S01.E02: Lawanda: The Book of Hope

[CletusMusashi]

One thing I didn't quite understand. Why did BL need detective work to find Lala's address? Didn't he just randomly drop by his house and visit him last week? So is the house his nine to five business office, and then he takes a nap at the hotel, and then goes to the club he manages.. or did he have to call Lala to ask what house he'd be at that day so he could go talk to him about Will... or what? It's a minor peeve, especially for a character who we won't be seeing again, but I don't like to see writing teams who aren't on the same page as each other.

[Sakura12]

To me it looked like Jefferson went to some restaurant that LaLa was at last week which I assume it's known he hangs out at. So I'm thinking the penthouse is his house and Jefferson had to find that out. 

[FortKnox]

On 1/25/2018 at 2:38 AM, johntfs said:

One thing was also that incredibly realistic-looking water/food-coloring pistol the little kid used to shoot Jennifer.  My reaction when I saw it was "Oh shit!"  Then I saw it was a water-gun.  Then I thought "Why would anybody be allowed to sell those fucking things?  It's no wonder children are being shot if they're carrying stuff like that."

Not to take this off topic but, how old are you? When I was a kid in the 80s I and a bunch of other kids had realistic toy/water guns and played with them and even pointed them at friendly cops and no one ever got shot.

But,  something happened along the way and people started to freak out.

Rant over.

[Trini]

I thought it was interesting that even as a civilian, Jefferson Pierce is still regarded (by some) as a "superhero" in the community.

I know how old Cress Williams is, but how old is Jefferson supposed to be? --Some of his former students have teenagers, so... ?

Interesting dynamic between Lynn and Gambi: they're not enemies, but they're not friends either. Both have different ideas about Black Lightning, and I hope they explore this relationship a little more down the line.

Sorry to see Lala gone so soon. I just wonder who he'll be replaced by.

It makes sense that Whale would have some people in the police department working for him; but I was really surprised that he could just strut in there and kill Lala. Does that mean the the police are mostly corrupt? I don't want them to be Gotham-level bad.

They better leave Khalil alone!

[clyo22]

I don't get how LaWanda was also Jefferson's student. How old is he suppose to be?

Edited January 26, 2018 by clyo22

[UNOSEZ]

45 minutes ago, clyo22 said:

I don't get how LaWanda was also Jefferson's student. How old is he suppose to be?

Maybe he was a young teacher like fresh after being a track star or something.. And she had her kid young.. Plus she prob had a Ruff life and aged accordingly... But overall yeah they maybe coulda made her a 'classmate or cast the part differently.. Rho the actress really captured the hopeless rage of lawanda's situation 

[possibilities]

He probably has his own clean up crew in the coroner's office.

[Enero]

I was heartbroken when Lala killed LaWanda and just shocked. What a cold-blooded piece of sh*t, who got what was coming to him. But…even with that I thought he was a formidable foe or could’ve been. They just took him too far, too quickly. Since the episode spent so much time on LaWanda's quest to find her daughter, I would've liked to have seen a resolution to this. 

The scene with Lala's boss coming to the jail to personally off him was over the top. So did the cops that escorted him in turn off all the cameras in the precinct? Cause surely in this day and age there were cameras at the police station that would've captured whose coming and going? Also, who was it that Henderson caught that gave up Lala? Will was dead so of course it couldn't have been him, but they didn't show who it was I guess because the character was never introduced and thus insignificant in the grand scheme of things?

 Anissa’s scene at the pharmacy was strange. I guess she’s starting to figure out she has powers and accept them? I’m sure we’ll soon find out.  

I’m glad they explained why the daughters didn’t recognize their father even in his Black Lightning garb.

I can’t say enough how much I enjoy the relationships on this show.

I want Jeff and Lynn to rebuild their marriage, but that will be very difficult if not impossible with him bringing back Black Lightning. I’m curious about this whole thought that he became addicted to his power, to the point that it became destructive to him and ultimately their marriage. Interesting take on the superhero and his powers. I can’t wait to hear more about this.

So glad Jennifer’s new boyfriend is a kind, respectable, smart young man.  He gave her some good advice. Hope she adheres.

