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Black Lightning The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain review S1 E12

Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments , , , , , ,

There’s a lot to dissect with The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain. Not the least of which is the death of the main character. At least for a minute.

Martin Proctor calls Tobias in to fetch Black Lightning for him and he’s giving him some help — Khalil is walking again and with dreads? Granted, there’s no real sense of how much time has passed, but I’m struggling trying to understand how Khalil could have gotten neck length dreads since he’s been away. Sure there was the flimsy he took supplements and his hair grew, but it seems like such a random hairstyle choice.

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For a moment all is good in the Pierce household. Lynn even calls Jeff over for a booty call complete with electric tingle action. But rather than rush completely back into things, Lynn wants to take things slow and not tell the girls. In essence, having an affair. I love how grown and sexy Black Lightning is, which is something you never see with characters like Diggle, Curtis, Jax or James.

These Lynn/Jennifer scenes keep reminding me how rare it is to see healthy mother/daughter relationships on TV. There’s no resentment, unrealistic expectations or any other drama constantly threatening to ruin their bond. Lynn is already far and away the best mother on the CW and it’s because she treats her children like adults in addition to being her children.

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A misunderstanding about Lynn’s research on Jennifer’s powers leads to Jeff getting pissed and seemingly ending their reconciliation. What I like about Jeff is he’s allowed to have a full range of emotions and doesn’t always have to have the right, heroic response to everything.

Just when I thought he was done for the season, we return to Lala as he’s once again schooling his minions on proper drug dealing etiquette. Lala is such a fascinating character as he’s completely against type. He gets a phone call that triggers some command to take out Tobias’ weapons maker.

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After running into Khalil, Jeff forbids Jennifer from seeing him. Jeff correctly senses the Dark Side is strong with him. But since she’s a teen, the moment Khalil texts, she rushes off to see him and immediately learns he is not right in the head. As Tobias tells him, Khalil traded his legs for loyalty. If he wants to keep moving around on the not-Helix spinal implant, he’s going to have to help him bring in Black Lightning.

That means an attack on Garfield High to draw BL and Thunder out. After a rare extended fight scene, Anissa takes down Syonide while Jeff battles Tobias. Even with a fancy lightning protection suit, Tobias can’t beat Jeff, but Tobias and Khalil? Well, that’s enough to kill him.

Thunder arrives in time to prevent Tobias from learning Jeff’s identity and Jennifer supercharges him back to life. Almost like The Resurrection and the Light. I like the subtle ways the show incorporates the episode titles. And the subtlety of how this will encourage Jennifer not to give up her powers.

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Tobias is now ready to make his final play and summons Lala back to the fold. He’s ready to take out Proctor and take full control of Garfield. Even with Khalil that gives us three villains to battle three heroes. I like how things are being set up here.

File Closed: The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain sets things up nicely for what should be an exciting season finale. I can’t wait to see how things play out.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: The CW

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