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An evaluation of how CW Network's Black Lightning utilizes the Cultivation Effect in the latest season, "The Book of Occupation." As well as the show's purpose on television.

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At this point in the season, audience's get a glimpse into Gravedigger's mission and why he feels the need to complete it.

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Black Lightning | Season 3 Episode 16 | Gravedigger Tries To Convince Lightning Scene | The CW

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Black Lightning has been a political show from the jump. Its black cast and inner city setting charge the show with political relevance, and Black Lightning has never shied away from touching on pressing, raw topics like police brutality, racial profiling, and a host of other social issues. It hasn't always been subtle in doing so, but the more socially-conscious bent has worked in the show's favor, as a way of distinguishing it from just about every other superhero show on the air.

The first episode of the third season is just as politically charged as previous episodes, but this time around things feel more relevant, more attuned to this specific time and place. Black Lightning has nodded towards real life events before, but this premiere, centered around kids being rounded up, separated from their families, and locked in detention camps with no idea of when they'll get out or what they did wrong, feels particularly pointed.

"The Book Of Occupation: Chapter One: The Birth Of Blackbird"

"The Book Of Occupation: Chapter One: The Birth Of Blackbird"

The catalyst is this: it's been 37 days since the Metas escaped last season, and that's given the government the opportunity to quarantine Freeland. That means the military is running everything, Odell has set up a detainment center to hold and question Metas like Jefferson and Issa, and there's no moving in and out of the city's borders. Kids walking the street have no idea if they're about to get snatched up, suspected as a Meta, and sent away to a detention camp where their powers are controlled with collars.

The parallel here is pretty clear, as Anissa and a small group consisting of a nurse and Congresswoman, tour the "medical clinic" and see the inhumane conditions. The nurse immediately decides she can't be a part of this, that this is a moral atrocity. Anissa stays though, because Gambi needs her on the inside in order to get a sense of what's going on with the ASA. The parallel with the Texas border camps works well here because it's direct without being preachy or hammering the point home too often. It's a portrayal of a real-life abomination, which is then used as fodder for this specific story.

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And what are superheros if not "others," people who are feared because they are different and unknown? The difference in Black Lightning is that these specific "others" have potential value. The Metas can be used as weapons for the ASA and the American government. A scene early on sees one of the Metas "attacking" the detention center Anissa is touring. When he's confronted by Commander Williams, the ruthless man leading the occupation of Freeland, this Meta, named Psyclotronic, chastises him for using him as a weapon, for turning him into weapon of war and ruining his life. Williams kills him.

It's a disturbing scene, and it reveals the true nature of what's happening in Freeland. Odell has Lynn and Jefferson under "protective custody" because America could be going to war with the Markovians any time now, and Freeland, with its population of potential Metas-turned-weapons, would be Ground Zero. The thing is, there doesn't seem to be any Markovian threat at all. Rather, it's the US government trying to weed out the Metas in order to use their powers as weapons in who knows how many wars. US imperialism is never satisfied.

That's why Odell kills Issa, in the episode's most heartbreaking moment. Issa may have a power, but it's one that's dangerous to his own captors: he can get people to tell the truth. So, Odell poisons him, and concocts a story about the Markovians torturing him so that Lynn doesn't get suspicious about his death.

This is a premiere that gets a lot of promising threads moving. Gambi remains a weak link in the show, a one-note character with little to do but engage in exposition, but the rest of the episode is intriguing and urgent. There's Anissa becoming Blackbird, filling the role of Black Lightning, and getting romantically involved with a reporter. There's Jennifer coming into her powers (which is admittedly a real slow burn at this point, but the scenes with Anissa still shine). There's the sharp musings on power, corruption, militarism, and the futility of war. And of course there's Lala. The dead come back swinging, and so does Black Lightning.

Stray observations

I need more scenes with Old Tobias. Or just Tobias in general. I hope he's not locked up too long.

I wasn't sure who recorded that cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" that was used, so if you know, feel free to toss it in the comments.

Mysterious briefcases are always great.

These won't be weekly reviews (which is unfortunate, because this show offers up a lot to dig into), but I should be back to check in on the season finale. See you then!

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Black Lightning adapts to the current political moment

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Black Lightning has been a political show from the jump. Its black cast and inner city setting charge the show with political relevance, and Black Lightning has never shied away from touching on pressing, raw topics like police brutality, racial profiling, and a host of other social issues.

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It's time for more Black Lightning! And so far, the season 3 premiere is giving me hope that this outing will avoid some of the mistakes of last season.

Season 2 lost me a bit when it went too far out into the fantastical. I know that's a weird thing to say about a superhero show, but I think Black Lightning has been able to do a really good job of showcasing real-life racial dynamics and structural inequities through its comic-flavored storytelling. And in season 3, the show is aiming directly at our real-life crisis of family separation and putting kids in cages.

Last season ended with Agent Odell declaring a state of emergency, with the foreign nation of Markovia looking to start a war over Freeland's supply of metahumans. When season 3 begins, that state of emergency is in full effect and the ASA has essentially declared martial law in Freeland. Anyone suspected of being a metahuman is hauled into a facility for days at a time and forced to answer questions while collared - even Jefferson Pierce himself!

We soon learned that Jefferson willingly gave himself up to the ASA in order for Odell to leave his daughters alone. So while Black Lightning is missing from the streets of Freeland, a seemingly new vigilante named Blackbird has taken his place. It's Anissa, of course, but she's exchanged her Thunder costume for a voice modulator and a black bloc outfit that looks quite a bit like an antifascist street fighter. (It also strongly resembles Regina King's costume in HBO's upcoming Watchmen show, so be on the look out for parallels once these shows are airing episodes at the same time.)

