Stargirl indulges in a bit of levity just before its second season finale
The second season of Stargirl has been a horror-tinged slow burn of shocking developments, character complexity, and so much darkness.
TV Reviews Stargirl
For those of you just joining us, a quick refresher before we dive into the penultimate episode of Stargirl’s surprisingly dark second season.
Cindy Burman, the villainous daughter of the Dragon King, formed her own Injustice Society to enact revenge against Courtney Whitmore and in doing so accidentally freed Eclipso, an evil vengeance demon that devours joy and seeks divine apotheosis. For her trouble, Eclipso tossed Cindy into the Shadowlands, an awful place of despair that has, for the last decade, been the home of Dr. Charles McNider, aka Dr. Mid-Nite I. As for Courtney, in an attempt to repel Eclipso, she soon found herself cast into this purgatory right beside Cindy where things… got emotional. Blue Valley’s inspirational source of light and hope was lost to shadow.
Which brings us to now, where Eclipso’s emotional bulldozing of Courtney’s friends and family has made her new Justice Society a shambles: Rick Tyler is in jail for beating his abusive uncle within an inch of his life; Yolanda Montez has abandoned her role as Wildcat II because of her profound guilt over committing murder last season; Beth Chapel is barely holding things together with her on-the-fritz Mid-Nite goggles; and Courtney’s cosmic staff just hasn’t been itself, keeping quiet inside its crate in the dark of the Whitmore family’s basement where it once shined so bright.
Eclipso is responsible for all of this. Or some of this. It’s complicated, which is a fit word to describe this second season of Stargirl, a horror-tinged slow burn of shocking developments, character complexity, and darkness. So much darkness.
Uncomplicated: Rick was tricked by Eclipso into pummelling his uncle while infused with the golden powers of the Hourman hourglass. Complicated: Rick’s uncle has treated him like garbage ever since his parents’ sudden death. Uncomplicated: Yolanda is indeed guilty of killing a man. Complicated: the circumstances were murky and the country was at stake, but Yolanda unsheathed her claws and did what she did. Uncomplicated: Cindy’s done very bad things in her life. Complicated: she’s the product of abuse and torture at the hands of her supervillain father.
Oh, and there’s the small matter of Mike Dugan’s search for the Thunderbolt genie, whose incalculable power could help turn the tide against Eclipso. This plot point might be less complex (and, besides, it includes a gigantic, presumably very edible, cheeseburger), but the uncertainty of Thunderbolt’s status is still a considerable x-factor in a season rife with them. Plus, it’s fun where a lot of other corners in Stargirl have been a lot more severe.
For being such a tightly-wound series, Stargirl is spinning a lot of plates at a precarious moment. (That might be why it had the grace to offer a recap for its viewers before beginning its march towards an uncertain finale.) Also, there hasn’t been much time for the rosy-cheeked levity we often enjoyed during its first season, what with the surprise deaths—or death fake-outs, such as The Shade’s dodgy bow last week—and hairpin plot developments, like Eclipso’s sudden and terrifying rise to prominence during this season’s midpoint. (This would explain Max The Doggo’s debauched shoe-chompin’ spree set to Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” at the beginning of this week’s episode, which may have been the insane idea of episode writer—and comic legend of Starman fame—James Dale Robinson, you never know.) “Summer School: Chapter Twelve” seeks to tie all these plot threads together before Eclipso’s springs his nefarious trap on the JSA. Glimmers of light amid all this oppressive dark.
It’s another strength of Stargirl as a superhero show: balance. After Courtney and Cindy’s miraculous—and costly—return from the Shadowlands last week (with Dr. Mid-Nite in tow), Cindy attempts to mix with the Whitmores after a traumatic couple of days. She glowers over a heartfelt hug between Court and Barbara and later provides this week’s episode one of its biggest laughs as she glowers over Barbara’s generous sandwich lunch. Shifting back to complex villain mode, Cindy later pays Yolanda a visit in her own home, sneaking into her bedroom to talk trash in a Machiavellian bid to get Yolanda to rejoin the JSA. She brings up (one of) Yolanda’s worst day(s) in her life, throws Henry King’s picture in her face, and makes Yolanda honestly believe that Courtney is just fine battling Eclipso without her. Unabashed fun and high-stakes drama. Balance.
