The Biggest Mistakes Made In The Black Lightning TV Show 

Let me know your thoughts about the Black Lightning TV show

My two biggest problems with the show were Tobias staying around too long and then Anissa. The latter actually was why I stopped watching the show. I was so sick of her sanctimonious, know-it-all attitude. Anissa kept acting like she knew better than her dad about superheroing even though she was a rookie and her actions kept putting her family in jeopardy. Not only did she never learn her lesson but she never faced any consequences for it.

The biggest issue with BL is that Jefferson Pierce was sidelined in in his own show.

Solid points. A key problem for me was the fact that the actual hero of the show was Peter Gambi. As much as he didn't have powers, he was never ever in a situation where you would think for sure he is in trouble. The whole assassination attempt was pretty obvious. He was always the master planner, moral example, and knew everything and he was the safe haven

I felt like Black Lightning could never sustain respect from his family for long periods of time. Either one or often all of them were always really upset with him. The character also for an older, supposedly wiser super hero, made a lot of stupid mistakes so their anger could be justified. The inventor guy seemed to carry his family's respect more often. The writers obviously wanted to push the independent strong black women, down with Black male patriarchy thing, but made Gambi the wise white male patriarch of the family anyway. 😆

Jennifer should be a graduate by now. It’s technically been 5 years!!!They did Lala wrong. He’s the only character I can watch and actually understand their motive.

in season 2 jennifers friend said something like: "metahumans are freaks" I think it could have been an intresting storyline to let her find out jennifer is one but instead after that she was never seen again in the show

They did Lyn so dirty. She went from a well respected doctor to a drug addict. At one point, I thought that she was going to lick greenlight off of the floor.

Man you batting 1000% right now. Nothing against Cress Williams, he did an amazing job portraying both egos. I just felt that physically he didn't have enough athleticism to pull off the action sequences such as the hand to hand combat. Thunder and Painkiller had the best fight scenes throughout the series when it came to hand to hand.

Painkiller was my favorite character

Jefferson was too weak in terms of powers he looked awful as hell flying around the city. He spent all that time with the ASA and the only powerup he got was electric vison without the suit smh. Anissa was a hypocrite all that talk about saving the community but living in a condo bought with drug money. Jennifer was too cocky and always had a bad attitude and her being powerful than Jefferson made no sense it's his show. Lynn was a smart crackhead and always blaming Jefferson for every damn thing. Lala powers made no sense

Black Lightning definitely should have focused heavily on him only and all others should be side characters to develop him. Agreed this show was misleading and didn’t feel like same Black Lightning who led Justice League in comic books.

It's biggest problem was existing on the CW instead of HBOMAX. As much as they talk about being woke they DESTROY black characters. Example think riverdale.

I couldn't stand Anissa she was so goddamn annoying her arrogance,ego and self righteousness made her unbearable to watch. I'm fine with characters having flaws as long as there addressed and they result in consequences.

I just hate how weak they made Jefferson, he's supposed to be way stronger than this, and he's still fighting Tobias.

A consensus among my friend group is how much we hate Lynn for her hypocrisy and most of her dialogue.

I would have loved to hear your ideas on how you would improve on all four seasons to then make room for the fifth one. Also, to make room for the spinoff series Painkiller and the Outsiders

Show was about as good as it could get in the middle of season 2 with the Khali Jen and Tobias arc and it's ending. I was blown away. But the ending to that season was anticlimactic. If every season was like that then....man. Probably could have been a classic.

My great disappointment with the show that he wasn't the Black Lighting that came out of the comic book. He should have been more macho and more of a "leader" he should have been more of the focus of the show ,not his daughters and wife that much . But the biggest thing that hurt show in my opinion is that he was made weak by listen to his wife and not himself .That my opinion .

Likes: Music, majority black cast, Tobias. Dislikes: secret identity revealed to much, No respect at home, B.L. powers were too weak, & Gambi being the savior too often.

As much as I enjoyed the show and cast I feel they should have went younger where Jennifer would've been around middle school age, Annisa would been around the high school/college age and let the first three or four of so seasons focusing mainly on just Jefferson getting back into being Black Lightning and use Painkiller, Lala aka Tattooed Man, Lady Eve with the Kobra Cult, The ASA and obviously Tobias as main villains of their own seasons.

I had a feeling someday someone would make a video like this regarding the Black Lightning TV series.