During the daytime, Anissa stops by ASA facilities as a representative of the Freeland clinic connected to Rev. Holt's church. It strongly resembles news videos of Democratic politicians visiting border detention centers over the last year, where all they really end up doing is talking to some of the detainees about their conditions without really changing anything. It's the same here, and one woman in the group is so sick of it that she literally jumps out of their car on the return trip.

Anissa's sick of it too, she just has to hide it better. She uses her trips with the clinic to find out what the ASA is up to; on this excursion, Gambi is able to use her reconnaissance to detect an opening in the ASA's energy barrier surrounding the compound. That allows Anissa to return at night as Blackbird and smuggle convoys of suspected metahumans out of ASA custody and back to the clinic.

There's just one thing holding Anissa back, and it's the same as ever for her: sex. There's a reporter in time named Jamillah Olsen. She works for the hilariously named ClapBack News and is in Freeland to report on the ASA occupation. But when she conducts an interview with Rev. Holt in which he celebrates Blackbird's actions, she pushes him so hard on questions about how what Blackbird is doing is "against the law" - very much reminiscent of our real-life "is it okay to punch Nazis?" discourse - that I have to suspect she's not quite on the side of the Freeland people. When she later hits up Anissa at a lesbian bar and they hook up, I can't help but wonder if this journalist is trying to uncover Blackbird's real identity.

Carson Williams, the ASA security chief with the eternally valuable power to mimic other people's powers, seems to have taken Tobias' place as our primary antagonist at the start of this season. But Tobias is still a force to be reckoned with. Odell has Issa Williams interrogate Tobias for him - which seems like a very useful application of someone with the power to compel other people to tell the truth. But is Odell ready for Tobias' truth to get out there? Under compulsion from Issa, Tobias declares that season 1 villain Martin Proctor was not a rogue agent, as advertised, but that he was working directly for Odell, who works directly for the president of the United States. Odell's mission is three-fold, per Tobias: Obtain all metahumans in Freeland, turn them into weapons, and erase evidence of ASA's connection to the president. That's some valuable information; no wonder Issa starts to fear for his life after hearing it.

But Odell's biggest question - where is the briefcase? - remains unanswered, probably because Tobias doesn't know. But we viewers do. The final shot of the episode shows the briefcase in the hands of none other than Tattoo Man.

After a bit of a sophomore slump, I'm excited to see where Black Lightning goes from here.
Related content:

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'Black Lightning' season premiere recap: Freeland puts kids in cages too

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It's time for more Black Lightning ! And so far, the season 3 premiere is giving me hope that this outing will avoid some of the mistakes of last season. Season 2 lost me a bit when it went too far out into the fantastical.

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Black Lightning Season 3 ramps up to a climactic ending, and not everyone makes it out alive.

Photo: The CW

This Black Lightning review contains major spoilers.

Black Lightning is a show that doesn't concern itself with being chill. It has zero chill and never tries to give the impression that it ever has or ever wants to have chill. It doesn't go from zero to 100 because that implies it even has a zero, which it does not. This show stays on the accelerator, and it might let up a little, but it has never heard of a brake, it's full throttle till the gas is exhausted...

The Season 3 finale starts at 100: After saving Jennifer (following her foolhardy attempt to take on Gravedigger solo), Jefferson charges up and takes Gravedigger on himself. What follows is one of many superpowered, supercharged showdowns between Gravedigger with his array of borrowed powers and various members of Black Lightning's meta team.

Elsewhere, throughout Freeland, Markovians are snatching metas, destroying police and fire stations, and killing citizens indiscriminately. Jameelah Olsen reports on the Markovian invasion live from the streets and is gunned down on-camera. Where the camera could have focused on her attacker, or her wounds, it instead focuses on her face. It lingers just long enough for us to grasp the gravity of the situation, but not long enough to feel voyeuristic. This kind of visual can hit too close to home, and can be uncomfortable to watch, but it fits the narrative and doesn't feel gratuitous.

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This season gave us a full military occupation by a shady government entity, and a Russian-adjacent foreign threat, both hellbent on turning Freeland's metas into their weapons. From the first episode, we've been in the shit, and every episode since has kept us in it. We've watched our heroes struggle, adapt, learn, grow, and evolve. We've watched characters we care about be tested in ways we didn't expect and seen them come out different, stronger, and more prepared to face their enemies and themselves.

Jefferson has always been a leader, he's always respected authority, and he's always had a strong sense of what is right. That has been his foundation as a father, an educator, and a superhero. The A.S.A. occupation of Freeland and the treatment of its citizens challenged Jefferson's moral code, and he had to soften some of his hard lines in order to be effective against Odell and the A.S.A. Ultimately he came down on the side of doing what needed to be done to protect the whole, even at the expense of the individual. Jefferson maintains his sense of rightness but he's also learned to adapt.

Lynn, on the other hand, held fast to her personal sense of rightness throughout, sometimes to her detriment. She worked for the A.S.A., knowing their intentions to do harm, hoping she could save Freeland's pod kids and Greenlight metas. She continued her work even when there was a possibility it could further empower the A.S.A. and Markovia. Her struggle with addiction this season made her bold and unpredictable in ways that sometimes worked against her, but she was able to help save Freeland from the Markovian invasion, and eventually stabilize Freeland's metas. All while under the influence of Greenlight. I have made my feelings about her addiction clear, and I remain unconvinced it was necessary to tell this story, but Lynn has been a more dynamic character this season, which was exciting to see.