“Summer School: Chapter Twelve” is also an episode with a serious(ly lovely) payoff. After two seasons of playing an elaborate game of superhero telephone, Beth finally meets Chuck McNider, who we find out is very much convinced that Beth is primed for the hero life. (Pat: “I don’t know if these kids are ready for this.” Chuck: “You sure? Because what I know of Beth Chapel, she is.”) It’s a wonderful moment in an episode that continues to explore the inner darkness of its heroic cast, which we see play out again once Pat Dugan goes to visit Matt Harris, Rick’s uncle, in the hospital.
After it becomes abundantly clear that Matt is choosing to further Rick’s many torments by pressing charges against him (as he articulates in a hastily-scrawled note: “go to Hell”), Pat, with his aw-shucks good looks and heart made of gold, hardens his gaze at the obstinate man in front of him. “You were supposed to take care of Rick,” he begins, pointing out Matt’s proficiency for hurting people weaker than him, citing grim examples. “You’re a bad guy. And whenever I’ve run into someone like you… when I was growin’ up…” *locks door* “Back in the Army… or today… makes me remember somethin’ about myself: I got some bad in me, too.” And then he pulls the hospital blinds shut.
Pat’s defended the people he cares about with violence before. Remember, he once socked Court’s biological dad in the gob when he came around looking to exploit his estranged daughter. But this sequence felt different, angrier, darker than anything we’ve seen Pat do before. Did Matt have it coming, or is he suffering enough? Eclipso is coming and the JSA needs Hourman II, so is what Pat did to Matt justified? Will Rick accept what happened between his uncle and the man he’s come to know as a mentor when the truth rears its ugly head?
And what about Courtney? What is she prepared to do to stop Eclipso? We know what the original Justice Society felt it had to do the last time this demon ran amok. Does a JSA victory against Eclipso require the darkness within? Cindy thinks so, and her duplicitous antics with Yolanda produced results. According to Cindy, Court better get her hands dirty fast, like Yolanda did with Brainwave, like the old JSA did with Eclipso once before. “You have to fight fire with fire,” she tells Courtney in the Whitmore home. “You have to be bad to fight evil.”
Meanwhile, in the basement, the cosmic staff glows.
Stray Observations
- Could the terror of being peed on by a pooch have been what shook Court’s cosmic staff out of its inert state? I wouldn’t rule it out.
- Jennie: (awed by the wrecked cafeteria) “Woah.” Beth: “Yeah, we had a big fight in here last week.”
- How does Eclipso disrupt Jennie’s Green Lantern ring? So far, premonitions seem to be a debilitating side-effect.
- Now playing at the Dallas Theater: Sgt. Rock, 12:40, 4:10, 7:20, 9:50. Created by Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher, Sgt. Rock first appeared in DC’s Our Army at War #83, all the way back in 1959.
- Fun fact: the Dallas’ marquee has been a long-running meta joke featuring some of DC’s more obscure titles, including The Unknown Soldier, Prez, G.I. Combat, and Strange Adventures. I’m just waiting for the season three sequel, Sgt. Rock And The Creature Commandos.
- Blue Valley’s “Summer Of Insanity”, courtesy of Thunderbolt: cotton candy lightning, flying bikes, candy canes the size of cars, colossal cake pops to freeway-blocking french fries, and a beer brat larger than a school bus floating out in the lake. And a big, big ol’ cheeseburger.
- Mike: “You ever hear of the Justice Society of America?” Jakeem: “Is that like the Boy Scouts? Because I am really bad at tying knots.”