Very thorough analysis and very awesome video editing. I feel like if they brought in static in at least one episode their interaction would have aided in the growth and control on Black Lightning potential self

You missed another person that was able to go toe to toe with Jennifer; Brandon who has geokinetic powers (the ability to control the earth).

Loved everything about Black Panther. Hated everything about Black Lighting. In a nutshell almost everything was done wrong with this show.

Trey I said damn near the same things you said about the show. For me it was also after the Crisis Crossover. Jefferson was on the same Earth with Super Girl, Flash, Martian Manhunter and the DEO while Freeland was being invaded by Markovia. That plotline made no sense after the Crossover. None. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Salim Akil is probably to blame for this. A show runner in touch with the black community and black issues might have been necessary but they probably could have used a co show runner who would have handled everything else. Namely the Superhero side of things and probably even the family side of things that the show was losing touch with(Mostly losing touch with it in season 3 I think) Todd Hellbing been doing pretty good with Superman and Lois and it has pretty much the same format as Black Lightning had. Shorter seasons. More serialized. A showrunner like him at their side probably would have helped.

I felt like I was the only one that was let down by this show. I have many problems with it. I want to say that I've seen every episode and really wanted to love this show but I ended up finishing it out of a sense of obligation alone. I think the show was trash. I disliked most of the characters except for Cress Williams as Black Lightning. I wish he was in it more. Anissa: Far too head strong and stubborn. She made situations far worse by defying her dad and trying to prove she was independent when she was too inexperienced and hot headed in most situations. Grace: Besides her being in a relationship with Anissa in the comics, why was she even on the show? They had no chemistry and her powers were lame. Jen: The most hard headed and outright disrespectful character on the show. Way too OP and constantly had a stank ass face and attitude throughout. I was glad to see her replaced by JJ and annoyed that they brought her back and ruined the JJ character in the final episode. Lynn: probably the worst person ever. Fuck Lynn. I also wish the actress was better at covering up her English accent. It was distracting. Like Idris Elba speaking with an American accent. Gamby: The overly and inexplicably capable Felicity of the show. I like the actor is everything else but this. It also bothered me when they tried to force the Uncle Gamby relationship with the girls. I never bought into it. Very odd that they call him by his last name yet are so close. LaLa: Straight out of a blaxploitation movie along with the 70s Curtis Mayfield soundtrack. He seemed like he was in a completely different show in every scene. His exaggerated bad guy voice and actions were cartoonish and again, his power was lame. Tobias: the worst villain of all time. I cringed every time he was on screen. From the way the camera shoots him from the floor up to give us the illusion that he's a tall and imposing guy to his constant use of the phrases "black ass" and negro. I felt his dialogue was irresponsible. If the writers were white, fuck them. If they were black, they need to do better for the culture. I don't even know why he was used so much or why Jefferson struggled with this poor man's Wilson Fisk. He sucks. I found the show mostly embarrassing. And corny ass Painkiller sucked too. The dreads 🤣🤣🤣 and the corny dialogue was too much at times. I don't want a spin-off. Give me Gravedigger instead. The best villain the show had to offer. I hoped for the best but this show was trash and it doesn't get a pass from me just because it was a black show. It should've been better.

The music score was something , really raised the game . Also because of memories attatched to My Jams. Why they chose NOT to bring the Metaverse Heros to support Freedland during the isolation, missed opportunity.

I hate to say it, but they always do this to black shows. Not to mention they focused on the women, which is a whole other story within its self. ARE WE REALLY SURPRISED! BLACK SUPER POWER!!!!!!!

No what you've said is logical. I agree with all of them for the most part. I would add: -They couldn't balance the street/Freeland level and the national/global threats. There is no reason (aside from not being able to afford Jill Scott) why Lady Eve shouldn't have been the S1 overarching villain. Let Tobias take over in S2, deal with Gravedigger with an Outsiders type story in S3, and if S4 is still the end let Tobias come back to be defeated in that one. That would've given them a steady increase of the threat level up to where they end how they started: with Black Lightning taking the streets back. -Too many unnecessary side plots. This was really a problem in S2 with the Purdee/Sanjay nonsense but it was kinda an ongoing problem. They really needed to streamline things. -Not enough connection to the larger Arrowverse. I know people have varying opinions on The Flash, Arrow, Legends, Supergirl, and Batwoman, but we can't pretend like the shared universe doesn't help keep them all afloat. Black Lightning not having any connections to the rest of the shows or any crossover appearances besides like 5 minutes in the last one didn't do it any favors because it felt like a side story to the shared universe that it should have been a part of.

