Jefferson confronts Tobias Whale for a final time, bringing the series to a sparking closure after four seasons.
Tropes:
- Back for the Finale: The original Jennifer is restored in the ionosphere.
- Beam-O-War: Chief Lopez and Jennifer engaging in one, with Jennifer quickly walking away victorious.
- Big Damn Heroes: Anissa and Grace come to Gambi's help after getting their powers back when the mercs surround him.
- Bittersweet Ending: The series comes to a close on a relatively high note. Tobias is finally dead, meaning that all the horrible things he's done have finally brought him down, the entire Pierce family has their powers back, Chief Lopez will undoubtedly be arrested for her actions, Looker's testimony will clear Jefferson and Lynn of their accused crimes, Anissa and Grace get to have a proper wedding reception, the real Jennifer is back, and Jefferson and Lynn are getting remarried, with both he and Gambi formally retiring and handing the reins of crime-fighting over to the rest of the family. However, Khalil is forced to wipe his memories of the Pierce family in order to rid himself and Painkiller of the kill-order against the Pierces, Lala awakens and escapes, Lady Eve and the Shadow Board are still around, Jennifer is now left to deal with the trauma of having her entire life taken over by an imposter, J.J. has been dispersed despite having demonstrated some human qualities, and Gambi still hasn't reconciled fully with his old flame.
- Book Ends: The events of the series all began when Tobias Whale murdered Alvin Pierce. It ends with Tobias dying courtesy of Alvin's son, Jefferson Pierce, many years later.
- Brought Down to Badass: Even without their powers, Anissa and Grace help Gambi take out a bunch of mercs. Once their powers kick in, the mercs stand no chance.
- Buried Alive: Tobias buried Jefferson between episodes. He eventually burst out again, after getting his powers back and absorbing the Prometheum under Freeland.
- Dead Person Conversation: Jefferson gets a pep talk from Alvin.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: In his last public speech as Freedland's mayor, Tobias wears a distinct navy blue suit with a bright red tie and a white undershirt, giving a New Era Speech while promising to "Make Freeland Great Again." All of this calls to mind Donald Trump during his Presidency.
- Evil All Along: "JJ", the nameless energy being who posed as Jennifer.
- Flashback: To 30 years back, after Gambi helped Jefferson bury a member of the 100 whom Jefferson killed in self-defense and was guilt-ridden about.
- Grand Finale: The second Arrowverse series to end, Black Lightning closes at four seasons and 58 episodes.
- Heroic Second Wind: After an initial beatdown by JJ, Jennifer eventually pulls herself together and defeats her, seemingly absorbing JJ into herself.
- He's Back!:
- The original Jennifer returns with a fury, confronting "JJ".
- After absorbing energy from the Prometheum, Jefferson bursts out of his grave to confront Tobias.
- Due to the fight between Tobias and Jefferson wrecking his cement prison, Lala rises up again at the end, being happy to see Tobias finally dead.
- Hoist Hero over Head: What Tobias does with Jefferson during their fight, trying to throw him out the window onto a giant spike.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Tobias gets a big spike through his torso in the fight with Jefferson, before being electrocuted to death, with the spike acting as a lightning rod.
- Internal Reveal: Shakur finds out about Chief Lopez having juiced herself up.
- It's All My Fault: All of Jennifer's family blame themselves for not realizing "JJ" wasn't Jennifer, though Jennifer quickly says that it was her own fault, for flying up into the ionosphere. She still feels a bit weird about nobody but her father feeling that something was off, though.
- Karmic Death: After all the shit he pulled throughout the entire show, Tobias finally kicks the bucket when he's impaled on a spike.
- Killed Off for Real: Tobias finally bites it in a final confrontation with Jefferson.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Shakur convinces Specialist Cabrera to pick up arms and help him confront Chief Lopez.
- New Era Speech: Tobias makes one to Freeland, wanting to make it great again.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Jefferson and Tobias engage in a brutal fight. This time, Jefferson doesn't hold back, and actually gives Tobias good enough of a beatdown that he ends up killing him on a spike when the villain falls out a window. Jefferson tries to save him, but Tobias won't have it.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Painkiller reacts a bit sour towards Tobias's death, having wanted to finish him off himself.
- Passing the Torch: Jefferson passes the torch to his daughters and Grace, and Gambi passes the torch to TC.
- Primal Fear: Jefferson waking up Buried Alive.
- Rapid Aging: Tobias reverts to his true form of an old man when dying.
- The Reveal:
- When Jefferson was a teenager, he killed a member of the 100 in self-defense and Gambi helped him hide the body. It was from this moment that Jefferson took a code to never kill.
- JJ is an intangible creature from the ionosphere who tried to kill Jennifer and stole her identity.
- Rewatch Bonus: The reveal she was never the real Jennifer puts all of JJ's previous scenes in the last ten episodes in a new light.
- Sadistic Choice: Khalil is left with the choice to either leave the kill order in Painkiller or erase it, alongside all of his memories of the Pierce family. He eventually chooses the latter.
- Spotting the Thread: Jennifer quickly realizes that TC has bad news for her (Khalil having his memories of her erased), but she asks him to spare her whatever news for the day.
- Suicide by Cop: Despite everything he did to him, Jefferson still doesn't want to kill Tobias, begging him to stop when he is impaled and barely alive, but Tobias doesn't listen and pulls two guns at Jefferson, forcing the latter to fatally electrocute him.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Jennifer feels sorry for JJ, who always wanted to experience how it was to live among humans and to have a family, but she still points out that that doesn't give her the right to steal her life.
- This Is Unforgivable!: After Jefferson's supposed death, everybody has had enough of Tobias and wants him dead. Indeed, nobody seems to object after Tobias's own death; quite the contrary.
- Villainous Breakdown: Chief Lopez's continues, who tries to drain the entire city of energy just to kill Lightning.
- Visual Pun: Whale gets harpooned.
- Wham Line:JJ: I killed you.Jennifer: Nah. Just left me to die, stole my name.
- Wham Shot: A yellow burst of energy takes the form of... Jennifer. The original one.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Unfortunately, the series ends with a few open plot threads.
- Gravedigger is still out there, with nobody knowing about it.
- Brandon and his whereabouts weren't mentioned anymore.
- It's not revealed what happened to Lady Eve and the rest of the Shadow Board.
- Lala awakens at the end, with no indication of what's next for him.
- Due to the Painkiller spin-off being canceled, what Khalil will do now that the kill order is out of him is also not revealed. Nor what Maya Odell's plan was.
- Wicked Cultured: Tobias Whale quotes Moby-Dick.
