The family reel as it becomes apparent Jennifer has left. Lynn comes apart at the seams, Gambi comes back from the dead and Jennifer and Khalil come into some money.

It’s a testament to how great the show has been from the jump off that an average episode feels like a bad one and that’s the case here. A surprising amount happens, we get a new villain, some welcome background on Khalil and some fun hints that Jefferson and Anissa are about to have a wildly different relationship. But we also get it in a manner that feels a lot like marking time.

The family stuff first. Jefferson and Anissa butting heads is overdue and has been neatly signposted all season. It’s nice too that Gambi sees and acknowledges it, first through working with Anissa on her off the books missions and secondly with giving her the motorbike. Jefferson may not see anyone but his daughter, but Gambi sure does.

The flip side to that is that Jefferson and Lynn spend a good chunk of this episode coming across as pretty whiny. Lynn trashing Jennifer’s room feels, if not unearned, then certainly not the actions of a remarkably together doctor. Likewise Jefferson going full grumpy dad feels just a touch in service of the plot rather than generating it.

Thankfully, the Jennifer and Khalil stuff has some snap to it. The opening raid that goes badly wrong shows how out of his depth Khalil is. The closing fight again demonstrates that while they’re acting smartly they’re also not thinking. This has the look of imminent tragedy to it and while I suspect Khalil may be the character to die, Jennifer isn’t off the table quite yet. In any other show I’d be worried about fridging. Here, even in one of its weakest episodes, Black Lightning earns a pass.

Verdict: Like I say it’s not that it’s a bad episode, it’s just that it’s the first one that isn’t as good as its predecessors. A minor stumble but nothing more. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart