Black Lightning: The Complete Second Season

“Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man of many faces. A former Olympic athlete, respected educator and father of two, he’s also Black Lightning, superpowered protector of Freeland. But Jefferson is not alone. His oldest daughter, Anissa (Nafessa Williams), is a med student, part-time teacher and social activist. She is also the Super Hero known as Thunder, possessing invulnerability and super strength for as long as she can hold her breath. Jefferson’s youngest daughter, Jennifer (China Anne McClain), is a fiery teen who inherited her father’s athletic gifts but not his desire to be an athlete. Jennifer also inherited his powers. Her body generates pure electrical energy, and she possesses the potential to be more powerful than Anissa or Jefferson. Lynn (Christine Adams), Jefferson’s ex-wife, is fast becoming an expert in metahuman medicine. Together, the Pierce family fights the gang known as the One Hundred for the soul of Freeland.”

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided us with a free copy of this Blu-ray/DVD that we reviewed in this blog post. The opinions we share are our own.

Like any show entering its second season, Black Lightning sees marked improvements over pretty much all aspects of the show. While it is still a CW show, which has certain tones to it like all their programming, geared toward a younger audience, the show has still managed to explore certain themes that are unfortunately less than prevalent in a lot of television today: race relations, profiling, and a lot of other social injustices that continue to be swept aside. While the first season had these featured prominently, the second is able to find a good balance to use it in the story as well as a method for teaching, and not just a shock factor moment with no substance.

Character development has had an entire year to develop, with writers getting a better feel for the characters. This is much more evident in this season, as they all become much more three dimensional with deeper problems than just good guy vs. bad guy. With Jefferson losing his position as principal, that part of his life begins to take a different path, one he starts to see in a more selfless way, much like his two daughters developing powers and having to deal with that. Anissa takes on the persona as Blackbird, a vigilante operating in more of a grey area, stealing from gangsters and drug dealers and donating the money to those in need. Her story and romantic relationships are explored in a much deeper way, with this dual identity taking precedence. Lynn has become involved with the A.S.A. in developing ways to deal with the metahumans, particularly the ‘pod kids’ that have been exposed to the Green Light drug or the vaccinations thirty years ago. Her continued insight provides valuable information to the family. One of the most interesting characters this season has to be Jennifer, as her powers increase into something none of the family can possibly imagine, she deals with wanting to be a normal teenage girl, then learning to control her abilities and cope with a tragedy she suffers.

The fight sequences and choreography have also greatly improved this season, especially some of the Blackbird sequences, that are much more raw and organic, shot in ways that are very reminiscent of Daredevil. Even the sequences with Black Lightning and Thunder get more creative, as one would expect with time fighting along side of one another, the pair utilize each other’s abilities to create some impressive combination moves, and not simply lasso them with lightning and stomp them unconscious.

One of the best improvements over the first season, however, has to be the antagonist, Tobias Whale. In the first season I felt all the antagonists were horribly written, one dimensional baddies who did nothing but make speeches in their lairs. They were dull, didn’t really add much to the story or the protagonist’s journey besides that of revenge over the death of his father, which in itself seemed to not take precedence in the story. In this season they were able to remedy that fact. Although I still don’t think Tobias holds much of a candle to some villains in other stories, they’ve taken a lot from him this season, which has had an interesting effect on him as he seeks out others to surround himself with, still reeling from the loss of his sister and confidant. There are other lesser antagonists that are introduced every now and then that can be an interesting distraction, but I can’t help but wonder why every single one of them, whether or not they were frozen for thirty years or some random middle-aged woman, why they all know some kind of martial arts.

Overall, the direction the show is taking seems much more focused, despite the CW quality of cheesiness that finds its way in every now and then. I haven’t been a fan of the CW DC shows really, despite my trying, but Black Lightning and the Pierce Family is able to hold my attention enough to binge the show and have a pretty good time doing it.

