DC’s Stargirl – Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two

By starrymag | August 18, 2020

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The season finale of “DC’s Stargirl” starts on the football field. Isaac (Max Frantz) is being scolded by Mr. Levine (Nick Basta) for a fight. He decided to take his mother Principal Bowin’s advice and bashed a bully in the head with his tuba. What will his mother say, Levine asks. Nothing because she told him to do it. Mr. Levine doesn’t buy it, but there’s no chance to see who’s right because the ground starts shaking and the satellite being used for Project New America rises from the ground.

 

Out in town there are a lot of catatonic adults. A scared little girl doesn’t understand why her father isn’t responding to her. Jordan (Neil Jackson) intervenes and tells the girl that it’ll be alright and her father is being made into a better person. But the girl says that her father is already a good person. Jordan just says she’ll see.

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Underground Courtney (Brec Bassinger) has parental problems, too. Pat (Luke Wilson) under the ISA’s control is attacking her inside the robot. At the office Beth (Anjelika Washington) can’t reach Barbara (Amy Smart). The Gambler (Eric Goins) says that Barbara will be a part of their new society unless she pushes back too hard. Courtney dodges Pat’s attacks, but manages to reach him by saying she’s his daughter. She tells Pat he’s been there for her since they moved to Blue Valley and she needs him now.

 

Also in the tunnels are Justin (Mark Ashworth), Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) and Rick (Cameron Gellman). They’re trying to figure out what to do. Same story with Beth. Chuck (Henry Thomas) tells her that the bad guys are immune because they’re wearing signal blocking earpieces. Rick asks Beth for help. Beth suggests the ISA might have some spares in the basement that could free Pat and Justin. The Gambler won’t go quietly, so Chuck and Beth create a diversion by hacking into his bank account. Beth gives his millions away to charity.

 

Brainwave (Christopher James Baker) and Dr. Ito (Nelson Lee) notice the disruption and go looking for the gang. But the good news is that Justin and Pat wake up. Barbara isn’t so lucky. They’ve still got work to do. With that said, Yolanda and Rick go after the machine and debate morality. Once they shut down Project New America Rick is determined to kill Soloman Grundy. Yolanda doesn’t believe this will help him. Also, it’s wrong because God says so. Rick says then God shouldn’t let bad things happen. He warns Yolanda not to try and stop him.

 

Justin waxes poetic about how he needs to slay the dragon, presumably this means Dr. Ito. But the group gets blocked by ISA members – Sportsmaster (Neil Hopkins), Jordan and Tigress (Joy Osmanki) in particular. The respective sides face off. From the shadows The Gambler says he’s sending in reinforcements. Justin goes after Dr. Ito with his sword and tells him he only came back to die. Behind them a door opens and Cindy (Meg DeLacy) is released. But as Dr. Ito is about to deliver another blow, Cindy claws him through the chest. She tells her father he shouldn’t have locked her up.

 

The JSA seems to be winning the fight, but then Grundy enters the fray. This is a sore spot for Rick who charges straight for him. Pat tells Courtney to get to the machine as he’ll keep Rick safe. Yolanda fights hench-people while Brainwave steps away to help “kill the children.” Meanwhile, The Gambler says Jordan needs to go after Beth to stop her from hacking into their systems.

 

Yolanda was successful against the hench-people, but is stopped by Henry. She’s shocked because remember that time his father murdered him? Henry says that the cave in didn’t kill him as he’s been in hiding. And he’s been thinking about her the whole time and wonders where are her friends. With that Yolanda slashes his throat because they were Henry’s friends, too. Good catch because the illusion falls away and it turns out to have been Brainwave.

 

S.T.R.I.P.E isn’t as much of a match for Grundy as he’d hoped. The monster rips both of the robot’s arms off and this isn’t looking great for Pat, but luckily Rick jumps in and says it’s his turn. Courtney is briefly held up by Cindy, but then she blasts her with the staff. Then, she catches up with Yolanda who is standing over Brainwave’s dead body. Yolanda tells Courtney she knows it was wrong, but she killed him. Running low on time to unpack this the girls head to the machine. Courtney opts to blow up the machine by flying into the sky and blasting holes into it with the staff. This puts a halt to Project New America and we see the adults in town waking up.

 

Beth is psyched that Barbara’s awake again, but the joy is short-lived. Jordan bursts through the door. He tells Beth she has no idea what she’s done. Through the comms they inform Courtney that Jordan’s there. Speaking of that Jordan tells Beth, “No more Dr. Mid-Nite and freezes her beloved goggles.” This looks like the end of Chuck. A furious Beth charges at Jordan, but he throws her into the wall and takes off with ‘Barbara.

 

Pat hears the commotion in the office through the comms and Rick tells him to go save his wife r- obot or no robot. He says he’ll deal with Grundy. He’s got five minutes left as Hourman.

 

Yolanda and Courtney get to the office and see a pretty distraught Beth mourning Chuck. And Courtney’s mom is missing. We cut to the roof where Jordan is trying to sell his vision of a better America and running off into the sunset with her. She nixes the latter and tells him his wife wouldn’t have wanted this. Jordan says she didn’t know her and he says he will succeed and kill her whole family. He is about to throw her to her death before Pat interrupts. Jordan says Pat is wasting his time, as he’s powerless. But Pat explains that he’s here to protect his wife with their daughter. With that, Courtney delivers a literal flying kick.

 

Rick is punching out some childhood trauma with Grundy. He’s about to bash his head in with a very large rock, but Grundy looks afraid. Grundy’s unwillingness to fight back gets to Rick. He calls Grundy a stupid animal and doesn’t kill him. He tells him to leave and never come back. Justin is surprised that Rick spared him. Rick just says his hour was up and wants to go.

 

Courtney and Jordan are fighting on the roof while the rest of the JSA watches the action from the ground. Jordan and Courtney take a tumble off the roof, but lucky for Courtney that Yolanda is there and cushions her fall. Jordan is mostly okay, too. He’s ready to go in for the kill when he gets hit by a car that plows through him mid-ice transformation. The driver is none other than Mike (Trae Romano). He asks if he gets to be in the JSA now.

 

The next day a bruised Courtney, Rick, Beth and Yolanda are reflecting at the football field. Yolanda and Beth are still shaken. Rick insists he’s okay and the gang tries to reassure Beth that the goggles can be fixed. But Beth says they aren’t just goggles because they’re Chuck. Rick says they’ll get Chuck back.

 

Mike, Pat, and Barbara see Justin off. He says he came to Blue Valley to slay the dragon, but he didn’t. Pat reassures him that he helped stop the Injustice Society and there will be other dragons. This seems to make Justin feel better. He tells Pat that Starman would be proud of them all. He’s going to go find his horse and soldiers, whatever that means. As Justin drives away Barbara wonders what the rest of the world will think. Pat says “they” always come up with something.

 

Via the news the official story turns out to be an earthquake. Cindy is shown going through the ISA’s belongings and pulls out a gem she refers to as “Eclipso.”

 

Six weeks later the gang celebrates Christmas. Everyone seems to have healed from the previous events. Courtney gives Pat a “World Greatest Dad” mug. It matches Barbara’s and the two share a hug. There’s an obligatory family photo and then some flying in impractical clothing. All is well in Blue Valley. California; however, might be a different story.

 

We zoom in on an apartment complex. A man asks the current resident for Pat Dugan. He says that Pat moved away. The man asks for a forwarding address because he’d like to get in touch with Pat. The man is Sylvester Pemberton (Joel McHale) a/k/a Starman!