By: Kay-B
Lynn Stewart, created by Tony Isabella with Trevor von Eeden, is not only a brilliant scientist, mother, and wife, but she’s a protector, innovator and so much more. This season of Black Lightning, Lynn continues to not disappoint and she’s going on a new journey that Christine Adams (Pushing Daisies, Batman Begins) chatted with The Beat about on our set visit!
Is Lynn a drug addict and completely lost? Lynn is going down a dark path this season that not only impacts her relationship with Jefferson but also her work too. Her drug usage is forcing her to keep everything from Jefferson and it is getting increasingly harder for her to maintain that. Right now, she’s hiding her drug usage behind the scientific research and her belief that her going down this path is ultimately to save people. On this Adams shared: “At the end of season two, Lynn felt like she failed. So, going into this season, it’s become clear who the puppet master is and Lynn doesn’t know how far back he has been poisoning her. She’s been made to believe that she’s controlling the ship and she’s not.” She continued: “She’s irrationally rational and always driven by the desire to fix the problem. She’s got the kids in cages, she doesn’t know where her daughters are or if they are in danger, and she wants to stabilize the rest of the pod kids. Green light is clouding her judgment and she’s not in her right mind.”
And are these drugs killing her or altering her DNA and ushering her into superhero-dom? Adams told us: “I can’t say but if you keep watching, I think we will certainly be trying to answer that question. I think right now, it’s not as simple as she’s just on drugs. It more than that, and there is something in that drug that is allowing her to keep solving the mystery.” She continued: “So, in a sense, the thing that she is addicted to, is the ability to get closer to the answer.”
While Agent Odell may be using Lynn onscreen, Bill Duke couldn’t be further from his character. On working with the living legend, Adams said: “I mean Bill is just a legend. I watch him and I listen to him. He makes it so easy because he’s a very minimal actor. He doesn’t have to do very much for everyone to shut up and listen. He cares about performance, and he cares about what you’re doing. He wants to run lines with you, he’s a real actor and he cares about the craft. He’s never taken it for granted, and he’s just so happy to have a job.”
With so much happening for the characters, they can’t help but notice the parallels between reality and the show. On this, Adams told us: ‘We’ve always touched on things that are happening in American from day one. We have a show about a family in America at this particular time and so, we have to touch on these issues. It would be weird and would be wrong not to talk about them. What we’re trying to do is document a culture that is real and relevant, so that in years to come we have people that say “I will watch that with my kids.” I’m so happy that we managed to find a way to tell them in a very unique and unusual way.”
She continued: “I don’t think it’s possible to repeat what we’re doing. I don’t think anyone else has done what we’ve done. I think Black Lightning exists in this very specific world of the social justice superheroes. Some audience members may get it-it might be a song, or a book that is shown, or even the hairstyles, all a nod to black culture.”
With Crisis on Infinite Earths happening in less than a week, we know from the comics that everything will become one world. Adams tells us of Crisis’s potential implications on the city and citizens of Freeland: “For the first two seasons, we existed solely in the world of Freeland, navigating the high school, the 100, Marvin and more. Now, we’ve moved into Infinite Earths. I hope we can find a balance and a way to straddle the two-maintaining Freeland but also this new territory. I do think that this season will be a season of discovery and I hope our audience will continue to go on this journey with us because we’ve created something really special. As far as specific ramifications of Crisis, that I don’t know yet, but when season 4 rolls around, I want the audience to say “it worked!””
Guess, we’ll have to see just how Freeland morphs and changes post-Crisis, as well as, how the rest of Lynn’s journey unfolds, as we keep tuning into Black Lighting, only on the CW! And make sure you check out our previous Black Lightning coverage here at The Beat.
Thanks so much for getting the credit right, But, more so, thanks for all the great Black Lightning coverage. The show is amazing and I look forward to visiting the set again before the end of this season.
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