TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Stargirl Season 2 Premiere!

Yes, I know that’s the s1 poster, sorry, we’ll have the new one ready for next week! But it’s honestly a bit appropriate because with Season 2 now started, we must reflect on what Season 1 was. And it was…something. On one hand, you could argue that Stargirl had the best villains in recent Arrowverse history right up until the end when they were all defeated WAY too easily. You could also argue that the main characters weren’t all…well…likeable. Outside of Pat who was the surprise MVP IMO. So with a somewhat uneven first season, what did Season 2 do to start us off on the right foot?

Well…that would assume that they DID start off on the right foot. Which they honestly…mostly didn’t.

The Season 2 premiere started off timeline-wise apparently not long after the events of “Project Middle America”, and that was fine given the shows cast in terms of ages and such. But almost immediately it became apparently that Courtney once again was going to be a problem.

If you recall my Stargirl reviews, I noted that Courtney’s biggest personality fault was that she was “100% all the time” and that she didn’t care about others feelings on the matter unless she had to. And sadly, that hasn’t changed here. She’s desperate to keep her life as Stargirl alive no matter what, including doing patrols for a city that (at the moment at least) doesn’t need protection.

She stays up all night looking up old JSA villains on the CHANCE they might return, she neglected her school work (and now has summer school) and is putting up even more barriers between her and her family due to her actions. She says “she’s sorry” but deep down you know she’s not because she KEEPS DOING IT because it’s “her destiny” to “not quit”.

The funniest thing here is that it’s honestly pretty easy to see what she is at this moment in her life…she’s an addict. Shocking, huh? But it’s true. Think about it, she doesn’t “want” to be Stargirl, she NEEDS to be Stargirl. Even saying that she wants to have “a career…as Stargirl”, not even thinking about what that means or if it’s even possible. She only comforts her friends (like Yolanda and Beth) when she FINALLY realizes something is wrong, and even when Pat tells her that she needs to live her life, or is even GROUNDED because of her actions…she still does things anyway because of her “need”.

Which of course led to honestly the best part of the episode via the Stargirl/Jade fight. Even though it caused WAY too much damage to think that no one but her family would notice it. I’m hoping Jade is a big standout in this season because frankly…I think we’re going to need her.

THANKFULLY, most of the rest of the cast did well in their return. Pat is still awesome…even though his new “partner” in Zeke is annoying as all get out and Pat is WAY too nice to not deal with him. Seriously…why does Zeke there?

Yolanda and Beth were honestly the standouts in most ways. Yolanda is still dealing with her killing of Brainwave and the shot of her just sitting in confessional, not knowing what to say was honestly very heartbreaking. As for Beth, her parents not only continue to ignore her, but now they’re divorcing. Making her infinitely more sympathetic than what she was last year when she just had “busy parents”. And even though she got the AI of the Dr. Mid-Nite goggles fixed (somehow…), the AI shut down because it didn’t recognize her. Leaving her truly alone. I personally hope Beth gets an overhaul in terms of her role for the team because she still sticks out like a sore thumb in the group and that needs to change.

As for Rick Tyler…I’m not sure why he’s trying to help Solomon Grundy. Perhaps he’s trying to “Make up” for all the anger he had? Hard to say. But I’m cautious about this one.

The other major fault here is that we honestly didn’t get much progress on the “looming threat” here. Yes, Cindi is back and has the Eclipso diamond (which is apparently tied to Dr. Midnite’s family somehow), but…we already knew that. And her recruiting the “next ISA” is a curious choice for her…but we’ll see how it goes. And no sign of Shade yet, but perhaps he’ll show up sooner rather than later.

In the end, the Stargirl premiere didn’t start off on the best foot in terms of its lead or the villains to come, but perhaps with the supporting cast and new allies/foes we’ll find something more to hold onto. We’ll see.