S04.E05: The Book of Ruin: Chapter One: Picking Up the Pieces

[Trini]

Gambi supports Black Lightning as he departs on a special mission. Meanwhile, Grace tries to persuade Anissa to let her guard down.

The episode was written by Adam Giaudrone and directed by Bille Woodruff.

Airdate: 3/8/2021

Edited March 9, 2021 by Trini

[LadyOracle]

I was not expecting that ending.

The only character that truly had me convinced they missed Jen and was in pain was Anissa. She looked heartbroken and frighten with the possibility of losing her. Close second was TC. Lynn and Jefferson wasn't convincing, maybe because of the fighting and bickering.

But I don't like how much of asshole Anissa is towards Grace. 

Where the hell is Khalil??!

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by LadyOracle
Correction

[Lantern7]

More Pierce family dysfunction, more Tobias scheming . . . but on the bright side, we finally acknowledge the Arrowverse outside of Freeland. Granted, it was mostly a call to STAR Labs for a McGuffin to save Jenn, but I'll take it. I don't think Team Lightning should relay the news about Jenn's new look. Honestly, if Cisco were to realize Jenn basically regenerated like a damn Time Lord, he'd blow out the front of his pants. Ditto for Chester; he strikes me as a Whovian as well.

Once again, Cop Lady still eager to put a death on Lightning's name. Okay, she also sicced her new task force on Lala, but she remains incapable of growing a single dimension.

It's weird . . . the season feels like a slog, but I don't mind it that much. That's weird given this is the final season, and the spinoff features a character that hasn't been seen this season.

[Primal Slayer]

So....we arent going to talk about Jennifer being recast? lol. Did not think they'd be doing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just thought that China would be in fewer episodes...not 4!

 

[thuganomics85]

Hey, they finally found a way to acknowledge the rest of the Arrowverse and even got assistance from one of them off screen!  I'll take it, although I can only imagine Jefferson's conversation with Barry about their ongoing issues.  I can see him asking if Barry needed any help as well, Barry doing his very best to explain the insanity that is happening with him right now, and Jefferson understandably being all "Yeah... I got nothing, really.  You really seem to find yourself in the worst situations there, Barry.  Good luck!" about it.

Well, at least Jennifer's little intergalactic implosion led to Jefferson finally putting back on the Black Lightning suit to save her particles and whatnot.  And he even kept it on to rough up some of Lala's goons!  Too bad he and Lynn are still in "insulting each other and then apologizing about it over and over again" mode with each other.  I'm still rooting for them, but they really need to get a handle on their respected issues.

Speaking of couples going through some issues, Anissa certainly seems to be doing her best to create obstacles for her and Grace to overcome.  Even if she didn't feel like calling back right at those particular moments, I'm sure Grace would have understood if she text back with a "Sorry, things are really getting out of hand right now, can I talk to you later?" or something like that.  At least Anissa somewhat acknowledged that this is on her and something that she needs to work on?

Destiny/Lady Eve's crew sets up The Hundred to get arrested, but Lala manages to slip by.  But now they're bringing in an assassin who knows how to handle metas?  Hmm...

Really like the Gambi/T.C. relationship.

I usually don't have much positive stuff to say about Tobias, but I actually found him relatable when he got annoyed with his henchman messing up his wall while showing off his skills.  Who were you trying to impress, buddy?

[Trini]

Wow - are they serious?? They recast Jen?! I knew China wasn't going to be in all the episodes, but I thought they were going to space out her appearances and then give her a sendoff. Really didn't think another actress was going to come in. Also - I think they could have stretched out this reveal; the rematerialization could have taken two episodes.

Well, besides that crazy twist, I liked that this was a slow, quiet episode (even with the action scenes). Didn't like that they had Jeff and Lynn yelling at each other yet again. Even if they made up at the end. It would be nice if they let them be united for an entire episode.

Thought that this new police chief would actually have something to do, but she's just here to hate metahumans, I guess.

Aw, I kinda liked DeVonte. He was the only one who could put up with LaLa's special brand of crazy. I wonder if that's the last we see of him? Anyway, yes, Destiny, you're going to have to up your game! It's hard to keep LaLa dead.

