Into The Arrowverse: War comes to Freeland

Pictured: Wayne Brady as Gravedigger — Photo: Nathan Bolster/The CW

Black Lightning Episode 315: “The Book of War: Chapter Two”

I have to admit that Black Lightning has really turned a corner in its third season and managed to unexpectedly surprise me. Prior to this season, the series was sort of stuck in a lull with no narrative direction. But the Crisis was good for the show, helping put it on the map.

The third season has been focused primarily on the ASA occupation of Freeland, and the Markovian war has finally come to the city’s doorstep. I didn’t think we’d get here, and to make matters worse, Gravedigger is front and center.

Black Lightning takes us on a rollercoaster ride after Lynn discovers a huge connection between Gravedigger and Jefferson: they’re related! He’s Jefferson’s great-uncle, and the reason the Pierce family metas are so stable is because Gravedigger was the first meta.

This puts Jefferson in a moral conundrum. It’s not like him to kill family, but what do you do if your family member is a raging psychopath meta dead-set on murder? That’s a question we hope the finale will answer.

It’s also tricky for us, because after going on a sometimes difficult journey with this show, watching the Freeland community subject to all sorts of horrible tactics by the ASA, we’ve arrived at a place where we almost feel for Gravedigger. He was a victim of the testing done by the government, and while he’s going down the wrong road, we can at least see where he’s coming from.

The government is responsible for the Markovian meta program and for creating the ASA, and so to an extent, it’s their fault things are going so sideways. But instead of taking responsibility, the government wants to destroy Freeland along with the Markovians who have arrived there.

This is why I’m suddenly so intrigued by the series. Gravedigger has a reason for his hate and anger, and the U.S. government’s actions aren’t helping its cause. It’s almost as if the viewers are sort of rooting for the bad guy here, even though we know how bad he is.

Whatever the case may be, Jefferson and his team have to prepare for Gravedigger’s arrival, but he only wishes to take Anissa with him to the frontline. As one of the stronger metas, Jennifer isn’t too pleased about this and takes matters into her own hands. When TC informs her that Gravedigger has arrived, she goes out on her own to face him. The rest of team Black Lightning joins afterward.

Let’s just say that things aren’t looking too great for her after the frightening encounter with Gravedigger. But Papa Jefferson sends electricity through her body to jumpstart her heart…and it works! But we’re not out of the woods just yet.

Next week’s finale will likely be an epic showdown: great-uncle vs great-nephew, and I’m nervous to see what Jefferson actually does. Will he kill his relative? Will he sympathize and make him see reason? We’ll have to wait to find out!

Side note: Grace and Anissa almost get married in this episode, but the ceremony is disturbed after Gravedigger lands in Freeland. We hope that they can pick right back up after the madness of the war…if everyone survives.

Oh, and Khalil has been overtaken by Painkiller once again, and I’m afraid it’s going to make things much, much worse during the finale.

Grade: B

That’s it for Arrowvere this week, folks! We only had one show to talk about, but rest assured, next week all the shows are back, and we’ll have plenty to discuss.

See you all next week, Arrowverse fans!

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