With Black Lightning now wanted for Lady Eve's murder, Jefferson sends Anissa out to find out who was really responsible. The ASA sends in agents to Freetown to kill Black Lightning, which means Gambi's shady past finally comes to light.
- Artistic License – Physics: Both used and averted in the same instance. On one hand, the electrical burns are correctly displayed as looking entirely different from lightning burns. On the other hand, the lightning guns apparently use a portable nuclear power source, which is extremely implausible and would require a much higher technology level than has been displayed in the series.
- Came Back Wrong: Lala is off after his resurrection.
- Destroy the Evidence: When Jefferson calls in the location of the weapon Lady Eve was murdered with, and the corpse of the actual killer, the message is intercepted and the intercepter sends an agent to recover both, fully expecting him to trigger the weapon in the proces. He does and the explosion destroys both the weapon and the corpse.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The ASA's disgusting experiments in Freeland is eerily reminiscent of the Tuskegee Experiments and other sick eugenic horrors inflicted on the African American populace.
- Entertainingly Wrong:
- Jefferson assumes Black Lightning was framed for the murder of respected local businesswoman Lady Eve due to getting too close to the source of Green Light and pressuring him by ruining his reputation among Freeland's civilians as well as making him (even more) wanted by the authorities. Tobias in fact murdered the local crime boss and his superior because of internal politics and framed Black Lightning in order to avoid suspicion. Ruining Black Lightning's reputation was just an added bonus.
- The authorities also assume Black Lightning killed her because of her electrical burns. As Jefferson's never killed anyone with his lightning, they don't have any prior examples to show the injuries weren't caused by his power.
- From Bad to Worse:
- The police hunting Black Lightning is bad enough. But now the ASA — the mysterious agency that Gambi is a part of — is actively hunting Black Lightning too, to kill on sight.
- Even before he finds out about the ASA, Jefferson realizes he can't appear in costume because the police are likely to have an unofficial shoot to kill on sight policy as well.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Black Lightning ever since he was framed for Lady Eve's death.
- I Need a Freaking Drink:
- Jefferson needs one to calm himself down after Anissa saves him from being killed.
- Gambi needs one to cope with having to spill his dirty laundry to Jefferson.
- Internal Reveal: Jennifer discovers her electrical powers, and tells Anissa.
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: Anissa and Jefferson find the body of Lady Eve's assassin buried in the woods.Jefferson: I guess we can be thankful for the second rule of high profile assassinations; always kill the killer.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Anissa's main flaw she has to overcome. In training, Anissa instinctively attacks a hologram dummy of man wearing a T-shirt with a Confederate flag on in. Jefferson points that just because he's racist doesn't mean he's a threat and that she was far too ready to attack a civilian.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Lala sees LaWanda ... but nobody else does. As she's been with Lala ever since his mysterious return to life, it's unclear whether she's actually there or just a hallucination.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The ASA's regional director is not content just being a scumbag who's all for testing experimental drugs on unwitting civilians, dissecting captured metahumans, and casually ordering hits on people; he's also a racist ass.
- Rage Against the Mentor: Jefferson was furious when Gambi revealed the truth (also inadvertently responsible for his father's murder), telling him to stay away from him and his family.
- The Reveal:
- What's the purpose of Green Light, a highly addictive and deadly drug that's ultimately useless to a profit-minded crime lord like Tobias since it kills too many junkies? The ASA is banking on it to turn people into metahumans.
- Gambi's Dark and Troubled Past finally comes to light. He was an ASA agent sent to find metahumans, but he secretly quit assisting the agency in disgust when he found out what they were doing — illegally vaccinating people to keep them docile that had the side effect of either killing kids or turning them into metahumans, while pretending he was still monitoring the situation. He leaked it to the press via Alvin Pierce, which got him killed. He decided to train Jefferson as Black Lightning as his way to atone for his mistake and has spent the last 30 years trying to balance between keeping Jefferson alive and keeping the ASA convinced he's still working for them monitoring Freeland.
- Shown Their Work: Gambi says the lightning guns would require "a billion joules" to mimic Black Lightning's attacks. This is actually around the lower end of the energy of a lightning strike.
- So Proud of You: After Anissa saves Jefferson from the explosion of the electrical rifle and quickly deduces the man who blew himself up was set up to eliminate the evidence and himself, he grins and hugs her for her combination of quick action to save an innocent and figuring out what went on.
- Stern Teacher: One of Jefferson's methods of training Anissa when he asks questions that Anissa can't be expected to know (such as if she's especially susceptible to radiation, or if she can swim when using her powers, or how much force she needs to breach a concrete brick wall), making the point that if she doesn't know, she needs to find out.
- We Have Reserves: Anissa concludes that the boss of the unnamed man send to Destroy the Evidence (see above) considered him expendable, and fully expected him to accidentally trigger the weapon.
- Wham Shot: Lynn sees the Green Light sample and the sample in Alvin's research are one and the same.
