'Black Lightning' season 2 episode 1 review: Jefferson caught between Anissa's recklessness and Tobias' rage
‘Black Lightning’ returned with the season 2 premiere titled 'The Book of Consequences: Chapter One: Rise of the Green Light Babies' on Tuesday, October 10. The new season continues to build on the groundwork that season 1 laid, especially in terms of representing the black communities of the country and their day-to-day problems. The very title of the episode is a clear indication of this, with “Green Light Babies” referencing the commonly used "Crack baby," which was coined in black neighborhoods during the 1980s and 1990s, to describe children who were exposed to crack (freebase cocaine in smokable form) as fetuses.
In one of the most memorable scenes from the premiere, Issa Williams, one of the ‘Green Light’ babies whose metahuman powers get exposed, gets swarmed by police officers, who put him in a chokehold and kills him. The crowd gathered can do nothing but remains helpless bystanders. The scene is eerily similar to the lynching of Eric Garner, who was killed at the hands of New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo.