Spoilers Black Lightning - Season 3

[TREK_GOD_1]

I would not say his attack went overboard. Gravedigger is a very dangerous enemy. Someone who can affect your mind is more dangerous than a physical enemy. He could literally turn any human into a weapon, including most metas.

Sure, but Jefferson should keep his moral core--be the anchor for Jennifer when she was/is so willing to kill. This time, he wanted a take no prisoners approach because Lynn was in danger, but the aftermath--how he lives with permanent decisions like killing is the issue.

I do wonder now if Painkiller was in control, if that fight would have been different.

Perhaps, but even in that mode, he is not invincible as a fighter. It was fascinating enough that Khalil was able to tap into Painkiller without being consumed by that programming again.

Whether or not the other heroes of Earth Prime would fit in doesn't change that they do exist on this Earth. I'm hoping starting next season, the show adapts. I think it can without changing too much.

I disagree; over the past few years i've read/heard so many complaints about the Flash / team Flash as characters--how weak Barry and the series. If any of that is true, it can only hurt the stronger series, or the stronger characters are underserved, as seen in the recent CW-COIE.

The timing of it was interesting since I think Flash just aired its worst ever episode.

This long into the run of that series and its that bad?

 

[Kirk Prime]

Sure, but Jefferson should keep his moral core--be the anchor for Jennifer when she was/is so willing to kill. This time, he wanted a take no prisoners approach because Lynn was in danger, but the aftermath--how he lives with permanent decisions like killing is the issue.

I think that's where you get back into justifiable homicide. A meta like Gravedigger really can only be dealt with by using lethal force. I don't think he loses his moral core with this particular kill. The circumstances not only warranted it, they demanded it. It was literally kill, or be killed while your family gets killed too. It's hard to dream up a more acceptable example of where killing must happen. You can add a national security issue to the mix even if saving your family is not enough.

This wasn't like Man of Steel, where you have Superman killing and being written to go against his character so badly. It worked much better in this episode.

Perhaps, but even in that mode, he is not invincible as a fighter. It was fascinating enough that Khalil was able to tap into Painkiller without being consumed by that programming again.

No doubt. I think Jefferson could beat Painkiller because he can fight from a distance. He probably couldn't in hand to hand combat. Anissa could beat him simply because of the way her powers work. She can withstand his attacks, and her power can exceed his significantly. But in a fair fight, he would destroy her.

What made the fight with Gravedigger so awesome was that you had two very comparable fighters. Gravedigger did have some superspeed that Khalil didn't have, which countered Khalil's speed and technique. I'm glad Khalil wasn't completely defeated, but it was clear, and Gravedigger admitted it, that experience was the difference, not power.

That means to me that it was as much mental as physical. Would PAINKILLER, who has no morals, and is essentially a robot, who also has that poison ability that apparently doesn't exist as Khalil for some reason, have done better? THAT would be a fun discussion.

I disagree; over the past few years i've read/heard so many complaints about the Flash / team Flash as characters--how weak Barry and the series. If any of that is true, it can only hurt the stronger series, or the stronger characters are underserved, as seen in the recent CW-COIE.

That as always, depends on the writing. Barry CAN be written stronger. It's there.

 

[JD]

The original ET article announcing Wayne Brady as Gravedigger called it a "major recurring role", so we will be seeing him again. Usually I would assume that means Jefferson didn't kill him, but with the show resurrections are a fairly common occurrence, so there is a chance he died and will be brought back to life.

 

[The Realist]

^ Never crossed my mind to think he was dead till people started talking about it here. Jefferson zaps people without killing them all the time. Hell, Gambi had to talk him down from a sustained burst on Odell -- a nonpowered elderly dude -- just a couple of weeks ago, and it didn't kill him.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I usually hate this show.

 

[The Realist]

I usually hate this show.

Odd, since it's the most consistently excellent Arrowverse show by any reasonable standard.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Odd, since it's the most consistently excellent Arrowverse show by any reasonable standard.

It's all a matter of opinion. For me, it's hit or miss. It can be great, it can be mediocre, it can be boring. Depends on the storyline.