Good video all facts bro. Definitely cant wait for more videos on this🤘🏾

As a fan of Arrowverse and the comics, I felt they did Black Lightning wrong. Like you said, he never went into his black lighting form. Even on Young Justice. Jennifer because OP compared to her dad too early without much build up. It also felt weird that Black Lightning had no crossover episodes with the rest of the Arrowverse

in the comics Jefferson is acrobatic he didnt just fight crime in the hood on gamgs .they kept the show in the hood same ol thing why didnt we see Lynns brother John Steward that same green lantern is Lyyns older brother .why didnt they hire better fight choreographerss it felt cheap and rushed

For me I couldn't get past the shrew Wife.. You never seen any superhero get Gaslit, or henpecked by their female counterpart to this level, or ever. She made me stop watching the show after season 1

And the award for Brutally Honest Truth, goes to you Sir👏🏾

Also a problem would be most of the villains are like gang members and cops. I mean y’all are superheroes. I’m sure there are villains who don’t just threaten black people but the entire human race.

tbh season 2 and 4 were the weakest of the bunch, as for the angry black man trope jefferson was basically mad most of the time, his powers just weren't allowed to reflect that.

If we're not getting any more Seasons, we need a Justice League Series with Black Lightning in it. They've already set it up. 🤷‍♂️

What do you think of the possible drama between the actors who played Jeffersom and Jenn? Or the lack of scenes between them by season 4?

Lady Eve came back to life and then didn’t do anything ? Nothing behind the scenes or teaming up with Tobias when taking over freeland ? Maybe I missed this plot but it did not make sense

And yet it's still one of the best DC cw shows

They lost me when black lightning was gone and he's kids got powers too!

CW Agenda (Holiwood) (Black) Family constantly in mess The straight couple messed up never can have a happy marriage Even though the show started with Jeff wanting Lynn back. Intelligent black women had to be gay or addicts The gay couple in great relationship The show had a GREAT black agenda but sometimes it overpowered the fact the show was a SuperHero show in a Wide World! It really could have been so much more

Yes. It started out good in season 1. Peaked middle of season 2 and never really got back to quality. Only was occasionally good after that. The finale was especially bad. You don't do a series finale like that. Jeff and Lynn engaged OFF SCREEN???!!!!!! COME ON NOW!!!! The final scene. The final family get together. Arguably probably the most important scene in the entire series and they messed up SOOO BAD!!! They were practically socially distancing on set during that scene. You'd think they'd have some kind of final group hug or embrace or something. Having Jen dance in the chair and tell Anissa to dance with her in their chairs was probably clear indication that that's what they were doing. It's like when they shot that scene the director or producers weren't even tryna hide that they were social distancing if that's what they were doing by actually using Jen's dialogue to practically tell us that's what they were doing. Maybe they felt that the scene needed Jen to say that so that the audience would know why they weren't truly able to interact in that scene but the scene probably would have been better without her saying that. Dancing in a chair and telling everyone to join you doing it probably would have looked dumb in any situation or setting. But the fact that the family couldn't truly interact in that final scene was the problem. Tobias death i criticized how they made it look like Jeff killed him on purpose while at the same time tryna write it as a self defense or heat of the moment thing by simply having him go "Wait Tobias we can find another way" only to literally shoot lightning at him right after. The dialogue was tryna make it look like it was a no choice situation but knowing Jeff and his powers and usual way of handling armed attackers with defensive force fields, he probably could have easily done that instead. He's been in countless heat of the moment situations with firearms and practically by instinct never kills anyone. Jen coming back in the finale and getting not one scene with Jeff. Not one moment in the final scene. That might have been the worst thing about the finale other than Jeff and Lynn getting engaged OFF SCREEN!!! The finale messed up ways that will be very harmful to it's legacy. I think I considered it the worst comic book show of all time after that finale. But there's probably still one show I dislike more so. Maybe more than one. I don't know.

Season 3 made me quit the show. Had some good ideas but it was just weighed down and nonsensical

Season 3 took didn't feel like Black Lightning. Felt like it was over politicized. Too much about government and politics and dehumanized it going completely against the original more character driven and family driven and community dynamic. It didn't have any heart it seemed like. I've called it the worst season of the show. There was little to no personal conflict or personal connection of the characters to the story that was going on. ASA and Markovia were largely impersonal adversaries. The Gravedigger reveal at the end felt like a desperate or forced attempt to make things personal but it was pretty late in the game for them to establish any type of personal connection to make it compelling. Both his debut and the revelation of him being Jeff's uncle were practically at the end of the season.

