S02.E12: The Book of Secrets, Chapter Two: Just and Unjust

[formerlyfreedom]

Jefferson Pierce is Black Lightning, an electricity-wielding superhero who just wants to take care of his family.

Airing Monday, February 4.

 

[Lantern7]

Main lesson learned: a man can be made entirely of straw. The principal. Fucking hell, No nuance in his writing. No tact. "I'm not a racist! My mother was a heroin addict! I had to eat dog food!!" Urrrrrrrrrrgh. Is this because The Gifted got the week off?

Just another day in Freeland, now with what I assume are Eastern/Central European terrorists. Hey, why not? Freeland is the place where hope goes to stagger around with traumatic wounds . . . thus the principal with negative dimensions (a figurative black hole of non-subtlety), Anissa getting shot, Lynn almost gets kidnapped, Anissa goes rogue again ("Blackbird" isn't a bad name), and Dr. Jace comes back. Well, at least that one lady (I suck at names) used her mental space powers creatively.

[AimingforYoko]

5 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Main lesson learned: a man can be made entirely of straw. The principal. Fucking hell, No nuance in his writing. No tact. "I'm not a racist! My mother was a heroin addict! I had to eat dog food!!"

See, you have to start from the extreme so when he sees the light it will be that much more satisfying....or he leans hard into his asshole tendencies so Jefferson can get his job back.

Nice to see Anissa get some humility, but I have to wonder what made the 100 guys go to mace after fists, bats and guns had no effect.

[Twilight Man]

Markovia???  Well, with Dr. Jace in the storyline, I should have known that eventually, Brion Markov would show up.

Spoiler

In the comics, Dr. Helga Jace used "a device" to give GeoForce his super-powers.   Maybe his sister Tara is one of the pod-people.  HA HA HA

It looks like Grace is starting to become

Spoiler

The Girl With The Amazon Tattoos

[Trini]

This whole pod kids storyline has just been terrible for Lynn.  :(

That ASA guy (I keep forgetting his name) is creepy.  I hope not, but I think there's a chance that either Tobias or ASA Guy find out that there are powers in the Pierce family.

Ha! There are Black Lightning and Thunder comics now. Also on the table were 'Brimstone' and 'Damages'(?). The show had mentioned a couple comic characters before, but could always say that they were talking about fictional characters. Now it's established that "real" people can have comics; so here's hoping Vixen can make a cameo one day!

Glad there was more Grace in this episode, but still no new info about what's up with her.

So now it's a race between the Markovians and Tobias to get Jace? Just don't let Lynn get caught in the crossfire again, please.

Poor Jen. 😢😢  China is doing real good with this storyline, though.

How did the kidnappers know Perenna is a metahuman?

[thuganomics85]

Lowry really should be wearing a sign that says "I'm here to be a smug prick, until Jefferson rightfully kicks my ass and becomes principal again."

I was just wondering where the agent character played by Bill Duke went off to, and he's back being sinister as always!  For some reason, I was highly amused by the bit when Lynn confronted him when he was being chaperoned in a golf cart.

Oh, Grace!  If only you knew your girlfriend also had powers, maybe you would have felt the need to bail like you did.  I hope this isn't it for her and Anissa.

Jennifer is clearly going to go down a dark path.

Hey, Todd?  You do know that the reason Tobias wanted those pods in the first place was because the guys in them are psycho killers?  I don't think he plans on letting nice people out, buddy.

[jelaine]

I have a question about Jefferson's "conversation" with Principal Idiot with the horrific backstory. Why didn't Jefferson point out that a black man in that situation would be in prison or dead and not a high school principal which requires a graduate degree? He'd already pointed out that as a white man, he got the benefit of the doubt. Why not drive the point home even knowing Principal Idiot wasn't going to listen? What he heard might sink in eventually. Maybe. Okay, probably not, but it still needed to be said.

Also, handbook or not, why couldn't there be a designated area for Khalil's memorial or any memorial? I get how at the lockers could be problematic, but seriously, the memorial is a huge part of how we grieve now. Lunchroom, auditorium, courtyard, hell, even right in front of the trophy case where Jenn moved it seemed to be working.

Anyway, I love this show. It's intelligent, well written, well acted. I love all the characters, even Tobias simply because the actor is killing it. Though I agree with the comment in another episode if they're bringing back dead people when we getting Lady Eve? She was fun.

[AnimeMania]

Oh those horrible hypocritical students, pretending they cared so much about Khalil, creating a memorial and supporting Jennifer's makeshift protest. Oh it is so easy to skip your classes, harass your Alpo eating principal and film things on your phone to show your support when the memorial comes to you. How many students showed their support when they had to get up, put on some nice clothes and stand in the rain at the funeral. Even the police chief who totally let Khalil down didn't show up.