Jennifer has grown the most this season. She started out as Odell's willing apprentice, enthusiastically developing and using her powers in service of the A.S.A. It took seeing the worst-case versions of herself from alternate universes to move her toward independent thought and action. Once she established for herself what was right, what was wrong, and who the real enemies were, she was an unstoppable force. This got her in a lot of trouble, especially in the last episode, when she confronted Gravedigger alone and almost died. But it also showed that she's fully embraced her powers and accepted the responsibility of having them.

Anissa has been the most consistent over three seasons. She's always shown potential and a willingness to step up, and this season she came into her own as a hero and a leader. She struggled with having authority earlier in the season, going too hard on Anaya and the Perdi, but she's a more thoughtful leader now.

Other characters have also shown up and shown out.

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Henderson, as acting police chief, had to cooperate with the A.S.A., but he was secretly leading the Resistance the whole time. Like Jefferson, his strict sense of what is right was challenged, but unlike Jefferson, he adapted quickly. When Markovians tried to ambush Jefferson, Henderson took them out, saving Jefferson (and Jennifer) before succumbing to his wounds. He lived a hero and died a hero, and he didn't need meta powers for that to be true.

Khalil also showed immense growth this season. After Painkiller rampages (taking out Markovians, helpfully), Khalil (shirtless, I feel the need to mention) fights him in their mindscape, and regains control of his body. After Odell wipes his hands of Freeland, and sets self-destruct on the Pit, Khalil thwarts his getaway. Instead of killing Odell, which would be within his rights, Khalil shoots him and leaves him for Jefferson or God to deal with. There are still places for him to go if he returns for future seasons, but if this is the last we see of him, he's had a satisfying narrative arc, and this is a solid place to leave him.

TC has been clutch all season, and he was absolutely vital in every successful move Black Lightning and the team made. I only hope he gets to be more than just useful if he appears in future seasons. Brandon did a lot to keep Jennifer grounded, and even though his personal vendetta felt superfluous, I like him as a character and wouldn't mind seeing him and Jennifer explore their relationship. Lady Eve and Lala really only came to serve their specific purposes, but both of them in their own (mostly selfish) ways, helped to protect Freeland and I respect that.

This season moves characters forward in ways both subtle and overt, and they are so clearly defined. After the Markovian invasion, there is a special commission in Gotham in which Lynn and Black Lightning are asked to testify about the occupation and the invasion. Black Lightning presents the commission with the A.S.A. briefcase chronicling decades of their heinous crimes.

The Markovians were the boogeymen of the season, and though they rose to the level of threat they were promised to be, they were still secondary to the real villain. Odell was never going to be a good guy, and the A.S.A. was never going to be justified. The A.S.A. is responsible for _decades_ of experimentation on Freeland's vulnerable Black and Brown population. It is partly responsible for making and keeping Freeland vulnerable.

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The A.S.A., and the larger governing body of this country - which was built atop the labor and oppression of Black people - are responsible for everything, all roads lead back to them. It was their initial experimentation on Gravedigger and their desire to create more metas like him that birthed the meta program in Markovia and in Freeland. I love that Black Lightning can tell a story of this scope while maintaining an intimacy with the characters and with the city itself. There may be vast conspiracies, but the focus always comes back to the people of Freeland, and to the characters we care about.

This episode expertly wraps up the season-long arc, putting an end to Odell and the A.S.A. and pushing Markovia back into the shadows. It ties up all major loose ends while teasing the return of Tobias and Gravedigger, both powerful metas with personal grievances against the Pierce family. It gives us a very clear sense of who everyone is and what they are about and we know Black Lightning and his family stand ready to buck up to whatever comes their way next.

Black Lightning kept its foot on the gas, and on our necks, the entire season. Real life doesn't slow down or wait for you to catch up, so it's only fitting that the show move in the same way, keeping us on our toes the entire time. Black Lightning tells meaningful, relevant stories about Black identity, culture, and politics, with powers and superheroics superimposed. It's about Jefferson, the father and community leader, as much as it is about Black Lightning, the meta and masked hero. It goes hard because it can, and because it's the responsibility of a show like this to use its framework of superheroism to tell rich stories about people because, ultimately, that's who heroes are.

Nicole is an escapist. She loves art, books, film, games, music, television, and writing. She writes commentary and critique about film, television, and popular/nerd culture. She is often...

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Black Lightning Season 3 Episode 16 Review: Book of War: Chapter 3: Liberation | Den of Geek

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Black Lightning Season 3 ramps up to a climactic ending, and not everyone makes it out alive. This Black Lightning review contains major spoilers. Black Lightning is a show that doesn't concern itself with being chill. It has zero chill and never tries to give the impression that it ever has or ever wants to have chill.

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Scene screenshots of the struggles Freeland faces during the occupation. From military surrounding high schools, children being held in cages, to ASA's study on the citizens of Freeland.

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The Black Lightning season 3 finale brings its many different storylines to a (mostly) satisfying close, while also setting up what's sure to be a fantastic fourth season.

I'm normally in favor of shorter seasons overall, as it think it forces writers to craft more tightly written episodes and keep the story humming along at a steady clip. It's a somewhat surprising preference overall, as I really enjoy character-focused storytelling and am a big fan of bottle episodes, both of which are given more opportunity to exist if the writer's room has more time to develop their season.

The problem, though, is that many serialized storytellers don't make really good use of that extra time, forgoing proper character-based storytelling and instead giving us filler episodes that neither develop character nor move the plot forward.

It takes both talented, focused writing and confident showrunning to properly execute a vision over 22 or 24 episodes without the pace grinding to a halt or stretching the story out into irrelevance, and if I had to make a choice, I'd always choose condensing a season rather than elongating it.

