Black Lightning

It's where they were giving the original vaccinations to the kids of Freeland.

I can't pinpoint exactly where they are, but they're here.

Khalil is a danger to you when he's with you.

Because of Tobias?

Yes, because of Tobias.

He has to turn himself in to the authorities.

Your father's right.

Something went wrong with Khalil's transport.

Everybody's dead.

Khalil?

There's no sign of him.

I wanted you to be great like Alexander.

If you can't walk with the giants,

then you shall crawl with the snakes!

We ask you to come by here right now, Lord,

- and put your arms around him. -

Hang on, son.

He's gonna keep you.

I have some unfortunate news to share

that I was contemplating whether I should share it or not

because there's so much going on in Freeland.

Khalil Payne, you remember him?

He grew up right here in the church.

- He is currently in the fight of his life. -

He's fighting for his life right over here at St. Lewis Hospital.

Brother Khalil is in a bad way.

He needs your prayers, but God willing,

he will win the battle.

'Cause, you see, Jesus will help him overcome.

- - Come on, somebody! Won't he do it?

All right. Yeah.

Brother Khalil is not the only person currently in a battle.

See, every second of every minute of every day,

every man, woman and child right here in Freeland

are fighting for their lives whether they realize it or not.

Freeland is under siege

by enemy forces seen and unseen, known and unknown!

The One Hundred and other rival gangs

are killing each other.

The problem is the stray bullets have been killing our children.

Mr. P?

Wait... No.

I need you to do something for me.

Yeah, okay. Anything.

Easy. Easy.

I need Black Lightning to kill Tobias.

I can't do that.

I... I'll give you everything that you need...

to take down his operations.

I know his routes, his... contacts, everything.

I won't do that.

We have to let the judicial system handle Tobias.

The system?

You mean the system that let Tobias

get away with shooting me and Reverend Holt?

The same system that let him rip my spine out of my back?

You mean the system

that let him get away with murdering your father?

Mr. P, is that the system that you're talking about?

Huh?

You promise me, can you make him suffer like me?

Yes.

I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you...

when you needed me.

You were always there...

I just couldn't see you.

Over hundreds of years of slavery and Jim Crow laws,

the one thing we have learned as a people

is that we cannot depend on the Democrats,

or the Republicans, or the Independents.

The one thing that has been constant and consistent

during our struggle in this country

has been God and our black sweat,

and our hard work, and our determination to change our condition.

We have to fight and battle forces in our community

and outside of our communities.

We cannot depend on Black Lightning

or Thunder or anybody else to help us.

We, us, we have to take back our streets,

we have to take back our neighborhoods,

we have to take back our communities,

we have to take back our culture.

With God's help and our own hands, we can do it.

No more moaning, no more tears.

We're not gonna ask anymore for justice,

we're gonna take our retribution.

We're not gonna be victims anymore.

Hey, what are you doing on my car?

Are you trying to steal it?

- What? No. No. - You're trying to steal my car.

- Ma'am, I wasn't... - Hello, 911?

Yes, I caught a woman breaking into my car.

She's African-American.

- She threatened me. And she's, like, 5'6". -

Oh, my... Oh, my God! What did you do?

- Me? - Yes!

Your car got hit by lightning. You want to call the police on God?

We cannot let this world

put out the fire that our ancestors lit

that carried us through the darkness.

Oh, my God.

Oh, God, my new handbag was in there.

I'm sorry, I know that's secondary, but it was expensive.

Like, it is a brand new car. I mean, it was a brand new car.

So, look, I'm walking out of the hospital and the next thing I knew,

a bolt of lightning hit my car. I could've been killed!

We've got to teach our children

not to bend or bow down!

To claim what our ancestors left.

Teach our children to claim their destinies

- and embrace their power... - Jennifer.

...so that they, boldly,

can use it for the benefit of our people.

We got a long way to go.

I said we got a long way to go!

But we've come so far.

- So far. - Yeah.

Tell it to them.

- Nobody has given us anything. - Nothing!

- And they're not gonna give us anything. - No, sir.

I said every ounce of freedom that we have, we had to take it.

So I say thank God to Harriet Tubman!

Thank God, Fannie Lou Hamer! Thank God, Rosa Parks!

Thank God, Martin Luther King, Jr.

- Let me hear you say "Amen." - Amen!

If you're with me, let me hear you say "Amen"!

Amen!

Oh. Let the church say... Let the church say "Amen."

- Oh, my God! - Someone call 911.

Dad.

- - Get in.

Okay. All right, are you ready?

- -

I can't siphon off the electricity. There's too much of it.

Who are you calling?

It's me! Perenna. Open the door.

Hi, Jefferson.

You may want to let me in before somebody sees me.

Perenna, what are you doing here?

- - Hello, Jennifer.

I sensed that you might need some help, so I stopped by.

- How are you feeling? - Not good.

I see.

Mr. Pierce?

Jefferson? I need you to give me and Jennifer some privacy.

No. No, I'm not going anywhere.

Dad, I'm fine, please.

All right. I'll be right outside the door.

Okay... let's get to work.

These Negroes would have a vigil

for an apple fallen from a tree.

Look at them. All this over a purple, six-button-suit-wearing clown.

Ooh. Oh. Girl fight.

Rewind that.

That's Dr. Helga Jace.

Who's that?

Crazy-ass scientist.

I haven't seen her in 30 years.

She looks exactly the same.

She's supposed to be in prison.

Looks like she tried to do an experiment on a bunch of kids.

They all lost their feet. One died.

That's what she does. You see that on her ankle?

Yeah, it looks like an electronic enclosure device.

Gives you a little shock if you try to break a preset perimeter.

Hmm. But why is she back in Freeland working on the pod kids?

I bet if anyone knows where those four metas at the clinic are, it's her.

Todd, you ready to put in some work?

Oh, for sure.

Good.

Remember, control your breathing.

- -

Good.

Now still your mind, your soul, still your heart.

Can you feel that?

Yeah.

How do you feel?

I feel calm.

Okay, now take control of the power.

As you come down slowly,

pull the energy back into yourself.

Good. You ready?

Yeah.

- Everything okay? - Yep.

Are you sure?

Yeah. I'm going to go spend some time with Khalil.

Okay.

What did you tell her?

What she needed to know.

Dr. Conley. How are you? Can I speak to you for a moment?

Hello, Dr. Stewart. I'm sorry about what happened to Khalil.

- Family friend? - Yeah.

How can I help you?

As you know, in my research I've been working