Black Lightning – Black Jesus The Book of Crucifixion review S1 E11

April 18, 2018April 25, 2018 Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments Black Lightning, China Anne McClain, Christine Adams, Cress Williams, Damon Gumpton, Nafessa Williams

For several reasons, Black Jesus: The Book of Crucifixion was a difficult episode to watch. That wasn’t an accident though, which made this one of the most emotionally draining and ultimately rewarding episodes this season.

Jeff still wasn’t sure if he could trust Gambi, but tracking down the missing children and destroying the anti-Black Lightning weapon depots made him useful.

With her bosses putting the pressure on, Fetty starts a plan in motion with deputy police chief Kamen to set Jeff up and get arrested. Kamen and his fellow crooked officers plant green light in Jeff’s car and office. Bad guys do all kinds of heinous things, but it struck a deeper nerve watching it unfold as just moments earlier Jeff was welcoming his students to class.

When the officers reached for their guns, Jeff quickly stated he is not resisting and is complying. This angered me for all the personal reasons it would for a lot of black men. Jeff hadn’t done anything and the police were essentially daring him to move so they could have an excuse.

But even in this humiliating moment, Jeff shows the extent of heroism by calming Jennifer down before her powers flare up and convincing his students, who’ve locked arms to prevent his arrest to disperse. Even before Anissa came over and prepped her Thunder powers, this was a powerful scene. Ditto for the exchange with Lynn and Jennifer. China Anne McClain didn’t have enough to do on the front end of the season, but she has delivered some exceptional performances in the last few episodes. And Christine Adams has killed it all year.

I loved the news report segment with the man on the street interviews and the old lady mentioning she heard Jefferson makes people call him Black Jesus.

Gambi rationalized his old associates needed to be convinced Black Lightning and Jefferson aren’t the same guy. This is why the old school costume with Afro would make for a much more effective disguise. He whipped up a hologram projector, which was pretty clever. Sadly, it didn’t do anything to convince Fetty’s bosses, but it did seem to get her annoyed. Fetty is cool stashing kids away, but she’s put in solid work to get with Jeff and she’s not going to let anyone screw that up.

The underhand nature of Jeff’s arrest finally got Henderson off the sidelines. He did a little investigative work and got some dirt on the officers who arrested Jeff. What was weird here was Henderson already got pictures of Henderson on the take. This extra investigation seemed unnecessary. But it led to Kamen getting arrested, Jeff getting released and Henderson becoming the new deputy chief.

Gambi comes to the Pierce household hat in hand and Jeff says while he’s not sure if he can forgive him, he is up for a fresh start. Gambi’s back in the fold for pizza night. How authentic is Black Lightning? Lynn was putting hot sauce on her pizza.