With the Winter Olympics dominating the TV schedule, many series are taking nights off. Is Black Lightning among them?
The new series Black Lightning has garnered largely positive reviews, and the story has expanded a bit in recent weeks. However, The CW has decided that Black Lightning will not compete with the great slate of Winter Olympic events. So it will not air a new episode until next week.
Early episodes have served more to establish the world going forward than to send Black Lightning on any real adventures. Jefferson Pierce had to decide that bringing his alter ego out of retirement was worth whatever risks it might pose to his family. Unlike other shows in the Arrowverse (The Flash, Supergirl etc.) threats in Black Lightning have so far seemingly come from regular people. Whereas (for example) the Flash faces a new meta-human threat almost every week Black Lightning works against The 100 gang. Though there have been some indications that a bigger fish is pulling the strings, we have yet to see it.
The title of the next episode (“Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder”) hints that it may focus on Jefferson’s daughter, Anissa. Anissa learned early in the season that she had some powers, and she has been crafting a superhero identity of her own since. Her alter ego in the comics becomes known as Thunder. In the latest episode, she finally got her hands on a costume and started taking action on the streets. The storyline/event I am most looking forward to at this point is the meeting/talk between Jefferson and his daughter. I KEEP expecting it to HAPPEN, and it hasn’t so far. But it’s got to be coming, right?
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In lieu of a new episode this week, The CW is going to re-air the series premiere. Those who watch it will get a chance to revisit Jefferson’s decision to bring Black Lightning back. He only saved his daughters, but it was the first time he had really used his powers in years. The premiere is also the episode which showed most clearly Jefferson’s thinking. We got insight into both why he stopped being Black Lightning and why he started again.
Black Lightning will return with new episodes, starting with “Three Sevens, The Book of Thunder” on Feb. 27.