DC’s Stargirl – Shiv Part One

By starrymag | July 6, 2020

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

We open with a morning montage of the JSA: The Next Generation getting ready for school. Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) is boxing, Courtney (Brec Bassinger) greets the staff, Beth (Anjelika Washington) is having a singalong with her goggles and Rick (Cameron Gellman) seems slightly less filled with rage.  The only person who’s not in a good mood is Mike (Trae Romano). Paper routes, it seems, were only fun in the 60’s. When he gets home he interrupts a talk between Courtney and Pat (Luke Wilson). Pat says training will start after school, but training for what Mike wonders? Pat covers by saying he’s giving Courtney some driving lessons. Barbara (Amy Smart) isn’t thrilled about this. She says it’s nice that Pat wants to bond with Courtney, but he really should’ve checked with her first. Pat apologizes and says he should’ve told her. He should tell her a lot of things, he adds cryptically. Then, it’s off to school.

 

School starts for everyone except Henry (Jake Austin Walker) and Cindy (Meg DeLacy). Cindy is focused on planning the homecoming dance, but Henry is more concerned about his still comatose father who also happens to be Brainwave (Christopher James Baker). He feels like he can wake him up, but Cindy says that’s silly. At any rate, the last thing on Henry’s mind is the dance. Cindy thought Henry would want to have some fun, but Henry can’t bear to leave his father. He asks Cindy to stay awhile and she agrees but is less than thrilled about.

 

Courtney, Beth, Yolanda and Rick walk together through the hallway and feel pretty cool being the only ones in on their secret. Up until Cindy bumps into them and calls them losers. Courtney wonders why Cindy is so mean. Yolanda says she’s always been like that, but Beth says there was a time she was nice but then her mother died. Overnight she became the meanest kid in fourth grade. Courtney seems intrigued by the dead mother revelation, but Rick says dead parents aren’t an excuse. Rick declares Cindy is a horrible person.

 

Barbara is offered the chance to help secure a factory for her job by Jordan (Neil Jackson). It involves an overnight trip. She’ll have to check with Pat first.

 

Cindy has an argument with Jenny (Ashley Winfrey). Jenny was excited that a guy named Travis asked her to homecoming. But, Cindy says that dance is for losers like her and Travis and she wouldn’t be caught dead there. Jenny gets angry and asks Cindy why she has to be so awful? She also says she’s glad Cindy won’t be there, she needs a break.

 

After the fight Cindy bumps into a janitor (Mark Ashworth) – the one who’s always quoting classic literature. Then, Cindy goes to Henry and we get the impression that he might not be as normal as his father assumed he was.

 

Later, in Chemistry, Courtney offers to be Cindy’s partner. Cindy is hesitant, but Courtney points out that no one’s banging down her door at the moment. Reluctantly, she accepts.

 

Elsewhere, Henry is in Geometry and taking a pop quiz. He definitely inherited his father’s telepathy as he can hear the thoughts of everyone in class.

 

At first Courtney and Cindy are awkward together, but then Courtney notes that Cindy is really good at chemistry. Cindy says it’s child’s play, literally. Her dad’s a chemist, so growing up they did experiments for fun. Cindy asks Courtney what her father does and Courtney says she doesn’t know because he died. She’s looking for a connection on the dead parent front, but Cindy just says it’s sad and moves on. She ends up asking Courtney if she wants to hang out at the homecoming dance and Courtney accepts.

 

When Cindy goes home we learn that it’s not only her classmates that she’s mean to. Her stepmother Bobbie (Lesa Wilson) seems terrified of her. Cindy bullies her into giving her wine. Then, she goes down to see her father. Bobbie says she’s not allowed in the basement where her father is, but Cindy punches in the passcode and goes down anyway.

 

Pat takes the gang to the Pitt Stop. Rick wonders if they’re going to suit up, but Pat says they’re going to focus on teamwork and getting to know their enemies. He put together a presentation and underwhelming dummies meant to look like their foes.

 

Cindy listens in on what appears to be an ISA meeting. Sportsmaster (Neil Hopkins) is briefing the group on his and Tigress’s (Joy Osmanski)   encounter with the group the other night. Tigress wants to bring their own children in since Sportsmaster believes the JSA is an eighteen years old and under group. Principal Bowen (Hina X. Khan) is not on board with that idea. Her son is too sensitive for this life. Jordan says to keep looking for them.

