Black Lightning – The Book Of Consequences: Chapter Four: Translucent Freak

By starrymag | November 5, 2018

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain) walks down the stairs for prom. Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), Lynn Pierce (Christine Adams), Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams), and Issa Williams (Myles Truitt) compliment her appearance and Jefferson takes pictures. Jefferson answers the door and Khalil Payne (Jordan Calloway) steps inside, questioning her choice of date. Khalil shoots darts at everyone except Jennifer and tells her they need to talk. Jennifer and Khalil fight each other up the stairs, and Jennifer blasts Khalil out of her bedroom with her powers.

 

Outside of the vision, Perenna (Erika Alexander) coaches Jennifer that she has everything under control and to not fear her powers during their session.  Once Jennifer is able to contain her power, Perenna tells her to put it into a box. Jennifer has flashbacks of Khalil and is unable to do it. Perenna tells her she’s making progress and asks who Khalil is.

 

Bill Henderson (Damon Gupton) questions Tobias Whale (Marvin ‘Krondon’ Jones III), but Tobias denies being involved in the murder. He comments about the violence in Freeland, and Henderson calls him a translucent freak, promising he won’t get away with this. Outside, Henderson declares to ADA Montez (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) that Tobias is guilty, but she tells him they need more proof. She tells him he has forty-eight hours to find evidence or else they’ll have to release Tobias.

 

Peter Gambi (James Remar) shows Jefferson footage of Anissa stealing the money, and Jefferson gets mad at him for not telling him sooner. Gambi tells him that Anissa’s trust is important to him, explaining that Jefferson and his family are still a target. He tells Jefferson that he helped Anissa to ensure her safety and promised to tell him afterwards.

 

Jefferson yells at Anissa, telling her she could have been hurt and has now made the clinic a target. Anissa argues that all of Freeland is already a target and that they’re supposed to be helping people. Jefferson tells her they have rules they need to follow: his rules. Anissa tells him she has a different set of rules, as she doesn’t want to see her people be taken advantage of. Jefferson tells her she will follow his rules as long as she lives there, and Anissa promises to be out of the house the morning.

 

Anissa consoles Jennifer as she’s packing and promises that she’ll still be around. She explains that she won’t let Jefferson control her, and Jennifer reminds her he does the same to her. Anissa replies that her situation is different since she’s an adult. Jennifer admits that she doesn’t know how she’s going to get through everything without her, and Anissa tells her she’ll always be there for her.

 

Anissa notices a text from Khalil on Jennifer’s phone, and reminds her that he killed Jefferson. Jennifer clarifies that he killed Black Lightning and assures her that she hasn’t replied to his texts. Anissa tells her that Khalil isn’t the same and warns her to stay away from him. She promises to be there for her and hugs Jennifer.

 

Lynn admits to Jefferson that they’ve been so focused on Jennifer, that they haven’t realized what’s going on with Anissa. Jefferson comments that the path Anissa’s taking leads to blood, and Lynn reminds him he took the same path early on. Lynn comforts Jefferson, and he apologizes for her having to go through all of this. She tells him she’s come to terms with having to shoot someone, and Jefferson gets a call from Gambi.

 

At the police station, Henderson calls Jefferson into his office and Jefferson confronts him about letting Tobias walk. Henderson replies that he can’t break laws like Black Lightning and asks how he knows about it. Jefferson refuses to reveal his source and Henderson tells him that all of the evidence has disappeared. Henderson promises he’ll find another way, and Jefferson asks to be put on the stand. Jefferson confesses that he witnessed the murder, but Gambi encouraged him not to say anything. Henderson asks if there’s any more lies he’d liked to reveal and tells him that he doesn’t understand the position he’s put him is as both deputy chief and as a friend.

 

Gambi checks on Kara Fowdy (Skye P. Marshall), who he has locked down in the basement. He tells her nobody knows she’s there and the straps are for her protection. She tells him she was shot by Tobias and begs him to help her. Gambi tells her there’s nothing he can do, and she accuses him of manipulating her. He tells her she doesn’t have any time left and asks her to tell him what she knows. Fowdy refuses and Gambi gives her something to help with the pain.

 

Jefferson hears a fight break out outside his classroom, and runs outside to break it up. He tells the students to shake hands and stop the fighting. Principal Lowry (PJ Byrne) comes over and Jefferson tells him things are under control. However, Lowry asks who threw the first punch despite Jefferson’s objections. Lowry expels the student who threw the first punch and suspends the other. Jefferson argues that they’re good kids, but Lowry tells him there’s a zero-tolerance policy and that he can leave if he has a problem.

 

Jefferson tells the two students to head to class and follows Lowry to his office. Slamming the door behind him, Jefferson tells Lowry to never speak to him like that again. Lowry asks if he’s threatening him, and Jefferson declares he is. Lowry reminds him he can leave, but Jefferson tells him he isn’t going anywhere. Lowry tells him that no student will be harmed on his watch, and Jefferson argues against the student’s expulsion. However, Lowry sticks to the zero-tolerance policy and Jefferson walks out.

