- [Black Lightning walks up to Lala's apartment building]
- Doorman: Black Lightning, my man!
- Black Lightning: Lala. What floor?
- Doorman: Penthouse.
- [opens the door]
- Black Lightning: Thanks, bruh.
- [Black Lightning has just taken down some of Lala's thugs]
- Elevator Operator: I got you.
- Black Lightning: Nah, I'ma take the stairs.
- [knees a thug in the face]
- Black Lightning: I'm just gettin' back into this. Brother needs all the exercise he can get.
- Reverend Jeremiah Holt: There's no doubt that Black Lightning is back, but the question is: why? Why now? If Brother Lightning is back because he's committed to helping the people, then I'm all for it. If he's back just for some personal vendetta, I can't condone that. Giving the people of Freeland false hope is selfish and it's cruel. The people of Freeland have been victimized. I believe he's the answer to our prayers.
- Jefferson Pierce: [upon watching a news report on Lawanda's death] What good did it do, Lynn? She was my student!
- [Jeff shuts off the TV and throws the remote onto the bed]
- Jefferson Pierce: I-I had a fantasy that, when they leave me, their lives are better, they they could transcend this neighborhood, city, world. Yeah. "I saved more lives as the principal of Garfield High than I ever did as Black Lightning."
- Lynn Pierce: It's true, Jeff.
- Jefferson Pierce: It's a lie! Lawanda is dead!
- Lynn Pierce: She is, I know. I know, and it hurts. I understand and I can feel it, too...
- Jefferson Pierce: But I could have saved her. I could see so many. I've lived a lie. Living in the hopes that you and me and the girls could somehow live behind a white picket fence! A normal life! I'm not normal! Never have been, never will be!
- Lynn Pierce: Jeff, listen to me! This is the addiction talking! It's the addiction
- Jefferson Pierce: There is no damn addiction! Do you remember what you said when we discovered my powers? You said it was a gift, a blessing from God. It's still a gift. It's my blessing from God and I intend to use it, not just for the girls, but for all the other people out there who need me.
- Lynn Pierce: Jefferson, please. We are so close to putting the pieces of out lives together.
- Jefferson Pierce: Yeah, we are. Maybe. No more maybes for me, Lynn. It is time that people know that Black Lightning is back.
- [Lynn enters Gambi's]
- Lynn Pierce: I forgot how warm and beautiful this place is. You know how this ends, right?
- Peter Gambi: Same way it always ends for everyone, Lynn, None of us get out of here alive.
- Lynn Pierce: He was happy.
- Peter Gambi: But what kind of happy? Happy like a lion in a cage? King of the zoo, not of the jungle?
- Lynn Pierce: Happy like a man who was at peace just being Jefferson Pierce.
- Peter Gambi: But he isn't just Jefferson Pierce. He's so much more than that and you know that better than anyone.
- Lynn Pierce: I do and that's why I want you to stop him before he gets addicted again.
- Peter Gambi: We have a difference of opinion on that. I don't believe Jefferson was ever addicted to his powers. He was in a war to save this city and its people and he was winning! Then, he suddenly stopped because he was addicted to you. And now look at the condition of this city and its people. It's complete chaos.
- Lynn Pierce: Sounds like you're blaming me for the chaos.
- Peter Gambi: A little, just like you blamed me, then and now, but, ultimately, it is Jefferson's choice what he does with his powers.
- [Lynn leaves]
- [Police on his payroll let Tobias and Syonide into Lala's cell]
- Tobias Whale: Lala. You shot somebody's mama?
- [removes his sunglasses and hands them to Syonide]
- Tobias Whale: Any man that'd do that has no morals, no principles to live by, which means there's nothing you're not capable of, including becoming a rat.
- [grabs Lala by the throat and starts strangling him until he dies]
- Lala: Damn, boss. You really do hate black people.
- Tobias Whale: No, I love black people. I hate incompetent, thick-lipped, scratch-where-it-don't-itch Negroes like you.
- Jefferson Pierce: You know, I heard someone say that, if there's a war for the streets of Freeland, the 100 are winning. But, here at Garfield, we are not fighting for the streets. No, we are fighting for the minds, the hopes and the dreams of our children.
- Father: Them's some real pretty words, Mr. Pierce, but pretty words ain't gonna stop the 100!
- Jefferson Pierce: Dr. King said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. And I believe...
- Father: And they shot Dr. King in the head, Mr. Pierce!