So the only thing we learned from Tobias was that he has plans.

I didn't really pay attention to Anissa/Grace because there's only so many couples in conflict I can care about at a time.

It was nice to see Jefferson back in the suit again. Nice scene with him and Gambi.

Flash and STAR Labs mentions!! At least one show is taking advantage of the new universe. I know they couldn't get Grant Gustin, but I think they could have shown a flash (heh) of lightning to show that the Flash came and went.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Trini

[Primal Slayer]

It was exciting to have an off screen crossover, i just wish the pacing was a bit better. Jefferson is like "i know someone! let me walk around the corner and wow its here!"

But once again...we're at (well im at) you recast Jennifer and for what? You should've spun them off into a Thunder & Lightning show! But the dynamic between the two will surely change, and the actress is taller then China which will be interesting.

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

It was exciting to have an off screen crossover, i just wish the pacing was a bit better. Jefferson is like "i know someone! let me walk around the corner and wow its here!"

To me it felt like they were planning on having a shot with Barry/Flash handing over the device to Jefferson, but they never got it. I appreciate the effort, though.

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

But once again...we're at (well im at) you recast Jennifer and for what?

I mean, in the final season, are we supposed to spend the other 2/3 of the episodes with this imposter?? I'm sure the actress is fine, but this is such a weird decision that had no buildup.

Well, congrats on being the third CW/DC show with a recast controversy this season, Black Lightning!

[tennisgurl]

I did not see the recast coming at all, not sure how I feel about it. I just assumed they would space out Jenn's appearances a bit more or have her leave to find herself or go off to college, still showing up from time to time, a recast feels like its going to be really weird. Especially as its the last season, closing the show with a new Jenn is just going to feel odd, although I am sure that they new actress is just fine. Its creative, I'll give them that. 

We finally get a reference that this show takes place in the main Arrowverse world, and Barry even gets a cameo! Well, an offscreen cameo and I would have liked even just a zipping sound effect if they couldn't bring Grant to the set, but I still enjoyed the acknowledgement. Nice call back to Jefferson and Barry's fun interactions in the Crisis crossover, I wish we had gotten to hear a bit of their conversation. "How's it been?" "Its been...its been a lot lately." "Same here, my wife is stuck in a mirror." "My daughter has basically become light particles. But I did get to say this thing where I said I could get this in a flash." "Nice!" 

Gambi was in top mentor form, he said everything that Jefferson and TK really needed to hear in a firm but gentle way. Jefferson and Gambi reminiscing about Jenn as a kid and Gambi remembering a young Jefferson was really sweet, its been awhile since they had a real heart to heart. I wonder if Gambi seems something of young Jefferson with in TK? 

Lynn was way harsh on Jefferson, but she isn't wrong that him moping for a whole year now has made him absent to his family and community when they needed him. That's been a real theme of these painful Lynn/Jefferson fights, they both make some good points  but are so petty and mean about them neither of them can really take them to heart. Neither of them are coming off looking great, even when they apologize at the end. 

What is the police chiefs deal, why does she have this massive hate on for metahumans? Does she have some tragic backstory where her family was killed by metahumans? Did she formally work for ARGUS in their shadier iteration? Not being a fan of vigilantes as a cop is understandable, but her seeming to spend more time trying to shut down the metahuman heroes than the thousands of gang members and supervillains running around is ridiculous. She is reaching J. Jonah Jameson levels of irrational hatred. That Lightning is a menace! Its going to take more than that to take down Lala though, the guy just will not stay dead. 

Anissa is really doing everything she can to make her marriage hard, even after only being married for a few days. I know she has commitment issues, but after spending a year watching after Grace while she was comatose, you would think she might be ready to be in an actual relationship with her. The fact that she still hasn't told her family that they got married is nuts, and that she wont even tell Grace that her sister might be dead, these are things you tell your family/spouse even if there is a lot going on. Even if she cant talk to Grace in the middle of everything, she cant just send her a text saying she cant talk now? Because its going to be a "whole other thing?" I am glad that Grace is at least calling her out, its nice to see more growth from her as she gains more agency. 

