Black Lightning “Painkiller” Review

Season 4 Episode 7 “Grace is abducted while she and Anissa go to Akashic Valley for their honeymoon, and Khalil goes looking for Grace.”

What I Liked?

1. We start the episode off by seeing Anissa and Grace heading off on their honeymoon to Akashic Valley, They arrive at a club where Grace ends up being kidnapped and Anissa incapacitated by Painkiller. This was a great scene because while this was happening, the new versions inside of Khalil’s brain, him and the Painkiller side of him are arguing about who’s in control which leads to a fight in which Khalil gets the best and regains control so to speak.

2. We find out some backstory on what has been happening with Khalil since he left Black Lightning. We come to learn that he found someone who worked for the ASA and became a drunk, Khalil saved him so he repaid him in information on a stash of money that the ASA owned. Khalil took that money, saved the worker, and bought a club as well as a lab to find out how to fix his brain.

3. Khalil agrees to find Grace for Anissa while she’s out of action, he goes to a place where he ends up finding a group of kids hooked up to machines in which their minds are very similar to Khalil’s, he kills the guard and steals the laptops while his team informs the police about the kids.

4. Grace ends up freeing herself after her “cheetah” side comes out. While the building is on a self destruct timer she ends up bumping into Painkiller who informs her that he’s here to free her for Anissa and that she needs to leave the building while he goes to get some technology. Painkillers team arrives with Anissa and they plead with Painkiller to leave the building.

5. Painkiller has a really great scene here, while inside the building he goes to get into an elevator and he sees the Khalil version, they speak about a lot of things but one thing that stood out is that Painkiller said he was tired and could just end it all right now, Khalil pleads with him about trusting one another, the two come to an understanding about trusting each other and finding out how to fix this issue both of them are having.

6. We learn that this “Maya” villain is actually ASA Odell’s daughter who actually knows about Painkiller being in the city. This is a great way to end the story between Khalil and Odell throughout this spin-off series.

What I Disliked?

Absolutely nothing.

Favorite Moment

Khalil finds the building where Grace is being held, he enters and immediately gets guns pointed at him, he makes a deal with Painkiller that if it gets too much to handle that Painkiller can finish it off, they agree so Khalil starts taking out the guards, while he has a guard on his back he’s using it as a shield to protect himself from bullets, he tells Painkiller its time to come out, Painkiller takes control and immediately destroys everyone. This was a brutal scene.

Standout Character

Khalil/Painkiller.

The Verdict

An absolutely perfect pilot for the Painkiller series. I believe Jordan Calloway absolutely smashed it in this series and has always been such an incredible Khalil/Painkiller. If this has set the bar for the series then I’m 1000% in. The episode was great, one of the best Black Lightning episodes. Really impressive.

Rating: 10/10

Photo: Black Lightning Season 4 Episode 7 “Painkiller”