Black Lightning (TV Series)

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Black Lightning

Genre	Superhero Drama
Based on	Black Lightning by Tony Isabella
Developed by	Salim Akil
Starring	Cress Williams China Anne McClain Nafessa Williams Christine Adams Marvin "Krondon" Jones III Damon Gupton James Remar
Opening theme	"Black Lightning" by Godholly
Composer(s)	Kurt Farquhar
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sarah Schechter Greg Berlanti Mara Brock Akil Salim Akil Oz Scott Pascal Verschooris
Producer(s)	Robert West
Production location(s)	Atlanta, Georgia
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	42 minutes
Production company(s)	Berlanti Productions Akil Productions DC Entertainment Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original network	The CW
Original release	January 16, 2018 – present
External links

Black Lightning is an American superhero television series developed by Salim Akil, airing on The CW. It is based on the DC Comics character of the same name, created by Tony Isabella. It stars Cress Williams as the titular character alongside China Anne McClain, Nafessa Williams, Christine Adams, Marvin Jones III, Damon Gupton, and James Remar. The series sees the retired Black Lightning return to the hero life and its effects on his family life.

Development on the series began in September 2016 when Fox ordered a pilot production commitment for Black Lightning. In February 2017, Fox passed on the series, with it being picked up by The CW with a new script for the pilot. The CW officially ordered the series in May 2017. The first season premiered on January 16, 2018, for a 13-episode run. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the show for a second season, which is set to premiere on October 9, 2018.

Premise

High school principal Jefferson Pierce, who retired from his superhero persona Black Lightning nine years ago after seeing the effects it had on his family, is forced to become a vigilante again when the rise of the local gang called the 100 leads to increased crime and corruption in his community of Freeland.

Cast and characters

Main

Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning: A retired superhero with the ability to harness and manipulate electricity who works as a principal at Garfield High School. He returns to fighting crime after his daughters are kidnapped by a local gang. Kaden Washington Lewis portrays teenage Jefferson Pierce.
China Anne McClain as Jennifer Pierce: Jefferson's younger daughter, who is "an independent, outspoken scholar-athlete with a wild streak of her own", who also possesses powers where her cells start generating energy; her electric power is orange unlike her father's which is blue.
Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce / Thunder: Jefferson's elder daughter who is in medical school and teaches part-time at Jefferson's school. Anissa is a metahuman like her father, having an ability to manipulate her density with her breathing and emotions, endowing herself with superhuman strength and near invulnerablity. She can also create powerful shockwaves against opponents with this power during combat. In addition, she has an accelerated healing factor. She eventually fights crime as Thunder, and later becomes her father's protégée and partner. Describing her character as a positive role model, Williams said "I'm just really grateful to tell the story for young lesbians — and black lesbians in particular ... My hope is that when you watch Anissa, a young lesbian is inspired to walk boldly as who she is and to love herself and to love herself exactly how she looks."
Christine Adams as Lynn Stewart: A neuroscientist at Bowman College and Jefferson's ex-wife.
Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tobias Whale: A former politician who rose through the ranks of local government through corruption but was brought down by Jefferson's father, Alvin. After killing Alvin, Tobias was exiled and became the leader of the 100. Despite being Black Lightning's chief adversary and wants to kill him, Whale also becomes involved with the A.S.A.'s efforts to capture and study him.
Damon Gupton as Billy Henderson: A veteran detective inspector with the police who becomes an unlikely ally to Jefferson, despite his role in the community. After exposing the dirty Deputy Chief, Cayman, he is appointed to replace him.
James Remar as Peter Gambi: Jefferson's oldest friend who became a father figure and mentor to him and works as his "tailor" while having connections with Lady Eve. His real name is Peter Esposito and was a former member of the A.S.A. until he turned against the organization and gave information to Alvin Pierce, resulting in his murder.

Recurring

Guest

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"The Resurrection"	Salim Akil	Salim Akil	January 16, 2018	T43.10001	2.31
After his older daughter Anissa is arrested for protesting, high school principal and former superhero Jefferson Pierce is again pulled over for a crime he did not commit. The last straw comes when his youngest daughter, Jennifer, gets in trouble at a club owned by a gang called the "100" and he is forced to use his powers to rescue her. Peter Gambi, his mentor and friend, urges him to become Black Lightning again, but Jefferson refuses to break the promise he made to his ex-wife, Lynn, to give up heroics in hopes of reconciling with her. A 100 gangbanger named Will and his friends abduct Jennifer and Anissa despite an agreement between Jefferson and the gang. Lynn temporarily frees him from his promise in order to save their daughters. With Gambi's help, he rescues the girls from the 100 at the Seahorse Motel. However, he is unable to find Will's boss Lala. After being brought to the head of the 100, Tobias Whale, by his two underlings Syonide and Joey Toledo, Lala is instructed to kill Black Lightning. Anissa's trauma activates her own powers, causing her to break a sink in half.