Loved black lighting, until it started playing into the media at the time.

Show is OKAY especially when considering its CW and i plan to rewatch it, surely its better than the train wrecks that are naomi and batwoman (the 2 worst shows in history). I like it and hate it at the same time. The main actor i think is great, i think with good writing, he would be pefect as the roll. But i am a fairly large BL fan, since the 80s at least. I urge you to read an issue of the comics, its called "the other history of the dc universe" issue #1, its a BL throwback issue giving you his point of view being a black hero in the early days of the dcu, in the 70s and its so original, the way its written and it takes into consideration what was going on in the world and how someone like him would be thinking about the world, and the justice league. At first i was turned off, to be real with you, as non american i do not understand americas obsession with race and skin color and the need to make every comic and movie about it, but i digress on taht, thats for another time. But half way into the issue it hit me, Riddley, the author, is a master. I was like ahhhhhhhhhhh i see what you are doing here. On the digital issue its page #32, its him turning down the jl's offer, read it, take it in. Its a masterclass in how to do this stuff and that one page is EXACTLY how all of us tired of the race and gender swapping amongst a bunch of other "issues". I do hate that this show is another hollywood bait and switch, like hawkeye was and masters of the universe, all 3 shows are all about the woman instead of the main character. Id love to see your thoughts on that comic i mentioned, and the specific page and issue as a whole, the interactions with john Stewart were so good. Check it... Also BL being angry and battling with himself is a pretty big part of him, it leads to all kinds of good stories in the books. BL needs some justice.. Id love a BL show with GOOD writing that isnt focused on race and it be about him not the women on the show instead

Tell me which background music track was used for this video. I want to look it up on RU-vid

For me, the old school music was a problem. I’m from that era, but I can't get behind Black lightning getting his ass kicked while James Brown sings Payback. Can't get behind Earth Wind And Fire playing on the finale fight of season 2. Can't get behind people singing and rapping so loud that you can't hear soft dialogue. Black movies should follow the same tried and true rules of Hollywood. I never liked Barry Gordy's The last Dragon because it felt more like a jukebox than a movie. When a hero is in a tense situation, I'd rather hear tense music, even if the LYRICS are applicable to the situation, that's not how cinema works. For instance, I'm just a girl, on the final big fight in Captain Marvel. Never heard the song before. Don't know the lyrics. All I know is that it wasn't apropos. It wasn't cinematic. And also, even if men held her back in her past, NO ONE in the movie was holding her back because she was just a girl. Last, And I'm surprised no one brought this up, I wonder what Black Lightning did for vaccine hesitancy. I still own Black Lightning #1. There was no vaccine conspiracy in it. Black lightning came out at the wrong time for Covid.

The whole thing seemed like father hate. They had 3 female family members and none of them like him. They were all there to drag him all day.

Hi Alternative Factuals, I created a petition for season 5 and spin offs of Black Lightning we need help to share this

As a big fan of the comic book character i was disappointed

If I could be bothered I'd make a 30min long video about why I dislike the show. But since I found this video I will just post it here: The show really spins their weels. Just like all CW shows, the relationship dramas is their biggest focus and is what kills them all the time. Jefferson and Lin literally cannot stop arguing or fighting. Like I remember in season 4 there was an episode of them arguing, splitting up and going their own way. Only for the next episode to have them reconcile their differences and get togheter. But then they would argue again the episode right afterwards and it game me so much headache having to go through the same scenes over and over. And then there is Jennifer who is probably the worst character I've ever had the displeasure of watching. From what I remember at the start she's a little girl finding her place in the world, respecting her father's teaching and I enjoyed that. Then she gets powers and doesn't know how to control them, but works on it, which I still enjoyed. But then there will be a lot (and I can count on 2 occasions) where Jennifer will be so overconfident in her powers that she will take matters into her own hands and try to deal with Tobias at the same time as her friends/family are going to. This only lead to her failing, badly and putting everyone at risk or ruining their chance. And what does Jennifer do? Does she reflect and adjust herself to get better? Hmmm, no she just does it again and becomes truly arrogant. I really want to punch her in the face and I honestly thought the actress was at fault for a while. But then she gets into the accident where she changes body and I thought maybe this new actress will bring a new light to the character... and no it was the writing. Her writing sucked ass and I honestly hate watching her. The most stupidest/retarded action I saw her do, was when she lost her powers she tried to get them back. So she went to Aniissa and just "hi I had an idea, I will electrocute myself right in front of you with no warning and then I will get powers back". Like she didn't discuss this, think to much about and risked killing herself (and maybe Anissa considering she was less then a meter away) and somehow it ended up ok... Finally got that off my chest. Now I may rest 🎉

I agree with you but you forgot painkiller can we talk about painkiller next time and what's going on with the spinoff got her pain killer be going to HBO Max that's true cuz we need to talk about that soon as possible please

I see that you had some classic Black lightning clips in there from scientist teacher Jefferson Pierce from the seventies who actually invented the suit. I don't want anyone to believe Black lightning had meta powers. He literally invented that suit to simulate the powers he actually manifested. It's like removing spidey's web shooters and pretending he wasn't smart. The true Staples of characters from the '60s and '70s is that not only are their characters based in science or are about science but that they were also smart enough to interpret extrapolate and then sometimes even manifest with that science and what their knowledge of it can do. Black lightning receiving actual meta powers is just like Spider-Man in "the other" getting full power from the spider God anansi. It makes zero sense.

I agree with you

My question to you is , what do you think about Hardware's new origin ?

He's a lot stronger when he's angry, but his lightning was already black in the comics. The show ticked me off because they took his kids and made them the stars. I think they should have made Jefferson the strongest. But with the villains, come on. Lady Eve, Gravedigger, Lala( i didn't like the way they made him) he could have been an ally Since he knew Jefferson from back in the day. Oh, and I didn't forget about Lynn and Lady Eve. Lynn was cool to me in the first season, especially when she pulled out that shotgun, lol. She was not about to let her family be killed, even if she didn't have powers herself. I loved that about her. But instead, they made her a whiny, self-centered woman, instead of showing her using her smarts and fixing her own addiction problems. If they wanted to have someone else help her, why not have Perena or Cloak and Dagger help her? Since they had Perrena helping Jen with her powers, to me, she could have just as easily been helping Lynn since Perrena's powers affect the mind. Now Lady Eve was another Tobias to me. She wasn't that bad. Of course, she wasn't in the show that much also. She had the same powers as Lala but not as strong. She was also put in a vat like Lala, to be resurrected. She did help the Peirce's in the end but after that, it was a wrap for her. She had the potential to be another ally for BL. I hated the final fight between BL and Tobias went, it was anticlimactic. This would have been a perfect chance to show us BL's black lightning. This was the man that killed his father in front of him and tried to destroy his family. SO how does Tobias die, by being blasted onto a flag pole?! My goodness. I know superheroes aren't supposed to kill their enemies, but this fight could have shown us BL's fight to show mercy and not kill Tobias. Just have him locked up again. I didn't like Anissa. She was doing too much. How was she able to pull off being two different superheroes? LOL, I can go on for days about her but I won't. I think I have said enough, lol

You kno it explains why i stopped watchin for a bit it didnt show him to his full potential an the kinda emasculated him a lil bit i felt an i got bored

too many people die come bk

9:40 that's why they should've stopped at s3

Awesome

3:54 who is BL fighting

I love the show, but his costume is awful.

Young justice did his character better

Jennifers acting was HORRIBLE

the actor who played tobias was cringy

Black Lightning got canceled because they found their white version Superman and Lois Living single and Friends Chuck Berry and Elvis New kids on the block New edition It's tradition They thought they had the sabotage the black male character to promote everyone else And that last season was a white Supremacists wish list

Iwatched it all twice it was very racist

The Markovia arc was so disappointing. I was expecting an epic fight between Brion/Geoforce and BL like the one they had in the comics were they literally leveled a couple blocks, buuut nooooo we don't get that. Naw what we get instead is a black washed Brion, who looked like he was a missing member of the damn Migos smh. I'm sorry but black washing traditional white characters is lame asf and it needs to stop we have too many original dope black characters for this to even be a thing. This show should have followed a younger BL IMO.

Gambi's character was one of the worst things about the show. A Gary Stu. Practically a plot device or Deus ex machina type character who could get the Pierces out of anything and possibly undermining them as characters in the process and making them look incompetent. Not only that he was a disgusting human being if I'm not mistaken. He tortured a guy and gouged his eyeball out. Killed some people in season 2 after torturing them for info. Guy never really shook his violent past. And mostly got away with it to retire peacefully. The character did add to the show as a father figure to Jeff and would have served as great fodder for Jeff's character development and story honestly had they chose to kill him off during the final season or final few episodes. But they didn't.