Stargirl Summer School Chapter 11 review S2 E11

Given all the build up this season, it was inevitable Stargirl had a dark episode that explored all the psychological damage inflicted on Courtney and her friends. The good thing is Stargirl is a show that’s actually well equipped to tackle an episode like this and get you hyped for the heroes’ comeback.

That’s not revolutionary storytelling, but it’s so rarely done right than when a show pulls it off, it’s very entertaining.

Courtney awakens to find herself in the Shadowlands and encounters The Wizard and his family, including his son, Joey. That was the death that showed Stargirl wasn’t playing around in terms of treating characters as if they’re in bubble wrap. Joey wasn’t a major character, but he was the nice guy character that didn’t seem like he’d get killed off at least a few episodes into the first season.

The parade of the dead keep coming as Courtney sees her former principal and her son, Isaac. It was interesting that Eclipso killed him and sent Cindy to the Shadowlands. Isaac seemed every bit as brooding and tormented as Cindy.

Hey, speaking of the psychotic devil herself! Cindy arrives and she’s ready to fight Courtney until she realizes her archenemy isn’t a fabrication, but the genuine able to bleed real blood article. For her tough talk and perfectly cool mentality of killing her father repeatedly, Eclipso finally figures out her trigger and makes Cindy see visions of her mother.

Cindy might be cruel and mean, but her birth mother is clearly a soft spot for her. Let’s casually ignore she did inadvertently(?) had Eclipso kill her stepmother.

Courtney can’t find Cindy, but does get saved in the abyss by the original Doctor Midnight, Charles McNider (Alex Collins). It’s kinda neat seeing Doctor Midnight in black and white as that’s how the JSA would have been in a 1940s TV show.

Beth hears from Dr. McNider so the show doesn’t spend needless time grieving Courtney’s death. That opening sequence was just fine. McNider tells Beth that Shade would know how to bring them out of the Shadowlands. This prompted a had to be intentional homage to Heroes with Jenny saying “Find The Shade, save Courtney.” Courtney is basically a cheerleader, right?

McNider said Shade considered him a friend so he knows his trip to the Shadowlands was merely his way of saving him from the Injustice Society. Shade’s at the movies trying to recover his strength, but Barb encourages him to open a gateway to get Courtney free.

Courtney is all set to go when she remembers Cindy is still stuck reliving her trauma. See? A wholesome do-gooder hero actually can work in a modern TV show. Mini Bruce crashes Courtney’s rescue attempt to put her through the emotional wringer with her failure to help Yolanda and Rick.

Milo Stein is doing an amazing job as young Bruce Gordon. He’s the standard cute sitcom kid who is playing the heck out of a demented evil entity. Bruce asks Courtney how she feels about him. When she responds ‘I hate you,’ it actually resonates and has more meaning than a character who’s always flying off full of aggression.

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Courtney finally tracks down Cindy, who’s forced to rewatch her most painful memory of throwing a temper tantrum as a child and accidentally killed her mom with her shivs. It’s going to be hard at this rate to keep Cindy a villain now that her full backstory has been revealed.

Courtney, Dr. Midnight and Cindy all make it through. It was nice to see Pat hugging McNider. He’s spoken of his deep admiration for the JSA and it felt like a heartfelt moment for two friends who didn’t think they would see each other again.

Shade is wiped out and looks like he died, but he also vanished into darkness. This at least leaves the window open for his return. Hopefully so as The Shade has been a fun addition to the series and his fluctuating motives would always make him an unpredictable character in any plot.

Cindy doesn’t have anyone to hug, but asks who wants to kill Eclipso? Given Barbara’s smile, it looks like everyone.

We’re down to only two more episodes this season. Compared to the please end this atrocity final two countdown of Titans, I’m actually bummed Stargirl is ending so soon. This is better than the season wearing out its welcome and the tease of wanting more and not getting it is an improvement over getting too many episodes filled with dumb subplots.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: The CW

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