Stargirl celebrates a haunted Fourth of July
Rick and Beth take center stage in two different kinds of horror stories
TV Reviews Stargirl
It’s becoming increasingly clear that COVID filming
limitations had a pretty big impact on this season of Stargirl. You can
see the seams in how the show separates its main cast into their own filming
bubbles, uses fewer locations and extras, and just generally tries to stretch
out its episodic stories with slower pacing. But I’m equally impressed with
the way the show’s creators have turned those limitations into strengths too,
mostly by leaning into a horror tone that helps justify that tense, lonely,
unhurried pace. Like the “Wildcat”
and “Hourman And Dr. Mid-Nite” episodes from last season, this Beth and Rick
centric-hour plays like a continuation of the Yolanda-centric episode last
week. And while Yolanda’s guilt made her story a natural fit for a Catholicism-themed horror tale set in and among churches, Rick and Beth get to participate in their own
classic horror templates too: Rick finds himself lost in the woods with a monster, while
Beth finds herself trapped in a house that’s haunted by a racist, sexist otherworldly little
kid.
The
two situations play on Rick and Beth’s greatest fears. Beth worries that she’s
inadequate and unwanted—someone that people merely tolerate rather than someone
they would actively choose to have on their team. Rick, meanwhile, fears that
he has the potential to become the same sort of unfeeling monster as the cruel
uncle who raised him. It’s part of the reason Rick’s been looking after Solomon Grundy
ever since he let the hulking monster escape in last season’s finale. Rick
understands that even the cruelest of dogs can be changed by love, kindness,
and care. And in adopting Grundy as his very own pound puppy, Rick hopes to write
his own redemption story too.
That’s
why it’s so upsetting when Rick’s story takes a swerve to such a shockingly
dark place. I expected that “Chapter Eight” would play out similarly to how
“Chapter Seven” did, with Eclipso manipulating Beth and Rick into giving up
their place as JSA heroes. And while that’s basically what happens to Rick,
his fear visions have a lot more real-world consequences than Yolanda’s climatic
church showdown with Fake Brainwave. Indeed, we see firsthand how much real-word damage Eclipso can do just by messing with people’s
minds. By tricking Rick into thinking that Grundy is being hunted and then tricking him
into thinking Grundy has killed a little girl, Eclipso is able to reactive
Rick’s panicked need for violent vengeance. Then all it takes is a little more mental
manipulation to get Rick to nearly kill his uncle under the misunderstanding
that he’s actually beating up Grundy.
Part
of what makes “Chapter Eight” so unnerving is that it takes a really long time
to figure out what’s real and what’s not. We don’t realize who Rick is beating
up until he does—which makes Pat and Courtney’s horrified reactions even more
understandable in retrospect. In fact, it wasn’t until Barbara and Mike stepped in
as Team Exposition that I fully understood that the whole hunter subplot had
been an Eclipso manipulation too. Leaving so many things ambiguous last week
pays off in how much this episode is able to mess with its audience’s
heads—even when we think we’re ahead of the characters about what’s
actually happening.
Beth’s
storyline, meanwhile, delivers an entirely different sense of surprise. Though she seems like the character Eclipso would have the easiest
time manipulating, mostly because she’s never shown much fortitude in battle,
it turns out that Beth’s mental acumen really is her greatest superpower. While
Yolanda and Rick have their emotions fairly easily manipulated by Eclipso, Beth
is able to see through his scare tactics to suss out what he actually wants: To
get his victims to give into their worst fears. And, more importantly, Beth
finds the mental fortitude to shut down that line of thinking entirely. She
didn’t need someone to choose her to be the new Doctor Mid-Nite because she chose
herself for the role. And she doesn’t give in to self-doubt or
self-hatred because she loves who she is and she loves being Black.
It’s
a real stand up and cheer moment, mostly because I didn’t expect sweet Beth to
be the first one to be able to break free from Eclipso’s spell. And it’s a great
repudiation to anyone who’s been wondering why Beth is a JSA field agent rather than just technical support. It
turns out she’s actually great in a crisis. In fact, she’s so far the only one
who’s been able to figure out the full extent of how far Eclipso’s fear visions can go (she never even left her own house in this case).
And she’s now armed with a way to see through them too, thanks to her AI goggles.
