The Ending Of Black Lightning Season 4 Explained

"Black Lightning" is unusual for superhero shows in that the superhero's personal life is arguably more important than their crime fighting. Jefferson Pierce has been trying to leave behind his past as a superhero because of the toll it's taken on his family, yet he has no choice but to resume his Black Lightning alter ego and protect his town of Freeland.

In the Season 4 finale, Jefferson is finally able to retire like he's always wanted to and focus on his relationship with his ex-wife Christine, who's decided to get back together with him. He's able to do this because he's spent the past four seasons training Freeland's next generation of superheroes, including his daughters Anissa and Jennifer.

But it's not exactly a happy ending. "Black Lightning" was supposed to last five seasons, and the fifth would have seen Jefferson and his family get a truly happy send-off.

"[In Season 5] I wanted to then go into the idea of a cohesive, beautiful working relationship between [the Pierce family], where we get rid of the tension and get to focus on the idea of actually saving the city and cleaning it up," Showrunner Salim Akil explained to Entertainment Weekly. "I wanted to see Freeland cleaned up, and I was really looking forward to the viewers being able to see how a person would go about it."

It's nice to know that Jefferson would have gotten where he needed to go, but fans probably would have appreciated actually seeing it.