Now, that being said, I will admit that I wish Black Lightning's season orders weren't truncated to 16 episodes (13 in the first season), but instead received the 22 or 24 season orders that its fellow Arrow-verse shows like The Flash or Supergirl consistently get.

Especially in this season, in which Black Lightning broadened the scope of its storytelling by taking its narrative threads far outside the borders of Freeland for the first time and officially linking up with the rest of the Arrow-verse shows. That scaling up made the season feel much more epic than it had been in the past, but also made the season feel dangerously overstuffed at turns.

Season 3 managed to juggle its many storylines for the most part in the early part, but lost its way sometime in the middle despite collapsing or condensing all its disparate threads.

It managed to right itself again with the introduction of Gravedigger, giving us a really fantastic run episodes to end the season. In fact, they were so fantastic that it's what made me wish that the season was longer so that the show wouldn't feel pressured to resolve everything in the span of one fantastic - if filled to the brim - season finale.

However, we got what we got, which is a 16 episode season, and credit to the crew and the cast of Black Lightning for managing to wrap everything up in a way that not only provided a mostly satisfying conclusion for all its many moving parts, but also made me look forward to what we'll be getting in season 4.

'Black Lightning' season 3 finale review

While I enjoyed and appreciated the ways in which Black Lightning went big this season, what made this finale the most satisfying and successful to me were the ways in which it returned to that which made the show so appealing in the first place: its focus on family and its willingness to embrace its cultural relevance.

Black Lightning has always been a superhero show, of course, and this season more than previous ones leaned into those standard superhero tropes - even expanding its team of superheroes from one to three (or one to six if we're going to count TC, Brandon and Khalil as part of the main team).

However, what stood out about the show initially - and what has always been its strongest attribute - is that it's really a show about family wrapped in superhero trappings. In its quest to tell a more epic story, the show went away from that for a large part of the season, splitting up the Pierce family both literally and ideologically.

That's in the rearview in this episode, with the whole Pierce family teaming up to take down Gravedigger and contributing in very real and necessary ways. All the members get to match up against Gravedigger is very fun and fun-to-watch ways, except for Anissa, who does get a really great fight scene that ends up in tragedy (we'll get to more of that later).

It's a very satisfying showdown and a great way to end the season, especially since we had to fight so hard to get there. Jefferson has finally (or at least in this episode) let go of his caution regarding his daughters, and seeing Anissa and Jen apologetically kick ass and use their powers is a lot of fun.

They don't get to team up quite in the way that I've wanted (as in all four of them versus one big bad at the same time), but just seeing them work together and on the same side so effectively was enough for me to excuse the parts I didn't quite enjoy in the journey to get here.

The season also ends with the four Pierces walking out together after testifying before the government about the ASA and what needs to happen with the metas going forward. It's an effective way to remind us that this show is about this family, and that it's their solidarity together that the show relies on and that appeals to us viewers.

And that solidarity is something they'll need going into the fourth season, as the end of the finale reveals that Lynn is still very much addicted to Green Light and hiding it. Now that I see that that's going to be a focus (hopefully) of the fourth season, I fully believe the writers will handle her recovery with both grace and realism, which is just one more thing to look forward to in the upcoming season.

The other thing to look forward to in the upcoming fourth season? The return of Gravedigger, who we see in the final moments of the episode has survived the explosion of The Pit and will live to fight another day.

Which is a great thing because, as I mentioned in my previous Black Lightning review, Wayne Brady's Gravedigger is the best villain that the show has ever had (sorry to my boo, Tobias).

Here he proves not only to be a formidable opponent to Team Black Lightning - as it takes the full squad to 'kill' him - he also proves to have an enticing political and ideological belief system. This verbalized belief system - along with Black Lightning's testimony at the end in front of the government - likewise goes back to the show's roots, weaving in cultural and political commentary that's both relevant and real.

Unlike other superhero shows, Black Lightning has never shied away from real world issues or real world implications, specifically and especially with those having to do with the Black community. I was grateful that the show ended the season with embracing that facet of itself and in imbuing its greatest villain with that ethos as well.

Because Gravedigger's animosity towards the U.S. isn't misplaced, as he's come from a time in which Blacks were openly mistreated, maligned and murdered (...which, to be real, is unfortunately also the time we currently live in) and, on top of that, was made a subject of a truly messed up experiment. The U.S. government abused Gravedigger, used him and then discarded him without a second thought.

Like the Magneto or Killmonger, Gravedigger is a great villain not only because he's powerful, but because we can, in many ways, see that he's right. If he'd been given a broader audience in Freeland, I can't imagine there wouldn't be a few metas who would be swayed to his cause and his promise of a free meta state within the borders of Markovia.

Now, whether Gravedigger's meta paradise would actually make good on that promise of freedom is another story entirely, and of course his 'my way or death' approach to creating this meta free state is objectively wrong.

Which is exactly what Jen tells him while she's trapped in his clutches, which is a welcome change to the way she was manipulated early in the season by Odell. In fact, it's probably that manipulation in the early season that allows her to see past Gravedigger's plans and stay firmly on Team Black Lightning (though I can't say I wouldn't have found a mid-finale switchover exciting!).

Given the fact that Gravedigger survives, I'm both hopeful and excited that he'll be the big bad for the entire fourth season. He and Jefferson are, in many ways, two sides of the same coin. They both care deeply about their respective communities, and both want to protect them from those who would do them harm.

However, while Jefferson takes the more hopeful view that humanity has the capability to do and be better, Gravedigger takes the more cynical perspective that goodness and grace are out of the question. Given that, I can't wait to see these two match up against each other in the fourth season, so thank God we already know it's been greenlit.

