Black Lightning on CW tonight

[Hermit]

 

 

Please tell me I won't be the only one watching this

[Armory]

I may not watch it tonight but I'm recording it.

[Starlord]

Seen the trailers for the last couple weeks, it doesn't...look good

[slikmar]

ditto what armory said.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Reading some positive reviews, but these days its hard to know if reviewers like something because its actually good or because they feel like they're supposed to like it.

[Armory]

The local CW station was pimping the crap out of it this morning, so somebody at the network really wants it to work.

 

I too am unsure about the look (the glowing almost-codpiece, for one thing) but I'm willing to give it a shot.  I like the premise of a retired hero being pressured back into action, although a backstory like that pretty much guarantees he's not in the main Arrowverse, since nobody there (nor in Supergirl's universe) has ever mentioned him.

[Spence]

It is on too late for me to see tonight, but I'll record it and see tomorrow.   I recall the comic and it was actually pretty good.  I stopped reading it when they pretty much stopped writing comics at all.    It was pretty sad and they have never tried to recover. 

Instead of superhero comics we get pelted with blood splatter gore or lead fisted social justice agenda that usually has nothing to do with the actual story, if they bother to actually have a story.     

 

Black Lighting has a lot of potential and was a great character in the original issues.  If they actually read the original story and craft the show along those lines it could be great, but I doubt it will stand a chance of making it.   

 

I give it even odds the show will be wasted on a really bad, not really thought through, off the hip "ripped from the headlines" fiasco and cancelled after Season One.   If it is bad it will definitely get at least one full season to try and avert social hate speak attacks.

 

But I'd really like to see the actual BL presented as originally envisioned in issues 1-10.

[Bazza]

Season is 13 episodes. 

[Psybolt]

I thought it was really good. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Black Lightning is a pretty blank template for the to work from, so they can make him whatever they want.  I mean he's been around for decades, but  never a real distinctive, well known or established character despite having pretty cool powers and look.  I loved that his 70's costume included a big badass fro in the hood, but they probably won't be using that.

[Old Man]

Just caught most of this.  I liked it.  It's not Shakespeare but it's decently written, acted, and shot.  Costume is a little over the top, but people here constantly whine about costumes being too daaark and why can't it be bright like in the comiiiiiics, so maybe this time no one will complain.*

 

One wonders if BL has anything like a code vs. killing.

 

 

 

 

*

[Hermit]

I saw it all, and like Old Man and Psybolt, I liked it.

 

Acting seemed solid all around. I kind of liked the costume being over the top  Jefferson comes across as a noble man who pulls a PG rated John Wyck for reasons that any family man could understand. He's not perfect, and conflicted on some things, but you can both admire and sympathize with him. Race is an issue within the show, but let's face it, it kind of has to be. There's a DWB scene I thought was fairly well handled but I'm sure some others will consider needless. But if the writers ignored that side of things they'd pretty much get ripped for that instead.  

 

His daughters are headache one and two, the eldest very civic minded to the point of charging after windmills but also responsible. The youngest on full bad as she wants to be just to assert her independence mode. And yet they clearly love their over protective dad and are at the corner of it, good people. 

 

Tobias is a chilling villain, very polished then abrupt in his violence. Lala is a dangerous underling with an interesting connection to Jefferson.

 

And a certain Tailor is great for support motivation

 

some of the action scenes were popcorn munching fun, and I think I could get invested in this very easily.

[Pattern Ghost]

22 hours ago, Hermit said:

And a certain Tailor is great for support motivation

 

Yeah, that was my favorite scene!

 

[Cassandra]

It was okay.   I'm hoping the Thorn shows up at some point.  The social commentary was as hard to dodge as those meteors in Armageddon.

[Old Man]

Tbh I don't see how you can avoid some social commentary when the entire premise of the show is fighting inner city street crime.

 

Which reminds me, the most eyebrow-raising part of the show for me was BL's treatment of the cops who showed up at the club.

[Hermit]

From what I understand, the Driving while Black moment was based on real incidents experienced by showrunner Salim Akil/Director himself.

[Spence]

2 hours ago, Hermit said:

From what I understand, the Driving while Black moment was based on real incidents experienced by showrunner Salim Akil/Director himself.