Episode breakdown is as follows:

1. The Book of Consequences: Chapter One: Rise of the Green Light Babies – After the Pierces survive Tobias’s attack, the Garfield board considers a motion to shut down the school out of concern for the students’ safety.
2. The Book of Consequences: Chapter Two: Black Jesus Blues – Jefferson must break the news to his students and faculty that he is stepping down; struggling with his new life as Painkiller, Kahlil pays a visit to Jennifer in hopes of mending things; Tobias continues to enact his plan.
3. The Book of Consequences: Chapter Three: Master Lowry – Jeff cleans out his desk after the board retires him as principal. Meanwhile, Anissa goes looking for money to keep Holt’s clinic from going insolvent, Lynn gets a new co-worker, and Jennifer meets a woman with a unique gift.
4. The Book of Consequences: Chapter Four: Translucent Freak – While Tobias scheme to clear himself of any suspicion of Alvin’s death, Jeff has it out with Anissa, Jennifer, Bill, and Lowry.
5. The Book of Blood: Chapter One: Requiem – Jefferson and Anissa make a shocking discovery while investigating a creepy man at the clinic. Tobias pressures Khalil to fill the void that Syonide left.
6. The Book of Blood: Chapter Two: The Perdi – While Lynn deals with the aftermath of fourteen deaths, Anissa meets with Anaya’s parents and help her deliver her baby… only to receive a surprise.
7. The Book of Blood: Chapter Three: The Sange – Looker and her clan attack Black Lightning and Thunder. They fight to get her to release the Sange. Jennifer and Kahlil continue to grow closer.
8. The Book of Rebellion: Chapter One: Exodus – Jennifer’s disappearance roils the Pierce family. The family discusses the best way to find her. Lynn asks Detective Henderson to arrest Khalil after she learns Jennifer is with him.
9. The Book of Rebellion: Chapter Two: Gift of the Magi – Jennifer separately tries to save a feverish Khalil after their narrow escape. Jefferson, Lynn and Anissa work on tracking down the pair.
10. The Book of Rebellion: Chapter Three: Angelitos Negros – While on the run, Khalil and Jennifer start to plan a future. Jefferson needs a favor from Henderson.
11. The Book of Secrets: Chapter One: Prodigal Son – Jefferson zeroes in on Tobias as a suspect for a recent malicious attack. He thinks Henderson will back him but is in for a surprise. Lynn confronts her difficult past.
12. The Book of Secrets: Chapter Two: Just and Unjust – Jennifer grieves in the aftermath of Khalil’s death, and Odell saves Lynn from an abduction. At Garfield, Jennifer and Jeff both confront Lowry, while Anissa is surprised by a sudden turn of events with Grace.
13. The Book of Secrets: Chapter Three: Pillar of Fire – Tobias activates one of the Masters of Disaster, and sends him and Cutter to bring him the other pods. Napier gets Jeff a chance to get his old job back, and Anissa learns more about Grace’s history.
14. The Book of Secrets: Chapter Four: Original Sin – Jeff receives a visit from a former student, Anissa goes looking for Grace, and Jennifer gets a new suit.
15. The Book of the Apocalypse: Chapter One: The Alpha – Tobias initiates the first step in selling his army of metas, Jeff sets down some ground rules to his daughters, and Lala and Lazarus have a chat.
16. The Book of the Apocalypse: Chapter Two: The Omega – Black Lightning and Thunder take on the Masters of Disaster, while Peter and Jennifer try to restore the city’s power during the riots that break out after Cape Guy’s death. Tobias and Cutter have a disagreement, and Odell makes his move.

Video

Black Lightning: The Complete Second Season comes to both Blu-ray in High Definition 1080p 1.78:1 and DVD in Standard Definition. The Blu-ray release looks very good, obviously much more detailed and clear than the DVD version. If there is one thing you can say about the show, as well as Black Lightning’s suit, is that it is colorful, and those colors look absolutely vibrant on this release. Picture quality is very detailed and sharp, with incredible detail even in the darker scenes, which there is a lot of. Given the options, definitely pick this up on Blu-ray to take advantage of the higher quality and improved detail.

Audio

The audio is presented on the Blu-ray in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and Dolby Audio 5.1 on the DVD release. Both tracks sound good, but I usually prefer DTS unless I’m getting an Atmos track. That being said, they both provide high quality sound with good mixes, nice balance between the surrounds and center channel, with the surrounds particularly being utilized quite often for all kinds of action sequences. One thing that I find very hit or miss on this series is the soundtrack. While most of the fight sequences have a very nice music selection to go with the action, everything else can be very distracting at times. There really were moments when I wanted to fast forward a scene because of the poor music choice that just seemed so odd, or a just plain bad song (any song played in Club 100).

Special Features

Extras on these sets include:

• Whale of a Villain
• Come Visit Georgia PSA

Black Lightning has come quite far in the second season than the first, doing a much better job at presenting the story as a whole, in my opinion. I usually want nothing to do with the DC TV Universe, but the show has kept me intrigued on where the show is headed. While it certainly has its flaws, it can also have moments with a lot of heart and family themes, exactly what you’d expect from a CW show.