Stray thoughts and lingering questions

Tobias doesn't make all my dreams come true and enter the fray. HOWEVER, we do see that he's alive and ready to come back to Freeland take back what's his which, I guess, is Freeland? Anyway, I'm fully ready for him to return, wreak havoc on the Pierces, just to team up with them when Gravedigger re-emerges. Yes, I've just scripted my ideal season 4.

Khalil didn't hop into the fray at the end like I'd thought he might, but he did wrest control back of his body from Painkiller. Though we see that it isn't permanent and there'll always be that element of not knowing. I'm curious as to where his story goes in the next season, and he's an interesting enough (and useful enough, let's be real) character that I hope the show gives him something meaty in the fourth season.

Lots of bodies at the end of this one. Dr. Jace, gone. Jamilah Olson, gone. Lady Eve, gone (I think). HENDERSON, gone. That goodbye scene between Jefferson and Henderson really had tears in my eyes. I wish he'd gotten more to do in this season of Black Lightning. He'll really be missed.

Speaking of goodbyes. I mentioned last week that I was worried for Grace, given that she and Anissa were moments away from sealing their love forever in holy matrimony, and I've watched enough action movies to know that having something to live for right before you go into a situation where you could die never bodes well. I had hoped that the show would keep the 'bury your gays' trope far, far away from the show, and while it didn't kill Grace completely, it did leave her in a coma for God knows how long. So the show didn't quite bury its gays, but it did still disappoint me. Here's hoping that her coma is short-lived and we see her back in the early part of season 4.

What did you think of the 'Black Lightning' season 3 finale?

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'Black Lightning' season 3 finale review: Freeland finally breaks free

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The Black Lightning season 3 finale brings its many different storylines to a (mostly) satisfying close, while also setting up what's sure to be a fantastic fourth season. I'm normally in favor of shorter seasons overall, as it think it forces writers to craft more tightly written episodes and keep the story humming along at a steady clip.

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In "Black Lightning," the latest CW superhero entry, Cress Williams plays a former crime-fighting vigilante who reluctantly returns to the fight in middle age. Credit... Bob Mahoney/CW

As this moment plays out in the opening minutes of "Black Lightning," the CW series based on that DC superhero, the motorist in question is Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), who stepped back from his role as a crime-fighting vigilante to focus on his civilian identity as a high-school principal and father to two teenage daughters.

But in Pierce's mind, he has decided that he must become Black Lightning again.

"Black Lightning," which debuts on Jan. 16, shares its roots in the comic-book adventures that have yielded other CW shows like "Arrow," "The Flash" and "Supergirl." But where those other programs often coat their real-world commentary in layers of allegory, "Black Lightning" takes on issues of race and social justice directly and unambiguously.

Mr. Akil, who is credited with developing "Black Lightning," has worked widely as a director of films ( "Jumping the Broom") and a writer, director and producer of television shows like "Girlfriends," "The Game" and "Being Mary Jane," series that were created by his wife, Mara Brock Akil. (They are also collaborating on shows for other networks, including the OWN comedy-drama "Love Is ___.")

Ms. Akil, who is also an executive producer of "Black Lightning," said she likes to think of her TV characters as possessing "black girl magic," which she explained as "power without the suits or capes." In childhood, she said she had an affection for more traditional superheroes like Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman.

His interest was rejuvenated in the 1990s by the comics of Milestone Media, a publishing imprint for black writers and artists to tell stories of black superheroes. (Several of these characters have since been incorporated into the DC universe.)

As Mr. Akil recalled that conversation, "Mara's the very expressive one and I tried to be cool, like Miles Davis cool. I just sat there, like, 'That sounds interesting.' But inside, I was like, oh, yeah."

The Black Lightning character debuted in his own DC Comics series, written by Tony Isabella and illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden, in 1977. In biographical details added in the ensuing decades, Jefferson Pierce was revealed as a child of the Metropolis slums and a former Olympic athlete who uses his control of electricity to fight criminals, corrupt politicians and other evildoers.

A veteran of TV shows like "Nash Bridges," "Prison Break," "Friday Night Lights" and "Hart of Dixie," Mr. Williams had auditioned for the lead on "Luke Cage," the Netflix series based on that Marvel character.

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On 'Black Lightning,' a Superhero Takes On Race, Justice and the Real World

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As this moment plays out in the opening minutes of "Black Lightning," the CW series based on that DC superhero, the motorist in question is Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), who stepped back from his role as a crime-fighting vigilante to focus on his civilian identity as a high-school principal and father to two teenage daughters.

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Discussing how Black Lightning defies the era its placed in and redefines superhero television.

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Let's make a black-superhero television show, shall we?

First you'd need to have a network that actually has a track record of successful shows about superheroes. CW? Check.

Then you'd need a diverse black cast that hits all age groups. Cress Williams as the star, with old-school cred from Living Single and crossover love from Heart of Dixie? China Anne McClain, who pulls that Disney crowd from A.N.T. Farm and ? Perfect.

Last, you'd need some real-black writers and producers, folks with a track record of success who will fight the networks for all the little details, like having shea butter in the bathroom scenes and showing how a black superhero would really feel about the cops. Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil-the Batman and Wonder Woman of black television, who have a hand in just about every black show over the last 20 years ( Soul Food, Girlfriends, The Game and Being Mary Jane)? It's. About. To. Go. DOWN.

isn't the first television show to star a black superhero-there was on Fox; Spike TV's horrible , with Sticky Fingaz, in '06; and Luke Cage on Netflix-but it's the best black superhero show that's ever been put on TV, and you'll see that in the premiere.