Another great episode.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Enero

[raven]

42 minutes ago, Enero said:

I was heartbroken when Lala killed LaWanda and just shocked. What a cold-blooded piece of sh*t, who got what was coming to him. But…even with that I thought he was a formidable foe or could’ve been. They just took him too far, too quickly. Since the episode spent so much time on LaWanda's quest to find her daughter, I would've liked to have seen a resolution to this. 

All of this.  I was CRUSHED when LaWanda was killed.  I was so rooting for her, she was so fierce.  I also agree that there was some groundwork being laid for LaLa to be a formidable foe; more complicated at this stage than Tobias, who is more of a comic book villain.  Clever move show, to have LaLa kill LaWanda so that I wouldn't feel any sympathy for him when he was killed.

42 minutes ago, Enero said:

I want Jeff and Lynn to rebuild their marriage, but that will be very difficult if not impossible with him bringing back Black Lightning. I’m curious about this whole thought that he became addicted to his power, to the point that it became destructive to him and ultimately their marriage. Interesting take on the superhero and his powers. I can’t wait to hear more about this.

I am super interested in this.  So nice to see adults trying to work on these things.  VP woman at school is interested, nice and attractive but Jefferson's eyes when he looks at Lynn....she's the only one he wants.  I don't know how she can control herself when he makes those eyes at her LOL.   I just think the whole power addiction/but people need help dynamic is a good one to explore; the cast has been so good; they are up to the task.

Loved the doorman happily telling BL that LaLa was in the penthouse and the guy wanting to hold the elevator door for him.

The daughters are both excellent characters, though I don't think Anissa is reciprocating the depth of her girlfriend's love or maybe her new powers are causing her to distance herself.  Kudos to the writing and the acting for making teenage Jennifer interesting rather than annoying as well.

[Rae Spellman]

21 hours ago, Trini said:

I know how old Cress Williams is, but how old is Jefferson supposed to be? --Some of his former students have teenagers, so... ?

Jefferson seems approximately Cress' age.  His daughter, medical student/ health teacher Anissa is an adult  A 47 year old  person could look like they are 37, 47, or 57. Therefore it's not unreasonable that Jefferson's first students could be 3-5 years younger than him, have teen-aged or young adult children, and look the age Jefferson looks or look ten years older. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by RaeSpellman

[possibilities]

It would be interesting if Lynn is partly right about the addiction. It would be much easier to redeem her if she's right about that. But at the same time, I"m really hung up on the 9 years separation. If he stopped a long time ago, why didn't they try to work it out sooner? Also, maybe there's not an either/or solution but a both/and one. If she could use her medical insights to help him deal with the effects of being BL, instead of just telling him not to do it, they could have it both ways.

I missed that one of the daughters is in medical school. I thought she worked at the high school. If not, then why is she there all the time?

[johntfs]

8 hours ago, RaeSpellman said:

Jefferson seems approximately Cress' age.  He has an adult daughter who is enrolled in medical school. Therefore it's not unreasonable that his first students , who might be  only3-5 years younger than him might have teen-aged children.  If  his former students had children in high school they could have adult children while still being in their 30s.

There is a friend of mine at work who is Black and she is a grandmother at age 35.

[paulvdb]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

I missed that one of the daughters is in medical school. I thought she worked at the high school. If not, then why is she there all the time?

It was mentioned in the first episode that she is a medical student and also teaches at the school as a health educator.

[mojoween]

I appreciate that they said why people wouldn’t recognize BL because of the light.  Now the directors need to make sure the actors squint and look like they are actually looking into a spotlight and we’re golden.

Anissa went to the pharmacy to get the medication to help sleep but I guess bad-assery is enough.  I thought she was going to still buy the bottle but nope, just sets it down and strolls off.

She mentioned she broke the sink, now I want to know if it got fixed.

[twoods]

11 hours ago, paulvdb said:

It was mentioned in the first episode that she is a medical student and also teaches at the school as a health educator.

I was wondering how she had time being a health educator if she was in medical school. I would like to see her try to hide her powers in school. 

