Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Dr. King. And I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Fannie Lou Hamer.
All S1
S1 E15Unfinished Business
Where's the future?
SStudents
Right here.
And whose life is this?
SStudents
Mine.
And what are you gonna do with it?
SStudents
Live it by any means necessary.
Heard your daughter got arrested tonight. It's not a good look, Jeff.
My daughter? Oh, you're funny. We have joint custody, which means half of her attitude is your responsibility.
Jeff, Anissa has not been in our custody for quite some time now. Now, I know it's hard for you to swallow, but she's not a child anymore. She's a grown woman.
Yeah, legally true. But, emotionally and financially, she is still in my care, and always in my wallet.
Do you remember why you became Black Lightning? You wanted to give the people hope. You wanted the evil that's out there to have something to fear. Right now, there's nothing to fear, and evil's running rampant like a plague through this city! Hell, through this world!
Okay, you know what? Let's cut through the poetry, and just talk real. Now, the purpose of Black Lightning was to kill Tobias, for literally shoving my father's articles down his throat until he died. Then it was because of crime bosses, crooked politicians, every small-time street thug that had snatched a purse or robbed a store! You see, there's no end, Gambi. There's no bottom for Black Lightning. And the only loser in all of it is... me. I feel like Lynn and I are making room for a possibility of a reconciliation. Do you hear me? I have a shot at putting my family back together. Black Lightning is not going to jeopardize that.
I love Lynn and those girls, but we knew this day would come. Jefferson, I've known you since you were 12-years-old, you're like my son. So I have to tell you the truth. The promise you made Lynn was well intentioned, but it always had an expiration date.
KFKara Fowdy
Jefferson, it's not about the metal detectors. It's about the safety of the students.
The safety of the students?
KKara
Yes!
Is that what they told you? Look, I will not treat my students like criminals. Do you realize almost all of these kids know someone in prison? Yeah, their mothers or fathers, or aunties, uncles. Now, I will not turn my school into another jail, Kara.
You know, I heard someone say that "if there's a war for the streets of Freeland, The 100 are winning." But here at Garfield, we are not fighting for the streets. No, we are fighting for the minds, the hopes, and the dreams of our children.
PParent
Them some really pretty words, Mr. Pierce, but pretty words ain't gonna stop The 100.
Dr. King said "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," and I believe–
PParent
And they shot Dr. King in the head, Mr. Pierce!
[watching the news about LaWanda's death] What good did it do, Lynn? She was my student. Now, I had a fantasy, that when they leave me, their lives are better. That they could transcend this neighborhood, this city, world. Yeah, I save more lives as the principal of Garfield High than I ever did as Black Lightning.
It's true.
It's a lie! LaWanda is dead!
She is, I know. I know, and it hurts, and I understand. I feel it too!
But I could've saved her. I could save so many. I've been living a lie, living in the hopes that you and me and the girls could somehow live behind a white picket fence. A normal life. I'm not normal. Never have been! Never will be!
Jeff, listen to! This is the addiction talking.
THERE IS NO DAMN ADDICTION! Do you remember what you said? When we discovered my powers? You said "it was a gift, a blessing from God." It's still a gift, it's still a blessing from God. And I intend to use it. Not just for the girls, but for all the other people out there, who need me.
Jefferson, please, we are so close to putting the pieces of our lives back together.
Yeah, we are. Maybe. No more maybes for me, Lynn. It is time that people know that Black Lightning is back.
Hi.
You, wha'chu doing here?
YOLO.
What?
You only live once. [pulls a bottle of alcohol out of her bag and starts drinking]
What, so you're drinking now? At school? [takes the bottle from her] It's not cool, J. [throws the bottle away]
Khalil, calm down. I just wanted to ask you something.
Look, I'm not going to calm down. Look, you saw and went through some craziness, I get it. But that is not the way to deal with it. I've seen it all, J. Brother shot and killed, father in jail, momma working her damn ass off, just to provide. Yeah, I live the life that rappers talk about, and ain't none of it cute. None of it. But you know what? God gave me a gift. I can run fast. So I'm gonna run my black ass straight up outta here, and I ain't looking back. But I want you to come with me. But not like this. No, that is going backwards, and I can't do that.
I just see the world completely different now.
Oh, I got'chu. Really, I do. That's just growing up. Come here, J.
You know how this ends, right?
The same way it always ends for everyone, Lynn. None of us get out of here alive.
He was happy!
But what kind of happy? Happy like a lion in a cage? King of the zoo, not of the jungle?
Happy like a man who was at peace just being Jefferson Pierce.
But he isn't just Jefferson Pierce. He's so much more than that.
I do. And that's why I want you to stop him before he gets addicted again.
We have a difference of opinion on that. I don't believe Jefferson was ever addicted to his powers. He was in a war to save this city and its people. And he was winning! Then he suddenly stopped, because he was addicted to you. And now look at the condition of this city and its people. It's complete chaos.
It sounds like you're blaming me for the chaos.
A little. Just like you blame me, then and now. But ultimately, it's Jefferson's choice what he does with his powers.
[Police on his payroll let Tobias and Syonide into Lala's cell]
Lala. You shot somebody's mama? [removes his sunglasses and hands them to Syonide] Any man that'd do that has no morals, no principles to live by, which means there's nothing you're not capable of, including becoming a rat. [grabs Lala by the throat and starts strangling him until he dies]
RJReverend Jeremiah Holt
What, those crooked cops send you down here like the overseer? Put the slaves in check? Huh?
While you're up in the pulpit with a $25,000 watch on, wiping your forehead with a silk handkerchief, I'm scraping young black men's bodies off the concrete. The street IS my pulpit. I wear work shoes, what kind of shoes you wear, Reverend?
Only one squad car can work the march.
What? But that's almost guaranteed that someone's gonna get killed. Where did these orders come from?
No one will say. I asked my commander, and then the chief, and eventually I tapped out at the deputy mayor's office when she wouldn't return my phone call.
Somebody's setting him up.
Jeff, you gotta talk to him, try and convince him to cancel, reschedule, take a vacation.
No, I tried, after you walked out. He won't do it. He's... he's been inspired.
By what?
Black Lightning.
Black Lightning. Like I don't have enough damn problems. He's gonna get us all killed.
Then that means you can go to the march with me. Because I've never been to one, and you're the pro here.
Hmm, I don't think I want to go to the Reverend's march.
The girl with the marching shoes? And the frequent marches card doesn't want to go to the march? What's going on with 'chu?
I'm just tired of walking around with a sign, trying to change people's hearts. I want to do more.
Fine, well don't think of it as marching. Think of it as being with your sister, something you've forgotten how to do.
Okay. I'll go with you.
Now, if they just want to kill Holt, it'll likely be a single gunman, waiting to taking him out at his most public moment. But that's not what I'd do.
I hate it when you play the "most not likely scenario game".
The 100 doesn't want to be in the martyr-making business. They want to be in the fear business.
So kill marchers.
Exactly. If you put poison in aspirin, people stop buying aspirin. If you make it deadly to protest...
People live with their misery rather than dying trying to change it.
[seeing Black Lightning with the protestors as they sing "Amazing Grace"] No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! He's supposed to be dead! He's supposed to be dead! Are they singing? They are singing! That's why I hate these church going Negros, always singing and praying, praying and singing! They all want to go to heaven, but don't none of them want to die!
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Black Lightning pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.