In Review: Black Lightning (S4 – Ep6) The Book of Ruin Chapter 2 – Theseus’s Ship

Synopsis: In ‘Theseus’s Ship’, Jefferson crosses a line with Lynn. Meanwhile, Anissa shares some important news. Lastly, Tobias makes a surprising move.

The Story

‘Theseus’s Ship’ picks the story up from where last week left off. Thanks to some science and experimentation Gambi and TC have successfully brought Jen aka Lightning back. However, she has returned in a different body, which is taller than her previous incarnation. Indeed, as you’d expect Jefferson has a great deal of difficulty accepting how much his daughter has changed. At one point even asking how they can get the old Jen back. Gambi was quick to point out that to even try and do that would likely kill Jen.

Things have moved on in Freeland and the conflict between Lala and Destiny gets a new twist in the form of a powerful Meta-Human that Destiny has hired to assist her in taking down Lala.

Meanwhile, The police have been given powers, which enable them to knock and search properties without a warrant. Detective Shakur has a meeting with Black Lightning and tells him that now he is needed more than ever.

Elsewhere, Tobias Whale uses the launch of the new DEG’s as a platform to announce his candidacy for Mayor. But was it a Meta working for Whale that used magnetic powers to kill the old Mayor in order to create a new job vacancy? And if so how does his or her powers work? These are just some of the questions that Jefferson and Gambi are investigating.

The Acting

The new Jen who is now known as JJ was played brilliantly by Laura Kariuki. The actor did a great job of emoting the confusion and identity issues that would come with such a dramatic body change. I loved the scenes she has with Anissa (Nafessa Williams) as the two sisters bond over the change. The scene not only allows for Anissa to reveal that she has married Grace in secret. But it also allows for the more playful side of her character to come out.

Cress Williams puts in a strong performance as Jefferson. He has some great scenes concerning the change to his youngest daughter. But the best scene he has is with Lynn (Christine Adams) where he asks her to sacrifice her sobriety and take the Meta drug that she has created in order to figure out if her new patient is the same Meta that killed the Mayor. This is a huge U-Turn for Jefferson given that he was using Lynn’s addiction against her a few episodes back.

Overall

‘Theseus’s Ship’ was a strong episode with lots of plot progression. Tobias Whales announcement notwithstanding. The war between Destiny and Lala comes to an abrupt halt and within that little story, development is a fun homage to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Only instead of being Frozen in Carbonite. We see one of the series mob bosses get set in concrete and made into a nice bit of wall art.

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