Past Sins

Past Sins is the third episode of the Fifth Season of Static Shock that aired on January 29, 2005 on Kid's WB.

Plot
During The Dakota Riots, a man named Leonard is surrounded by a rival gang whom he attempts to escape from using his gun as a way to kill them before they can get to him, during this time, however while he wasn't looking some of the people from the rival gang tackled him and as a result he accidentally discharged his gun, fatally shooting a nurse who was tending a wounded civilian named Jean Hawkins, this did not discourage him, however as he continued fighting just like other gangbangers at the time.

Flash-foward to the present day, Static is fighting against the mayor's son, Leornard Smalls who goes by the aliases 'Holocaust' on his way to school when he notices that he looks oddly familiar but he couldn't quite place it, he brushes off that feeling for the rest of the day until after school when he asks Richie and Jimmy about it, they just brush it off saying that it was probably just a case of déjà vu but asks him to describe what he looked like, after he described what he looked like they suggested that it could've been because that could be the mayor's son, who had the reputation of being a rebel, just then Holocaust appeared, looking really angry and challenged him to another round, which Static happily agreed to, along with Gear, together they seemed like they will once again defeat Holocaust but near the end of their fight, out of cowardice Holocaust revealed that he had been the one to have killed his mom in The Dakota Riots, Static shocked by this news paused for a moment, using this to his advantage Holocaust knocked Static out unconscious, while Holocaust was laughing at them mockingly for failing to defeat him, Gear and Jimmy huddled around Static, hoping that he is okay, a few seconds later, he managed to wake up, surrounded by Gear and Jimmy and with one thing he remembered, that Holocaust was the one who had killed his mom.

By the time he had awoken up Holocaust fled the scene and was no where to be found so that meant, the very person who had shot his mom escaped and had not been taken to justice, that thought alone made Static so angry and combined with the shock of the revelation sent him into tears and he ran back home, afterwards he had not shown up to school and Static was no where for a couple of days, Gear and Jimmy got really worried about him, so they went to visit him at his house where they found him on his bed, with tears flowing from his eyes, in his pajamas, and eating Ice Cream right out of the container, they were shocked, as neither have them have seen Virgil in this state before and both of them immediately went to go and comfort him telling him that while the sudden revelation and not being able to defeat the vary villain who had killed his mom all those years ago is a tough experience, this is not the way to handle it and that he needs to return back to school and to be Static again, Jimmy specifically requested that the best thing to do if it was bothering him so much was to see Dr. Franklin, the therapist that got him to open up about his trauma, hearing the suggestion and being reminded about how Dr. Franklin got him to open up about the shooting, he decided to go back to school, be Static again, and see Dr. Franklin.

The next day both Static and Gear went up against Holocaust but just as they were about to defeat him, his mom, the mayor, came in looking angry and yelled for her son and after he came, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him to her car, telling him that he is grounded for life. Afterwards Virgil goes and sees Dr. Franklin, who asks him about how Jimmy is doing and that she heard about him being released from juvie early, Virgil then responses by saying that he is doing great and how he is very different from that quiet kid they met during study hall, Dr. Franklin then asks him why he has come to see her again, in which he responds with how he just met the person who killed his mom all those years ago in The Dakota Riots and what her death meant to him.

Continuity

 * This is the first appearance of Thomasina Jefferson since Season 1 and the first time she had been refered to by name.
 * This is the first appearance of Dr. Franklin since Season 2.
 * This is the first appearance of Leonard ‘Holocaust’ Smalls, his last appearance in this series is in the episode "Power Outage; Part 2", albeit in a non-speaking cameo.

Home video releases

 * Static Shock: The Complete Fifth Season (DVD)

Production note

 * The scene that shows Virgil's mom getting shot is directly taken from the episode "Flashback".

Trivia

 * According to Dwayne McDuffie, Kids WB's want to kill off Virgil's mom was one of his biggest gripes with the show in early development. According to him, "it was important to me to present a black hero with a complete nuclear family, in part to combat an easy stereotype we see far too often in fiction, but also because Virgil's family experience was supposed to be similar to my own. To be fair, the show got couple of great stories from the situation, so even that worked out okay."

Cast

 * Phil LaMarr as Virgil 'Static' Hawkins
 * Jason Marsden as Richie 'Gear' Foley
 * Afre Woodard as Jean Hawkins
 * Richard Horvitz as Jimmy Osgood
 * Zeno Robinson as Leonard ‘Holocaust’ Smalls
 * CCH Pounder as Thomasina Jefferson
 * Louraine Toussaint as Dr. Franklin
 * Maria Canals as Shelly Sandoval

Quotes
"Well we know that what you went though is traumatic this is not the way to handle things, I'd suggest you go back to school, be Static again, and if it's really that bad I would also suggest you go and see Dr. Franklin since she helped me open up about my trauma"

- Jimmy trying to help Virgil.

"Leonard Smalls Jr.! Come here right now! You are so grounded!"

- Mayor Thomasina Jefferson yelling at her son.

Tropes
See Past Sins/Tropes