[luckyroll3]

Damn! They Aunt Viv'd Jen! Now I see why China was so upset on social media a few months ago. Given that everyone (the cast) already knew it was the last season, being blindsided like that must have felt so painful for her. It really is sucky.

6 hours ago, Trini said:

Well, congrats on being the third CW/DC show with a recast controversy this season, Black Lightning!

Lol! Well I know about Batwoman. What is the 3rd one?

[Trini]

1 hour ago, luckyroll3 said:

Lol! Well I know about Batwoman. What is the 3rd one?

The Flash ...

Spoiler

... fired one of its castmembers last summer. So far it's unclear if the character will show up again.

 

[luckyroll3]

4 minutes ago, Trini said:

The Flash ...

  Hide contents

... fired one of its castmembers last summer. So far it's unclear if the character will show up again.

 

Damn! He hit the trificeta! Good riddance. Thanks for sharing. 

I forgot to mention in my previous post that as much as I hate Lala, he always seems to be my favorite part of each episode. 

[immortalfrieza]

5 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

Damn! They Aunt Viv'd Jen! Now I see why China was so upset on social media a few months ago. Given that everyone (the cast) already knew it was the last season, being blindsided like that must have felt so painful for her. It really is sucky.

I think I heard China wanted to leave the series for a while now, not sure where. That's probably why this recasting went so smoothly storywise since China was all for letting it happen instead of having to just write around Jen just up and vanishing for no apparent reason when China just quit all of a sudden and thus could write it into the story effectively.

Edited March 10, 2021 by immortalfrieza

[possibilities]

On 3/8/2021 at 10:25 PM, LadyOracle said:

But I don't like how much of asshole Anissa is towards Grace. 

 

Seriously! It's like she hates her! 

China did a whole social media thing about how she had decided to leave the show early. She didn't say why, just that she'd been through a lot of stuff and it was on her heart to move in a different direction and therefore that she had to leave. I think if you leave before your contract is up, in the last season no less, you can't really be upset when they recast you. 

I didn't see her posts about being upset to be recast, so maybe there is more info. But from what I saw before, I don't get why she'd be uspet they cut her.

[Quark]

I figured about thirty seconds before it happened that Lightning was either going to be a completely different person or recast. Decent twist though.

I wish Lala would stay dead.

[A.J.]

Quote

Where the hell is Khalil??!

He is very missed. I hope he shows up soon.  

 

Quote

I wish Lala would stay dead.

That makes two of us. 

 

 

[possibilities]

This season is angsty enough. I think Khalil would push things over the cliff. But it would be itneresting to see him react to NewJen.

 

[Trini]

After simmering on it a bit, I guess I'm mostly okay with recasting Jen -- even though I still think it was too abrupt.

I'm assuming China gave them advance notice that she only wanted to be in a limited number of episodes since they did set up a reason for Jen to look different, and they obviously had found an actress to take her place. I'm also assuming that at the start of this season's production they did not know that it would be the last season; or else I think they would have just written out Jen. So it gives me some hope that they still have a story to tell with Jen/Lightning, considering that they still wanted her character in the show.

-----

I'm not necessarily missing Khalil, but we know he's getting a spinoff, so it's just odd that we're not seeing the setup for that. Plus he's in the credits every week.

[nilyank]

On 3/10/2021 at 4:14 PM, Quark said:

I wish Lala would stay dead.

Not until he finally kills Tobias. That is the driving force of why Lala keeps coming back to life. 

No one on Team Lightning is going to take out Tobias except maybe Gambi and Tobias needs to go down more than anyone. Prison isn't sufficient because he will manage to weasel himself free.

[DanaK]

All this angst and wallowing by Jeff is very annoying and bringing down this last season, as is the whole Pierce family anger at each other. It looks like it’s starting to abate though, with Jeff taking on the mantle of Black Lightning again

I thought Lala needed a special process to resurrect, but I could be misremembering his previous resurrections. I also thought a tattoo got added to his body after each resurrection but it didn’t seem to happen this time

Recasting Jenn and explaining it by having the character’s genes express her looks differently as she got put back together was an interesting choice. It’s scifi so it works for me