While the episode’s Fourth of July setting doesn’t add a ton to the proceedings (other than an excuse to cut to some fireworks to reduce Grundy’s CGI rendering time), the true fireworks come from Anjelika Washington and Cameron Gellman’s phenomenal performances. And they also come from this harrowing episode’s surprising sense of sweetness. From Grundy calling Rick his friend to Courtney doing the same to the Cosmic Staff (a.k.a. Cosmo) to Mike calling Barbara “mom” and Beth finding strength in her own parents, there’s plenty of light to balance out the dark in “Chapter Eight.” The JSA may be one more hero down (and just how are they going to get Rick’s smashed hourglass back?), but there’s still hope for the team yet.
Stray
observations
- Many
thanks to Jarrod Jones for filling in for me last week! I really enjoyed
reading his thoughts on the episode, although I can’t believe I missed the big
Catholic angst hour! That’s right up my Daredevil-loving street. - While
last week’s episode left some ambiguity as to whether Brainwave or
Eclipso was behind Yolanda’s visions, this episode would seem to put her
experience firmly in the Eclipso camp. Unless the show is trying to trick us even further! - Speaking
of which, while I was initially bummed that the opening credits seemingly
spoiled Joel McHale’s long-awaited return as Sylvester Pemberton, it turns out
the episode only used him as part of Beth’s nightmare sequence. Well played, Stargirl! - In
retrospect, I wish I had graded “Chapter Six”—the big JSA vs ISA vs Eclipso fight episode—an A- instead of a B+, so if that kind of thing matters to you,
you can go ahead and mentally reclassify that one. - “You named the staff?” “You named the robot!” “No you did.”
52 Comments
I was so happy to see Grundy, and he was used *perfectly*. I did NOT expect the show to go to this dark of a place, and man was it effective. The entire episode was dark, and haunting, and scary at times, and it was incredible. I cannot say enough good things about what this show has achieved, especially with the obvious limitations and restrictions. I’m truly impressed.
The scariness surprised me, because I don’t recall when was the last time I felt actually scared in a superhero show. …but when Beth was going to open that closet…!
Also they cast the creepiest most Victorian orphan looking kid ever! Plus that jump scare of Eclipso showing up on Beth’s laptop… I’ll be having nightmares about that.
The show’s going to have to jump through some serious hoops to keep Rick as a member of the team going forward.It is interesting that both of the more reluctant members of the new JSA were able to be whammied by Eclipso, while Beth, the one who more actively sought out her place on the team was able to put the racist goblin in his place, and wasn’t that just deeply satisfying?
The show’s going to have to jump through some serious hoops to keep Rick as a member of the team going forward.Powers-wise or morality-wise? Because for a show like this, those are really easy hoops jump through.
Hard to be a superhero when you’re locked up in juvie.
I am guessing Rick’s uncle won’t press charges because he will be embarrassed that Rick kicked his ass, or maybe actually want to be a better uncle, though I doubt it
– So today is July the 4th.
– Why do I get the feeling that Rick’s uncle is going to come to a bad end?
– I’m glad that Courtney is still worrying about Yolanda. It would be out of character for her not to.
– I think that Dr. McNider is real, and that Eclipso is allowing him to contact Beth. Dangle that hope in front of her, use it to toy with her, and then destroy her with it.
– It now occurs to me that that is what Eclipso is doing. He wants to destroy Courtney, but he’s afraid to take her on face to face. The best way to hurt Courtney is through her friends, so he’s going after them one by one. Yolanda was the most vulnerable, and the one that would hurt Courtney the most.
– I wonder what it was that Beth’s parents actually said, or what they thought that they said. (Ah, they weren’t there.)
– A bunch of gung-ho hunters loose in the woods. This couldn’t go bad at all.
– There’s the old Courtney. Being proactive is her normal state of being.
– So it WAS supposed to be racist.
– Beth, that just seems to be an indictment of the old JSA, not you.
– Eclipso seems to be using a whole lot of power to do this. Completely immersing both Beth and Rick in delusions at the same time. Divide and conquer I guess.
– Good going, Beth. On top of you winning, we now know what Eclipso’s weakness is: Hope.
– Rick destroyed the hourglass. Let’s see how that shakes out.
Theory #1: The light of the staff is Courtney’s hope. That’s why Eclipso is attacking Courtney’s friends. To take away her hope.
Theory #2: The staff prevents Courtney from being directly affected by Eclipso, so he has to attack her through her friends.
