Black Lightning: The Complete Third Season

“Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), respected educator and father of two, is also Black Lightning, superpowered protector of Freeland. And he doesn’t fight alone. He is joined by his superpowered daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) aka Thunder, and Jennifer (China Anne McClain), aka Lightning, as well as his ex-wife, metahuman expert Lynn (Christine Adams). Together, the Pierce family combats the ills eroding their city, including a menacing gang that calls itself The 100 and infamous gangster Tobias Whale (Marvin Jones III). Worse, Freeland has been plagued by government-sponsored experiments and drug trafficking, creating metahumans and addicts while making Freeland the target of a dangerous foreign power, Markovia. Fortunately, the family still has allies in their fight: former covert superspy Peter Gambi (James Remar) and Jefferson’s neighbor, the scrupulously honest deputy police chief Bill Henderson (Damon Gupton).”

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.

The third season of Black Lightning takes a giant turn in the direction of the show since we last saw the Pierce family, with Jefferson Pierce, as well as many others, are being held in an underground facility run by the A.S.A. under the pretense of keeping them safe from an aggressive, small country named Markovia who will do whatever it takes to win the metahuman race to world power. Freeland has become occupied by the A.S.A., with troops on the streets, rights of citizens stripped away, with the entire town underneath some kind of energy barrier isolating it from the rest of the country. It’s a very dark season, moving away from smaller problems that might only plague Freeland, but now poses a threat to the entire world.

As much as I enjoyed the direction season two took, largely fixing some of my issues with the first season, the third almost makes this an entirely new show, most likely in order to fit in to their ‘Arrowverse’, despite the creators stating this was a standalone show. Now things have to be grandiose, new dimensions, metahumans everywhere, and a convoluted story that spans multiple DC series that no one can follow. The reason why I don’t like DC shows is this exact reason, as it forces you to watch other series if you want to know everything that’s going on, as Jefferson Pierce disappears only to head over to Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you don’t have the right streaming service or hate the other shows, you are out of luck as to what’s going on when he comes back save for a few seconds of exposition from the recap. This being said, those that are fans of the who DC universe and have the time and means to watching it all and stay up to date, this new inclusion of Black Lightning can only be exciting, especially now that the universes are rebooted into one.

This ‘bigger is better’ mentality completely fails in the third season. It’s changed too much from the previous seasons to even make sense. Instead of a few kids in pods with powers, now basically every person in Freeland has them, with virtually everyone knowing Black Lightning’s secret identity as Jefferson Pierce. Also, a foreign nation is attacking an American city. I understand that Markovia is big in the comics, but there is no way for that to make sense in a television show where we are expected to believe an army is attacking and infiltrating the United States, surrounding a city in Georgia, and no one on the outside is doing anything about it. Give me back the seasons that actually try and develop characters, and not just showcase a new citizen of Freeland with some new power. One of the main villains this season, Gravedigger, has about 30 minutes of total screen time.

Episode breakdown is as follows:

1. The Book of Occupation: Chapter One: Birth of the Blackbird – Jefferson Pierce is in the hands of the ASA with his wife, as Agent Odell tightens his grip on the Pierce family; Anissa secretly defies Odell in her alter ego as Blackbird with the tactical and technical support of Gambi.
2. The Book of Occupation: Chapter Two: Maryam’s Tasbih – With Freeland under occupation, the Pierce family gets pulled in different directions; Jefferson and Lynn are at odds with each other; Jennifer feels powerless despite having powers.
3. The Book of Occupation: Chapter Three: Agent Odell’s Pipe-Dream – When Lynn learns that Jefferson brokered a deal with Agent Odell without consulting her first, it begins to put a strain on their relationship; Anissa and Grace have an emotional encounter.
4. The Book of Occupation: Chapter Four: Lynn’s Ouroboros – Jefferson faces new challenges due to the shocking state of Freeland; Lynn finds herself under intense pressure as she desperately tries to find a solution to the continuing crisis in Freeland; Anissa continues her work at the clinic.
5. The Book of Occupation: Chapter Five: Requiem for Tavon – Jefferson struggles with the effects on his family, leading to a decision that has tragic consequences; Anissa’s identity is threatened; Odell takes an important step toward winning over Jennifer.
6. The Book of Resistance: Chapter One: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – Jefferson is torn between his loyalty to this family and his commitment to saving Freeland; Anissa’s commitment to Grace deepens; Jennifer makes an interesting discovery.
7. The Book of Resistance: Chapter Two: Henderson’s Opus – Anissa and Jefferson have a heart-to-heart and she tells him she needs Black Lightning’s help in escorting meta refugees out of the perimeter; Gambi implores Lynn to help get him access to the pit; Jennifer grows closer to Brandon.
8. The Book of Resistance: Chapter Three: The Battle of Franklin Terrace – Black Lightning goes up against the ASA; Tobias continues to manipulate Lynn.
9. The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis – The Pierces fear for Jennifer’s life.
10. The Book of Markovia: Chapter One: Blessings and Curses Reborn – Jefferson has to navigate the post Crisis world. Lynn’s determination to save meta kids gets her in trouble. Blackbird has a new challenge. Jennifer and Brandon bond.
11. The Book of Markovia: Chapter Two: Lynn’s Addiction – Jefferson, Anissa and Jennifer discover that the ASA is now hunting the entire Pierce family. Meanwhile, Lynn does the unthinkable.
12. The Book of Markovia: Chapter Three: Motherless ID – Jefferson and Anissa join forces with the ASA to help one of their own; Lynn is forced to continue battling her demons.
13. The Book of Markovia: Chapter Four: Grab the Strap – Black Lightning and his team descend upon Markovia on a mission to rescue Lynn, who finds herself in even more trouble when she meets a metahuman on the Markovian side.
14. The Book of War: Chapter One: Homecoming – As the battle continues, old alliances are revisited and new alliances forged.
15. The Book of War: Chapter Two: Freedom Ain’t Free – After learning that Gravedigger and the Markovians are coming to attack Freeland, the Pierce family prepares for war.
16. The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberation – Black Lightning faces off against Gravedigger.

Video

Black Lightning: The Complete Third 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. Despite the darker tone of the third season, there is still a good amount of color, especially when it comes to the suits of Black Lightning, Thunder and Lightning, which is all very rich and vibrant. 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 excellent, although I’m usually partial to DTS mixes myself, but that’s just a preference. You get a nice balance between the surrounds and center channel, which presents the dialogue clearly. As much as I disliked the soundtrack in the previous seasons, it has gotten much better in terms of keeping with the tone of the sequence, and can be quite diverse at times, which still seems to fit what’s being portrayed on screen perfectly.

Special Features

The extras are the same on both the DVD and Blu-ray version, and include:

• The Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2019

Black Lightning entering the DC TV universe is a big moment for the show, but as someone who doesn’t watch all the others it only causes more problems than its worth. Since other heroes aren’t going to regularly show up to help Black Lightning save the day, it only serves to push people into committing to other DC properties, something myself and others who don’t have the time or ability can do. Fans that do have that ability, this is your moment, and Black Lightning just got a whole lot bigger.