 

Maybe.  But I think he was injecting into it and the smirking and other body language was a bit far.  Especially happening in 2017/18. 

 

Overall it has a great chance to be a hit if they turn down the melodrama a bit. 

[Cassandra]

2 hours ago, Old Man said:

Tbh I don't see how you can avoid some social commentary when the entire premise of the show is fighting inner city street crime.

 

Which reminds me, the most eyebrow-raising part of the show for me was BL's treatment of the cops who showed up at the club.

 

Yeah, they're going to have to establish the police force is corrupt, and then add a crusading detective who becomes BL's ally.

 

Maybe it could be Det. Forrest and he's killed in front of his daughter Rose, who becomes The Thorn.

[Spence]

21 minutes ago, Cassandra said:

 

Yeah, they're going to have to establish the police force is corrupt, and then add a crusading detective who becomes BL's ally.

 

Maybe it could be Det. Forrest and he's killed in front of his daughter Rose, who becomes The Thorn.

 

That would work. 

[Cassandra]

3 minutes ago, Spence said:

 

That would work. 

 

I was a huge Thorn fan when she was a back up story in Lois Lane comics.  A super heroine with a split personality was one of the better things to come out of the Bronze age.

[wcw43921]

4 hours ago, Cassandra said:

It was okay.   I'm hoping the Thorn shows up at some point.  The social commentary was as hard to dodge as those meteors in Armageddon.

 

I don't have a problem with the commentary, myself.  Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped, after all. 

 

I do like the fact that in a TV universe where most of the characters are attractive, well-groomed twenty-somethings, it is a welcome change, to my mind, to have the hero in his forties.  It may be vanity talking, but I like having him closer to my own age.

 

I also like that he can do things with his powers other than blast targets to bits.  The scene where he was levitating the punk who'd threatened his daughters earlier with his lightning bolts was impressive--even if it did break the laws of physics.  I hope to see him transform to lightning in an episode--a good way to avoid bullets.

[slikmar]

Plan to watch, but in the comics I have been struck by how much they "altered" BL's power set to mimic stuff Static did. It makes sense, very similar powers. I remember in the Static animated series him meeting BL at one point. I always figured the difference in their powers was more a matter of scale and control.

[Cassandra]

18 minutes ago, wcw43921 said:

 

I don't have a problem with the commentary, myself.  Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped, after all. 

 

I do like the fact that in a TV universe where most of the characters are attractive, well-groomed twenty-somethings, it is a welcome change, to my mind, to have the hero in his forties.  It may be vanity talking, but I like having him closer to my own age.

 

I also like that he can do things with his powers other than blast targets to bits.  The scene where he was levitating the punk who'd threatened his daughters earlier with his lightning bolts was impressive--even if it did break the laws of physics.  I hope to see him transform to lightning in an episode--a good way to avoid bullets.

 

I prefer adults like in Stargate SG-1.  They had a hilarious take on what if they replaced the cast with younger hipper actors in episode 200.

[Cassandra]

17 minutes ago, slikmar said:

Plan to watch, but in the comics I have been struck by how much they "altered" BL's power set to mimic stuff Static did. It makes sense, very similar powers. I remember in the Static animated series him meeting BL at one point. I always figured the difference in their powers was more a matter of scale and control.

 

That might be out of necessity aided by the fact most people don't know what they are.  Saturn Girl on Supergirl used telekinesis on last monday's episode which was more useful they the telepathy she had in the comics, and risk being a newer version of Deanna Troi.

[slikmar]

If anyone would actually use telepathy right in a show like this, it might not be. Being able to telepathically warn your teammates that this villain is aiming at this spot with their death beam, so move 2 feet to the right in a fraction of a second, is not a weak tactical power. Knowing your opponents every move as they think it is very useful. Also, if linked together, knowing what your own side is doing prevents almost all problems of getting in each others way. Add that to a team like the LSH or original X-Men with Marvel Girl who train together a LOT and already have maneuvers. Not having to shout out/signal said maneuvers is a great help. Problem is demonstrating it in a show. It is actually one of the things that made Superman warn everyone at one point that Martian Manhunter was more powerful then him, because he could do everything supes did plus shapeshift and use mind powers.