S04.E13: The Book of Resurrection: Chapter Two: Closure

[Trini]

After four seasons, the game-changing, relevant and electrifying series comes to an end.
Cress Williams, Nafessa Williams, Christine Adams, China Anne McClain, James Remar, Marvin Jones III, Jordan Calloway and Chantal Thuy star.

The episode was written by Charles D. Holland and directed by Salim Akil.

Airdate: 5/24/2021

[janeta]

Impaled on a stake yet still quoting Moby Dick. Tobias, we will not miss you.

[Primal Slayer]

And we finally put the cap on Black Lightning! It was a very welcomed edition to the Arrowverse and one I am sad to see go even if the showrunner kind of drove it into the ground. One of the few Arrowverse shows where I genuinely enjoyed all the characters and not just one or two. The finale wasnt MIND BLOWING or even the shows best episode but it was decent enough with some nice moments.

The twist with Jennifer was very well done so I'll give them props for that. Knowing China would be returning I had my thoughts about how they'd do it and I wasn't expecting that. The actress who replaced her was good but nothing like the OG. There's been rumors about China having issues with Cress and the lack of family scenes as one tight unit....was weird. Could've been COVID protocols but our last scene with everyone and they are all so spaced out! 

The show kind of ended how it began, Jefferson in retirement. Though I hate that we ended the series with Lala and not one the Jeffersons just being happy go lucky. 

 

[Lantern7]

You know, it's pretty fitting that the series finale gives us the Pierces (along with Gambi, Grace and TC) celebrating their hard-earned victory . .  . and the last thing we see is La La breaking out of his concrete prison. Should we just assume that he'll probably make Team Lightning's lives hell away from the camera? I kept waiting for him to drop in on the Pierces. "Hey. Y'all good? Good. Thanks for killing Tobias. I'm getting the hell out of here before something really bad happens. Y'all live your lives. I'm gonna find my plus-sized plus-one and start somewhere new."

Naturally, "JJ" turned out to be an evil clone of Jenn this entire time. Or something like that. I shouldn't say "evil"; JJ was more like an unknown form of life that became human, and she freaked out when Jenn returned. Basically, she was like a second cousin to the Forces running around on The Flash, only she didn't wear out her welcome almost immediately.

Meanwhile, Khalil gets the kill order out of his head, but it cost him the memories of the Pierces. I'm just going to nod my head and let it go. Has Painkiller been green-lit? Or has it been thrown on the same decaying heap as Green Arrow and the Canaries?

[UPDATE: Ooof. Heap it is. Well, there's always HBO Max]

27 minutes ago, janeta said:

Impaled on a stake yet still quoting Moby Dick. Tobias, we will not miss you.

I'll miss him. Tough and snarky as all hell. I don't think he was a villainous Gary Stu, punching people in the soul while wearing plot armor. Krondon was fun to watch. I kept thinkingthat Tobias would fit in on Batwoman, given how that series doesn't have the earth-shaking stakes of the other Arrowverse shows. Also, I wanted him to team with Alice. I know him saying "Lets make Freeland great again!" was epic cringe, but it was a fun cringe.

I forget La La's deal. Does he have to kill someone directly to absorb their essence? If that isn't the case, than he's probably the biggest loser as the series ends, since he'd have Tobias ranking on him non-stop for the rest of his life . . . which might be eternal.

Anyone else think TC liked Jenn more than as a friend?

*sigh* Hey, maybe we could get Jeff or the new generation to return in the next crossover.

[thuganomics85]

And so it ends!

Not a bad finale, I guess, but it felt like a lot of stuff was rushed and there wasn't really any time to react to all of the big reveals and moments.  JJ was actually not Jen the entire time, but some kind of entity (alien or otherwise?) who was pretending to be her?  But then the real Jen comes back (rocking the China Anne McClain look, of course!) and defeats her, but we don't even get to see a reaction from the rest of the characters about it, as they all apparently find out off-screen.  Really felt like this idea could have carried over for a few episodes and not just the series finale.  Still, I'm glad we at least got China back for the final episode.  Laura Kariuki also ended up being a good fit for the role as well.