The last two weeks have been well above average and as good as the show has produced. Unless Supergirl tops it, it will be the DC show of the week (unless you consider Supergirl part of the next week).

If Wayne Brady is a major recurring character, clearly he's not dead.

 

[JD]

Not necessarily, we've had a shit ton of resurrections on the show already, so there's not reason he couldn't be another one.

 

[JD]

There's one part of this whole Markovia conflict that has been kind of confused. Would it really be possible for a country to come into conflict with residents of one city in another country without it effecting the rest of the second country?
This was already kind of bugging me before Crisis on Infinite Earths, but Crisis made it even worse since we're now seeing 3 other American cities and there has been no mention of any conflict with Markovia or anything.
Even if the Markovians are only interested in the residents of Freeland, you'd still think people outside of Freeland would pretty quickly figure out was going on and we'd be seeing politicians and the US military getting involved.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ That occurred me during the "next time" promo but I wanted to see how it played out before commenting.

 

[Kirk Prime]

There's one part of this whole Markovia conflict that has been kind of confused. Would it really be possible for a country to come into conflict with residents of one city in another country without it effecting the rest of the second country?
This was already kind of bugging me before Crisis on Infinite Earths, but Crisis made it even worse since we're now seeing 3 other American cities and there has been no mention of any conflict with Markovia or anything.
Even if the Markovians are only interested in the residents of Freeland, you'd still think people outside of Freeland would pretty quickly figure out was going on and we'd be seeing politicians and the US military getting involved.

This is true. Markovia is a major threat to national security. The idea that this is limited to Freeland residents makes no sense. Plus, there are lots of metas outside Freeland. Plus there are tons of aliens, who in theory, should be immune from Gravedigger, ESPECIALLY J'onn.

I think it would be very interesting to see if J'onn, who also has ties to a major secret government security agency, got involved. He'd have more to do here than on Supergirl.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Even without bringing in the Crisis metas and heroes I would think the US would be interested in Markovian incursions into our country.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Even without bringing in the Crisis metas and heroes I would think the US would be interested in Markovian incursions into our country.

The ASA is the US government--rather, a branch of it which represents its interests.

 

[JD]

Sure, but you'd still think we'd be seeing the military and politicians getting involved, and we'd be hearing about something going on in Freeland in the other shows.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I usually hate this show.

Care to share the reason why?

 

[DarKush]

Wayne Brady and the Gravedigger character brought me back this week. When I heard about the character I thought it was an interesting idea and reminds me of the Isaiah Bradley Captain America. (Unrelated, but with Brady being a big Star Trek fan, I don't see why CBS hasn't found a way to put him on Discovery, Picard, or in a Short Trek by this point).

This was a pretty good episode. A nice mix of drama and action, the acting was strong across the board. I liked a lot of the music as well, particularly the O'Jays and Anderson.Paak. When I first saw Black Lightning's new suit I wasn't feeling it that much, but I thought it looked really good in the action scenes. It is a sleeker suit and makes for smoother flowing action.

Hopefully Gravedigger will be back because this is a strong villain. Odell, Tobias, Lady Eve (who I heard was back now), and Gravedigger are the makings for strong rogue's gallery.

I did have a few quibbles, mostly about the costuming, but those were small and didn't interfere with my enjoyment of this episode.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

If Gravedigger returns, it would be interesting to see him play with Jefferson's mind regarding his violated moral code (no killing), and how in the end, painting himself as a non-lethal hero was a con job, as he could not get the bigger job done without doing exactly what the Gravediggers of the world do with no moment of hesitation.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Spoiler: Gravedigger

I wasn't looking for it but I happened to stumble on the solicitation summaries for the next couple of episodes and it seems that Gravedigger will indeed be returning (and soon).

 

[The Realist]

Spoiler: Gravedigger

I wasn't looking for it but I happened to stumble on the solicitation summaries for the next couple of episodes and it seems that Gravedigger will indeed be returning (and soon).

Spoiler

Unsurprising, since as noted, the episode gave zero reason to think he was dead, any more than the countless other people Jefferson's zapped over the course of the series. Dunno why people latched on to this particular zapping as an exception.

 

[JD]

Spoiler

It was a bit more intense than a lot of what we've seem him do in the past.