Jefferson struggles with the effects on his family, leading to a decision with tragic consequences. Meanwhile, Anissa's identity is threatened. Lastly, Agent Odell takes an important step toward winning over Jennifer.
- Bait-and-Switch: Henderson appears to be falling back into his old ways, arresting Two-Bits and Reverend Holt for resisting the ASA... then it turns out that he himself is part of a resistance and he wants them all to join forces.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Khalil easily dispatches the two ASA operatives sparring with him at the beginning. He even would've killed one of them via a poisonous Pressure Point attack, had Odell not stepped in.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Poor Tavon gets poisoned trying to defend Anissa from Khalil and dies shortly afterwards.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Lynn has one in her dreams, coming to the conclusion that a certain protein is the key to stabilze the meta gene. Said protein can only be extracted from Tobias Whale, as he is the only one who survived taking the serum creating it, the same serum giving him his abilities.
- Failed a Spot Check: Anissa apparently fails to notice that her assailant is a mysteriously resurrected Khalil. Then again, it is dark out and he is wearing sunglasses at the time.
- Hannibal Lecture: Tobias gives Lynn one, while admiring her work and making inappropriate remarks towards her, as well as deducing that her husband is Black Lightning. While she is initially unnerved by it, she later tells him to shut up and painfully injects him.
- He's Back!: Downplayed with Tobias. He does get restored to his appearance from the first two seasons and presumably gets his other abilities like Super-Strength back as well, but he's still in ASA custody and Lynn has indicated to Odell that she wants him killed.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Henderson has to give out a bounty on Blackbird, much to the dismay of Freeland's population. However, he later reveals himself to be planning the resistance.
- I Warned You: Anissa told her dad it was a bad idea to bring Tavon back to his parents.
- Internal Reveal: Odell finds out that Anissa is Blackbird. Or at least he does and then gets later (seemingly) fooled by Grace posing as Anissa while Blackbird is in the field.
- Kick the Dog: After a display of civil disobedience from the students and Jefferson, a bunch of ASA operatives beat the latter senseless.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed. Lynn appears to have a very minor moment of this when it dawns on her that she basically just told Odell she wanted him to kill Tobias. Maybe mixed with Face–Heel Turn, depending on how this plot line plays out.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jefferson insisting that Anissa brings Tavon back to his parents from the safezone gets the boy killed.
- Produce Pelting: Two-Bits throws a tomato at Henderson after the latter publically announces Blackbird is now wanted by the police. Henderson later uses this as a reason to arrest Two-Bits, even presenting him the tomato as evidence.
- Power Incontinence: Jennifer has a huge one after the sleepless night, frying every computer in her classroom.
- The Reveal:
- Brandon turns out to be a meta too. Presumably, he was the meta the ASA was searching for.
- Henderson is the head of the anti-ASA resistance.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Tavon was apparently "swatted" (the term is directly used by his dad), as he has no metagene.
- Shout-Out: Painkiller makes reference to the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.
- Spoiler Title: The episode is called "Requiem for Tavon". Guess what happens by the end?
- Spotting the Thread: Tobias has deduced Black Lightning's identity, primarily from how he always showed up to protect Jefferson Pierce's daughters.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Lynn demands that Odell deals with Tobias (who got restored to full strength) after they no longer need him for the protein extraction.
