So what was the point of Crisis as far as Black Lightning was concerned? He's part of the proto Justice League (they even show it in the Previouslies), but none of them can be bothered to come around to Freeland and help out with the ASA. Flash and Supergirl have superspeed, can't they take ten seconds out from their busy schedules to put Odell out of business? Instead it's Black Lightning, Blackbird, and Lightning fighting the good fight with the Resistance at their sides, while Odell figuratively twirls his mustache and gloats.
I get that the producers don't want to change the show in midstream, and bringing in a bunch of other superheroes would both diminish Black Lightning and change the whole "People versus the government" vibe of this show. But then... why merge Black Lightning's Earth in with all the others? Just so the writers don't have to waste five seconds once a year to explain that BL is using a dimensional extrapolator to cross over, apparently. BL adds nothing to the rest of the DC/CW universe, and it doesn't add anything to this show. So why did they bother?
On its own merits, this episode was... okay. Odell is turning more obviously evil, Lynn continues to descend into a spiral of addiction and denial, Jeff slowly reconciles with his daughters, Inspector Bill gets a decent moment or two, and the Resistance is finally fighting back against the ASA. There's some decent fight choreography, and Black Lightning is finally portrayed as the "Defender of Freeland" he was supposed to be. Tobias fades in and out of the picture: he wasn't in this episode at all, which is a shame as I miss his hammy evilness. There's no Khalil, who is another plot point that the creative team doesn't seem to know what to do with. Which is why he only appears when he serves some plot agenda and then vanishes without a trace.
Overall, "Blessings and Curses Reborn" was an okay episode of probably the least of CW's current superhero shows. It's still better than half the shows out there. But merging it with other DC/CW shows just makes it a little paler by comparison.
I get that the producers don't want to change the show in midstream, and bringing in a bunch of other superheroes would both diminish Black Lightning and change the whole "People versus the government" vibe of this show. But then... why merge Black Lightning's Earth in with all the others? Just so the writers don't have to waste five seconds once a year to explain that BL is using a dimensional extrapolator to cross over, apparently. BL adds nothing to the rest of the DC/CW universe, and it doesn't add anything to this show. So why did they bother?
On its own merits, this episode was... okay. Odell is turning more obviously evil, Lynn continues to descend into a spiral of addiction and denial, Jeff slowly reconciles with his daughters, Inspector Bill gets a decent moment or two, and the Resistance is finally fighting back against the ASA. There's some decent fight choreography, and Black Lightning is finally portrayed as the "Defender of Freeland" he was supposed to be. Tobias fades in and out of the picture: he wasn't in this episode at all, which is a shame as I miss his hammy evilness. There's no Khalil, who is another plot point that the creative team doesn't seem to know what to do with. Which is why he only appears when he serves some plot agenda and then vanishes without a trace.
Overall, "Blessings and Curses Reborn" was an okay episode of probably the least of CW's current superhero shows. It's still better than half the shows out there. But merging it with other DC/CW shows just makes it a little paler by comparison.
