Black Lightning season 3, episode 4, “Lynn’s Ouroboros,” shows that Odell is the ultimate puppetmaster, with the rest of the Pierce family unable to escape his strings.

Last week, I stated my begrudging admiration for Agent Odell, even as I asked whether or not he might actually be a bigger and more immediate threat than the big, bad Markovians.

I mean, yes, Black Lightning keeps telling us that The Markovians are here to murder and/or enslave the metas, and we’ve been told that they’re ready to wreak havoc on Freeland — but what have we actually seen them do with our own two eyes? Nothing, really — we’ve only been told by Odell (who we know is a liar!) that they’re to be feared.

This week, I still hold that same begrudging admiration for Odell as a man who is only supremely competent at his job and willing to do whatever needs to be done to accomplish his goal.

However, the question of whether or not he’s more dangerous than the Markovian threat has been answered with “Lynn’s Ouroboros”: He definitely is.

So, while I still hold that begrudging admiration for his competence, it’s now tempered with my fear at witnessing a particular brand of ruthlessness that we really only ever see in villains.

Make no mistake — despite placing himself at the side of the Pierce family, this episode of Black Lightning frames Odell in such a way that we can’t read him as anything but a villain.

‘Black Lightning’ season 3, episode 4, ‘Lynn’s Ouroboros,’ review

An ouroboros is a symbol of a snake eating its own tail, generally thought to signify wholeness, the cycle of birth and death, or infinity.

However, the ouroboros as it refers to Lynn here doesn’t seem to take on those figurative meanings, but instead seems to describe Lynn almost literally eating herself alive in order to keep others from dying.

Black Lightning has always shown us that Lynn cares about her work broadly and the Greenlight babies specifically, and we’ve seen the ways in which Odell and the ASA have manipulated that care and kindness for their own gain.

So, while it’s shocking to witness the lengths that she’s gone to in order to save the lives of the metahumans who are being killed by the genetically created disease from Dr. Jace, it does make sense given what we know about how much she cares and what a big heart she has. Seeing Odell manipulate that empathy and kindness is upsetting, but it’s also a level of manipulation that isn’t all that surprising given what we know about him.

What is surprising in this episode — and what pushes his deeds from manipulative to diabolical — is revealed in the final few scenes of Black Lightning season 3, episode 4: It turns out that he used subliminal messaging to get Lynn addicted to Green Light. This means he transformed her emotional desire to help the metahumans — and, therefore, the ASA — into a physical and chemical dependency.

It’s a reveal that shows just how far Odell will go to manipulate the Pierce family into doing exactly what he wants, and one that seemingly posits him as a far bigger and more powerful threat than the Markovians.

Equally as insidious and villainous as Odell’s now complete control over Lynn is his successful brainwashing and grooming of Jennifer into an ASA agent.

Jennifer has a streak of questioning and rebelling against authority that’s a mile wide, but she’s also only just a kid. On the other hand, Black Lightning has shown us that Odell is a master manipulator who has been playing puppetmaster far longer than Jennifer has been alive. Which means that after having grown used to the ASA’s presence, it only takes a (likely doctored) video and a few well-placed comments to convince Jen that perhaps the ASA isn’t so bad after all; that, perhaps, they are in fact necessary.

Odell recognizes that he won’t be able to control her by force — Jennifer is way too strong-willed for that. But she is her mother’s daughter in so many ways, including having a tough exterior but also having a big heart. He gets her motivated to work for them by pulling the Khalil card — getting her set on a mission of vengeance by telling her that Khalil’s mother was murdered by the dastardly ASA.

Then, he continues to emotionally manipulate her by giving her an outlet to fully use her powers in a way that her parents haven’t, and providing her a method to avenge her dead (or so she thinks) boyfriend by giving her missions against the Markovians. In short, he makes her feel powerful, useful and righteous.

Which means Odell seems to have successfully indoctrinated Jennifer into becoming a child soldier for his metahuman army, and given that she’s the most powerful metahuman of the entire Pierce family, that’s no small feat.

My only hope here is that the eventual collision with a mindwiped Khalil-turned-Painkiller will open her eyes up to the true nature of Odell and the ASA, and allow her to overturn her ASA indoctrination.

The only ones able to somewhat circumvent Odell’s control are the people whom he is controlling most blatantly.

He’s told Black Lightning himself that there are absolutely no superheroics allowed. And he’s got some pretty weighty leverage in that he can, at any time, whistle for the ASA to come and take Anissa and Jen to the pit.

Still, whether it’s the police, the ASA or her father, Anissa has some practice in defying authority and has been running around as Blackbird since the ASA put Freeland in lockdown.

And though Jefferson is certainly not a fan of those superhero shenanigans, he also realizes that her clandestine efforts are both helpful and necessary. While he isn’t able to use his powers, he can team up with Anissa’s alter alter ego Blackbird to free ASA prisoners.

They’re successful in freeing the prisoners, but Odell is no dummy, and he finds out right away that Jefferson is involved. He gives Jefferson a pass on it this time, but he isn’t a two pass kind of guy.

And, really, given that he has the smartest person and the most powerful person of the Pierce family firmly on his side, I can’t imagine he’s all that concerned about Jefferson.

Anissa remains firmly beyond the reach of Odell’s insidious puppet strings, but for how long? How long until he figures out that she’s Blackbird (if he doesn’t already know), and how much longer after that will he try to use her love for Grace against her?

Stray thoughts and lingering questions

What did you think of ‘Black Lightning’ season 3, episode 4, ‘Lynn’s Ouroboros’?