DC’s Stargirl – Shining Knight

By starrymag | August 4, 2020

By: Atiya Irvin-Writes

 

 

It seems to be present day Blue Valley and we’re following a disoriented Justin (Mark Ashworth), the janitor, who is frequently quoting obscure literature. He’s roaming near a field with horses and says he’s lost his steed. But he’s brushed off and chased away. Then, he has a vision of sorts and sees Pat (Luke Wilson). He says Stripsey can help him.

 

Elsewhere, on a bus there is a man holding a locket exactly like the one Courtney (Brec Bassinger) wears. He heads to the Dugan-Whitmore house.

 

In the basement Pat and Barbara (Amy Smart) are debating what to do about the ISA. Barbara is horrified that Brainwave (Christopher James Baker) murdered his own son. Courtney seems to be in shock. She says they should go to the police. Pat says they might have bought the police off. What about the government? There’s no telling how far their reach goes. Pat says that any move they makes risks leading the ISA straight to them, he tells her to pack up and leave with Courtney like she planned. But, Barbara’s not so comfortable with that plan anymore knowing about the filicide and that Jordan (Neil Jackson) is planning to hurt people. Also, she’s worried about Pat and Mike. Pat somberly says to take Mike (Trae Romano) with them. However, Barbara doesn’t want to leave him in Blue Valley alone. Then, until they decide to leave, Pat says they all need to act like everything is normal.

 

Mike comes down and tells them they’ve got a guest.  He’s here for Courtney. When the group goes upstairs he introduces himself as Sam Kurtis (Geoff Stults): Courtney’s father. He tells Courtney that she’s really grown up. That happens in a decade. Courtney backs away and says he’s not her father. Barbara wants to know why he’s here because he’s been M.I.A for ten years. Sam says he was worried after he got Barbara’s email. Barbara tells Courtney she’s sorry this is happening like this. When Courtney sees the locket that mirrors her’s she realizes the truth.

 

Courtney says she wants to talk to Pat. When they’re alone she’s pretty emotional. If she’s not Starman’s daughter why does the staff work for her? If she’s not then what has she been doing? She fears that she got Henry and Joey killed. Mike interrupts as he’s got questions. Is that really Courtney’s dad? Are Pat and Barbara breaking up? Why won’t anyone tell him anything? After Pat snaps at him, he worries that he’s done something wrong. Pat tries to reassure him, but he’s not convinced.

 

Barbara and Sam talk in the living room. Barbara wants to know where he’s been. When he didn’t show up for Christmas when Courtney was five years old she looked for him for a year for her sake. She called, emailed and texted and he never responded. Sam says he’s been thinking of reaching out to her for months as he wants to get to know his daughter before it’s too late. Courtney comes down and says she’d like to talk to him, but Barbara wants her to go to school. Barbara relents and agrees to let them go for a walk.

 

More on Justin, he’s having some painful headaches and visions. He’s adamant that he’ll find his mind and steed. Again he says that “he” can help him. He grabs a very large sword and is presumably off to find Pat.

 

When Courtney and Sam talk Courtney cuts to the chase. She wants to know where he’s been. Sam says he understands if she resents him and tells her about their last Christmas together when she was four years old. He goes on to explain that their lockets were given to him by his mother. He says he’s sorry and that he’d do anything if he could go back in time and do things differently. They go to breakfast so Sam can explain.

 

Pat goes to the garage to talk to Beth (Anjelika Washington) and Rick (Cameron Gellman). Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) is at church praying for Henry. He starts to bring them up to speed, but then they’re interrupted by Justin who is wielding a sword. This scares Beth and Rick for obvious reasons. He tells Pat he needs his help and calls him Stripesy. But Justin is also having trouble staying in the moment. He starts seeing the kids and Pat as Dr. Ito (Nelson Lee) and his henchmen. Pat recognizes him and manages to calm him down. Justin breaks down and says he’s not well. He tells Pat that “they’ve” destroyed everything that he was. Beth asks who he is. Pat says he’s one of the strongest, bravest men he’s ever known.