, premiering tonight on the CW, is the story of Jefferson Pierce, a man in his 40s drawn back into the superhero game after taking a long hiatus to save his marriage and raise his two kids. He's settled into a comfortable life as principal of Garfield High School. He's spitting game to get back his ex-wife, Lynn (Christine Adams from The Mentalist and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), who left him because she couldn't handle the stress of his double life. As a principal, he can keep an eye on his wild younger daughter, Jennifer (China Anne McClain); and his older daughter, med school student Anissa (Nafessa Williams, from Twin Peaks and Burning Sands), regularly drops by the school to volunteer.

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Unfortunately, the 100 gang, led by Tobias Whale, an albino gang leader with a Moby Dick fetish (played by Marvin "Krondon" Jones III), has decided to rip apart the city of Freeland by running everything from prostitution to legitimate businesses and youth centers. The 100 is like what would happen if 100 Black Men of America merged with . Now, with the help of his old friend and mentor Gambi (James Remar), Pierce has become Black Lightning again to fight fire with lightning.

It feels like a lot is going on; how the heck do you describe a show like this?

" Luke Cage mixed with Black-ish with maybe a Cosby Show flair ... that might cover it, with a dope soundtrack."

That's how Cress Williams laid it out to me after a long day of filming in Atlanta about a month ago. Both he and Jones are acutely aware of how big a hit Black Lightning could become. Sandwiched between the Netflix-busting Luke Cage and next month's Black Panther movie, Black Lightning has a window to create its own unique buzz. Yet the actors are acutely aware of how Black Lightning meshes with the expanding mainstream world of black superheroes.

When I asked Jones how he developed Tobias Whale, he took me straight to previous shows and comics.

"Of course, Cottonmouth from Luke Cage," says Jones, who went on to praise the villainous work of Mahershala Ali, whom he considers a friend and mentor. "And Wilson Fisk; I love Wilson Fisk."

When I ask him if there are any real-world people he drew inspiration from for his character, Jones thought for a moment, sitting back in his chair as we sat in a small room during a brief break in filming. Finally, he settled on the perfect mixture: "It's that attitude, that 'I made it, NIGGA, YOU DIDN'T' attitude! He's like Kwame Kilpatrick mixed with ."

Damn.

I'll admit that despite enjoying the cast and crew, I was skeptical about how Black Lightning would turn out. I love comics and superhero shows, but most of the superhero programs on the CW are trash for black people. The black guys are almost always sidekicks or marginalized; the black women exist only as eye candy or love interests for white guys; and the costumes are so bad, most CW heroes look like a flash mob of cosplayers. However, I was more assured when I heard showrunner Salim Akil talk about putting his heart and soul into the show.

He talked about the crime in Black Lightning's Freeland being based on his hometown of Richmond, Va. (which has had a top 10 murder rate for the last 20 years). He talked about a showing a new kind of black masculinity on-screen, the kind that is usually suppressed in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.

"In so many shows, the black man NEVER gets the woman ... it's like he doesn't have a PENIS!" Akil said, talking about how Jefferson Pierce was going to be a three-dimensional character with love, sexiness and action. I knew I was going to see something new. Turns out I was right.

Black Lightning is actually a very good show. I've watched the pilot three times, twice on a laptop and once during a public screening at the DC in D.C. event last weekend. Every time I watch, I see something different that I like. The action is good, the plot makes sense, and the show flips tone from fun to suspense almost every other scene.

The writers don't beat you over the head with a message every scene, but Black Lightning operates in the real world of race, police violence and crime. The daughters, Jennifer and Anissa, are fantastic, their banter actually sounds like two sisters talking, and the show posters indicate that before too long, they'll develop superpowers similar to how they did in the comics.

A superpowered, highly educated, crime-fighting black family in the era of Donald Trump? You better get on this show before Jeff Sessions finds out. Black Lightning is the best sci-fi genre show I've seen in years, so set your DVR, sit back and bask in the glory of knowing you're seeing superheroism at its finest and, most importantly, its blackest.

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Let's Get Lit: Black Lightning Is the Superhero Show for the Trump Era

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Let's make a black-superhero television show, shall we? First you'd need to have a network that actually has a track record of successful shows about superheroes. CW? Check. Then you'd need a diverse black cast that hits all age groups. Cress Williams as the star, with old-school cred from Living Single and crossover love from Heart of Dixie?

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Here the audience see's ASA's true intentions and can create a distorted picture of their own government based on what they see Ordell do.

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Black Lightning 3x04 Sneak Peek "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Four" (HD)

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Is Black Lightning too political for viewers?

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I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude or be offensive.

I understand the political climate in US right now is a bit on the edge lately.

But as someone who isn't from the US (South East Asia) I just want to watch a good superhero show. Republicans, Liberals, BLM- I live halfway across the globe and those are really not part of my daily life. PLS NO BULLI

Is this it? Or should I expect some polarizing plot points?

About Arrow, I dropped it early S3 when they had started to hint on that forced Olicity romance. Again- I just want a good superhero show. No fluff and baggage.
Thanks.

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Does it get too political? Also, how does it compare to the Arrow?

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I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude or be offensive. I understand the political climate in US right now is a bit on the edge lately. But as someone who isn't from the US (South East Asia) I just want to watch a good superhero show.

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Salim Akil's take on Black Lightning.

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The CW's latest superhero team-up with Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics is " Black Lightning," helmed by Salim Akil. But although his show shares its origins in comics with the others already established on the network slate, he isn't interested in having his show exist in a shared universe at this time.