The hourglass released some gas when it was on the ground. I have the suspicion that it will lead its power to be permanent? IDK
Yeah, shades of the new Green Lantern destroying the lantern earlier this season. I’m not sure if it there’s a point being made or if the writers just hate “power props,” but there’s been a noticeable trend of super-powered objects getting taken out of play on this show. Mike managed to wish his magic wishing pen away after just one episode. Of course Dr. Mid-Nite’s goggles have been broken for awhile, and even “Cosmo” isn’t doing so hot these days. And it’s not just the heroes, Fiddler’s violin got busted too!
I got faked out by the Joel McHale credit too. When Courtney’s door was being knocked, I figured that was Starman. But it does beg the question, where the hell IS Sylvester? In-universe it’s been over a month since the Season 1 finale. How the hell is it taking that long to go from California to Nebraska?
Matt, Rick’s uncle, was already high on my shit list, but then Rick revealed that pit bull story. Pit bulls are my favorite dog breed, so having them be abused is a quick way to piss me off. Good on Rick for saving the pupper, though.Beth’s little “Shut up, Hannibal!” moment was great, and given the goggles can see through Eclipso’s illusions, it looks like she’ll be the key to defeating him. Especially since Comic!Beth was killed by Eclipso in the comics.
In the comics, Rick eventually learned to tap into Hourman’s powers using a mind-focusing technique before adopting a new costume and a new non-addictive form of the Miraclo drug. Willing to bet that when Rick finds himself and becomes Hourman again, he’s going to get a new costume and use the dust in the hourglass (that I’m sure Pat will have saved) to give himself the Hourman superpowers.
Just to note, I don’t think Eclipso is actually racist/sexist, since otherwise we’d have seen that with Cindy and Yolanda. No, he was using those tropes to further destabilize Beth, since I’m sure she’s gotten bullied by jackass white kids before meeting Courtney.
Since Sylvester being the big tease of the last season’s finale, them not getting to this after eight episodes is definitely frustrating and a little weird.
Great episode for Beth. I loved the impressed Dr McNider telling her the goggles didn’t save her, that she saved herself. And maybe Beth’s parents aren’t complete garbage people Weird that McNider’s murdered daughter was passed off as Grundy’s fake murder victim, was that just due to character availablity or is there more to that
As the whole Eclipso tormenting Beth plot played out, it occurred to me that most of what Eclipso was throwing was pretty ineffective. Mostly because it was stuff she either already knew or it just never came up. Like the issue of her race, that never came up before now, because it never bothered her. It made the final confrontation that much better when she completely saw through Eclipso’s game and took him down.
It balanced with the Rick stuff which was pretty damn brutal. I don’t know how Rick gets out of this one.
Yes, through the episode I kept wondering why Eclipso had chosen to go after Beth, probably the most mentally and emotionally strong member of the team, when Rick seemed like such a low hanging fruit.Then it turned out that Eclipso realized he was SUCH a low hanging fruit that he didn’t even need to give him his full attention to push him out of the game.
I really like this show & the review helped keep my head on straight, but a couple of nit-picks I have: The show is SO NOT Nebraska in July, that it pulled me out of it & and had to work to get me back into it for a few scenes. This leads to Eclipso’s overall power. Due to editing (or maybe not) Eclipso is running two full-time mind-fucks on Rick and Beth simultaneously? So, idk. I get he’s powerful, but holy shit the whole valley is in a nightmare mind-fuck zone. Eclipso has demi-god powers I guess. Anyone at anytime can go either nightmare-possessed or succumb to nightmare fantasies within the town perimeter. It’s like a souffle … it keeps getting bigger and bigger – I’m worried it might collapse. Reminds me of the town in WandaVision a little. I hope they don’t end up in “It was all a dream” territory and Rick never really beat the shit out of his uncle. This show frequently beats expectations though, and I honestly don’t know where it’s going. Rick and Yolanda may be benched indefinitely & Cort will have to build a new team with Thunderbolt and Green Lantern. Maybe because Hourman & Wildcat are physical fighters, they have no place in a fight with a supernatural demon, whereas Beth can interpret transmissions while Stargirl, Thunderbolt, and GL can fight with energy beams. Or some shit like that. I’ve overthought this, I know. I’d still rate the ep a B. I’m just overall trying to find the limits to Eclipso as the show keeps expanding his range. He’s sort of Freddy Kreuger meets Wanda/Agatha so far.