[paulvdb]

10 hours ago, jelaine said:

Also, handbook or not, why couldn't there be a designated area for Khalil's memorial or any memorial? I get how at the lockers could be problematic, but seriously, the memorial is a huge part of how we grieve now. Lunchroom, auditorium, courtyard, hell, even right in front of the trophy case where Jenn moved it seemed to be working.

The principal's problem wasn't with the location of the memorial. He didn't want a memorial at all because Khalil was a gang member who attacked the school.

[jelaine]

Yeah, I know. It's just one more example of how wrong he is to be principal at Garfield High, Or any school really.

[Perfect Xero]

Principal Dogfood is awful in a general sense, but I think he had a point about the Memorial. Khalil isn't just a student who fell on rough times, joined a gang, and got killed. He literally attacked the school, poisoned numerous students and threw a teacher through a window into a wall. He did all of this as part of a plot to murder someone who is a hero in the community.

I find it hard to believe that a large percentage of the student body/parents wouldn't agree with the principal that Khalil shouldn't have a memorial in the same hall where students ran from him in fear while he attacked them months earlier.

[tennisgurl]

So, why is Principle Racist even AT Garfield anyway? It cant pay that much, or at least I could get more money at a wealthier school district, and he apparently hates his students, staff, and all black people in general? Why is he at a mostly minority school? Does he just like being a dick? Wow I mean, could that guy be any more of a strawman bad guy? I know this show has often been lacking in subtlety when it comes to its messages, but that guy might as well not have a name, and just introduce himself as "hi, my name is asshole racist guy who exists to be a racist asshole so we can cheer when Jefferson gets his job back". 

Looks like Jennifer is heading down a dark path, looking for revenge. Although I do think she could have a decent point if she asked why going to beat up Tobias is so different than Anissa going off to beat up drug dealers after one of them beats his girlfriend up. I mean, I could see why, but maybe Jennifer wouldn't see it that way. 

Oh Grace, just tell Anissa the truth! She could help you! Also love that there are Black Lightning and Thunder comic books!

Lynn commenting on Jen not being normal or something like that seemed like a comment that will come back. After all this, does she have a problem with meta powers, even the powers her family has? 

The meta tutor is a bad ass! Dont mess with someone with psychic powers. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by tennisgurl

[immortalfrieza]

Wow, I didn't think Principal Obviously-A-Total-Dick-Just-So-Jefferson-Can-Get-His-Job-Back would ever end up having any valid points to make, but he did. Khalil is being treated as a saint all of a sudden despite all he had done just because he's dead, Jen DID just throw a "you're a racist" at Principal Dogfood (great name Perfect Xero) and dismiss anything and everything he said right out of the gate and continued to do so. Principle Dogfood also had a point to make that white people just as easily can end up have to crawl up from nothing just like any other race but nobody seems to care. It's one of those "Jerkass Has A Point" kind of moments. Too bad that in all likelihood everything Dogfood says is going to be thrown out of the window and he'll be shown as a generic over the top racist from this point on so that he causes enough problems to get booted so Jefferson becomes principal again.

Here we go again with this storyline with Jen, the same old superhero storyline they've been doing pretty much since there has been superheroes. Jen's desire to waste Tobias already is and will be treated as her skirting the dark side because of revenge, because of course it's not remotely possible that Tobias has proven he is legally untouchable, that the only workable and reasonable way to deal with him is to put him down, and that he'll continue to hurt and kill people while the Pierces try to find a way to legally nail Tobias to a wall. If Jefferson had put a million volts through Tobias not long after the series started or even back when he first was Black Lightning years ago for that matter nearly every bad thing that had happened in this series would have never happened. That's the real reason for these "No Kill" rules, there wouldn't be a plot if the heroes were sane and put down the villains after the 20th time they caused mass death, suffering, and other crimes and got off scot free or broke out of prison.

This kind of storyline has always sickened me, because rather than justifying not killing the villain it always just highlights the absurdity and points out all the reasons why the hero really should. It's one thing to go all Punisher and kill every random mugger you come across, it's quite another to kill someone like Tobias, who has gone out of his way to show and even rub in the face of the heroes the fact that he can't be dealt with any other way.

Edited February 9, 2019 by immortalfrieza

[BaggythePanther]

This storyline is giving me deja vu. Young Justice: Outsiders is doing a similar story, only difference is that Jen and Annissa aren’t involved because they’re little kids.

On 2/4/2019 at 9:27 PM, Twilight Man said:

Markovia???  Well, with Dr. Jace in the storyline, I should have known that eventually, Brion Markov would show up.

