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Recap / Black Lightning 2018 S 1 E 7 The Book Of Fate

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Jefferson continues his hunt for Tobias, while Tobias makes a move against Lady Eve, and Anissa discovers her search for answers cost Mr. Poe his life.


  • Being Good Sucks: Neither Lynn nor Jefferson pull any punches in telling Anissa what the personal cost of being a superhero will be if she goes down that path.
  • Characters Dropping Like Flies: By the end of the hour, Joey Toledo, Tori Whale, and Lady Eve have all been killed.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome : Both Lynn and Jefferson are afraid of what might happen to Anissa if she chooses to be a superheroine. In the end this is what gets Lynn to convince Jefferson to train her and to ask Gambi to make her a proper and more protective costume; she knows Anissa is too stubborn to not go out, whatever the risk to herself, so Lynn's going to do her best to make sure her daughter has what she needs to survive.
  • Enemy Civil War: Tobias and Lady Eve. Ultimately, Tobias (narrowly) wins, but at the cost of his sister's life.
  • Frame-Up: Tobias and Tori have Lady Eve assassinated by men carrying electrical-discharge rifles so her death will be blamed on Black Lightning and the Shadow Board won't come after him.
  • Gainax Ending: The final scene has Lala mysteriously coming Back from the Dead, and face to face with... LaWanda, also Back from the Dead. She apparently transforms into a sand-like substance, enters his body, and becomes a tattoo on his chest.
  • Genre Shift: The ending suddenly introduces outright magic into what had been a largely science fiction setting.
    • Assuming it's not some sort of dream or illusion. It's not really clear from the episode.
  • Lightning Gun: The assassins of Lady Eve have access to some very advanced technology. They had lightning guns that could shoot pulsed bolts and lightning streams. The guns were also powerful enough to reduce Lady Eve to little more than a skeleton for the police to find.
  • Minored In Ass Kicking: Lady Eve and Gambi show that they're more than just the "brains of the outfit". Both turn out to be extremely dangerous in a fight, Gambi wipes out Joey Toledo's bodyguards before finishing Joey off himself. Meanwhile Lady Eve breaks the neck of one assassin with his own lightning gun, before she zaps another. Too bad for her, there was a 3rd assassin hidden in a coffin.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Gambi gets permission from Lady Eve to kill Joey Toledo, so Tobias will stop getting too big for his britches and go back into the shadows like he's supposed to. It backfires in a big way — as Tobias sees this as The Last Straw in Lady Eve's mistreatment of him. So he arranges his men to kill Lady Eve... with electric guns making it seem like Black Lightning killed her. And since she's a Villain with Good Publicity, it means Black Lightning has gone from being the people's savior to just another thug in record time.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Tobias realizes that Green Light is too dangerous to be on the streets if for no other reason than too many users are ending up dead and dead customers aren't repeat customers.
  • Spotting the Thread: Jennifer realizes there's some issue between Jefferson and Anissa by noting minor changes in their behavior and clearly doesn't believe their denials.
  • Visual Pun: While Tobias is talking about the accomplishments of jazz, a copy of Moby-Dick can be seen on the table next to him, reflecting his status as Jefferson's White Whale.
  • Wham Episode: Joey Toledo is killed by Gambi. Tori Whale and Lady Eve are both killed during the latter's Enemy Civil War with Tobias, and Black Lightning has been framed for it. Lala and possibly LaWanda have mysteriously come Back from the Dead.

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