Black Lightning Season 1 Review
Major Spoilers are included in this season review. Please read with caution.
On June 2, 2020, I started watching Black Lightning’s first season on Netflix. I needed something enjoyable while also educational during the Black Lives Matter 2020 Movement, and I had been on a superhero genre binge lately if y’all had been keeping up with my blog updates on The Flash, Stargirl, Supergirl, and unOrdinary. So, watching the first season seemed inevitable for me, especially now that Black Lightning was officially a part of the Arrowverse following the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event.
Honestly, this series was better than I expected. I finished the 13-episode season on June 4, 2020. The series was an instant hit for me, hooking me straight from the “Pilot” until the emotional, full-circled season finale. The binge-watching was a great experience; and I almost hit “next episode” for season two without thinking, but then I remembered I needed to write this season review first. Don’t worry though, I will be back with a review on season two at some point.
Let’s start with the superhero aspect of the series. Instead of telling a straight forward origin story on how our main protagonist Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) became Black Lightning, the narrative was centered around how he came out of retirement to reclaim the superhero mantle in order to protect his daughters—Anissa (Nefessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain)—from a local gang called The One-Hundred.
At the start of the series, ten years had passed since Jefferson Pierce retired as Black Lightning. Jefferson hadn’t used his powers either, seeing them as an addiction that could make him relapse into becoming a superhero again. He decided to focus instead on being principal at Garfield High School, instilling non-violent lessons into his students in order to keep them on the right path. Or at least, he tried to keep them from going down the wrong path of joining The One-Hundred.
Jefferson also wanted to rekindle things with his ex-wife Lynn Stewart (Christine Adams), who had left him because he was a superhero and she couldn’t bear to see him get hurt fighting for the city of Freeland. This strengthened Jefferson’s notion that his powers were addictive and that using them broke his family apart.
However, once his daughters were kidnapped and threatened by a gang leader named Lala (Will Catlett) in the “Pilot”, Jefferson realized he wasn’t making a big enough difference as an educator. His daughters’ kidnapping led to him donning the suit again and getting to work on saving Freeland—his Black community—from police corruption, racial discrimination, and gang violence.
While the main story seemed geared to have Jefferson Pierce take down Tobias Whale (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III)—the main antagonist and the man who killed Jefferson’s father—the series pulled the rug out and revealed there was a deeper story underneath Tobias and The One-Hundred.
Apparently, Tobias was working for a government agency called the ASA that had ties to Peter Gambi (James Remar)—Jefferson’s surrogate father and “Guy in Chair”—and the death of Jefferson’s father. The “ASA” reveal drove the rest of the season’s plot.
Black Lightning’s first season was also driven by the family dynamics. The potential reconciliation between divorced couple Jefferson and Lynn was naturally moving through realistic concerns. Being a superhero was dangerous work, and Lynn’s concerns would eventually move to their children—Anissa and Jennifer—once they manifested their special abilities. As a result, Jefferson started acting hypocritical out of concern for Anissa’s safety.
It was a refreshing approach to have the entire family navigate together through this uncharted territory. Even Peter Gambi had to recreate a new dynamic with the family once his ASA secret was revealed, but his genuine love for the Pierce family allowed Gambi and Jefferson to start fresh going into season two.
The sisterly dynamics between Anissa and Jennifer were portrayed realistically as well. They clearly love each other, but they also love to annoy and frustrate each other too—true sisters. This season also explored their different reactions to discovering their super powers. While Anissa—an activist—was excited and ready to fight crime as Thunder alongside her father, Jennifer just wanted to be a normal teenager.
Overall, Black Lightning was an amazing Black superhero series. The show dealt with common superhero ideas like whether killing the villain was the right thing to do, secret identities, and the ethics of vigilantism while also addressing central Black issues—racial profiling, police and gang violence, racism, protests, and teargassing—at the same time. I’m ready to dive into season two.
"Last night I saw a superhero he was Black
He said, ‘this is for the street Black Lightning's back!’"