- Mike, to Jakeem: “If you want to keep the pen, I get it. But then you have the responsibility that comes with it. You gotta help us save the world.” Just not before the dishes. (Jakeem’s scenes with Mike were fun, but somebody should maybe consider redecorating his bedroom.)
- Eclipso’s mention of Courtney’s “darkness within”, is a call-back to the all-hands-on-deck, Eclipso-centric, DC event series, “The Darkness Within”. It ran across 20 DC annual issues throughout the summer of 1992.
- So where are you at emotionally now that we’re so close to the end, group? Who is going to pay for all those chewed shoes? Who’s gonna eat that giant cheeseburger? Is Sylvester finally gonna pop in and say hello before it’s all over? Let’s prepare for the finale in the comments below.
51 Comments
Well Cindy was as much of a disturbing agent of chaos on the team as I hoped & expected. I love how she calls Cindy “new girl.” It reminds me of Slade Wilson calling Oliver “kid” and I hope for their thing to move in the same direction. Weirdly I kind of liked Cindy more than Yolanda in this episode, in spite of how awful Cindy has been to Yolanda, and still is, but Cindy is the one focusing on what needs appropriately to be done right now I liked Courtney assuring Yolanda that Cindy was not working with Eclipso after what he did to her, & not going into detail but you seeing in her eyes how affected she was by seeing Cindy’s horror over the death of her mother & Courtney also cutting short her hug with Barbara, presumably to spare Cindy’s feelings
– HOPE! I called it. I was right (for once).
– So Dr. McNider IS blind.
– Beth receiving both internal and external affirmation this season. Nice.
– I’m guessing that when Jennie is needed to defeat Eclipso, that darkness will turn against her. But it’d be nice if that attracts Todd to her.
– What is the deal with Jakeem and food? He looks like his family can afford to feed his, so he’s not systemically hungry.
– Where is the mayo on that hamburger?
– “I’m not the same.” My Starcat heart.
– Cindy is jealous of the relationship between Courtney and Yolanda. This isn’t gay at all.
– Well, at least Pat is waking up to how Rick’s relationship with his uncle is.
– I’m guessing that the time that Pat spent in the Army was before he became the Pemberton’s mechanic and chauffeur. I’m going to make another guess and say that he was in the motorpool.
– Pat’s niceness seems to be him trying not to return to a darker time.
– Jakeem…doesn’t seem like a super-genius.
– So the Shade wasn’t gone long. Or is that Eclipso?
– I’m glad that Courtney talked with her mom.
– Yolanda kept the note.
– I’m not here for this retcon of Henry’s character. Yes, we knew he didn’t text out the photo. That doesn’t change any of the other stuff that he did.
– That was kind of funny watching Yolanda loom over Courtney.
– Cindy was obviously calling Artemis, so why did she indicate there was more than one person?
– Jakeem’s family strikes me as being very well off, so why is he washing the dishes by hand? And where did Jenny bring all of those dishes in from? Do they have 10 siblings?
– So what is going on with Jennie?
– Eclipso possessing Courtney. That will make a neat finale.
I am guessing that Cindy called Artemis & told her she needs to come & bring her parents, who must have broken out of jail again (thankfully!)
I love the fact that Sportsmaster considers Pat a friend so I have no doubt he and Tigress won’t hesitate to help out.
> So Dr. McNider IS blind.He’s visually impaired to some degree, but if he was blind goggles wouldn’t be able to help him see.
They’re goggles made with comic book science. Of course they can make a blind man see.
The man has no irises and no pupils. I don’t think you can get much more blind than that!He wouldn’t have been considered a Superhero if he had created goggles that did only things that goggles can do. I mean, we probably all agree that Stan Larroque is awesome, but we don’t consider him a superhero! 🙂
i deep down went NOW KISS when Cindy and Yolanda were talking.