 

Pat tries (try being the operative word) to teach the group about the ISA. Sportsmaster is a great fighter. He went up against the original Wildcat and the Green Lantern back in the day. Courtney is unimpressed and says Beth’s goggles could tell them this. Tigress is sadistic and favors a crossbow. Courtney says they know. Then, there’s the Gambler a/k/a Steven (Eric Goins), who’s one of Barbara’s bosses. He might seem docile, but he’s dangerous. There is the fiddler, who Courtney interrupts the history lesson about to say is definitely Principal Bowen. Pat says they don’t know that. Also, Courtney promised she’d let Pat train them. And, not for nothing, they’re all in danger if the ISA still controls Solomon Grundy. He tells Courtney a direct confrontation is too risky, but Courtney says there will always be risks.

 

Then, Courtney with gymnastics and the staff in hand destroys all the dummies.  Instead of being impressed the team and Pat are annoyed. Those weren’t just for her to practice on. Courtney’s not much of a team player yet.

 

After the meeting Cindy confronts her father Dr. Ito (Nelson Lee). He’s in a hooded costume, surrounded by other hooded figures. Cindy tells her father she’s sick of the glorified babysitter (Bobbie) and sick of being a teenager. She wants to be a part of the ISA, then she kills one of the figures using a retractable knife in her wrist. Her father is annoyed and says they take two weeks to condition, also she’s learned nothing from what happened with her mother. Yikes. Cindy says it was a mistake and now she can be useful.

 

Dr. Ito tells her he gave her powers for protection not to enhance her temper tantrums, but Cindy is sick of high school. Also, apparently her father instructed her to get close to Henry to see if he shared his father’s gift. Cindy’s sick of that too. She says Henry was fun before, but now that his dad is in a coma he just mopes. She’s sure he’s totally normal. If Brainwave doesn’t wake up Henry is their Plan B, so Cindy has to stay with him. Cindy tells her father none of the kids knowing about their parents’ alter egos is boring and lonely. Dr. Ito states if she’s unhappy she should buy some clothes or throw a party. Then, she asks who Stargirl is and gets brushed off. However, she’s determined to get a seat a the table. Dr. Ito sends her home and says not to take it out on her stepmother as he doesn’t have time to prepare another.

 

Pat and Courtney argue. Courtney insists she’s not a novice anymore, but Pat says it’s not just about her. It’s about her friends who are now in the line of fire. Courtney thinks she should get a solo mission while the others train, but Pat says no and to leave Principal Bowen alone.

 

Pat, Courtney and Mike see Barbara off on her road trip. Pat promises they’ll be fine without her for a few days as they’ll have the homecoming game to entertain them.

 

Cameron (Hunter Sansone) gets advice from Jordan on how to ask out Courtney  and gets a sweet story on how his parents met. Later, at the game, Courtney says yes and tries to diplomatically cancel plans with Cindy. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Pat tells Courtney again to leave Principal Bowen, also at the game, alone. When he goes to the concession stand Mike and Courtney have a talk. Apparently he’s not thrilled about all the quality time Pat and Courtney are spending together. He feels like Courtney is monopolizing his father and says it’s unfair. He says that he’s not hogging Barbara just because his mom died. He then storms off.

 

With Mike and Pat not around Courtney trails Principal Bowen. She takes a phone call saying she’s been trying to suit up. Courtney takes that as a cue to suit up as well. Meanwhile, Cindy storms home looking for her father. She tells a minion she wants a seat at the table. When she can’t find him she says he’s never there when she needs him. Next, she sees an alert on his computer for Stargirl. She takes it as her cue to suit up as well.

 

At school Courtney as Stargirl finds Cindy as Shiv. She ends up getting thrown around the hallway quite a bit. Courtney shoots a beam of light at Cindy’s face and is concerned and then horrified when her previously burned face heals in a matter of seconds.

 

They fight a little more and Courtney gets cut and disarmed. Cindy’s about to go in for the kill when Courtney’s salvation comes in the form of the eccentric janitor who was wielding a sword. The staff gets Pat and brings him to an unconscious Courtney, which raises a different problem. While Courtney was limping away Pat called her name. They’ve really got to work on names in the field. From the shadows the janitor recognizes Pat and calls him Stripesy. A worried Pat cradles an unresponsive Courtney.