"I kind of feel like the broader audience doesn't really know who Black Lightning is. They know the name now, but I wanted them to really get to know Jefferson and his family first," Akil tells Variety, although he recognizes that "down the line" the network might want "Black Lightning" to be a part of their annual crossover events.

Instead, Akil is focusing on introducing Jefferson (Cress Williams), his powers, and his family to a new audience. Calling Jefferson a "community-based superhero," Akil points out that the show is steeped in his experiences growing up in Richland, Calif. and is deeply personal to him and his writers room - which is made up of predominantly African-American staffers. "We have people who have either lived this life or know someone who has," he says, adding that it's a story about him and people he knows.

"I want to show them respect," he continues. "I try to maintain the balance of this has got to entertain and it's got to be fun and he's got to use his powers, but, ultimately, it's a very personal, artistic expression for me."

Ahead of the series premiere, Akil spoke with Variety about using history to inspire stories on the show, the rules for how his characters got their powers, and the importance of the family unit on the show.
Jefferson has had his powers for years, but in a way there is still an origin story aspect to "Black Lightning" in his daughter's powers beginning to emerge. Why do her powers show up now at this time in her life?
When we talked about each character getting their powers, we wanted to do it in a way that felt personal. So, she's been trying her damndest to be involved in the community and really work with the community, and I think the kidnapping really brought something out of her emotionally. She starts having these panic attacks, and that's how it comes out - [after] being involved in something that's really traumatic. It's a show about superheroes, but I try to steep everything, in my mind, to reality, and this was her reaction to a traumatic event. These panic attacks come and unleash something in her.
Are the rules the same for everyone, and if a similar situation caused Jefferson to obtain his powers, will the show flash back to see the when and how of the event?
It is how he first exhibited his powers as a child, and we will see that. I sort of did it in reverse. Usually you do the origin story at the beginning, but we're actually going to see all of that probably in the finale. Each character manifests their powers out of needing them in that moment to save themselves - and when I say "save themselves," it's not saving themselves in the physical aspect, it's saving themselves emotionally.
Lynn (Christine Adams) is the only one in the family who knows Jefferson is Black Lightning. She asked him to stop fighting crime, and he did, and yet they still separated. Why did you want to separate them?
That's real. What do they say, like 50% of marriages end? I wanted to see that you can split up, but you can still co-parent and you can still raise your children in a healthy way. This woman loves him, and he loves her - there's no doubt - and they want to be together. After you've gone through years of seeing bones broken, bloody faces, him out fighting crime every night, it's going to take some years before you just jump back in. As much as you may want to trust, any little hint of that life again will make you pull back.
Why not give Jefferson a helmet to protect him from additional damage and also to keep his loved ones from recognizing him?
It's an interesting line every time I read one of the scripts. I have a crew crew of writers, but I touch every script. And there was a scene recently in a script where Thunder and Black Lightning had on their suits, but they were in the house, and I was like, "Nah." It varies from story to story and script to script, but I try to have rules I stick to - even if they're still being set because the show is new.There's a moment in the first episode where he's literally right in front of his daughter, and he has the thing over the eyes, and we're going to change his voice, but there's not a lot more we can do, and you kind of have to just buy into it a little bit. I had a lot of iterations of his costume, and at one point I had covered his face and his eyes, but what was more important to me was the emotion, and you need to see that. You need to see his eyes when his daughters have a gun pointed at them.
How important is it to you to balance the more grounded traumatic events with those fantastical powers so the characters still feel like they could exist in our real world?
Will most of the conflict come from the gangs then, or will more traditional comic-book style villains - people with powers - be an issue for Jefferson in Season 1?
You really don't meet characters that have powers yet. What I wanted to do was have an arc about black male paranoia and African-American paranoia. So we start in the black community, fighting the gangs. And then this drug is introduced, and everyone's questioning where the drug comes from, and we start to follow the trail of where it comes from, and it expands. So if you think about the Tuskegee experiment, it's sort of like that: we expand out and see oh, this stuff isn't coming from the low-level gang members. That's how the world expands.
That doesn't seem paranoid, given that it was true.
Right, the Tuskegee experiment really happened, but if we were to talk about chemtrails, people would say, "Oh you're paranoid!" But we're only paranoid until somebody blows the whistle.
What kind of responsibility do you feel to tell such "ripped from real life" stories as police brutality and gang violence, given your personal experiences and the platform you now have?
I feel like I have a responsibility to true to who I am as an artist, first and foremost. It's like Jefferson: he has these powers, and he's reluctant to use them because he doesn't want to jeopardize what he has in his family. I have this power - I'm one of the few African-American male showrunners in the landscape right now - and I have to be honest. If there's a responsibility, it's just to be honest in what I've experienced and to put it in my work.
"Black Lightning" premieres Jan. 16 at 9pm on the CW.

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'Black Lightning' Boss on Telling a Tale of 'African-American Paranoia'

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The CW's latest superhero team-up with Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics is " Black Lightning," helmed by Salim Akil. But although his show shares its origins in comics with the others already established on the network slate, he isn't interested in having his show exist in a shared universe at this time.

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Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil's adaptation of the DC Comics tale of an ex-Olympian who returns to his impoverished hometown and becomes Black Lightning-an academic by day and crime fighter by night-has always drawn from the intersection of politics, black identity, and black culture for storylines. The latest episode expanded on that by exploring a philosophy that channeled Marcus Garvey , the Jamaican Pan-Africanist who wanted to create a sovereign utopia for black people.

Gravedigger is the new adversary of Jefferson Pierce (aka Black Lightning, played by Cress Williams). Pierce, who is more like Dr Martin Luther King Jr., prefers nonviolence and a peacefully integrated coexistence between humans and "metahumans" (i.e., people with superpowers). Ideally, Pierce would like for all metahumans to protect humans from whatever threats lurk in his hometown of Freeland, USA. (Anyone who watches the show knows that will never happen.)