Jakeem is a teenager. Teenagers tend to eat a lot. Him wishing for food a lot isn’t that big of a surprise. also…“Where is the mayo on that hamburger?”You make me sick.
But this isn’t the first time he wished for something like that. It seems like it’s at least the fifth. For him to be scared of something like that, and still be wishing for it, I’d expect him to be starving…all the time.And mayo is king condiment.
His parents might be really into healthy eating, all the food he wished for was junk food which they might not let him eat
“Where is the mayo on that hamburger?”Monkey’s paw!
I think Cindy telling Yolanda she sent the texts was her way of setting things right. A very Cindy way, where it was just a factual correction that might make Yolanda’s life and healing less complicated and direct Yolanda’s focus onto her instead of the trauma. And it’s in line with the letter of the Whitmore “No Secrets” rule, but not the spirit— Just peak Cindy. Really awful and fascinatingly nuanced.I don’t think it was intended to be seen as primarily Henry redemption, because the show acknowledged that being complicit is not to be taken lightly, and has kept on it multiple times.
“I’m guessing that the time that Pat spent in the Army was before he became the Pemberton’s mechanic and chauffeur.”HOW. OLD. IS. PAT.
Yeeeaahhh, Jakeem, buddy, we need to talk about your comedy idols.Is it too late to recenter the show around the adventures of Max and Cosmo? I would very much like to see that.Cindy’s great, Yolanda’s a drip, Rick’s time in the pokey was, as I thought, hilariously underbaked and there had to be a better to not include him in the past few episodes.On the whole, I dunno, the season’s felt rushed and I’ll be curious if it can wrap up the Eclipso threads effectively.
Max and Cosmo kind of stole a pretty solid episode
Cosmo: “Weep-woo weep-woo!”Max: “Whoof!”Cut to: Cosmo floating nearby Max in the back yard as Max pees on the brick patio.Cosmo: (sigh)
I have a feeling it was too late this time around to do a CGI remake of Jakeem’s poster, but in future incarnations of this episode, it’ll get a makeover.
TBF I’m sure the episode was shot a month or two ago before the other DC’s special.
I’m glad that Max is the getting the proper screentime and adventures that he deserves.“Nice” of Cindy to bring Yolanda back into the fold, in her own twisted way. And also to call who I’m guessing were Sportsmaster and Tigress for help.Glad they’re finally getting back to Jakeem, him getting the Thunderbolt happened a long time ago at this point. I wish that they had shown him and Mike interacting before now since they supposed to be friends.
– Max having a run at the house while the “Too Sexy” song playing in the background was one of the funniest scenes in the entire Arrowverse.- I love Cindy and Courtney sniping at each other. And Barbara scolding Cindy was adorable.- Part of me hopes that the Dugan’s kitchen stays broken throughout next season too. Kinda like how Barry and the gang still haven’t fixed the outside of Star Labs after almost a decade. – I am a little surprised neither pair of goggles picked up the energy inside Jennie. – So, Rick is definitely getting the hell out of his uncle’s place either at the end of this season or sometime next season, right? Like, he’ll definitely be adopted by the Dugans or Zeke.- Is it customary for doctors to hang their patient’s X-Rays in their room like decoration? – Luke Wilson is way too adorable to comfortably do “bad.”- The Courtney/Barbara scene hit hard since I’ve been in Courtney’s shoes before. – So… how did Cindy escape from Yolanda’s room? The window never left the camera frame. Does she have teleporting powers now?- I still can’t get over how freaking huge Jakeem’s room is. – Goddamm, Kid!Eclipso is so wonderfully creepy. – So, what the odds we’ll actually STRIPE in action next week?
Slim to nil for STRIPE. Not only did he get trashed, but they have a villain against whom a giant mecha suit is no use. I’m actually impressed that they managed to sideline that big CGI budget drain in a way we can’t really complain about.When Cindy disappeared from Yolanda’s room I started to wonder if it wasn’t Cindy but an Eclipso-created Trojan Horse. Wouldn’t put anything past that creepy little kid.
