‘Lightning’ strikes with CW’s new hero
Terrific cast sparks interest in CW’s ‘Black Lightning’
Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams, “Hart of Dixie”) is already a hero. As the principal of Freeland High School, he has spent the past nine years keeping his students safe and ensuring they get a quality education.
His oldest daughter, Anissa (Nafessa Williams, “Twin Peaks”), is a promising med student and parttime teacher at the school. His youngest, Jennifer (China Anne McClain, “The Paynes”), is a headstrong senior with a reckless heart.
Jefferson and his exwife, Lynn (Christine Adams, “Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), a neuroscientist, get along better than most married couples, so much so that Jefferson dreams of reuniting with the love of his life.
But when his city, his school and his family are threatened by the vicious gang the 100, Jefferson finds he has no choice but to confront his painful past — and to embrace the powers he has spent almost a decade denying — as Black Lightning.
The latest DC Comics adaptation from executive producer Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “Supergirl,” “The Flash,” “DC's Legends of Tomorrow”) takes DC Comics' first African-American hero (created in 1977, about a decade after Marvel's Black Panther) and fashions an altogether different show. (If life had been fair, Black Lightning would have appeared in “Justice League” and not the Teen Titans' Cyborg.)
The residents of Freeland are hurting, scared and angry. Calling the local police force incompetent is a compliment. Black Lightning is needed not only to save his daughters (at first) but to save the greater community.
Jefferson hesitates. His first run as a vigilante cost him dearly. But circumstances have a way of pushing him to the brink. In a sequence all-too-familiar from the news, he is pulled over by police, handcuffed, considered a suspect in a liquor store robbery.
Despite the humiliation, he manages to keep his formidable powers in check — for the moment.
Jefferson, for reasons that are not immediately clear, can control and channel electricity and use it to do everything from shooting bolts to holding and moving objects.
But as he reconnects with his longtime mentor Peter Gambi (James Remar, “Sex and the City”), a tailor with some impressive computer skills, his activities attract the attention of a powerful, vicious crimelord named Tobias Whale (Marvin Jones III).
Many shows need a bit of a shaking out for the performers to find a rhythm and a connection to each other. The Pierce family all show mad chemistry with one another. It's impossible not to root for Jefferson and Lynn. The daughters are equally fascinating, complex, rich and nobody's damsels in distress. This is a supremely well-cast show.
Those familiar with the comics have some idea what's next for this family. Spoiler: Jefferson Pierce may soon learn he's not the only hero in town.
Not nearly as bright as “Supergirl,” as angst-ridden as “Arrow” or as campy as “The Flash,” “Black Lightning” lights its own path — by being a story about the debt we owe to our community and the importance of inspiration.
Like the big-screen “Wonder Woman” film, “Black Lightning” understands the greatest power of superheroes — as symbols of hope, to encourage others to do right.