Stargirl – Frenemies Chapter Four: The Evidence review S3 E4
Frenemies continues to play out like a confident, secure Stargirl story arc with solid pacing and enough strong character beats to make up for a lack of action.
The staff brings Courtney to the beaten down Sylvester, who gets a stint in the hospital for his trouble of investigating the Gambler’s murder scene without the staff. Beth’s doctor mom explains she and her husband were hyped about Beth being the new Dr. Mid-Nite but didn’t consider this side of it.
This played out like a good, mature exchange. Dr. Chapel didn’t immediately start panicking and demand they stop letting Beth go out with them. Instead, it was just a sobering realization of the consequences of being a hero.
Charles McNider returns to examine Starman. One of the cooler aspects of the Geoff Johns’ JSA run was how random old school characters would pop up for an arc of two. It definitely helped convey that notion legacy and passing the torch.
McNider has some encouraging news for Sylvester. He’s absorbed so much of the staff’s cosmic energy that it’s provided a built-in healing factor. Course that doesn’t do much to help motivate Sylvester to want to stop being a hero and watch Courtney be the superhero 24/7.
Yolanda’s personal life is also going through some challenges as her father was fired from his job and the family is forced to sell the house. Poor Yolanda has had a pretty crappy hand since the series started. If anyone deserves a win, it’s her.
And that mysterious figure continues to watch the various team members on surveillance cameras.
The JSA searches for clues at the trailer and there’s a scrap of DNA left that Beth and Charles deduce is from The Dragon King aka Cindy’s father. In all likelihood, it’s probably Cindy who reveals in her secret lab that her arm now starts to have some of the dragon scale skin of her father.
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That’s enough of a lead for Mike to convince Jakeem to hit the sewers to find Dragon King first. I was worried that Mike and Jakeem would get lost in the shuffle this season, but this competitive little brother subplot has worked well.
The only one that is teetering into silly territory is Barb’s job subplot. After Paula chatted him up, Tim is now incredibly supportive of Barb’s proposal. Tim was a cartoonish jerk initially and the 180 the other way feels just as goofy.
Paula does salvage the scene by gifting Barb a stuffed fox? raccoon? Barb’s reaction was hilarious and Paula legit seems thrilled to have done a solid for her friend. It does seem like Artemis should be in the mix more interacting with the JSA.
Crusher gets his big moment this episode too as he brings over a six-pack to cheer Sylvester up after his hospital stay. Sylvester starts to let some of his walls down with his former enemies and invites him to stay and watch The Outlaw Josey Wells with him and Pat. Later, Pat encourages Sylvester that he can still make a positive impact as a mentor to the JSA even if he isn’t Starman anymore. To help seal the deal, Pat has a new costume for him.
Four episodes in this season and it felt like Cameron’s arc was in serious need some advancement soon. His grandparents were doubling up the creepiness and Cameron is being gaslit into believing his father was a hero. Cameron’s temper is starting to get the best of him and when Courtney checks in on him at school, he can’t control his powers unleashing a massive ice storm through the art class.
Courtney never met a lost case she wouldn’t help and takes Cameron to the park so he can focus and better control his powers. In a nice show of growth, Courtney resists the urge to tell Cameron about her powers or the JSA. Barry Allen would never…
With her help, Cameron lets loose a gentle snowfall in the park. It’s a nice moment and a perfect one for the big kiss between Courtney and Cameron. See how effective a little patience (three seasons) can be in establishing the main character’s romance? Or any real romance on the show for that matter?
This one seems destined to be ill-fated once Cameron learns of Stargirl’s identity and they’re on opposite sides making this a bittersweet first kiss.
Stargirl is a show where the showrunners and writers clearly understand how this teen universe should work and have been impressively consistent every episode. This was another solid character development episode as the season continues building up the threat behind the shadows.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW
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