Cindy directly references the confrontation later on, so it wasn’t Eclipso.
I don’t think you get what I’m suggesting. What I’m pondering is if the Cindy who came out of the shadowland isn’t Cindy, or is Cindy with a passenger. She is pushing Courtney to be evil, which is what Eclipso wants after all.
For once, a child actor is actually really good! I mean sure, it’s not a nuanced role or anything, but he’s really fluent and natural in a way that a lot of child actors aren’t.[although it’s weird that there’s basically a mini-genre of ‘creepy children acting as avatars of incorporeal evil deities’ to compare him to…]
It cracks me up that on the BlindWave youtube reaction videos for this season, whenever the creepy kid appears, one of them (Aaron) always says, “that little shit!”
I know they were going for a Batman style disappearing act at the end of the scene with Cindy and Yolanda, but I desperately wished we’d seen Cindy dive headfirst out the window in the background,
Why do all the good guy characters seem to have terrible home lives except Courtney? Is it because her family just recently moved there? Is there a curse on Blue Valley that turns you into a giant asshole if you live there too long?
Was bummed by the continued lack of Grundy, although I wouldn’t be at all shocked if he returns next week to help with the fight. This was a quieter episode, but I enjoyed it all the same. I’m expecting the finale to be fantastic; as I’ve argued, this is probably the best CW superhero show on the air at this point.
I have a strong feeling that Pat used the implied hint of violence with Matt rather than actually doing anything serious. Matt was already freaking out when Pat reached for the wand to close the blinds, I doubt he needed more convincing after his teenage nephew beat the crap out of him. Hell all Pat had to do was pretend to reach for him and a bully like Matt would fold in an instant.
Maybe Pat explained to him that if he was permanently crippled from the beating, he would be at the mercy of caregivers. Making it clear that he would be the weak party looking like a victim might just be enough to get through to Matt.
This show is so fucking great. These kids are all likeable in their roles and having both Luke Wilson and Amy Smart as the parents who are both always very likeable as well is such good casting.I was so happy to see Pat get all dad anger on Rick’s uncle because someone needed to beat that fucker up for Rick.Yeah I think Sportsmaster and company are coming back to save the day.What a wonderful job everyone involved with this show has done with it.
I don’t think this is the case, but it seemed there were shots of Courtney in the teaser for next week in black & white. Has all of this been a false story? Is Courtney still trapped in the Shadowlands?
I don’t think this was a fakeout, because of that “I hate you” smirk from the previous episode. It might be very easy for Eclipso to yoink Courtney back into the Shadowlands if they want to, plus weird stuff is happening in Jenny Land that might allow for Eclipso (or The Shade!) to hijack the ring or something. Maybe if you kill Eclipso in the Shadowlands, you kill him for real? Maybe? That would warrant a willful trip back.
One thing worth noting: we didn’t see exactly what Pat did to Matt, but we *did* see Matt crying out while Pat was still several feet away, with his back turned, closing the blinds.This feels a lot like one of Hollywood’s favorite tropes, the idea that bullies are all a bunch of cowards. Here’s someone used to having power over others, suddenly in a situation where he’s completely helpless, and he’s locked in a room with a reasonably well-built man who’s making sure no one can see what’s going on, talking about military experience, and mentioning how he really *really* doesn’t like people like Matt. Pat doesn’t need to lay a finger on him; he just needs to let Matt’s imagination fill in the blanks — what would Matt himself do if he were in Pat’s shoes? — and Matt breaks instantly.To me it kind of feels obvious that Pat did nothing beyond threatening him, because he knew full-well he wouldn’t need to do anything more, but they didn’t actually show that because they want to save the reveal for a more dramatic moment later on. Especially since there’s no way Pat could actually get away with it; if he beat Matt, *in a hospital with professional people there who are well aware of Matt’s physical condition as part of their jobs,* it would leave new injuries on him that he didn’t have before Pat Dugan came in to visit the patient. Matt could accuse him and have some pretty damning evidence. But if all Pat does is threaten him and break him, there’s no evidence left behind. I think the most likely outcome is that, several months down the road — when all the evidence that would have existed is conveniently no longer expected to be there — Matt shows up again and accuses Pat of torturing him, setting up a big subplot and a lot of typical Arrowverse drama.
