AN INTENSE FINALE WRAPS UP A BIT OF A DISJOINTED SEASON AS JEFFERSON AND HIS FAMILY ATTEMPT TO TAKE DOWN TOBIAS WHALE ONCE AND FOR ALL!
GAMBI TO THE RESCUE:
The episode picks up where the last one left off with Gambi rushing to help Jen following her powers malfunctioning. Lala shows up and asks Gambi if he works with Tobias Whale. The spy replies that he does not. Jen goes to her safe in her mind where a manifestation of Perenna tells her to control her abilities the way she taught her. Gambi tries to calm her down and is burned a bit in the process. Jen regain control and discovers Gambi was injured. She calls her father who arrives with Anissa. Anissa takes her and Gambi back to his base while Jefferson heads to investigate Tobias’s hideout. Jefferson eventually finds the pod kids and calls Lynn. As the two of them check on the kids, the crazy Dr. Jace attacks them and Lynn impressively beats her up. Dr. Jace offers them information and the ability to track the briefcase in exchange for keeping her out of the hands of the ASA. They agree to her terms and allow her to be carted off in police custody. However, while in custody, Jace is taken by the teleporter, who first appeared in the mid-season finale. He murders several people in the precinct as well. It turns out that he is a bounty hunter who informs her that she is wanted in Markovia. Agent Odell arrives at the hideout where the pod kids are being held and confronts Lynn about their mistake concerning Jace. He quickly takes control over the situation, but the power mysteriously cuts out. Elsewhere, Tobias is behind the power outage which is part of his plan to kill Black Lightning and bring the city to it knees. He takes advantage of the unfortunate Cape Guy shooting to cause mass panic and rioting.
RESTORING THE POWER:
Gambi recovers from his injuries and calls Jefferson back in due to his suit running low on power. Jeff refuses to come back in and Anissa leaves to help him. Gambi gathers some weapons and goes to leave as well. Jen stops him and asks to come with him. He urges her not to, but the young hero in training goes anyway. They travel to the generator and with Jen’s powers are able to restore the city’s power. Meanwhile, Jefferson and Anissa team up to fight the New Wave and Heatstroke, who are causing chaos under orders from Tobias. The duo holds their own, but the other Masters of Disaster arrive (Shakedown & Coldsnap) and the tide turns in MOD’s favor. However, Lala shows up and kills Heatstroke, which allows Jefferson and Anissa to gain the upper hand and defeat them.
FINAL SHOWDOWN WITH TOBIAS?:
With the power restored and MOD defeated, Freeland avoids collapse under the leadership of Reverend Holt, who surprisingly is revealed to have survived Cutter’s earlier attack. Realizing his plan is failing, Tobias desperately releases the pod kids before Lynn can administer the serum. Cutter strongly disagrees with his decision and decides to leave him. This leaves him all alone as Lala arrives. The Tattooed Man tries to kill Whale, but is unsuccessful. Tobias activates all of the tattoos at once with the phrase “E Pluribus Unum.” This leaves Lala in a catatonic state on the floor. Tobias gloats thinking he has won, but his celebration is interrupted by Jen. She flies in introducing herself as Lightning and says that this is payback! She blasts him with her lightning energy. Before she kills him, Jefferson arrives and stops her from making the life changing decision. The two then fight Tobias and defeat him. He is then delivered into police custody and then sent to The Pit, a blacksite where incredibly powerful metas are held with no hope of escape.
WAR IS COMING:
Meanwhile in a facility somewhere, Agent Odell monitors several metas including Issa, Wendy, and Khalil, who apparently never made it into his grave. He then shows up at the Pierce home interrupting a nice family moment. They tell him to leave, but he refuses as he has important information. Odell creepily reveals that he knows who and what they are and that the Markovians are preparing for war. He tells them that the Markovians have Jace has the biggest stockpile of meta-humans and perceive Freeland as a threat due to the city’s own high concentration of metas. Odell warns them that the city will be ground zero for a all out war with the Markovians.
Overall, this was an enjoyable finale for a disjointed season. This season in some ways improved upon the first, but in other ways went off the rails. The show leans into the family aspect which remains strong, but the superheroics lacked a bit in my opinion. I feel like the season suffered a bit from introducing too many storylines. The finale manages to wrap them all up, but the journey there was a bit disjointed. Regardless, I still enjoyed the season, though prefer the first season. I am still looking forward to next season to see where this Markovian storyline goes as well as Jen’s journey to becoming a hero.
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