2	2	"Lawanda: The Book of Hope"	Oz Scott	Salim Akil	January 23, 2018	T43.10002	1.94
Jefferson assures Lynn that he is giving up his Black Lightning identity for good. However, he learns that the 100 are still running prostitutes at the Seahorse Motel and that his daughters are being targeted as witnesses. Jefferson asks Gambi to help him find Lala by hacking the police's database. Anissa's girlfriend offers to get her a therapist. Will escapes police custody, but is captured and executed by Lala. Lawanda, a former student of Jefferson's, tries to free her daughter from the grip of the 100 and he promises to help her. Lawanda is killed when she confronts Lala at the Seahorse Motel. Blaming himself for her death, Jefferson throws aside his concerns and prepares to go after the 100. Lynn visits Gambi and asks him to convince her husband otherwise, but he refuses. Using information from Will's recovered phone, Jefferson suits up and storms the hotel where Lala is hiding, beating him severely just before the police arrive to arrest him. While out shopping, Anissa subdues a robber with her powers. Using his connections with Deputy Chief Zeke Cayman after the Seahorse Motel was shut down, Tobias gets access to Lala's cell and strangles him with only one hand.

3	3	"Lawanda: The Book of Burial"	Mark Tonderai	Jan Nash	January 30, 2018	T43.10003	2.21
Following Lawanda's death, Reverend Holt plans to orchestrate a peace march in light of the 100's crime waves, much to the dismay of Jefferson and Inspector Henderson. Anissa meets Grace Choi and experiments with her new abilities. Tobias has an talk with Lady Eve and instructs his minions to massacre the peace march in exchange for Lala's place in the ranks. Though Black Lightning succeeds in stopping the assailant, Tobias is nearby as Syonide shoots Reverend Holt. The bullet goes through Reverend Holt and hits Khalil, Jennifer’s boyfriend. At the hospital, Jefferson sees the mixed news about the opinions of Black Lightning from the peace marchers and Inspector Henderson. At the tailor shop, Gambi deletes evidence that Tobias was the one responsible for the reverend and Khalil being shot. Back at the hospital, Lynn assures Anissa that she will be there for her. Jefferson and Jennifer tell them that Reverend Holt is doing well but Khalil won't walk again. As Jefferson embraces his family, he continues to see the news about Black Lightning as other peace marchers praise his heroic actions.

4	4	"Black Jesus"	Michael Schultz	Pat Charles	February 6, 2018	T43.10004	1.88
One of Jefferson's students, Bernard, almost overdoses on a new strength-enhancing street drug, Green Light. Jefferson is forced to use his powers to knock him out. The school board wants Bernard expelled but lets him stay when Jefferson cedes final authority over student matters to the board. Gambi and Jefferson track Green Light to a mid-level dealer named Two Bits, an old friend of Jefferson's. When he dismisses Jefferson, Black Lightning gets him to reveal the location of a warehouse. Anissa and Grace are confronted outside a bar and Anissa uses her strength on the two thugs. Gambi erases the security footage, but keeps a photo of Anissa's footprint. Black Lightning saves Bernard from a drug den and Jefferson puts him in rehab. Jennifer quits track to focus on supporting Khalil. Lady Eve gets impatient with Tobias, who entered the criminal world after being forced out of city council for supposedly killing Black Lightning. Tobias has Joey Toledo murder the morgue doctor who told him Black Lighting was dead. Tobias' sister Tori arrives and proposes turning the people against Black Lightning. Tobias visits Khalil where he pays his medical bills and tells him it's Black Lightning's fault that he'll never walk again.

5	5	"And Then the Devil Brought the Plague: The Book of Green Light"	Rose Troche	Adam Giaudrone	February 13, 2018	T43.10005	1.81
Gambi alters Black Lightning's suit for flight. Jefferson experiences severe headaches. Tobias pays Gambi a visit, looking for the identity of Black Lightning but Gambi says he doesn't know; and that Tobias is breaking their deal by coming to him. Tracking Green Light, Black Lightning finds out it is coming from Joey Toledo. Jennifer defends herself against two girls at a skating rink. One girl's family is furious. While Jefferson and Lynn take responsibility upon being confronted by the family, they are impressed. Tori says Tobias needs to finally deal with their abusive father, Eldridge. Now an old man, Tobias breaks his father's back and convinces Tori to let him die. Anissa discovers that, decades ago, her grandfather, reporter Alvin Pierce, had a story on the disappearance of nine enhanced teenagers. The newspaper wouldn't print the story and Alvin was murdered a week later. Anissa visits the paper's editor who says "they" are still watching. Nevertheless, he gives her some files and Anissa suits up to explore a storage unit after putting together a costume from different clothes she purchases. On a tip from Inspector Henderson, Black Lightning confronts Toledo, but his headaches incapacitate him. This allows Toledo to escape as he vows to Black Lightning that Tobias Whale will kill him.

