Anissa and Grace's honeymoon to Akhasic Valley goes sideways as they cross paths with both Khalil and a mysterious conspiracy.
Tropes
- Asian and Nerdy: Philky, who is Khalil's tech expert.
- As You Know: There's a couple of conversations like this between Khalil and his friends.
- Badass in Distress: Grace gets captured by Maya's men, but eventually manages to break free by herself.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Khalil has one with Painkiller to stop him from killing Anissa.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: Khalil pulls this twice during the fight with Maya's mooks.
- Car Fu: Khalil injures one of Maya's associates by ramming him with his car and afterwards interrogating him.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Out of Maya's forces, the ones that give Khalil the most trouble are two women who look like twins and are well-versed in Martial Arts.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Maya turns out to be Odell's daughter, and quite close to him from the look of things.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: Odell is shown in a wheelchair and with breathing tubes up his nose, clearly still suffering from the gunshot Khalil gave him last time they met.
- Evil All Along: Painkiller accuses Khalil that he has always been inside of him, Odell didn't create him, he just brought him out.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Compared to Khalil, Painkiller has an extremely ruff and raspy voice.
- Foreshadowing: Maya's command to trigger her facility's Self-Destruct Mechanism is word-for-word the same as Odell's when he was destroying the Pit in the Season 3 finale. As it turns out, it's because she's his daughter.
- Guns Akimbo: While he doesn't use them in combat on-screen, Donald is seen carrying two shotguns at once.
- Ironic Echo: "There's no such thing as coincidences." Said by Khalil to his friends when Anissa shows up in his club, and then by Maya to Odell after they realize Khalil is in town.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Khalil is not shy to use this to get information.
- The Medic: Donald, Khalil's second associate.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: Maya's group, which is kidnapping people with high brain activity and attaching them to computers that shut down their conscious minds, for reasons that aren't made clear here.
- Oh, Crap!: Wo, Philky's associate, is visibly uncomfortable when Khalil asks her for information on Maya Odell.
- One-Man Army: When Wo comments that Khalil will need an army to go up against Maya, he retorts that he just needs a lot of guns. Sure enough, he makes short work of Maya's goons all by himself.
- Out of Focus: Save for Anissa and Grace, all regular cast members are absent, and even these two have little spotlight.
- Parrying Bullets: Painkiller does this with a sword.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: For Khalil's Painkiller spinoff. The only main Black Lightning cast members to show up are Anissa and Grace, and even then they're barely in it, the show instead focusing on Khalil's group and laying the groundwork for the conflict they're going to face.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Maya's victims have been "cryptojacked" to farm Crypto Currency and to power some sort of computer operation, while the rest of their brains have been put in a vegetative state.
- Running Gag: Khalil teasingly calls Anissa "Harriet" at the end, like Jennifer often does.
- Shout-Out: Maya's password is Rosebud.
- Spoiler Opening: The opening credits list Bill Duke as a guest star, spoiling the appearance of Agent Odell.
- Spotting the Thread: Probably due to her heightened senses, Grace can immediately tell the difference between Khalil and Painkiller.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Painkiller tells Khalil that he feels constant pain due to never fulfilling the kill command that Odell gave him for the Pierces. He later even cries, feeling regret for having killed their mom, almost committing suicide out of grief. Khalil clearly feels sorry for him, and promises to find a way to free them both from their situation.
- There Are No Coincidences: The trope serves as the Arc Words of the episode.
- Took a Level in Kindness: While he is still no hero by any stretch, Painkiller is portrayed as a Tragic Monster, who is essentially just a slave to his nature and deep down regrets his deeds.
- Undying Loyalty: Donald towards Khalil, due to the latter saving his life.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Maya Odell makes it out unscathed, to presumably act as the Big Bad for the spin-off.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Khalil and Philky buy from Wo a crapton of guns for the assault on the building where Grace is being held. Khalil and Painkiller end up not even using a single one. Khalil only brings his sword and ending up taking all the guns they need from Maya's mooks mid fight. Seeing how well he does without them if Khalil had taken and used the guys he bought, it's likely the fight would've been a complete Curbstomp Battle.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Akashic Valley is a CyberPunk city like nowhere else in the world, but where on Earth-Prime it actually is is never mentioned or even hinted at.
- Worf Had the Flu: Anissa is poisoned early on when Painkiller briefly takes control and attacks her, rendering her unable to act to rescue her kidnapped wife and requiring Khalil to act on his own. She does manage to regain enough strength by the end of the episode to head to the scene... but by this time, Grace has already freed herself.
- You Owe Me: When Khalil initially tries to back out of saving Grace, being afraid to cause more pain, Anissa angrily reminds him of all the times when she and her family saved him.