 

Anissa asks Gambi if she can stay with him, and he says yes but warns her he’ll have to tell her parents. Dr. Helga Jace (Jennifer Riker) runs an experiment on one of the pod kids, waking him up. The inside of the pod freezes, and Lynn tells her they could have saved him. However, Jace tells her his death was inevitable. Lynn tells her he was a person, but Jace responds that they have more data now.

 

Jennifer ignores Jefferson as he walks in but stands up and gets angry at him for taking Anissa away from her. Jefferson argues Anissa chose to leave after he confronted her, and Jennifer sarcastically tells him that he’s never made any mistakes because he’s perfect. Tobias is allowed to see his lawyer, but his lawyer puts on headphones as Tobias talks to a mobster. The mobster tells him that their money was stolen by a vigilante with powers and asks permission to kill her. Tobias agrees on the condition that a full body scan is set up in order to identify Black Lightning, declaring he has to die.

 

Jennifer gets an email from Khalil and she accidentally burns the laptop with her powers. Lynn tells Jefferson that she lost another kid, and he comforts her. She tells him that Jennifer burned another laptop and he declares Jennifer is costing him a fortune. Lynn tells him she doesn’t think Jennifer is ready to go back to school, and Jefferson tells her about his struggles with Lowry. He declares that he wants to take the school back, and Lynn encourages him to do it.

 

Anissa asks to speak to Jefferson, and Lynn reminds him that he missed her as she lets them talk. Anissa tells him that the clinic is being threatened with an attack, but Jefferson refuses to say that he told her so. She asks for his help, and he agrees. He tells her he accepts her apology, but she tells him she didn’t apologize. Gambi explains that there’s talk of someone hired to attack the clinic and speculates that a bomb is the most likely method.

 

Jace examines the pod kid, and Lynn talks to her about her calculations. Jace tells Lynn she’s preparing her calculations for improvement, while her own are preparing for failure. She insists that all of the kids are going to die sooner or later, but Lynn refuses to accept that. Jace tells her that her optimism amuses her and tells her that she found some stable metahuman DNA. Lynn lies that the ASA acquired the samples, and Jace comments that the DNA of the three samples indicates that the metahuman gene can be inherited. Jace tells her that if they found a family of metahumans, they could capture them and examine them.

 

As they stakeout the clinic, Black Lightning and Thunder watch a pregnant woman walk inside. Gambi reports the attack is imminent, and Black Lightning pointedly comments that these guys don’t follow the same rules as them. Thunder argues they’re better than the criminals because they fight for the people, and Black Lightning offers to let Thunder move into his father’s house. They see the pregnant woman walk out without a bump, and Gambi promises to take care of her.

 

As Black Lightning and Thunder go into the clinic, Gambi fights the “pregnant” woman in the street. Thunder orders everyone to evacuate the clinic as Black Lightning searches for the weapon. Black Lightning finds a bomb in the bathroom and envelops it with lightning while Thunder finds another bomb in the children’s room and prevents the explosion from harming anyone with her powers. Gambi and the woman continue their fight, but the woman is able to escape by stealing a motorcycle after knocking Gambi to the ground.

 

Montez shows Jefferson the case file that contains his testimony that he didn’t witness his father’s murder and points out that the jury won’t believe him. Jefferson argues that his word means something in Freeland, but Montez simulates the cross-examination he would go through. Jefferson takes offense to the “cross-examiner’s” implication that Tobias was wrongly accused, declaring that he has gotten away with his father’s murder for years. Montez tells him she believes him, but they need hard evidence to prove Tobias is guilty.

 

Gambi tells Jefferson that he destroyed any evidence of him witnessing the murder long ago to protect him, and Jefferson declares that he can’t accept the dropped charges. Gambi warns him that he’ll be the bad guy if he attacks Tobias after the charges are dropped, and promises they’ll find something. Jefferson and Lynn tell Jennifer that they’ve decided that they’re going to homeschool her. Jennifer tells them she’s done everything they’ve asked of her, but Jefferson reminds her she hasn’t learned to control her powers yet and that metahumans are being hunted. Jefferson and Lynn apologize, but Jennifer storms off.

 

Gambi finds Fowdy lying on the ground, but she tries to shoot at him when he examines her. He confirms she’s actually dying, and she insists she was just trying to help her country. Gambi tells her she can still help and asks about the briefcase. Fowdy tells him to have her cremated and that Tobias has the case. She is unable to answer his further questions, but hands over her phone as she dies.

 

As he is released from the police station, Tobias tells reporters that he’s proud of the justice system and that he intends to become an active member of society. As he steps into his car, he tells them that he hopes that Alvin Pierce’s real killer is found so Jefferson and his family can find peace. Khalil meets Jennifer at Garfield, telling her he’s surprised she texted him back. He sits down next to her as Tobias announces that he’s back to the one hundred gang.