Should have known that Jefferson wasn't actually dead, but since Tobias is... well, Tobias, he had to make a grand show and bury him alive instead.  So, once he gets his powers back and gets a classic D.C. pep talk (from Ghost Dad!), Jefferson crashes into his loft, they slug it out, and at long last, Tobias is finally, FINALLY put down for good: first by getting impaled on a pole, and then Jefferson having to electrocute him after he refused to back down.  And judging from the final scene, Jefferson hilariously didn't even bother calling the cops or anyone, and just left him there.  I wonder how long he's just going to hang there, heh.

Oh, and Chief Lopez went crazy, almost caused a blackout, and tried to kill Shakur and crew, but was quickly defeated by Jen.  Really felt like all of this was just padding out the time.

TC finds a way to take the kill switch out of Khalil/Painkiller, but he will lose all of his memories of Jen and the Pierces in the process.  But since having it in there means he could still end up killing them, he agrees to it.  And this is where I would say he's off to his spin-off, but I just heard The CW passed on the pilot, so I guess we'll see if HBO Max or someone else will pick it up, or was this all for nothing.  Whatever happens, I hope Jordan Calloway lands on his feet (just not on Riverdale, again!  I mean, I love that crazy show, but I'd like to think he'd do better than that!)

Surprised Gravedigger never factored back in.  I wonder if all of the COVID stuff prevented Wayne Brady from being able to come back or something.  Honestly, part of me wonders if the character/concept of Ishmael was created because of that, because I could have seen Gravedigger working in that role, with a few minor tweaks here and there. 

Biggest disappointment about the show ending is I wanted more of Grace suiting up and being badass.

In the end, there are no major deaths at least, but instead, Jefferson is retiring and letting "Thunder", "Lighting", and "Wild" take over on crime fighting duties (oh, and he and Lynn are finally remarrying!), and Gambi is also hanging it up, and letting TC take over as the tech guy.  A fitting enough end for these characters, at least.

Lala's back, ladies and gentlemen!  He was always a survivor.

Fare thee well, Black Lightning!  You weren't a perfect show, but you were probably one of the more unique ones out of the Arrowverse, and I'm glad we at least got four seasons of it.  Curious to see what everyone here does next.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I have to say that of all the Arrowverse shows, BL was the one where I skipped the most episodes. (About half of S3 and at least a couple episodes this season.) It's also the one I'm probably least likely to rewatch down the road. I could see at some point going back to the first season or two of Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, or about S2-3 of Legends (S1 was pretty weak), although I don't feel a rush to do any of them in an era where we are spoiled for choice just on superhero/genre shows alone.

I think that the premise just would have been better for a two-hour movie than a four season series. There really wasn't a good Watsonian reason why Jefferson didn't avenge his father's death decades ago, let alone when he came back as Black Lightning. Jefferson was an eyewitness to his father's murder, and as far as I recall, there was nothing stopping him from testifying to what he saw. There was nothing, once he came into his powers, using them directly to capture Tobias. There was nothing stopping him from revealing Tobias's evil deeds during his current incarnation, especially when they had so much direct evidence of all the messed up stuff he did, and they could always get more (when you consider they have Gambi and now TC on their side).

But the writers were just too in love with their creation and let him continue to exist and not freaking lose, pretty much ever. Or at least, almost never really let Jefferson win. Until now.

So when it came to the finale itself, I guess it mostly lived up to its name. Each character got a measure of closure and for the good guys, they were left in a good place. 

Jeff finally avenges his father's death. But I think the show downplayed this enormous moment both for him and for the city of Freeland. There was a hint that Looker was going to out Tobias as the slimeball he is and bring back Jeff and Lynn's good names. But in the meantime, Tobias is the mayor, and he's dead after BL was possibly seen flying to his office. Fair enough Jeff may not have to answer to that from the law. But what about from himself? Or his family, given all the lectures about how there's no killing? 

Jeff and Lynn finally are getting remarried. And Jeff is re-retiring. Isn't there more work to be done to save the soul of Freeland? It seems like forever ago when Jeff was a teacher/principal. What is it about Arrowverse shows squandering the potential of their heroes' day jobs for the most part?

Khalil is free of the kill order. It felt like he got about as much screen time as BL. Which is messed up. 

I wish I liked the twist that the real Jen was captured in an energy field till now. I don't begrudge them bringing the actress back for the finale, though I am curious as to the behind the scenes reasons for her departure. 