Gravedigger's approach is more Garvian, but with a lot more aggression. Gravedigger is a super soldier who defected to the fictional European nation of Markovia instead of returning to a segregated America after WWII. His goal is to create a sovereign land for metahumans within Markovia, but Markovia is occupying Freeland and has been terrorizing its citizens all season long. Gravedigger's return to Freeland is met with resistance from the corrupt government organization A.S.A. and Black Lightning , who are at war with the Markovians . B ut it adds another layer to the battle for Freeland's soul.

It's a storytelling device that's similar to Marvel's movie adaptation of Black Panther , which pits Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) against each other in a way that mirrored the duality of Malcolm X and MLK's respective ideologies. These approaches are more relevant than ever, given how polarized our real-life political climate is in the U.S.

In the DC Comics Universe, Gravedigger is the codename used for two super soldiers in different storylines. One debuted in and the other (Sykes) was introduced in . Neither character is as villainous as the TV show character is shaping up to be, and Wayne Brady is known for being congenial, so it's going to be interesting to see where the Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated renaissance man goes with this recurring role as he reminds us, once again, not to let the singing, dancing, and jovial hosting gigs fool us.

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On 'Black Lightning,' a complex face-off between characters who draw from MLK and Marcus Garvey

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Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil's adaptation of the DC Comics tale of an ex-Olympian who returns to his impoverished hometown and becomes Black Lightning-an academic by day and crime fighter by night-has always drawn from the intersection of politics, black identity, and black culture for storylines.

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The has always been a show that doesn't want you to forget how stories about super heroes and villains have the power to shed light on the pressing, real-world issues that audiences have to deal with in their every day lives. Jefferson Pierce and his family are all vigilantes who love putting on garish costumes to take on evil doers, but they're a group of Black Americans living under the constant threat of a brutal, militarized police apparatus that has no qualms about violating their human rights.

Season three's premiere episode, "The Book of Occupation: Chapter One: Birth of the Blackbird," assumes that you're familiar enough with the series that you can drop right back into the story left off: with Freeland preparing to go to war with the nation of Markovia. But the nature of said "war" is a complicated one.

There's fighting in the streets and increased police presence throughout the city, but Freeland isn't exactly a war zone in the traditional sense. Rather, the American Security Agency has capitalized on the fear Freeland's residents have about the city's population of young metahumans, who began manifesting abilities following exposure to the drug green light. Under the pretense of keeping Freeland safe from dangerous metas, the ASA's taken to tracking down the young superhumans, locking them up in internment camps, and essentially disappearing their families-making it impossible for anyone to know the truth of what's happening.

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Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) and Lynn Stewart (Christine Adams) are two of the few people with intimate knowledge of what's happening at the ASA's detention centers-sterile, clinical prisons where young metas are interrogated, experimented on-because they've chosen to remain in custody so that their daughters Jennifer (China Anne McClain) and Anissa (Nafessa Williams) can live freely.

The girls don't quite know the exact horrors that are being hidden behind the ASA's walls, but Anissa work as a community advocate gives her the opportunity to tour the ASA facility and she understands that the people of Freeland are being lied to about the gross misconduct happening in their own back yards. Black Lightning wants you to know how its creators feel about the Trump administration's monstrous policy of forcibly separating children from their families before detaining them, and in the context of the show, the ASA and agent Percy Odell represent that same kind of evil.

Black Lightning continues in its tradition of making its titular hero have to live with the larger consequences of his actions by gaming out what happens to a relatively small town when its primary superhero suddenly goes missing. With Black Lightning "gone," Freeland's residents have yet another reason to believe that their city's falling apart. At multiple points in the episode, you get the depressing (but narratively interesting) sense that for many people, Freeland's recent problems with police brutality, the green light epidemic, and now the ASA's disappearing of citizens all feel like part of one continuous story about the city's decline.

With her father in the ASA's clutches, Anissa takes it upon herself to pickup both Black Lightning and Thunder's slack as the "new" superhero Blackbird, who patrols Freeland by night working to disrupt what ASA activity she can. But, super durability or no, there's only so much that Anissa can really do on her own-especially as actual Markovian strike teams begin to find their way into the city looking for metahumans to steal and bring back to their country.

Because "The Book of Occupation: Chapter One: Birth of the Blackbird" is a season premiere, it feels like a particularly busy episode at more than a few points. That is understandable, given the amount of story that it's trying to pack in. But what stands out about the episode are the small touches here and there that make the way Freeland's falling into chaos feel, for lack of a better phrase, grounded in reality. Jennifer and Anissa's parents are literally locked up in a military-run camp, but both young women find the time to go about their normal lives because they have to, even though their worlds are falling apart. You see glimpses of other character's lives, and thought the specifics may be somewhat different, everyone's getting by and keeping on. Because to stop and take stock of what's unfolding around them might end up being too much for them.

Nothing's "right" with Black Lightning's worth right this second, because Freeland's very much in the midst of a monumental crisis that could very well tear the city apart. But once Team Lightning's all back together and in a position to better strategize what to do about the enemies they're facing on multiple fronts, one hopes they'll be able to turn the tide back in their favor until the next big Crisis throws everything out of whack once again.
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Black Lightning's Season 3 Premiere Brought Metahuman Internment Camps to Freeland

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The CW's Black Lightning has always been a show that doesn't want you to forget how stories about super heroes and villains have the power to shed light on the pressing, real-world issues that audiences have to deal with in their every day lives.