While I certainly don’t see them becoming friends and bonding over their similar trauma, I think this could ultimately be a factor, maybe even the deciding one, in Ryan choosing not to kill Alice. Unless they go for the unlikely and unpopular route of actually killing off arguably the most beloved character, Ryan’s journey of vengeance will only end in one way – choosing to spare Alice. The real question will be what leads her to that decision, and something like this playing a role could make it more interesting than the typical “If I kill the villain, I’m no better than them” logic we usually see in situations like this. Not that that’s bad logic, it’s just been done enough times that I’d definitely prefer to see something else play out. While sparing Alice might not necessarily mean Ryan has forgiven her for killing her mom, seeing the humanity and brokenness deep underneath Alice’s layers of homicidal insanity could be just enough to make Ryan realize that Alice might not deserve to die. Even if it just creates a bit of doubt in her mind, that could be all it takes to let her live
While I certainly wouldn’t be completely opposed to Ryan following in Kate’s footsteps in this way, I feel like it might ultimately be better for Ryan to have one solid love interest at a time. Not only would it be something different, but focusing on just 1 other woman at a time could help provide a better sense of focus as the show goes on. Granted, I did think the show did a good job of balancing Sophie, Julia and Reagan’s romantic involvement w/ Kate last season, but I feel like a general lack of focus is more likely to be a problem as these shows go on, so I think it’s worth considering. Granted, I’m not really sure that Angelique is going to be that person for Ryan, especially considering that Caroline Dries actually said that we should be worried about her return since Ryan has such a strong weakness for her. But regardless of whether or not she sticks around, I think that method is still the way to go while also continuing to develop other aspects of Ryan’s character
Though Sophie’s certainly still right to want to get to Kate before Alice, I also think that Alice still has more love for her sister than she’s leading on, even if she doesn’t realize it. I think the scene where she was going on for a bit about what Sophie would want her to say about Kate was actually pretty telling. Sure, she’d present it as being sarcastic on the surface and essentially saying that she feels the complete opposite of what she’s saying out loud. But that’d be more convincing if she stopped at “That I miss my sister more than anything?” She didn’t need the other lines to sell her act, and I think that you started seeing her façade of revenge starting to come down just a bit. The way Rachel Skarsten delivered that scene w/ some subtle inflections in Alice’s face and voice really looked to me like someone who was in fact starting to regret her path, but who was also so far down it and hasn’t yet properly dealt w/ her still-present anger toward Kate to actually deviate from it…yet. Since we’re set to find out more about what happened to Alice on Coryana, re-discovering her past could end up playing a big role in deciding what kind of future she really wants for herself
For that reason and several others, I’m really starting to believe that could end up being the case by the end of the season. Though I’m certainly yelling at Jeff in my head to calm down and take a step back before he goes too far, I also have to admit that this is definitely an effective way to showcase how deep his trauma and hurt goes. The Black Lightning of past seasons would never consider acting like this, but it’s also very much indicative of everything he’s lost. But he needs to get his head on straight or else his secret identity will be a thing of the past. Aside from those initial 2 threats, you’ve also got Tobias out there who could expose the entire Pierce family at any time as part of his elaborate revenge against them. Not to mention you’ve also got an entire police force looking to track all metas, which puts him, Anissa and Jen all at risk of being exposed
While I certainly do want him to suit up again at some point this season, his identity being exposed could still be how he’s essentially written out of the Arrowverse after this season. Perhaps it could be in a way that’ll still allow him to continue on as Jefferson Pierce, but force him to hang up the Black Lightning mantle for good. While I certainly wouldn’t have wanted that to be the case right after season 3, knowing now that the show is gonna end anyway, I think fully retiring as a superhero and re-dedicating himself to his family could actually be a good way to wrap everything up
I mainly bring this up because I’m starting to become increasingly convinced that this was actually a last-minute change. I already discussed some of the reasons why I thought the year-long gap seemed weird last week, and that continued to grow this week. The moment that particularly got me was when Jen said that “we just finished a war.” Now I know that a year can go by quickly (2020 is certainly proof of that), but I fail to see how an entire year is the same as something having “just” happened. You wouldn’t say that the pandemic “just” started, right? It’s a growing number of moments like this that don’t quite add up that make me think that either the producers decided on this update or they received some sort of mandate from the studio after they were well into production. Regardless of the exact circumstances, there’s just too much of this that isn’t quite adding up