Written by: Lexi N. James
“Local Vigilante or Black Jesus?”
In 2018 the CW added a new show to their ever growing “Arrowverse”, which brought 2.3 million people to their couches to tune into a new show that would ultimately change the trajectory of the network and this franchise. The show ran for four seasons, first airing on January 16th, 2018 and concluding on May 24th, 2021.
“Black Lightning” was the first show in the Arrowverse to have an all black leading cast. This was and still is a big deal when looking at the diversity track record of The CW. While they did produce some of the most ICONIC teen dramas that are still talked about today i.e “Gossip Girl”, “One Tree Hill”, “The Vampire Diaries”, etc they weren’t exactly known for having a cast that related to ALL audiences.
When most people hear the phrase “Black Television” they think of the violent stereotypes that have hovered over and haunted black people for 400+ years. Why would that be something that we want to watch every week? If you’re trying to answer that question, stop cause I’ll answer it for you: WE DON’T. We do not want to watch our people degrade each other, murder each other over a quick fix.
“Black Lightning” tells a different story. This is not a story about the fictional city of Freeland that has become overrun by the vicious street gang “The 100” and the drugs that are ruining the community that is trying to flourish. This is a story about Jefferson Pierce, played by the AMAZING Cress Williams, the former vigilante known as Black Lightning, and how he works to save his community by being the symbol of hope the black community never had but ALWAYS needed. The city of freeland has even deemed Jefferson Pierce as their “Black Jesus” , answering all their prayers.
The commentary on what it means to be Black is HEAVILY laced throughout this entire show but the moment that shines the most is the opening scene where Jefferson is pulled over by two racist cops while his daughters are in the car watching.
What makes Jefferson Pierce different from Oliver Queen (played by Stephen Amell) and Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin), is that he isn’t a new vigilante spending the first couple seasons trying to learn how to be a vigilante. Jefferson has been in the game for 9 years prior already and this show is his return to vigilantism after it became too much for him to handle. He simply reached his limit, being a husband, father of two daughters, and principal of the highly regarded Garfield High School. Adding vigilantism and protecting his city’s onto his plate was too much for him, his feelings towards wearing the suit again is very negative when we take in the conversation between him and his former partner Gambi, (played by James Remar). Summing up that conversation, Jefferson makes it clear he has absolutely no interest in wearing the suit again after it cost him his marriage with his wife Lynn, (played by Christine Adams). Vigilantism takes a toll on people and Jefferson had enough, saving the city was too much of a burden on him. I would argue that is what makes Jefferson more relatable, he isn’t some confused 20-something year old thrown into the world of being a hero and struggling having to come to terms with their powers and their lives, Jefferson has already been there and he choose to give up the suit for his own well being and that is admirable. Saving the city was hurting him and he made the conscious decision to step away.
What causes Jefferson to put the suit back on? The kidnapping of his two daughters Anissa and Jennifer, (played by Nafessa Williams and China Ann McClain), from class in the middle of the school day in front of the entire school. I don’t know about you, but there is no BETTER reason to turn back into a badass vigilante. Jefferson makes it clear to Lynn and to Gambi that this time putting on the suit is different, he’s only doing it to save his girls. Once they’re home and safe, the suit is going back in the basement. Now us TV fans already know that this is not his last time wearing this suit but we’ll keep that quiet for now. Gambi also knows what we know because he just happened to make Jefferson a brand new updated super suit which by the way looks AMAZING!
I would argue that the main thing The CW is known for when it comes to the Arrowverse is their suit up and fight sequences because they are some of the best on television. The first time the audience sees Jefferson in his new suit is this really cool close up shot of him on the roof of the motel where the 100 are keeping his daughters. The audience gets to see all the details of the suit, the iconic blue and yellow contrast, to the actual suit charging throughout the threads. And of course it wouldn’t be Black Lightning without a nearby sign exploding from an electric overload. The sparks flying from the sign as he simultaneously lands on the ground alerting the gang members on look out is such a cool shot to include in a pilot episode, in my opinion. Another thing that stands out is Jefferson’s fighting style, obviously he knows how to handle himself in a fight but he doesn’t fight in a way that is showing off to his opponents. I love the fight scenes in Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, etc but the one thing those have in common is the young vigilante showing off all these cool tricks and abilities because they can. That’s not Jefferson, that’s not Black Lightning. He takes out the two gang members with a simple round house kick followed by a foot sweep. Very straightforward moves to incapacitate the threats. I like to think that’s also a call back to his age. Remember, Jefferson is in his mid 40s so we are not going to see this man do crazy gymnast back flip takedowns the way Oliver Queen would. It’s just not gonna happen. Throughout the show, Jefferson does become more in touch with new fighting moves but the overall basic fight style stays the same. He knows his physical limits at his age so he’s not going to overdo it unless it’s deemed necessary, he has two daughters that he needs to come home to along with a high school full of young students who rely on him.
Of course, Jefferson saves his daughters and realizes the root of the problem in the city and that’s the 100 Gang. They need to be stopped and Jefferson will be the one to do it, then he will hang up the Black Lightning suit once and for all. This makes for a good story for the show’s freshman season, you have the title character the so-called “Black Jesus” trying to rid his city of the sinful gang while maintaining his family and his career. As the season progresses, Jefferson does really struggle with this balancing act which only makes him question why he even put the suit back on in the first place. When he first put on the suit, the town was struggling under the weight of this gang led by the infamous Tobias Whale, (played by Marvin Jones III “Krondon” ) so what’s going to be different now? Some will say it’s his daughters who later come into their own as the vigilantes “Thunder” (who first interacts with her powers at the end of the pilot) and “Lightning” (who comes to later in the season), others will say it’s Jefferson now that he’s older and understands the end goal of Black Lightning.
Now you can’t have a superhero show without the title hero having their own nemesis and I’ll argue that Tobias Whale is one of TV’s best supervillains, hands down. With first glance we can see that Tobias is clearly a self loathing albino who only wants to degrade his own people for his own personal gain and pleasure. He turns the brightest of stars into the darkest blackholes then tosses them away when they are no longer of use to him, we see that happen with the beloved character of Khalil Payne (played by Jordan Calloway). Tobias is sinister and evil but he also has some of the funniest and most out of pocket lines of all the characters in this entire show. Fans develop a love/hate relationship with him but it’s worth it seeing Tobias and Jefferson on screen together.
Rewatching this pilot sent the same goosebumps down my arms just like the first time I watched it back in 2018. Every part of the pilot is brilliant and it’s a great introduction to such an amazingly complex character like Jefferson Pierce. As well as a nice change of pace from the prior Arrowverse shows. Do I think the show ended too soon? Yes absolutely, that can be said for some other shows I will talk about another time. I 1000% recommend checking out Black Lightning if you guys haven’t already. It’s truly a quality show and it deserves more recognition in the ongoing list of great Arrowverse shows! And don’t worry, there will be more Black Lightning posts, there is SO much more to talk about in regards to this show.
Next week, we will be talking about Arrow, which is personally my all time favorite of all the great Arrowverse shows! I’m going to be doing something a little different with my reviews than I originally planned, I’m going to be doing a review of the best episodes from every season of all the shows and yes, I watched all of them. I think doing that gives me WAY more to talk about and analyze. I’m super excited to finally be doing this because I love all these shows way too much. I spent years watching them with every new season and watching this amazing universe grow and become not only such an iconic staple of television but a big influence on my writing. The Arrowverse is part of the reason why I want to be a Television Writer, I want to be able to create and share beautiful compelling stories just like the ones I watched growing up. So yeah, thanks for taking the time to read my piece and I hope you come back to check out the next one! I’m gonna be doing Arrowverse reviews every Friday starting with The Best Episodes of Season One of Arrow and then every Wednesday I’ll be dropping other personal pieces, poems, short stories, etc. Hopefully you check those out too!
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