   Reveal spoiler

In the comics, Dr. Helga Jace used "a device" to give GeoForce his super-powers.   Maybe his sister Tara is one of the pod-people.  HA HA HA

It looks like Grace is starting to become

  Reveal spoiler

The Girl With The Amazon Tattoos

When did we see Brion?

On 2/5/2019 at 1:14 AM, Trini said:

That ASA guy (I keep forgetting his name) is creepy.  I hope not, but I think there's a chance that either Tobias or ASA Guy find out that there are powers in the Pierce family.

Ha! There are Black Lightning and Thunder comics now. Also on the table were 'Brimstone' and 'Damages'(?). The show had mentioned a couple comic characters before, but could always say that they were talking about fictional characters. Now it's established that "real" people can have comics; so here's hoping Vixen can make a cameo one day!

I think the ASA guy will find out first. If Tobias finds out they’ll have to kill him.

I can’t decide if it would be cooler for BL’s Earth to have a doppelgänger of an Earth-1 Vixen or for them to do their own thing which would give us a third version of Vixen. 

[raven]

On 2/6/2019 at 10:57 PM, Perfect Xero said:

Principal Dogfood is awful in a general sense, but I think he had a point about the Memorial. Khalil isn't just a student who fell on rough times, joined a gang, and got killed. He literally attacked the school, poisoned numerous students and threw a teacher through a window into a wall. He did all of this as part of a plot to murder someone who is a hero in the community.

While this is true, presumably the memorial was put up by the students, so I think it was a mistake to take it down so soon, if they weren't complaining. 

Then if it hadn't happened, we wouldn't have been able to call him Principal Dogfood, heh.

I did wonder why more students weren't at his funeral but maybe it was done at the last minute, with the whole money coming in at the end bit.

I love Anissa but she needs to be more careful.  I was glad her co-worker said that the abuser's girlfriend moved out and hope it was to somewhere he can't find her, because my first thought when Anissa had him pinned against the wall was that he would just take his anger out on the gf again.

On 2/5/2019 at 2:14 AM, Trini said:

Poor Jen. 😢😢  China is doing real good with this storyline, though.

ITA; she's doing a great job and did so last week as well - the prom scene and funeral were heartbreaking.  His poor mom though 😞

I have to say, I get Jeff's point about revenge but Tobias is just gloating about how he can get away with anything, he needs to die, except that Marvin Jones is doing a good job with the character.

[Perfect Xero]

4 hours ago, raven said:

While this is true, presumably the memorial was put up by the students, so I think it was a mistake to take it down so soon, if they weren't complaining. 

Then if it hadn't happened, we wouldn't have been able to call him Principal Dogfood, heh.

I just find it hard to believe that students wouldn't be complaining in this particular case. The whole attack scene played uncomfortably close to a school shooter scenario to then turn around a season later and show him being memorialized in those same halls and the only person who has a problem with it is the douchebag new principal who doesn't understand the students. 

None of his direct victims or their friends/family are having their PTSD triggered by having to walk by a picture of his face to get to their locker? All of the students who were screaming and running in terror from Khalil are fine with Jen basically excusing his actions as "a bad day away"? She literally built the memorial in front of the trophy case that Khalil threw a teacher through because he was trying to protect students and no one cares?

The whole thing is just such a weird, awkward scenario to build a "racist white guy Vs BLM/gathered student body kneels in protest" moment around.

[Trini]

13 hours ago, BaggythePanther said:

I can’t decide if it would be cooler for BL’s Earth to have a doppelgänger of an Earth-1 Vixen or for them to do their own thing which would give us a third version of Vixen. 

It would probably end up being their own version anyway even if they got the same actress; I'm cool with it either way. (But they probably won't do Vixen in particular on this show, mainly because it might get confusing about whether this show is connected to the other CW DC shows. I don't think they've made a hard decision about that yet.)

[raven]

5 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

The whole thing is just such a weird, awkward scenario to build a "racist white guy Vs BLM/gathered student body kneels in protest" moment around.

Oh, I agree.  Dramatically, it would have bee more accurate and a better story line to have some students be opposed to the memorial rather than what appeared to be the principal only.   There could have been opposing messages on the memorial, etc.

[jhlipton]

8 hours ago, Trini said:

it might get confusing about whether this show is connected to the other CW DC shows. I don't think they've made a hard decision about that yet.)

There' a lot of discussion on which shows will be affected by the "Crisis on Infinite Earth" event happening next year, and how much each will be affected.  The big three Flarrowverse shows (Flash, Green Arrow and Supergirl) will be the most affected, but Black Lightning will almost certainly get at least a mention.  The crossover will tell us how conneced this show is to the others.