Welcome back to the second chapter of Stargirl‘s “Summer School” second season. This week, we get more information on the newest hero running around Blue Valley, see an old villain show up, and a greater sense of the season’s arc.
1. Oh, that’s not obvious enough. How about the Beatles? Or fucking Beethoven? Side one, Track one of the Fifth Symphony?
This show has, multiple times, presented an opening sequence where the least creative song possible starts the episode. ‘What’s a good song for a mid-40s mom to dance around while drinking some vino? Well, obviously it has to be “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” because that’s the song that all moms get down to!’ It’s really lazy, and it doesn’t even set the scene all that well. We are supposed to be seeing Shiv’s stepmom celebrating her newfound freedom from her supervillain husband and budding villain stepdaughter, which is suggested by her dancing, drinking, and smashing plates. That’s not a ‘gals get together to gossip’ type of moment suggested by “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” She should be getting down to “Dance Yrslf Clean” or “Freedom of ’76” or something that has something about loosing the shackles of oppression.
2. Jenny from the Twin Cities
This episode spends a lot of time with Jenny, the daughter of Alan Scott, the Green Lantern. She and the Dugan/Whitmore family hav a heart to heart about her breaking into their house and come to an understanding, followed by an invitation to stay with them. We see a flashback to Jenny’s release from a group home (named for DC great and Jade co-creator Jerry Ordway) and her being bequeathed a toy car from her brother Todd and the ring from her father, which led her to the titular lantern in he Dugan basement.
Courtney is instantly suspicious of Jenny, not just because she busted into her house and tore up her kitchen, but because she represents what Courtney wanted to be. Court thought she was Starman’s daughter, and had to really struggle with that (lack of) reality. What Courtney falls to realize is that Courtney has a family and, even if it isn’t the one she dreamed of, the family has worked out pretty damn well for her. She and Pat have really bonded, and her family feels secure and supportive. Sure, Jenny may be the literal child of a superhero, but she’s all alone. Courtney is jealous for all the wrong reasons, which she eventually realizes.
3. Cool in the Shade
This episode is written by James Robinson, which should come as no surprise; if the series is going to introduce the Shade, Robinson was the natural choice to write the episode, even if he wasn’t on the show’s writing staff. The Shade was a Golden Age JSA villain, but one who Robinson used in a much more nuanced way. By the end of “Starman” and his own miniseries, the Shade was practically a hero, though not quite. While I don’t expect his Stargirl version to be totally virtuous, it seems like a red herring to introduce him as a villain. With Jenny looking for Todd, another shadow hero, and the Eclipso diamond being a major piece of the season, the Shade will be a powerful ally, or a really powerful adversary.
4. From Jenny to Jade
One of the interesting parts of this series is the (relative) lack of older generation present. Aside from Pat, and the Starman hints, the entire JSA really does appear to be wiped out. And so, when Jenny appears to absorb the power of the Starheart…err…the lantern I guess, it doesn’t leave questions like “How will Alan charge his ring?” In many ways, this is the antithesis of comics storytelling, where anyone and everything is on the table. And, in a sense, that’s refreshing.
What’s more important is that after her transformation, Jenny has left Blue Valley, presumably to find her brother. I can’t imagine this is the last we’ll see of her.
5. Eclipso on full display
With Shiv full on embracing the Eclipso persona and turning her stepmom to ash, we have a real sense of what the rest of the season will look like. We know that Shiv is looking to form a teen ISA, and now that she can fully wield the Eclipso diamond, she appears to be a dangerous foe for the JSA. We also know from hints dropped in the first episode that Jakeem Thunder isn’t far away, and we can presume Jade’s return, possibly with Obsidian in tow. Plus, who knows if whatever Rick is feeding can help out in some way.
For a show with relatively few episodes under its belt, it has done a ton of world building already. That’s impressive and a lot of fun.
