Jefferson Pierce gets set up for possessing the drug Green Light and cops arrest him in front of all of his students at Garfield High School.

Previously, on BLACK LIGHTNING

There’s clearly a rite of passage that every DC Comics hero that has a TV show on the CW has to go through: Getting arrested and/or having their name dragged through the mud. Oliver Queen on ARROW has been arrested and put on trial twice now, with his second ordeal still a part of this season’s arc. Barry Allen was also arrested and put on trial over on THE FLASH this season. And SUPERGIRL seems to deal with damaged public perception at least once every season. And the team on LEGENDS OF TOMORROW started off as rebels and misfits from the Time Bureau.

So it was only a matter of time before Jefferson Pierce had to deal with an arrest because of his secret identity as Black Lightning. I am a little surprised it happened so soon, but it’s always good to get that first arrest out of the way.

Pierce is the target of an investigation from the ASA, the government organization that has been using drugs to find potential metahumans in Freeland. On orders from Pierce’s vice principal at Garfield High School, Kara Fowdy, an agent of the ASA herself, corrupt cops search Pierce’s car, plant some Green Light there and arrest the school principal in front of his students. From there, the plan would be to have him transferred to a black site where the ASA could confirm he was Black Lightning and then kill him.

Fortunately for Pierce, Inspector Henderson had a bit of a grudge against the corrupt cops that set Pierce up and leveraged one against the other to get the one of the cops arrested and Pierce freed from his holding cell. Also on Pierce’s positive ledger, Peter Gambi set Thunder up with a hologram device so she could appear to be working alongside Black Lightning to trick the ASA. Fowdy bought it, but it doesn’t seem like her superiors at the ASA cared all that much.

Jefferson and Gambi are working on reestablishing their trust after the bombshells of the last few episodes, and his helping Anissa while Jefferson was in prison was a good start to bringing the two men together again. It looks like the team is back together as we head toward the final two episodes of the season. If the trailer for the next episode is any indication, business is about to pick up.