6	6	"Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder"	Benny Boom	Charles Holland	February 27, 2018	T43.10006	1.64
After Joey Toledo contacts Deputy Chief Cayman about Black Lightning's sighting, Gambi picks up Black Lightning before the police can find him and informs Lynn. The next day, Jefferson deals with Anissa getting in trouble with the police in relation to vandalism of a Confederate general's statue, as well as Fowdy showing cyber-bullying videos about Jennifer. Meanwhile, Lynn compares the brain scans of those on Green Light and Black Lightning. While Black Lightning prepares for a confrontation with Tobias, Anissa uses her powers to destroy the Confederate general's statue after she learns that someone was killed over it. Afterwards, Anissa contacts Lynn to reveal her powers. Due to an attack at the hospital, Black Lightning cancels his planned attack on Tobias. Anissa shows up and fights off the thieves; Black Lightning battles and injures her, thinking that she was a metahuman who attacked Lynn. After realizing who she is, Lynn and Jefferson call Gambi for help. Gambi visits Lady Eve, having trained her, and makes a deal to keep the Pierce family off-limits to The 100, who want to stop Lynn's research. Meanwhile, Khalil takes up Tobias's offer to walk again. Anissa awakes and finally discovers that her father is Black Lightning.

Season 2

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)

Production

Development

Writing

Salim Akil stated that Black Lightning would not follow the villain of the week format or be a procedural, because he wanted to "explore the characters, even the villains".

Casting

Design

Filming

Music

Kurt Farquhar composes the soundtrack for the series while Godholly provides original music for the series. These tracks include "Black Lightning", "Power", "Green Light", "Welcome to Freeland", "Can't Go" and "Thunder".

Release

Season		Episodes	Originally aired			DVD and Blu-ray release dates
Season		Episodes	First aired	Last aired	Timeslot (EST)	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4

Broadcast

Home media

Reception

Ratings

No.	Title	Air date	Rating/share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR (18–49)	DVR viewers (millions)	Total (18–49)	Total viewers (millions)
1	"The Resurrection"	January 16, 2018	0.8/3	2.31	N/A	1.32	N/A	3.63
2	"Lawanda: The Book of Hope"	January 23, 2018	0.6/2	1.94	0.7	1.54	1.3	3.48
3	"Lawanda: The Book of Burial"	January 30, 2018	0.8/3	2.21	0.6	1.54	1.4	3.77
4	"Black Jesus"	February 6, 2018	0.6/2	1.88	0.6	1.39	1.2	3.27
5	"And Then the Devil Brought the Plague: The Book of Green Light"	February 13, 2018	0.5/2	1.81	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Critical response

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result	Ref.

Connection to the Arrowverse

Further information: Arrowverse

Notes

References

External links

Template:Black Lightning Template:Mara Brock Akil Template:The CW Programming Template:DC Comics TV

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+| style="text-align:left;"|"[[Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder (Black Lightning Episode)|Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder]]"
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+| style="text-align:center;"|[[Benny Boom]]
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+| style="text-align:center;"|Charles Holland
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+| style="text-align:center;"|February 27, 2018
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+| style="text-align:center;"|T43.10006
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+| style="text-align:center;"|1.64
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-|style="background:#c28b6c; colspan="8"|
+|style="background:#c28b6c; colspan="8"|After Joey Toledo contacts Deputy Chief Cayman about Black Lightning's sighting, Gambi picks up Black Lightning before the police can find him and informs Lynn. The next day, Jefferson deals with Anissa getting in trouble with the police in relation to vandalism of a Confederate general's statue, as well as Fowdy showing cyber-bullying videos about Jennifer. Meanwhile, Lynn compares the brain scans of those on Green Light and Black Lightning. While Black Lightning prepares for a confrontation with Tobias, Anissa uses her powers to destroy the Confederate general's statue after she learns that someone was killed over it. Afterwards, Anissa contacts Lynn to reveal her powers. Due to an attack at the hospital, Black Lightning cancels his planned attack on Tobias. Anissa shows up and fights off the thieves; Black Lightning battles and injures her, thinking that she was a metahuman who attacked Lynn. After realizing who she is, Lynn and Jefferson call Gambi for help. Gambi visits Lady Eve, having trained her, and makes a deal to keep the Pierce family off-limits to The 100, who want to stop Lynn's research. Meanwhile, Khalil takes up Tobias's offer to walk again. Anissa awakes and finally discovers that her father is Black Lightning.
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