Black Lightning Prepares For Gravedigger Round 2 In A Preview Of Next Week’s Show
by Erik Amaya
As Black Lightning nears its season finale, secrets are revealed, a season four status quo is teased, and Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) finally has a worthy physical adversary in Gravedigger (Wayne Brady). And as this preview for the penultimate episode of the year suggest, Black Lightning and the rest of his allies must prepare for a second round with Earth-Prime first’s recording meta in history. If they fail: the United States will bomb Freeland off the map to protect its secrets regarding metahuman research.
Meanwhile, we never knew we needed to see Wayne Brady kill Nazis. But now that we’ve seen it, we cannot imagine a world without it. Gravedigger has turned into one of the most interesting antagonists on the show because he has a legitimate beef with the US. Considering all of the show’s use of metahuman ideas as a metaphors for the mistreatment of black people by the government, Gravedigger is the lone survivor of a Tuskegee style experiment to create, essentially, Captain America. That it goes wrong, but covert elements of the government would spend 70 years trying to recreate him, is one of the most natural explanations for just about everything going on in this show the writers could’ve possible arrived at. And, as it happens, it seems pretty consistent with executive producer Salim Akil’s statement prior to the show’s debut that it would take three seasons to unravel the truth about Freeland.
But that still leaves Jefferson with a problem on the ground — he has to defeat Gravedigger despite his valid need for justice.
Meanwhile, we’re still intrigued by Lady Eve’s (Jill Scott) slow-motion return to power. She controls Lala (William Catlett), gave the briefcase to Gambi (James Remar) as a peace offering and — with Tobias (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III) missing in Markovia — seems poised to corner Freelands organized crime rackets once the occupation ends. Will she be our Season 4 villain?
Black Lightning airs Mondays on The CW.
