Hello, and welcome to our coverage of the DC Universe/CW series Stargirl! The show got a very slight teaser during the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover late in 2019, but this is the first real look we are getting at Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore, as well as Luke Wilson as her stepfather Pat Dugan. Without any further ado, let’s get started, and don’t worry, we won’t have any spoilers for the pilot!
1. Streamlining
It is always tricky to find a way to adapt the multiple generations of DC heroes into a more concise timeline. Here on the CW-verse’s ‘Earth 2,’ the Golden Age of Superheroes ended about ten years ago, when the Justice Society of America was decimated by the Injustice Society (although we haven’t been told that title just yet). We see Stripsey, aka Pat Dugan, watch the entirety of the JSA get their asses handed to them while he just sits there and recites their names in the most unnatural, clearly for the audience type of way. Dugan, played by Luke Wilson, is indecipherable from any other Luke Wilson character, except this one references his brother Owen’s portrayal in Midnight in Paris, where half his performance was just naming the famous dead people he was seeing.
The only real member of the JSA that we spend any time with is Starman, aka Sylvester Pemberton. This is, again, a simplification on the part of the series and its creator, Geoff Johns. In the comics, Sylvester Pemberton was the Star-Spangled Kid, and was given a gravity belt by Ted Knight, Starman, and changed his name eventually to Skyman before dying. Stargirl replaces Skyman with Starman, and the belt with the cosmic staff that Jack Knight, Ted’s son, would eventually bequeath to Courtney Whitmore, Pat’s stepdaughter.
And you wonder why they had to simplify it?
There is also the weirdness of the ‘Golden Age’ being a relatively contemporary time, but Johns still throwing in a healthy 1950s nostalgia into the mix. When Pat Dugan was fighting crime as a teenager in the late 30s in the comics, it made sense that he’d look like a throwback in the 90s, even if he was looking remarkably young. But here, it appears that the world is essentially one big Johnny Rocket’s, and everything has a tinge of Happy Days. It’s the show having its cake and eating it, too: this way, it has the retro feel of the comics Johns loves, but also can have things like cell phones.
2. Chat Stew
Skyman Starman is played by comedian Joel McHale, best known for hosting E!’s The Soup and starring on NBC’s Community. McHale plays his big scene for lots of laughs, which was an interesting choice, as the scene is…well, let’s just say, in the sake of not spoiling anything, a situation that one rarely finds funny. It looks like there will be more appearances from McHale and the rest of the JSA going forward, especially as Courtney believes that Sylvester may be her long lost father.
The show’s tone is not super serious, but it certainly isn’t “let Joel McHale verbally dress down Luke Wilson” slapsticky, either. And yet, the JSA sequences that open the series are really pretty comical. We’ll see if that tone sticks around.
3. Courtney
One of the issues with this pilot is that while Courtney, the titular character is likable, we aren’t given too many reasons to like her. An early flashback helps a bit, but teenage Courtney is mopey and hides her true feelings, which is age appropriate. But we aren’t given enough time to see who she is under her bluster to really get a chance to root for her in her struggles in Blue Valley. This is more a script issue than a Brec Bassinger problem, as she does about as well as she can with the material she’s given here.
Courtney is mostly emo because she has to move from California to Nebraska, but we don’t get enough of a sense of her life, pre-move, to have any real attachment to her West Coast attachments. We meet one friend, but there’s nothing of depth here. She doesn’t like Pat because he’s ‘not [her] dad,’ but we don’t see him being particularly obnoxious or annoying to be around. The show expects us to buy her as a moody teenager because, of course, all teenagers are moody, instead of giving the viewer reasons to believe her emotional beats.
Continued belowAgain, it’s not a bad script, or even a bad introduction to Courtney. It just feels slight, and gave more backstory and motivation to Pat than to Courtney. Hopefully, future episodes can correct this.
4. Licensing costs
The show, much like Titans really invested in music drops to set the stage. The series begins with Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” because we really needed to know that it was Christmas time. Any Christmas song with sleigh bells would’ve done, but they had to get the Boss.
Similarly, at the drive in, the film being shown is The Goonies. There is never a close up on the screen, so any fake b-roll could’ve been used for this, but the show is saying “Hey look! Remember this movie?” Both of these are almost distracting choices that don’t really fit into the timeframes they’re presented in.
5. The Cosmic Staff
The strangest element of the pilot is how the Cosmic Staff is used. It essentially chooses Courtney to wield it, after Pat had it in storage since Sylvester’s death and, seemingly, never worked for him. But that isn’t enough; it also jumps around and basically teases Courtney by refusing to move, or flying away quickly, or doing anything other than be an inanimate object. It feels a bit like an enchanted object from a Disney film rather than a superhero’s weapon.
This is done to further the mystery of Courtney’s real father, who mysteriously disappeared same night as Starman’s last appearance. It seems, from the first episode, like Sylvester’s spirit, perhaps her dad’s spirit, resides somehow in the Cosmic Staff. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a weird element to add to the story.
Overall, this episode is a bit of a jumble. On one hand more magical/mystical than expected and a little harsher with the comedy, but also very heartfelt and emotional. Like most pilots, it suffers from trying to do too much, while not focusing its attention on the more important elements. It was interesting enough to keep me interested for future episodes, so check back on Wednesdays for more!
