Jennifer Pierce from Black Lightning
I know you’re all surprised that of the two Pierce sisters, I’m going with Jennifer instead of Anissa as November’s Woman of the Month. After all, Anissa is the fierce, ass-kicking lesbian who embraces her preternatural abilities and goes out to fight crime every night. Jennifer... is a teenage girl who mostly just wants to be left alone.
And yet, as I make my way through the four seasons of Black Lightning, I find myself relating more to Jen. Even without the eventual lightning powers, the show gives her an interesting setup: as the daughter of the high school principal, she’s a target of attention and speculation (anathema to a teenage girl) that culminates in her getting the nickname “Queen of Garfield.”
On top of that, she’s shouldering her parents’ expectations that she’ll behave as a model student, setting an example for her peers. Most teenagers go through their rebellious phase, but Jennifer is living under too close a scrutiny for her to try anything too drastic.
When her abilities do start to kick in, she’s more realistically reticent about them than her older sister. In her eyes, they’re just another thing in her life that separates her from her friends and classmates, though she’s also concerned about the biological and ethical implications: how are they affecting her body? Will they prevent her from having children one day? Does this mean she’s morally obligated to join the family business of crime-fighting?
It’s an angle that’s not usually taken in superhero dramas, in which most protagonists can’t wait to get out there and start beating up bank robbers. That Jennifer’s arc takes a longer route through the metaphorical forest makes it all the more rewarding when she finally dons the suit – and even then, she’s still in the midst of figuring things out.
As I’m currently at the halfway point of season three, I’ve yet to find out if there are going to be any changes to the timeline post-Crisis, or how the situation with Odell (a sinister government agent manipulating her for his own ends) will resolve itself. But China Anne McClain nails the teenage girl vibe: somewhere between having a deep emotional investment in the world around her, and no small degree of pertness when it comes to getting her own way.
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