but he's here slugging it out with everyone.

Is there a reason that his confrontation with Jenn wasn't just him telling her to "freeze"? Why is he mixing it up with the Nazis and getting his face cut up when he could just order them all to shoot themselves?

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Seeing Odell and Lady Eve on screen together is just as disconcerting as I imagined it would be. My screen almost couldn't take that much sinister energy. 

So it turns out that Grave Digger is actually Jefferson's great uncle!! DundunDUN! Welcome to the Arrowverse "my relative is a supervillain" club Pierces! They have a support group meeting every Thursday! Its a bit contrived in a comic book way, but it does offer a decent explanation as to why Jefferson, Anissa, and Jenn are all so powerful and are also more stable than most of the metas. 

Anissa and Grace getting married was cute (with Gambi officiating!) but it also makes me worried. They are too happy before this big battle, and that will never end well! I did enjoy Lynns increasing "what the fuck wait" expression when she first realized what Annisa was planning. 

Jefferson should use Jenn, as she is one of their heaviest hitters, but Jenn is also super impulsive, runs off on her own a lot, and is rather up on her own awesomeness, so the end of that confrontation with Grave Digger seemed pretty inevitable. 

Is this all Brandon is going to do now? Killed my mom, killed my mom, I dont care how many innocent people in Freeland die, my mom got killed, blah blah blah can we move on now? 

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