[Trini]

You Know You're Watching a Comic Book Show When... the big bad named Whale runs the Seahorse Motel. I appreciate the commitment to a theme, though.

[paulvdb]

8 hours ago, twoods said:

I was wondering how she had time being a health educator if she was in medical school. I would like to see her try to hide her powers in school. 

She's not a full time health educator. It was mentioned that she works 3 days per week, but not how many hours she works each day. Lots of people have jobs to pay for tuition so it should be possible although I understand that medical school is one of the more time-consuming studies.

[Kromm]

Saw in a row and loved both of the first two episodes. Only one bit did I absolutely hate. That they had to rely on James Remar's character magically finding that body in that dumpster. That was the one bit of horrible writing in two otherwise fairly well scripted episodes.

I can see that the writing is probably on the wall for either or both the boy and girlfriend of the sisters.  This show doesn't seem to be afraid of a bodycount, as long as it's not the main cast. And even with the main cast I can see the ex-wife being at risk of a dirt nap eventually too, and maybe eventually Remar's character since he won't be needed as soon as he builds suits for the two girls.

One other nitpick I have is that they described how people can't really see Black Lightning's face, and I understand that it's not practical or good for the acting to have us see it that way. But I wanted a brief interlude, a stray shot or two, where we saw what that looked like from someone's point of view. Explaining it but never showing it was lame.

Oh, and finally the line about being a neuroscientist wasn't played correctly. It's inherently such a groaner that it should have been played for a laugh and it wasn't. It's a good thing they have the character as a scientist to illustrate that this life isn't really trapping this family if they really wanted out, in contrast to many other in the community who are genuinely trapped. Jefferson and his family don't have to live there (and in fact we don't really know where the wife actually lives). But that makes the line ever more of a groaner in a way, because it was just tossed out there without showing any foundation for it first. There was probably a preceding scene which got cut where we saw her at work, or saw a flashback where after she left him she got her degree or something. But as it stood?  It needed to be comedy to come out of left field like that.

On 1/27/2018 at 1:18 AM, possibilities said:

I missed that one of the daughters is in medical school. I thought she worked at the high school. If not, then why is she there all the time?

Convenience.

It's not actually bad writing per se, but it is a contrivance to artificially involve her more and so does stick out a little bit.

On 1/26/2018 at 1:38 PM, Trini said:

It makes sense that Whale would have some people in the police department working for him; but I was really surprised that he could just strut in there and kill Lala. Does that mean the the police are mostly corrupt? I don't want them to be Gotham-level bad.

I'm thinking they're holding back on a reveal that Jefferson's pal in the P.D. is in Whale's pocket (which is also why he was always gung-ho to arrest B.L.)

Edited January 29, 2018 by Kromm

[twoods]

18 hours ago, paulvdb said:

She's not a full time health educator. It was mentioned that she works 3 days per week, but not how many hours she works each day. Lots of people have jobs to pay for tuition so it should be possible although I understand that medical school is one of the more time-consuming studies.

It is. Classes usually from 8-5 and I don't remember anyone that had a job during medical school, unless it was a weekend job (one of my friends was a bartender). I know this is TV land, but I thought I misheard the med school thing and assumed she was a grad student/teacher. I do love her character, though. 

[Sakura12]

From what I can tell it's only a High School so if she's only teaching Women's Health then she probably only needs to be there for 1 or 2 classes a day.  I would also think that's an elective class that students can choose to take. However they don't really show her taking classes at the local college they just always show her at the school. I get it's for convenience but if they are telling us she's med student we should probably see her being a med student.  

[Ottis]

I’m not sure how useful Anissa’s powers are if she has to be scared or angry to access them. She’s the hulk?

If I were the 100, I would shut down the hotel. That seems to be causing the issue in town, shut it down and focus on your other “businesses.”

I like so much of this show. My only issue is making Gambi a wise white man. Well, that and Gambi was the name if a very different character on Vice Principals.

Also, I know it’s intrinsic to the show, but it seems odd that every reference to the superhero is always “Black Lightning.” Seems like someone would sometimes just say, “Lightning.” Captain America is sometimes Cap, The Incredible Hulk is Hulk, etc. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Ottis