I want to be a good ally to LGBTQ+ folk, but I feel like Anissa/Grace has been largely chemistry free. 

Part of me hopes that Thunder or Lightning get to do a run on Legends.

I didn't particularly need to see Lala again, but if we had to, why didn't they put him before the scene with the Pierces so we could have ended on a sweet note? I mean, they knew it was the final episode, right? Lala showing up again would have been more fitting if there were a possible S5 where he was the big bad.

Gambi got a decent sendoff. They must have had the scene talking to young Jeff about a code as a nod to the actor's role as Dexter's dad who set him up to be a serial killer for justice, only BL is sort of the opposite. Where'd his girlfriend go?

Anyways, despite all the ups and downs (mostly downs), I appreciate a lot of what the show was trying to do.

Rest in power, Black Lightning. 

[Trini]

Aw, it wasn't perfect, but I'm going to miss this unapologetically Black superhero show.  Stuff like playing great music over tense and/or action scenes.

It was noticeably odd how separated Jefferson was from the rest of the main cast for most the episode. I don't know if there were BTS reasons for that, but they made it work with the story. I did like those scenes with Jefferson and each of his dads.

A final showdown between Black Lightning and Tobias makes sense; but I was hoping that taking Tobias down would be a group effort. LOL at Tobias staying on brand until his last breath with the Moby Dick quotes!

There were several conclusions that were rushed, but I'm mostly satisfied with how they ended things for everyone. My biggest disappointments are that we never got follow-up on Gravedigger (why did they have to remind us in the previouslies?) and Lady Eve. I would have felt better about Jefferson and Lynn's reconciliation if their relationship hadn't been contentious for most of the season.

The Jennifer twist came out of nowhere, but I actually loved it! It got us China back and a Lightning vs Lightning fight - YASSS! I'm a sucker for doppelganger tropes.

On 5/24/2021 at 10:28 PM, Primal Slayer said:

...

The twist with Jennifer was very well done so I'll give them props for that. Knowing China would be returning I had my thoughts about how they'd do it and I wasn't expecting that. The actress who replaced her was good but nothing like the OG. There's been rumors about China having issues with Cress and the lack of family scenes as one tight unit....was weird. Could've been COVID protocols but our last scene with everyone and they are all so spaced out! 
...

I saw China's name, but I actually wasn't convinced she'd be back; or it would just be a cameo. So I was pleasantly surprised at how they wrote back in Original Jen. Entities that live in the ionosphere is a big thing to introduce in the finale (is that something from the comics?), but I accept it.

Re: the last family scene; for me it wasn't so much that they were spaced out (and also everyone sticking to one spot) but it seems like they weren't able to get everyone together to film that scene at the same time. It looked spliced together to me. (But spliced together pretty well, though.)

I was glad LaLa got out of the cement, but yes, they shouldn't have ended on his scene.

And they snuck in a the last pitch for the Painkiller spinoff. I thought getting rid of the kill order would be a story for the spinoff (if it got picked up) so I was surprised they solved it in one scene. To bad CW passed on the spinoff, Painkiller was starting to grow on me. ("Let me beat him up - a little bit" - LOL)

Passing the superheroing duties to the next generation was fitting; they actually set that up pretty well over the course of the series. It sucks that there wasn't any crossover this year; I could easily see any of these characters visiting and fitting in with the other DC shows.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Trini

[PhoneCop]

This really should've been a proper two-parter. The plot resolutions were flying by so fast in the second half that I'm surprised we didn't catch a glimpse of the crew standing by to break down the sets. I assume Gambi's heading off into the sunset with Lauren, but he didn't even mention her, did he?

I'll really miss this cast. Honestly? Flaws and all, I would've welcomed a fifth season—or settled for Painkiller—and I wonder if the Jen twist would've played out the same way or if they would've rolled with Laura Kariuki permanently. But it feels like we're reaching the end stages of the Arrowverse anyway. Flash is just walking stupidity at this point, Legends is a long way past its Beebo-fueled greatness, and I expect the CW will look very different within two years.

Oh, and nice shoutout to the old Outsiders comics with Grace taking on the name Wylde—they even spelled it that way in the captioning. No resemblance whatsoever to the original character, but at least it's a kinder interpretation than Looker got.

[janeta]

Oh poo.  I would have watched Painkiller.

