TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Stargirl Season 2 Episode 2

In case you’re curious, the reason I didn’t put the title of the episode in the review head is because they’re doing a set called “Summer School” and I felt it honestly wasn’t needed.

Anyway, after a bit of a drudging start to Season 2, I was wondering how the show would go and pick up the pace and bring a lot more focus to the sophomore run. And…it honestly didn’t. Not in the ways that truly mattered, and then when they did move the pieces, they came at the expense of progress.

How so? Well, obviously, the big crux of this episode was the arrival of Jennie, aka Jade, Alan Scott’s daughter (and yes, that is comic accurate, she’s actually a big player in the “Infinite Frontier” comic alongside her family, more on that in a bit). She had a very dynamic entrance and the question was that of how they were going to work her into the Stargirl family.

Well…they didn’t, because Stargirl was a jerk from basically start to finish in this episode. Further cementing my thoughts from last review and last season that Courtney only does what’s “best for Courtney” and not for anyone else.

The hilarious part was that they admitted it in various ways throughout the episode and yet tried to gloss over them later on. For example, she didn’t trust her because of the break-in, which was fine to an extent, but after she explained who she was and why she broke in, Courtney should’ve at least given her a chance. But instead, she went full-on hate mode and blasted and scrutinized everything she did. From being nice to Pat, to getting the others to like her, to the use of her powers, and so on and so forth.

Cautiousness? Sure, that would’ve been fine, but that wasn’t what was here. And she didn’t see cautious at all when she gave non-legacy character Beth and Yolanda their suits and abilities. But suddenly when it’s a legacy, and one that is “just as good as her”, suddenly it’s a problem?

Which brought us to the other “revelation” behind what Courtney did. She admitted to Pat that Jennie was “everything I SHOULD be”. Yes, she was mad at Jennie because her father was a superhero and hers wasn’t. That SHE should be a legacy because…reasons? And clearly not logical ones because she IS a superhero, has OUTSHINED her OG father (which should’ve been good enough for her), and has saved the world (literally) and yet…that wasn’t enough for her? She’s still mad that her father wasn’t Starman? How conceited can you get?

And the show tried to make that “alright” by the end by having Courtney help Jennie and yet…it didn’t sell it, not at all. Especially when she made that “promise” to Pat about being “Courtney first” and then the MOMENT Pat started to infer that there was a villain, she almost exploded with her “I’ll go get my staff!” Yeah, nice job with that promise, Courtney.

The other big problem here was that because of Courtney’s jealousy dominating the episode, the other characters honestly were left in the dust. We only got light progression on Rick’s story with Grundy. Beth and Yolanda got virtually no screen time. Path is suddenly very cozy with Zeke (ok…), and while Jennie got some screentime, it was barely any character development before she went to go and look for her brother (Obsidian). And then…there’s Shade.

Shade is an OG villain from the JSA days, and a very powerful immortal. His introduction was given a very interesting touch here by having him search for fellow ISA member Wizard’s old stuff. And Barbara wisely calling Pat about it was nice, as was him figuring out who Shade was based on the details of the old file. Where it goes from here I can’t say, but he will be a big factor next episode, so I’m hopeful.

As for Cynthia and Eclipso, their storyline was…odd. Cythnia going back to her old stepmom’s house was a nice touch (and a dangling thread I’m glad they touched upon), and Eclipso corrupting her (like the girl from the first episode…) was a nice touch too.

But then, after the stepmom died, Cynthia felt…remorse. Why? She treated her like dirt in Season 1 and clearly didn’t mind using the diamond to get into the house. And yet…she didn’t want her dead? Plus, she clearly doesn’t have control over the Eclipso diamond so…what was she hoping to do with it if she didn’t even know how to control it?

This episode had a lot of potential, but it honestly didn’t work out as it could have. And a lot of that has to do with Courtney. These shows only go as far as their leads, and sadly, she’s just not a good one. And this episode really did cement that. One can only wonder how any of this will go from here.