Black Lightning Review: The Book of Reunification: Chapter One (Season 4 Episode 10)

The powerless Pierce family may have lost their special abilities, but they refuse to give up hope. They rely on what they still have to help them regain the upper hand. Will their bonds be enough to get them through the toughest fight of their lives?

Black Lightning Season 4 Episode 10, “The Book of Reunification: Chapter One,” continues to put Jen, Anyssa, Lynn, and Jefferson through different trials causing them all to react differently within their emotional spectrum. True to life, a loss of something that has come to define us can cause turbulence in every relationship we have.

As Black Lightning Season 4 Episode 9 ended, we saw Lynn being thrown in jail due to Tobias Whale’s manipulation. Out of desperation, Lynn teams up with her daughter, Anyssa, to contact an old friend of hers.

Keith is a high-profile lawyer with a good track record of clearing his client’s name, unfortunately, he is also Lynn’s ex. This rubs Jefferson the wrong way, but who can blame him? The poor bloke has lost his powers and the faith of his wife within twenty-four hours of each other.

Jefferson’s feelings aside, Lynn makes the right decision here. She puts her family’s ego on the back burner and reaches out for help where she is most likely to get it. Keith’s feelings for her have nothing to do with the current situation and really shouldn’t affect the outcome of the predicament.

By putting her pride aside, Lynn places herself in a better position. Likewise, we should do the same. Never be afraid to reach out for help — even if it isn’t on the best of terms.

Negative circumstances are going to affect us either way. We might as well use them to help us grow in a positive direction.

Aside from relying on the past, the Pierce family continues to depend on their family and neighbors to get them out of immediate danger.

Jen’s plummet from the sky was probably the scariest cliffhanger we were left with from the last episode. There is no way for her to stop her rapid descent from the highest of highs. With the asphalt coming closer and closer to her precious skull, Jen realizes there is absolutely nothing she can do to save herself.

Little does she know, she doesn’t need to do anything. Her friends have been working behind the scenes to save her the entire time.

This is why it is important to choose the proper company we have in life. If we choose to live amongst fairweather friends and backstabbing idiots, we are dooming ourselves to a fuzzy future. 

But if we align ourselves with good people — those who have our best intentions at heart — we can trust them for backup in the most dangerous of moments. 

This is not only apparent when Jen’s super suit saves her with a giant bubble, but also when Grace tackles Anyssa out of the path of a speeding car. Both daughters are saved with only seconds to spare — and it is from none of their own abilities. 

Sometimes what is happening behind the scenes is more important than what is going on right in front of our faces. Our backup is there for a reason — know who and where they are at all times.

Once the entire Pierce family is out of harm’s way, they reunite in The Sanctum to hash out all the information they can about what is going on.

They know they have lost their powers, they know Tobias is somehow behind it, and they know this all means the worst for Freeland. Each member of the Pierce family puts in their two cents about the scenario, creating a sort of thinktank to piece together each element of the puzzle.

Although none of them have the complete story fleshed out, their shared information fills in the gaps of the narrative, creating a word picture of what it all means and where it is going next. 

Anyssa: This is who I am. This is who we are.

Just because the Pierce family has no superpowers at the moment doesn’t mean they have lost every ability to outwit their nemesis. Their intelligence is something that is always with them — a gift God has given every man and woman.

Honestly, we all have varying degrees of intelligence. One person knows a lot about physics, while another knows a lot about cars. The blessed ability to share knowledge makes us stronger as a whole.

I can make up for the gap in the knowledge you have, and you can fill me in on the minute details that I overlooked in the first place. Together, we can outsmart many problems that come our way.

This is exactly what the Pierce family does. They combine their mental strengths to move forward because a well-informed unit is always better than a singular cell. 

To prove the point, later on in the episode Jen uses the information she learns in their little pow-wow to form a plan of her own.

The knowledge her father shared with the family gets Jen’s brain working in a different direction than it normally does. She realizes that all she needs is a jump start to her powers to get them back.

This perfectly illustrates that the more information we have, the better decisions we can make. 

With Jen’s superpowers restored, the Pierce family now has an advantage they didn’t have at the beginning of the episode. They could have given up and wallowed in their misery, allowing Tobias to destroy their lives and Freeland as well. Instead, they came together combining what they still had to overcome the immediate obstacles.

Their past, their relationships, and the intelligence spell out a different outcome than what Tobias has laid in front of them. These are their true superpowers, not the ones that Tobias took away, but the ones they forged themselves by living lives of integrity. 

As the last episode ended with despair, this one ends with a refreshing dose of hope. Although not everything is hunky-dory, it feels as though positive change has been set into motion. Hopefully, the bleakness of the season has begun to deteriorate to a degree that a happy ending is inevitable. 

The Pierce family is in dire need of peace — if only for a little while.

What did you think of this episode of Black Lightning? What did Jen leave behind in the ionosphere? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Black Lightning airs Mondays at 9/8c on The CW.

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