Teenage love on TV: Black Lightning gets it right

Teenage relationships can be hard to navigate in current television shows as many tend to be oversexualized, but Black Lightning is off to the right start with its portrayal of Jennifer and Khalil’s relationship.

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Watching teenagers in relationships sometimes doesn’t feel much different from watching adults on television. There’s a lot of sex and overconfidence that usually doesn’t fit with being a teen. Virgins are put on a pedestal or mocked. But we go with it. It’s not all bad, but many teens in recent shows tend to be oversexualized.

That’s why I appreciated the depiction of Jennifer and Khalil’s interaction this past week on Black Lightning. They looked like two teens trying to navigate their feelings in a weird situation.

Khalil worried about Jennifer since she was homebound in the wake of her abduction. He visited her, finding Jennifer on the roof of her house smoking a cigarette. The way she hid the cigarette to the big, goofy smile on her face reminded me of being that age.

She tested boundaries. She found herself enjoying the attention of a boy she was interested in. In other words, Jennifer acted like a teenager. Khalil was nervous in asking her to be his girlfriend. And it was cute and fun and perfect.

Take one of CW’s other shows, Riverdale. The teens there don’t normally act that way. Instead, they jump into showers with each other, sneak into each other’s bedrooms, have sex without repercussions and, generally, take a cavalier attitude toward it. I know Riverdale is a very different show, but the hyper sexual attitudes of the teens is one of the driving forces in it. It’s not wrong. It’s just different.

Many teen shows of the past had these hyper sexual attitudes such as Beverly Hills, 90210, Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, 90210 and more. It’s comforting to actually see a show where the relationships can form and they progress to that point.

Perhaps Black Lightning took a different path because the youngsters aren’t the focus. The viewpoint is mostly from Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning himself, as he tries to protect his two daughters. Instead, of following their every moment, we get to peek in on his daughters’ relationships.

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Even though we saw his older daughter Anissa and her girlfriend in bed after they had sex, having pillow talk, the focus still was not on the act. Instead, they had a very real conversation about commitment and family. Black Lightning didn’t take the cheap route of showing two attractive women kissing or having sex for the sake of a thrill, which coincidentally Riverdale did in its first season with a wink. It called out the cheap trick as just that, but the writers still had Betty and Veronica kiss anyway.

In just two episodes, Black Lightning has depicted its relationships well. With teenagers looking to navigate new feelings, young adults searching for something to make them whole, and older adults figuring out their feelings while understanding that other people will be affected by their choices.

It hasn’t been about sex on Black Lightning. It’s about connection.

Tune into Black Lightning on CW Tuesdays at 9/8c.