The Perdi? The Sanje? The Element? I think I speak for many of us Black Lightning fans when I ask: what is even happening down in South Freeland?

One of the things that I like best about Black Lightning is how grounded of a show it is.

Grounded and superheroes seems like a strange — maybe even paradoxical — combination, but it’s something that Black Lightning has always managed to pull off really well. This is not just a show about Jefferson Pierce fighting superpowered bad guys in some vacuum to prove who is right and who is mighty. No, this is a show that takes care to thoughtfully think about what it means to hold that kind of power, how we ought to use it and how who we are and what we look like impacts how others react to that power.

This is a show that is a superhero show, yes — but it is also a show about family, about race, gender, sexuality. About the ways in which privilege, power and perception affect all those things.

Which is why the most recent episode, “The Perdi,” threw me a little bit. Black Lightning has done such a good job grounding its storylines in topics and narratives in the world around us — police brutality, racial inequity, unjust treatment of poor communities — that a storyline that’s almost high fantasy in nature feels a little out of place. Because let’s be honest — anything that requires the amount of exposition given by Anaya and has its own weird ass names is at least a little bit high fantasy influenced.

It’s not bad, exactly, and I have enough faith in the team and the writers to trust their vision, but I have to admit that the introduction of South Freeland and the warring factions left me pretty puzzled.

Here are three questions we have after watching Black Lightning “The Book of Blood, Chapter Two: The Perdi.”

How far south is South Freeland?

When Anissa first drove down to South Freeland two episodes ago, I figured that South Freeland was a little bit like Friday Night Light’s East Dillon — a little poorer and previously unmentioned despite being nearby because the main characters had never really had a reason to go there.

Turns out South Freeland is not like Friday Night Light’s East Dillon — it’s more like Freeland in a different show entirely.

I say that because South Freeland apparently is a place in which blacks and whites are not only living in segregation — which, unfortunately, is still true in many communities in the U.S. — but they call one another things like The Perdi and The Sanje and are living under the thumb of someone called Looker, who manipulates a substance called The Element (guess all the creative energies went towards naming themselves).

And all this has been going on for the last thirty years or so.

Which leads me to wonder — just how far south is South Freeland? I guess I might be able to believe that anyone with a smartphone might have just been killed or disappeared, which is why none of these shenanigans ever popped up on social media.

However, I’m a little perplexed that Gambi, with his connections, technology and drones galore, has heard nothing about any of this (unless he brings it up next week — in which case, egg on my face). Ditto on the ASA, which is a well-funded national agency specifically interested in metas.

Hopefully we get a little more explanation of South Freeland and why no one seems to ever have thought anything amiss there, despite the entire white population being controlled by someone who apparently hasn’t aged in 30 years.

What is going to happen with those babies?

Unlike other superhero or sci-fi/supernatural shows, Black Lightning isn’t really much for the monster of the week storylines.

While characters will be introduced and then fade away for a few episodes, for the most part, characters who play a prominent part in one or two episodes end up being part of the greater storyline and season arc.

Which makes me wonder just what the role of the mixed Sanje/Perdi twins will be for the remainder of the season.

While The Element seems to be something that Looker puts into her cronies, both the babies were born with it in their blood, causing their eyes to glow in a crazy/creepy way, but still allowing Looker’s own element to communicate with it.

My best guess is that this may play into Lynn’s own storyline regarding the pod kids. Other than her own two children, these twins are among the few examples of individuals who inherited powers rather than developing them artificially. If that’s the case, I’m willing to bet that she and Dr. Jace will have wildly different ideas on just how they can help their cause.

How will this relate to any of ‘Black Lightning’s’ main storylines?

Judging from the preview for next week’s episode of Black Lightning, we’ll be seeing a lot of South Freeland’s Looker and the fight over these two babies.

Hopefully that means that this detour into South Freeland is more than just that — that it’ll be organically integrated into the show’s main storylines. Right now, Looker’s seeming like another antagonist — does that mean she’ll join up with Tobias? Will she be his competitor? Will having two antagonists overburden the show?

Along with the babies being part of Lynn’s storyline, I wonder if the introduction of Looker and the mention of Markovia — which is where Brion Markov aka Geo-Force is from — means we’re going to see some kind of reference to the Outsiders.

Of course, that would mean that Looker is something more than a racist witch bent on controlling all of South Freeland, which right now doesn’t seem likely, but who knows? There’s an entire high fantasy novel going on down there — maybe we can find a pretty extensive redemption arc, too.