 

Time to catch up with Brainwave. He tells Jordan that Dr. Ito gave him his memories back and brings him up to speed: Courtney is Stargirl, her step-father is Stripesy and he’s going to kill them. Jordan says no and Brainwave reads his thoughts and realizes the hesitation is because of Barbara. Jordan says Courtney’s death would devastate Barbara. Brainwave states taht he killed his wife and son for Project New America,but he offers to erase Courtney from Barbara’s memory. Jordan declines because no one is ever the same after he gets inside their heads. Brainwave says soon he’ll be in a lot of people’s head. When he killed Henry, he says, he felt his power increase. He absorbed Henry’s powers. Soon with Project New America it won’t be six states he reprograms; it’ll be half the country. He tells Jordan to make up his mind or he’ll make it up for him.

 

Sam admits he’s a screw up. He chased business leads that didn’t pan out or he messed them up. He asks Courtney to come visit him in California and she agrees.

 

Justin is calmed down and Pat has explained to Beth and Rick about his pre-JSA superhero group. Rick is kinda nervous about Justin because he threatened them with a sword, but Pat says Justin is a good guy. He gets Justin to tell him “the story.” Apparently, Justin is a lot older than he looks, like he was alive when King Arthur was around older. He got to Blue Valley following “the dragon.” He says the soldiers were scattered, but the dragon still needed slaying. He was captured and they stole his identity. He says none of them are safe as they’ll do it to them all. It sounds like either Dr. Ito or Brainwave got to him.

 

Pat and Barbara wait for Courtney to come back and talk about Justin. Pat thinks there’s some kind of mass brainwashing being planned. Barbara says she doesn’t know what’s going on but Justin needs help. She is gonna make up the guest bedroom for him.

 

Outside Courtney and Sam are wrapping things up. He says he’s excited for her to come visit. Then, things take a turn. He starts talking about Courtney’s locket. They were made by a famous designer and are antiques. If he sells them, he says, he can put a deposit on a house. Courtney gives him the locket and he says he’ll be back. Courtney doesn’t look convinced as Sam leaves. When Sam is gone Pat sees that Courtney’s upset and Courtney breaks down and hugs him.

 

Pat goes after Sam and chastises him for his treatment of Courtney. He tells Sam that Courtney hasn’t taken that locket off since the day he gave it to her. Sam says he’ll make it up to her. Pat tells him to never come back and then Sam admits he never planned on it. He then says something gross about Barbara and Pat punches him.

 

Later Barbara and Courtney have a heart to heart. Barbara is sorry Sam was such a disappointment and she’s torn. If they leave Blue Valley other families will suffer, but if she stays Courtney might die. However, the staff isn’t responding to Courtney, so she says it might not matter. She says she needs to go to school and she’s ready to leave whenever she is.

 

Jordan gets onto Barbara’s work computer and realizes that Barbara is on to him.

 

At school Courtney is feeling pretty low. She says she’s not Stargirl and father isn’t Starman – he was just some jerk. Yolanda interjects that her father isn’t Wildcat, but she has the mantle now. Beth says she’s not related to Dr. Mid-Nite, but she’s Dr. Mid-Nite now. Courtney isn’t convinced. She still feels responsible for what happened to Joey and Henry. Speaking of that, Henry’s memorial is scheduled for that day. In his eulogy Brainwave takes the time to telepathically taunt Courtney and say that she’s to blame for Henry’s death. He also dares her to confront the ISA.

 

A distraught Courtney runs home and tries to get the staff to work for her. No such luck. She tells Pat that Brainwave knows who she is. Also, she cries and says that the staff doesn’t want her anymore because of who her father is. Pat tries to reassure her that the staff doesn’t care and that it chose her because it believes in her. She just needs to believe in herself. He quotes Justin and says that heroes can come from anywhere. Then, with both Pat and Barbara at her side she reaches for the staff again and this time it responds. And Justin, who was apparently just hanging out in the staircase, says “our queen has risen.”

 

Brainwave says he’s glad that Jordan has made the right decision. He vows to take care of them Stargirl, Pat and her mother. Jordan stops him and tells him to kill Mike too as he better not to leave a legacy running around.