[Trini]

 

[cdnalor]

I kind of glad it's over, this show had become such a downer, what with the Pierce family never getting a break and seeming to have less of Black Lightning himself lately.  I really liked this show in the beginning but now I won't miss it.

I would have liked to see Lala's scene end with the cops busting in and Lala being sent up for Tobias' murder.  I think it would have put a nice bow on it.

 

[Trini]

Cress Williams gave some comments and info about the finale in an interview at EW: https://ew.com/tv/black-lightning-series-finale-cress-williams-arrowverse-future/

[Quark]

It was all rather meh.

[tennisgurl]

Of course Tobias goes out impaled harpoon style while quoting Moby Dick. Because his names Whale...get it? So extra, I wish they had taken his head off just to make double damn sure he's gone. 

Not a perfect ending, it felt pretty rushed and that they were desperately trying to wrap up plot lines and throw in twists, but I am happy with this as our finale, I think they went out on a high note. Jefferson got closure with his fathers death and Tobias, he and Lynn are getting remarried as he and Gambi hand off superhero duties to the next generation, it was a nice ending for the whole cast. I am glad that no one died and things basically worked out for everyone, this season has been such a downer with the Pierces just getting kicked over and over again, I am happy they ended on a big win. Well, almost, because Lala, who has more lives then a cat, is back again. And Gravedigger is still out there. And so is Lady Eve. And this is the Arrowverse so I'm sure aliens or demons will be invading any second, but they are happy now and looking towards the future, and I think that's a good ending for them and for the show. 

I liked the call backs to Jefferson's father and his flashbacks to both his bio dad and his adopted one and how much they shaped him. Then of course Jefferson with his two kids and passing his legacy on to them. 

I am glad that China could come back for the last episode, and the big reveal that JJ was actually some kind of power based non physical alien is a pretty cool twist, I sure didn't see it coming. Poor Jen, no one even knew that she was gone, but she isn't too mad, her totally changing her appearance is hardly the weirdest thing to happen to them. I liked how it all played out even if, like a lot of things, it was a bit rushed. I feel like this should have been a much bigger deal with everyone realizing that Jen isn't JJ but is actually a freaking alien who was out to steal Jen's life, that seems like at least two episodes worth of story. 

Sucks that the Painkiller spin-off didn't get picked up, it seemed like it had a lot of potential. Of course they have a whole Arrowverse to play in, any character from here could show up in any other show or crossover if they wanted, so maybe Painkiller can stop by some other show? I could easily see Jefferson or one of the Pierces showing up on The Flash, Barry and Jefferson are still in touch and Barry even had an offscreen cameo earlier this season. 

I would have liked maybe one more season or so, even if the last few seasons have been pretty spotty and made a lot of creative choices I still don't really like or understand, but I am going to miss this show. It was really unique among the Arrowverse shows, and while most of them have tried to mix superheroing with social justice at various points, this show was always the best at it. I will miss it, but I am glad we got four electrifying seasons...and yes I have been waiting for years for that incredibly obvious pun, thank you. 

[Perfect Xero]

So was the JJ/Jenn twist here something that was planned from the start or did they find out the series was ending after the recast and call a Mulligan for the finale?

Either way I was glad to see China back, she always brought a lot to Jennifer.

[Trini]

17 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

So was the JJ/Jenn twist here something that was planned from the start or did they find out the series was ending after the recast and call a Mulligan for the finale?

It's something the showrunner would have to confirm, but I highly doubt it was planned from the start.

[Primal Slayer]

17 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

So was the JJ/Jenn twist here something that was planned from the start or did they find out the series was ending after the recast and call a Mulligan for the finale?

Either way I was glad to see China back, she always brought a lot to Jennifer.

It wasn't planned, it was all dependant on China coming back for the finale or not.

[Trini]

I was rewatching a few earlier episodes, and another thing I'm really going to miss is the production details. The sets, costumes - both super and non-super - and lighting design. The show had a great look.

----

I think the show had a good setup for Season 5 in this finale. If the show had another season, and the spinoff still wasn't picked up, I think Khalil and Painkiller and the spinoff characters would have been integrated into the show. That would be a lot going on, though. And I wonder if they'd give up Akashic Valley, or try to split focus between there and Freeland.