Black Lightning: The Book of Occupation – Chapter Two: Maryam’s Tasbih review S3 E2
Maryam’s Tasbih doubled down on my ongoing frustration with Black Lightning — there’s not enough Black Lightning on the show.
While Black Lightning is more of a fringe Arrowverse series, it is following a familiar plot point of having the titular character imprisoned for awhile.
For a time that worked pretty well on Arrow and was less satisfying on The Flash. But neither had to constantly fight for screen time as much as Jefferson.
He’s becoming increasingly frustrated with his deal with Odell and the ASA. This deal has never truly made a ton of sense for me as Odell is not even bothering to hide his shadiness yet Jefferson and Lynn are largely taking what he says at face value.
Lynn is trying to appease Odell so she can continue working with other imprisoned metas like Maryam.
Jefferson is right to be leery as Odell is starting to worm his way to Jennifer’s confidence by delivering a video message from the folks.
The ASA ramps up its control over media while reinforcing its propaganda messaging. But on the other hand, we learn Markovians are actively plotting an invasion so it’s not like Odell just has Freeland on lock down for kicks.
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Lala is rounding up his troops again for a rematch with Tobias that seems less likely to occur what with Tobias practically on his deathbed.
Blackbird was the main focus again as Anissa has taken the refugees to South Freeland to stay with The Perdi, who are trying to alter their arrangement. Blackbird aggressively lets them know the deal is not up for renegotiation.
Thanks to magic tech from Gambi and an assist from Henderson, Anissa is able to cross the border back in to Freeland proper. It’s so odd that The CW didn’t opt for a Blackbird/Thunder spin-off instead of Painkiller…
Odell has weaponized Painkiller and to make sure he won’t fight against his orders, Odell has a serious test — killing his mother. That’s pretty dark and needlessly violent. If Khalil has any memories of his actions Odell is definitely going to need to be far away if his mind control ever falters.
Maryam’s Tasbih slowly progressed a number of subplots, but I’m ready for Black Lightning to become the central character instead of a supporting player on his own show.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW
Grab Black Lightning Season 3 on Amazon.