Stargirl Shiv Part 1 Television 

Five Thoughts on Stargirl‘s “Shiv, Part 1”

By | July 1st, 2020
Posted in Television | % Comments

This episode is the half-way point of season one of Stargirl, and the show has grown quite a bit in its first seven episodes. This episode shows a lot of growth in a few areas of the show, but still remains, at its core, a CW hero show. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to it.

1. The fucking music cues

I honestly have no idea why this show is so insistent on spending money that could be used in so many other places on “Takin’ Care of Business” for an opening montage that exists only to tell us, ‘The JSA is happy to be the JSA!’ There are so many more cost effective ways to do this and, even if somehow Bachman-Turner Overdrive gave them the song for free, it doesn’t fit the characters at all. This stuck out like such a sore thumb, and took the viewer out of the show before it even began.

2. Cindy depth

This episode went out of its way to show some depth for Cindy, making her both more sympathetic and more evil in one 40 minute package. Her home life seems like a nightmare, due to her supervillain father, her Stepford stepmom, her dead mother, and the loneliness that’s built into being cloistered from the only other kids who can understand how you feel. When you see Cindy and Courtney bonding during science class, you begin to think that, perhaps, she’s not as bad as she seems.

But then the back half of the episode reminds you that she’s already pretty far down the evil path, just straight up killing dudes for no real reason and attempting to kill Stargirl because…she’s a hero? There’s no real reason given for her animosity, as Stargirl isn’t a known commodity. She doesn’t know that it was Stargirl who blew up her boyfriend’s car, nor does she know that Courtney, her now frenemy, is Stargirl. She’s just out for blood because…she is? It’s not the best character motivation in he world, but given all the work the rest of the episode did, it’s not that huge of a deal.

3. The surprising depth of…Mike?

Mike still acts like a walking Doritos commercial most of the time, but this episode took some time to develop his character, and to do so in ways I didn’t see coming. Last week, we got a little more of his interaction with Barbara, and that continued this week, with him preparing a snack bag for her overnight trip. It was a moment that both plays up his one discernible interest (candy/junk food) and his growing bond with his stepmother.

But the bigger moment comes when he confronts Courtney about all the time she’s spending with Pat. It’s a bit of an oversimplification to say that he’s jealous, but he’s suspicious of her motives, and hints at things that he and Pat have been through that she couldn’t begin to understand. Obviously, Courtney couldn’t just spill the beans on why she and Pat are so buddy-buddy, and so the scene didn’t really have a resolution, and just lets the idea float around for the rest of the episode. This is surprisingly nuanced for this show.

Let’s just pray to Rao that they didn’t just sign Luke Wilson to a one year deal and Mike takes over S.T.R.I.P.E. next season. I don’t think I could take a Bud Bundy ripoff on the JSA.

4. Good Courtney/Bad Stargirl continues

If you can remove Courtney from her superhero persona, she remains a really good person. When we see the janitor (more on him shortly) knocked down, she helps him without question. She’s legitimately kind to both Cindy and Cameron when they reach out to spend time with her. Even the way she tries to save Mike’s feelings with his dad was more mature than most 16 years. But the second she’s doing JSA business, she’s turns up the frustrating quotient tenfold.

She totally blows the JSA training exercise that Pat sets up for the team by dominating everything and giving her teammates no chance whatsoever. She then follows Principal Fiddler out of the football game and nearly gets killed by Cindy for it. The character is obviously supposed to be an impulsive teenager, but it’s frustrating to see that indiscretion only show up in one part of her life.

Continued below

5. Shining Floors

The Janitor has stuck out like a sore thumb since the show began, and it was clear that, at some point, we were going to figure out what his deal was. This week, when he first heard him speak, he had a very old fashioned English accent, which was surprising, but then we saw him have a sword in his janitor’s closet. I started to think – is that the motherfucking Shining Knight?

Well, it appears that it is! He also recognizes Pat as Stripesy, so it is clear that he had some sort of role with the JSA in the past. Is he still a time traveler? Is he still Sir Justin? We know very little about him, but this is an unexpected arrival! Unless, of course, you read the names of all the episodes ahead of time, and, well, sorry, but that’s the name of the 11th episode.


//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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