TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Stargirl Season 3 Episode 12

The answer to the question in the excerpt is, “no.” No it won’t be fun, because “The Last Will and Testament Of Sylvester Pemberton” not only left me confused about things, it made me angry that this was the “big twist” on top of everything else they were trying to do.

First and foremost, The Ultra-Humanite being Starman? And Dragon King now inhabiting the Ultra-Humanite’s body? That doesn’t make sense in various ways. Not that they didn’t try to make it make sense in a LONG exposition from “Starman.” But even with that heavy-handed monologue, things didn’t add up at all. Not the least of which was the timeline of events, why certain things were done and when, and how the operation happened at all. Remember, The Dragon King “died” at the end of Season 1, and even if we assume that Starman was “brought back” during that time, how did Dragon King get his brain in the ape body?

I liked how they established the alliance between Dragon King and Ultra-Humanite in the opening sequence. Showing off the ‘primal fury” of the villain while he was in the actress’s body. I wish we had more of that because Ultra-Humanite was never “a threat” because we never saw him do anything outside of scare Mike and Jakeem! Oh, he switches bodies, ok. And yeah, he’s a genius but…it’s all so convoluted.

It also didn’t help that they were VERY heavy-handedly trying to indicate that Sylvester would die, so you knew something had to happen. I hated the build-up to it because it was very obvious that they were doing the “heroic sacrifice” bit (which Zeek of all people had to point out…) and then when the twist happened, it ruined all the moments that you honestly WANTED to see from Starman. That speech about finding “more JSA members”? That was really good, and yeah, that was part of his plot, but it shouldn’t have been. That speech was unnecessary for Ultra-Humanite.

Just as important, how is it that the staff didn’t know that it wasn’t Sylvester in there? That makes no sense. Oh, and the “you can’t recall the staff back now” bit? They didn’t even try to explain that. Also confusing was Pat hearing that Starman was Ultra-Humanite…and then he tried to appeal to Sylvester, even though it wasn’t him in there in any way by Ultra-Humanite’s admission! Oh, but he was “lost in the role”? Really? Some genius.

Other elements of the story didn’t help too. Like how Mike, Jakeem and Cindi were trying to find a way to cure her and…the pen took them to the lab where they found out the truth…how convenient. Also, Mike is the literal worst. He’s insensitive, uncaring, and a fool. And then the one time he wisely tries to caution Jakeem, Jakeem finally grows a backbone and stands up to him. Le sigh. Even Ultra-Humanite admits they’re inept! Oh, and notice how while everything else is going on…no one asks where Mike or Jakeem are? Exactly.

The Rick stuff I wish we had more of because it was LONG OVERDUE. And while I like the “withdrawal” scene, we should’ve had it earlier. Plus, Rick’s “but you need me at full strength” bit was just further proof he wasn’t worthy of the hourglass. #NotMyJSA.

Oh, and we know Pat isn’t dead…nor would he have been buried alive in that amount of time, just saying.

In the end, the 12th entry tried to pull out a major twist, and it was shocking…but in the bad way.

Next episode is the end of everything…I don’t have high hopes.

2/5