Welcome back to Multiversity’s coverage of Stargirl! Returning to the air 8 days shy of its season one finale, the series returns as a CW exclusive show. Let’s not waste anymore time before seeing what’s going on in Blue Valley!
1. The Cold Open
The series began with a cold open, showing the end of the Justice Society of America at the hands of the, you guessed it, Injustice Society of America and the presumed death of Starman. This season uses a similar nexus event (sorry, wrong show), with the daughter of Charles McNider, the original Doctor Mid-Nite, being corrupted by the Eclipso diamond.
These opening scenes often times set the stage for the entire season; the first batch of episodes was all about putting back the JSA after it had broken apart in the first scene. For this season, what does this mean? Well, we know that the Eclipso diamond is going to play a role, but it is also about corruption of innocence. In the fifth point, we’ll talk about where those two pieces may overalp.
2. The spoils of victory?
The JSA was successful in their plan to save Blue Valley/the world from the ISA last season, but this premiere doesn’t show them living high on the hog. Aside from Courtney, everyone else is willing to move on with their lives and not eat, sleep, and breathe JSA business. Beth isn’t feeling the enjoyment of being Doctor Mid-Nite without the ‘Chuck’ AI, Yolanda is still, quite literally, haunted by Brainwave’s voice, Pat wants to get back to being a mechanic and dad, and Rick just seems bored.
But Courtney isn’t ready to do that for a variety of reasons. For one thing, she appears to flat out be having fun. She can fly around and be dope with the Cosmic Staff, whereas Rick just gets to walk around in a bulky costume and sulk. Courtney’s life is being Stargirl, and her life is demonstrably better because of her heroics. That’s not true for the rest of the JSA.
Rick is tired of people not believing that he can change, and is apparently feeding a monster fried chicken by a river? Beth finds out that her parents may be getting a divorcee and goes into panic mode as, aside from the JSA, and especially without ‘Chuck,’ she has nothing in her life that isn’t her family. Yolanda cannot shake Brainwave from her memory, and winds up silently crying in a confessional every morning as a priest offers to help.
Courtney doesn’t see this. She sees the JSA needing to be helping the world, whereas maybe she needs to be helping the JSA right now. It’s an interesting take on the team dynamic, and one that should have a bunch of built-in tension going forward this season.
3. Man of the stars
As hinted in the epilogue of last season, we see Starman, aka Sylvester Pemberton, track down Pat’s ex-wife (and presumably Mike’s mother?) in order to find Pat. I don’t want to besmirch Sly’s detective skills, but maybe he should look for “Pat Dugan” on the internet and find out that he’s a small business owner in Blue Valley. That seems like the most direct and least creepy way to find his old partner.
We don’t get much with him, but it seems obvious that he’s going to want to Cosmic Staff back. That will appear to be a relief for Pat, and the end of the world for Courtney. If Pemberton is who he says he is, the Staff may have to be the one to choose. I know that sounds insane, but remember the staff is essentially the carpet from Aladdin and has a literal mind of its own.
4. Jade?
“Summer School, Chapter 1” established a few future JSA members, with Jakeem (Thunder) being referenced as a friend of Mike’s, and we meet the ‘daughter of the Green Lantern,’ presumably Jenny Lynn Hayden, aka Jade. She and Courtney basically destroy the first floor of the Dugan household, but in the process they meet. It’s not quite a meet cute, more like a meet brute?
Super nerd note: I’m glad that, thus far, Jenny can’t really use the ring that effectively, and also that the ring is making more of a green flame than straight up constructs, in keeping with the Alan Scott/Starheart ring tradition.
Continued below5. Unlimited amounts of Injustice for just one low, low price
Cindy, aka Shiv, returns in the final moments of the episode, wielding a folder that says ‘Injustice Unlimited.’ This is going to be Cindy’s version of a new ISA, made up of teenagers her own age, convenienetly organized via headshots in this folder. We see Artemis Crock, a hockey-stick wielding girl that Courtney had a run-in with earlier in the episode, an unnamed dude with a nice set of wavy locks, Cameron, Icicle’s son/Court’s love interest from last season and, in a shocking and really fun twist, Mike!
Mike wants to be a part of the JSA, but his dad isn’t ready to train him just yet. That sets up a very clear motivation to go off and find a new mentor. That’s the most fun element of this episode, simply for both how much sense it makes and what types of stories can spin out of it.
