In Review: Black Lightning (S4 – EP8) The Book of Ruin: Chapter Three – Things Fall Apart

Synopsis: In ‘Things Fall Apart’ The FBI pays Jefferson a somewhat hostile visit. Meanwhile, Anissa surprises Grace.

Synopsis: Things fall apart a little when the FBI pays Jefferson a visit to accuse him of embezzlement. Obviously, this can only be another of Tobias Whales’ schemes to bring the Pierce family down. Unfortunately, TC is having problems trying to follow the money due to Tobias having covered his tracks so well. To make matters worse. JJ has her first day at school and pretends to be Jens cousin. When she is walking the corridors with TC. She spots some kids badmouthing Jefferson, but one kid comes to his defense and catches JJ’s eye.

Lynn believes she has isolated Val’s meta power and asks Gambi if he can take the injection to test it. We learn that Val is a nullifier. In that, she can nullify a meta’s powers if she is in close proximity to them.

Elsewhere, the assassin Ishmael attacks Blackbird and Grace and manages to hurt them. Also, Gambi manages to pinch some of the Promethean from Lauren’s secret stash, which he plans to use to upgrade Black Lightning and the team’s suits. So they can better defend themselves against the new weapons that have been given to the police.

The Acting

Laura Kariuki puts in another nice performance as JJ aka Lightning. The scenes she had with Grace (Chantal Thuy) after having witnessed kids badmouthing her father were nicely done. The two have nice chemistry together. I also enjoyed the scene where she called Jefferson dad, which is something that Jen had not done for a while.

Marvin ‘Krondon’ Jones III is moving into full Tobias Whale mode. As the arch-nemesis of Black Lightning becomes ever more manipulative in his new role as a politician. Also bringing a case of the evils is Matt Roszak as Red.

We also get another appearance from Jordan Calloway as Khalil who is working with TC on something to help him with the painkiller side of his personality. After last week’s episode. I suspect the fans would be looking for more of Khalil. It’s only a small scene, but I get the sense it is building to something bigger. Especially given the reveals we got at the end of last week’s show.

Overall

After the excitement of last week’s episode. This was a bit of a less pacey episode, which packed an awful lot of plot and storyline in. I really like the addition of JJ to the team. I also like how TC  has continued to be integrated into the team as well. Overall ‘Things Fall Apart’ pretty much lives up to its title in terms of where it leaves things.