Hm, the team got back together a little too easily for my liking after so decisively fracturing.I really needed Barbara to mother Cindy more earnestly. I think that girl just needs people to be kind to her.
Setting aside the regular observations by other fans here that Barbara has been something of a villain magnet both seasons, I didn’t perceive Cindy being an insincere Eddie Haskell type toward “Mrs. Cleaver” but instead simply couldn’t hide how easily she responds to a little genuine mothering.
I think anyone who has seen me post on these reviews knows I’m a Yolanda stan. I’m glad she’s back in the mix, but I hope she loses the dourness.I’m beginning to like Courtney and Cindy’s interactions a whole lot more; they are like oil and water, but it’s more delightful than scary now.I’m gonna need Jakeem’s sister to dial it down a notch; take it from a 10 to a 2, please.Furthermore, I just don’t care about Thunderbolt at this point. It’s a concept that’s too far gone. I really hope they make it matter.Beth needed that win from Chuck. It made me genuinely smile.Evil Courtney is a very bad idea. SUPER bad idea. Can’t wait for the finale!
Yolanda definitely needs some good things to happen for her next season. She also needs to get some emotional, if not physical, space from her family.
It’s been a solid high B low A season. I hope that they stick the landing and I have faith they will.
Did I miss something? I’m not really sure why the screen said “4 hours earlier” when it flashed from Courtney and co. coming home to Beth and Jenny wandering around the school. Did it really take 4 hours for everyone to get to Courtney’s house, for some reason?
Beth & Jennie searching the school was a flashback & happened at the same time as The Shade’s rescue of Courtney, Cindy, & Dr McNider last episode
Oh I totally understood that. What I don’t get is why it wasn’t, say, 30 minutes earlier at the most. It kinda seems like everybody just went straight to the house after all that.
So The Shade’s definitely popping back next week, right? His creepy top-hatted shadow and “Baaaarrrbaarraaaaa” couldn’t have just been a weird one-off scene.
I agree. Besides the trite possibility The Shade faked his death, he could’ve simply been thinking (incorrectly) that he was indeed actually dying, after having never had to exert himself that way while severely injured. Maybe pulling a couple of virtuous people from the shadowlands (sorry, Cindy, for now I’m only referring to Courtney and Charles), actually helped him somehow.
Didn’t Jade’s ring show him in two places?
It will definitely not be a one-off, but it might be a one-off for this season.
They didn’t show what Pat did after closing the blinds in the hospital room. I’m just going to assume he sat down and read Studs Terkel to Matt until Matt felt terrible about everything he’d done and signed off on dropping the charges.
Thought this was a bit of a dull table-setting episode, but hopefully the stage is set for a grand finale.I think it’s more clear The Shade is still alive (his death was complete Tales of Ribaldry), and I’m not so sure Dr McNider isn’t a projection of his (or Eclipso’s). Maybe it’s just Alex Collins’ dry line-reading compared to Henry Thomas’s more casual take, but it seems too convenient and something seems off.
Yeah the grade seems a little high for what it is, but at least the table is IMO compellingly set. I’m excited to see how it all shakes out next week.
For a crazy moment, I thought Esclipso was gonna go Venom on Jennie. LOL
If anything, Cindy vanishing from Yolanda’s room without showing us how reminds me of Batman’s own disappearing act. Imagine her running into the Dark Knight in a future season, match her skill against his…
I love the idea of a Courtney gone dark.