…but it’s not supposed to be Nebraska in July because Eclipso has the climate out of whack. It’s supposed be be more like late Autumn, because of his influence.
I understand that. The opening establishing shot, with the forest, for miles in every direction… I agree it’s suspension of disbelief, but whoa. National News should be freaking out about this in the show. Look, the story is strong enough that I got over it around the time Rick and Grundy were eating apples.
Perhaps Eclipso at running two mindjobs at once helped Beth win? Overextending himself could be his downfall.
I thought the “wow it’s cold for July” bit was another rather clever way of turning Covid-shooting liabilities into story-supporting assets. How do you get around explaining why a large high school cafeteria only has about 9 students in it during the day? Well, easy: it’s summer school! And since this season was shot in Atlanta in October rather than Nebraska in July, how do you explain why everybody is in jackets and long pants? Well, the bad guy put a whammy on the weather, that’s how!
Solomon Grundy looks like a citizen of Pleasantville next to Hourman.
Beth is the best.
I’m mad at Pat for not thinking up a way to help Rick before the cops got there. And was he the one who called them?! Anyway, they’re not going to believe what Pat knows to be true about Eclipso’s mental manipulations and Pat knows it. And it looks really bad that Rick is completely unscratched while his uncle is basically dead. Seriously, how is he not dead? Pat could have told Rick to beat him, told the cops the uncle was manhandling Courtney so Pat stepped in, and took the blame for Rick. I mean, Courtney has her mom. Who does Rick have?
I remember Grundy looking a lot better in the first season. Am I crazy? I guess this must be another sign of reduced budget, because this Grundy was only a few steps up from Fuerza on Flash.It seemed weird that Eclipso would attack Beth about her race, when I don’t think that’s ever been an issue on the show, before. I can’t recall any indications in previous episodes that she was insecure about her race, and I don’t even think we’ve ever seen any of the other villains or bullies or anyone be racist toward her, have we? It just seems like someone like Eclipso should be better at sensing his victims’ actual insecurities, rather than what he thinks their insecurities will be. Unless that’s going to be a plot point later? Maybe they’ll defeat him by realizing he’s not actually as omniscient as he seems?
I like to think Eclipso is just racist and that’s why Beth ultimately resists him – because it’s not actually one of her insecurities.As for Grundy, honestly I remember him not looking all that great in Season 1, but he definitely looks rougher here. But I absolutely blame that on the reduced CW budget.
Yeah, but Eclipso is an inhuman, otherworldly being. Why the hell would he care what race a human was?
From what I little I know about him in the comics, and from what the show has told us, Eclipso has a human alter ego named Bruce Gordon. Maybe Gordon was racist. Or maybe the gem makes you racist. I don’t know. Racism seems pretty evil to me.
Grundy was mostly in brief scenes in the dark last year, which are more forgiving than extended scenes in daylight.
I just wished they gave Grundy some sense of weight, I could live with the rest.
I wanna fight Eclipso. Quit fucking with Beth, you monster! That’s why your bitch ass couldn’t get her! At least she pulled though…which makes me feel some kind of way, honestly. I hope she’s not the only one who’ll have to use her optimism to save the day.But, he got Rick. Holy shit, those scenes were brutal. He actually appeared to be putting in the work – dipshit uncle notwithstanding. Those scenes were heartbreaking; him caring for Solomon Grundy only for Eclipso to break him by making him see his dipshit uncle as him and beating him to an inch of his life.No Yolanda scenes made me sad.
No mention of the Icicle tease at the end? I assumed it was Jordan back from the dead, but the teaser made it seem like it’s gonna be Cameron. I hope we can keep him from a full heel-turn, I’ve really liked him thus far and it might make up for them killing Henry last season. So far all of the children of supervillains have either wound up villainous, gotten killed, or both, so it would be nice to break that pattern.
I’m hoping it’s Eclipso playing tricks on them.
I’m leaning towards that, Mike was in the house after all, and it might be Eclipso trying to manipulate his guilt over killing Jordan. Mike referred to his feelings about it being an accident earlier on.
I never even thought of Icicle, I thought it was just Eclipso’s hold on the weather getting stronger, but given that the teaser is usually something significant, you might well be right.
So we’ve gone from Kinja not showing us links to where folks replied to Kinja not notifying us when we get our precious stars? Jesus Christ.
Kinja fucking sucks now.
I can’t even click on my comments to remind myself which article I was talking about.
