I saw this with my kids and they really liked it.
They were bothered the hero being called Black Lightning. They’re opinion was that since his lighting is vanilla color, it must refer to his skin color which is racist.
Maybe it refers to his costume? Like Black Bolt. Or Black Panther?
For those following Black Lightning (which, by the way, is becoming my favorite of the CW shows)…
Just finished watching Season 1 on Netflix and it was pretty damn good, all things considered. A good update of the Black Lightning concept, some good protagonists and antagonists, some flashy battles, in a relevant urban milieu. Not the best show of the current crop of TV superhero shows, but in the upper tier IMO.
I watched a few minutes of season 2 and completely lost interest! I thought Arrow was also going to fail the cut this year for sure, but it surprised me.
Anyone still watching this? Did it get better? LOL
I was travelling for work extensively. Lotta streaming time. A friend got me started with Arrow and the Flash. I watched three and two seasons respectively. Then, boom - I saw an episode of Arrow (I forget which, I have forgotten them all now, no joke) and thought, “It’s freaking Love Tree Hill Superheroes”. Turned it off. Never looked back.
Black Lightning is not connected to the “Arrowverse” and is it’s own thing and IMO better than Arrowverse shows (except for Legends of Tomorrow, which is its own crazy thing).
It’s one of the strongest season 1’s out there, and the second season started with some real heat. But I liked it from the jump, so it sounds like it’s just not your kind of show.
Ok, I’ll try it.
I really liked season 1 and so far season 2 seems to be just as strong. Caveat: I’m predisposed to like pretty much all the DC CW shows since they’re bringing to life characters that I loved as a comic book nerd in the '90s and 2000s. But having said that, some are clearly better than others, and I’d put Black Lightning with the better ones.
The writers sure have no qualms about using social issues in the writing, which is great as far as I’m concerned. I’m a suburban white dude so I have no idea how accurate the urban black culture representation is, but it sure seems legit based on other media and what you see in the news. I particularly like how supporting characters - preacher, detective, school board guy, mothers in the community, etc - are portrayed as stuck in the middle between getting on with life and standing up for injustice. Black Lightning is the hero so of course he’s fighting, but those are normal folks having to take risks for their family and community.
You have to like family drama for the show to work, too, which is par for the course with any of these DC CW shows. I think they did well with it here, with the very different reactions of Anissa and Jennifer to powers and the burden placed on the Jefferson/Lynn relationship.
Just finished up the most recent story arc with “South Freeland” and the redneck vampire gang. This show hasn’t ever shied away from racial tension but this really turned it up a notch, with the black and white gangs/families. There’s one particular bit with a white girl denying being a racist and Jefferson shutting her down that was really well done, I thought. I wish they’d made Looker a bit harder to take down, but maybe this is just round one and she’ll be back.
Caught up on Black Lightning just recently and I’m still really enjoying it. The superhero stuff is pretty well done, especially considering that it’s not a super-high-budget show. Lots of fun plot threads to follow, plenty of shadowy conspiracy figures and such. But it really shines on the social commentary front. None of the CW shows shy away from that, but this one takes it to another level. I was particularly impressed with the scene with black students being berated by a white principal for setting up a remembrance shrine for one of their deceased classmates.
So Season 2 is now up on Netflix. I enjoyed Season 1, with a few caveats. How is Season 2?
If you liked Season 1, you’ll like #2…very much the same feel, IMHO.