Stargirl Brainwave Jr Television 

Five Thoughts on Stargirl‘s “Brainwave Jr.”

By | July 22nd, 2020
Posted in Television | % Comments

There’s been a persistent thought in my head the past few weeks in regards to Stargirl. And while there are a few weeks to jinx this, here it goes: this is shaping up to be one of the three best seasons of a CW superhero show yet, alongside Arrow Season 3 and The Flash Season 1. While that may be damning it with faint praise, it’s a complement for just how effectively the world and characters have been fleshed out.

1. Meet Cute

The use of flashbacks on Stargirl has been interesting, as the show has not really used them to give out important information, but rather to fill in the emotional beats. For instance, we already knew the Brainwave was a villain, but using his video diaries to inform Henry about his father allowed us to empathize with him more easily. Similarly, the initial meeting between Pat and Barbara doesn’t really tell us anything important plot-wise. It is used as an emotional tether to the ‘before’ times, before Barbara saw the Cosmic Staff and her life fell apart.

It’s also the rare scene where both Amy Smart and Luke Wilson get to act in the milieu in which they’re more accustomed. Instead of spitting out dialogue about Starman or superpowers, we see them both getting to be romantic comedy actors, which is what they’re very good at. Smart adds a nice bit of vulnerability to Barbara in the way she delivers the lines about not quite being ready to sell her mom’s house for a few years after her passing. Her character has been among the more one-dimensional on the show thus far, so this was a small remedy for that.

Overall, the scene and its juxtaposition with Barbara’s moment of discovery was very effective and, for the first time, made me really root for them as a couple. I’m not entirely sure if that is necessary for enjoyment of the series, but hey, it can’t hurt. It also shows what a good pair they make, which plays into the end of the episode nicely.

2. What would we do, baby, without us? Sha-la-la-la!

So this episode gives us two important bits of familial information, one of which is suspect at best. The more concrete revelation is that Henry’s mom, Brainwave’s wife, was Starman’s sister, aka Gimmick Girl, aka Merry, Girl of 1000 Gimmicks. This makes Courtney believe that Henry is her cousin, which is the less reliable bit of information, as we get more evidence than ever that Sylvester Pemberton is not Courtney’s dad. But it is important for Courtney to have some family to hold onto in that moment, as her mom wants to rip her away from everything she’s grown to know in Blue Valley.

The evidence against Court being Starman’s daughter is a tease at the end of the episode, where we see that Courtney’s email to “Sam,” Courtney’s dad was returned, though we do not see what the email says. If the show is following the comic closely, the answer is already known/obvious, but the show has taken some diversions from the source material already, so I suppose we can’t be too sure.

3. Teen drama meets real life problems

This episode does a good job of balancing the fact that these kids are superheroes with the drama that emerges from any group of friends in high school. One of the nice things about the scenes of the JSA together is that they are operating like a team and less like a group of friends. Yolanda specifically says to Courtney that they are no longer friends, but she also consistently acts in a way that gets Courtney’s back. Rick calls Henry an asshole early in the episode, but is trying his best to save him at the end. The team has really coalesced lately, even if Beth’s costume still looks hilarious on her.

The hardest part of these episodes is that Jake Austin Walker isn’t exactly Philip Seymour Hoffman in the annals of three-named actors. He has a hard time playing in pain, and his character is often in physical pain, so that’s not a great mix. He manages to be compelling despite that, but he is definitely the weakest link among the series regulars. Well, that may not be a problem anymore…

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4. Poor, poor Henry

The end of this episode, which sees Brainwave seemingly kill his son, is gut-wrenching. Henry tries his best to make amends with Yolanda and to tell Courtney not to lose her faith in the world before thousands of pounds of debris are dumped on top of him. And while that seems a bit too sentimental and level headed for a high school meathead, the scene works.

However, there is a part of me that doesn’t believe this is the end for Henry. A few times in this episode, we see Brainwave putting up a shield around himself or someone else to protect him. Is Brainwave putting on a show for his ISA counterparts, so that they see that he is not going to falter in their plan? It seems like a 50/50 chance at this point, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see that he protected Henry, and will get him, safely, away from both the ISA and the JSA.

If not, man is Brainwave a dick. Icicle is driven by revenge and ‘justice,’ whereas Brainwave is just driven by selfishness.

5. [Scarlet Witch whispers] No more secrets

With the exception of Icicle not knowing the connection between Barbara and Stargirl and Mike not knowing…well, anything, most of the cards are on the table now. Barbara knows about Pat and Courtney, the ISA knows about the ‘full’ JSA, Henry knows his dad is a supervillain; all of this happened relatively quickly. I thought some of these dominoes wouldn’t fall until future seasons, but I’m glad it is shaping up this way.

The Mike situation continues to fluctuate, but feels real for how a kid of his age would react to his life being turned upside down. And the Icicle/Barbara situation continues to be really interesting, in part because Jordan’s plan is hilariously craven: not only will he brainwash the country, he’ll brainwash Barbara to be his new wife. The only real wildcard here, in terms of a character we’ve spent some time with but don’t totally know their deal, is Cameron, Icicle, Jr. He doesn’t appear to have any idea about his dad’s evil, and seems like a genuinely nice person. I wonder if he will be a friend or foe to Courtney at the end of this.


//TAGS | Stargirl

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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