I haven’t gotten notifications since Sept 14. Kinda useless to have a commenting system that refuses to show you validation.Maybe Kinja got taken over by Eclipso?
I was really surprised the show went this dark. Hard to see how Yolanda and Rick return to the squad given their current condition. I wonder if the show is considering a bit of a move to more of the later Johns run on JSA where the older members went out specifically to recruit “the kids” to make sure they were properly trained in their powers and a worthy next generation of heroes. If Pemberton can be back (I’m still betting its a result of Crisis) and maybe Jay somehow was sent to Earth 1 with Barry, then it might be possible to get a few of the older heroes back to train. The kids seem to be in way, WAY over their heads on this one and clearly need help. Cindy had no idea what she was doing with that black diamond, Stargirl had no idea that the staff would free him, etc. I’m guessing Dr. McNider returns from the Shadowlands to help become a mentor type- Stripsey hasn’t done a great job this season and we already know that Shade has hinted that his interpretation of events may not always be the whole or correct story.
Interestingly, while waiting for this episode, I watched a two-parter episode of Smallville that includes the JSA. I won’t give any spoilers, but it does involve our Star-Spangled Kid. And Icicle too.
You can tell that episode was the spiritual pilot for what Stargirl ended up being – right down to sharing the same writer & director, and being incredibly vague about what time period the JSA was actually active during.
B+ seems awfully generous. I found it the worst episode of the season so far. And, while COVID may have played a part, this episode reeks of “You’re not on HBO Max anymore, you need shed some budget. Let’s have a few episodes without some series regulars, and no VFX whatsoever”. Also, nothing really happened, other than Rick assaulting his uncle (who shouldn’t have survived, but I’m sure he’ll be fine).
Uh… I saw plenty of VFX in this episode, man. Unless they actually found a human being big enough to play Solomon Grundy IRL (who to your point didn’t look great, but still, weird criticism).
Is it my imagination, or are there fewer recongisable songs on the soundtrack now, too? I always liked that about the first series, hearing proper songs instead of the soundalike dreck we’re often lumbered with.
I wish they show would directly address the JSA being less intersectional than their villains. The homogeneous team line-up makes sense in WWII but not the 21st century.
Nice to see Ashur back in the flesh. ‘’I am a villain, but I’m not your villain.”
Nick Tarabay is always a delight. I also loved his appearance in The Expanse:
Roberta ‘Bobbie’ W. Draper : Ah, military intelligence. Filing reports and hiding behind a desk, eh?Cotyar : For what it was worth, I spent plenty of time in the dirt. My IQ tested too high to be a Marine.
Roberta ‘Bobbie’ W. Draper : And your morals tested low enough to be a spy. That’s good training for politics.
This was another fantastic episode and really liked how poor Rick was so far down the rabbit hole we could not even see how much until the end. Pretty much everything he (and we saw) in this episode was a lie. And I do like how Beth looks to be the one who figured out how to beat Eclipso, but I still think it makes no sense for her to be in the field, sorry. I read on another forum that Dr. Mid-Nite had some cool weapons and gadgets (like Batman) that allowed him to actually take on villains, which so far Beth does not have and has no way of defending herself at all. Although it would certainly raise this show and the stakes up a notch if some characters left (one of my biggest pet peeves about all the CW shows is the bloated casts and how the regulars stay forever), I would really be surprised if Rick or Yolanda quit for good after just one and a half seasons.
My wife immediately noticed that the hunters’ cars were gone when Courtney & Pat show up at the woods and park next to Rick’s car. I hand waved it as they must have moved on but nope, it was a major clue to what was really going on. Well played show, well played.
I thought it was a continuity error! When I realised it was a clue, I was even more impressed with the episode.
I’m impressed with how inventive Eclipso’s powers are. You know, normally when a show has a villain that feeds on people’s fears it’s stuff like “Oh no now you’re covered in snakes!” or “Look out it’s the ghost of your murdered wife!” or something obvious. Not “I’m going to Inception you into beating the shit out of your abusive uncle, but not before making you (and the audience) believe an entirely different but equally tragic thing happened.”
Of course Courtney would give the staff a name. With her personality type, I’d be surprised if she hadn’t named every squirrel and raccoon in her family’s backyard.
Wonderful to see Rick feeling sorry for himself and then the big meaty hand on his back.And just in case we missed it-Grundy using the first clear word we’ve heard from him: “Friend”.