DC’s Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Eight

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

The episode opens with Rick’s (Cameron Gellman) teacher Miss Woods (Deborah Bowman) showing up at his house. She says she wants to apologize again for shooting him.  Since it’s the Fourth of July and the farm isn’t easily accessible, Rick doubts she’d come all this way for something that’s already been resolved. But Miss Woods came to give him a packet of info for resources on college: brochures and financial aid. She’s starting to tell him that college gave her a chance to be who she wanted to be and not who people said she was. Unfortunately, this gets interrupted by Matt (Adam Aalderks), Rick’s uncle. He’s drunk and rudely tells Miss Woods to leave. Once she’s gone she tells Rick he’ll end up in jail before he goes to college. For obvious reasons this upsets Rick and he goes to the woods and screams about how tired he is of everything and he sees Grundy.

At the Whitmore-Dugan house Courtney (Brec Bassinger) is heading out for the day and Pat (Luke Wilson) and Barbara (Amy Smart) want to know where she’s going. She wants to go apologize to Yolanda because she regrets dragging her into the JSA. Her parents say she meant well, but perhaps it’s better to give her space at the moment. Mike (Trae Romano) suggests that they help Yolanda by defeating Eclipso. The doorbell rings and Courtney answers it only to find that Yolanda has left her Wildcat costume on the porch.

Beth (Anjelika Washington) at first is having a slightly better morning. She makes contact with Dr. McNider (Alex Collins) who helps clear a few things up. He’s technically alive, but he’s in a place called the Shadowland. He says he has to keep moving and then gets disconnected. A slightly disappointed Beth takes a nap and Eclipso’s face flashes on her computer.

Rick is still in the woods with Grundy, who is eating a lot of apples. Rick decides to vent. He remembers that when he was younger Matt brought home a pitbull named Jax. He’d been abused so he was aggressive and Matt, who wanted to use him for dog fighting, made him worse. One day Rick told Matt that Jax ran away but really he took him to another town with new owners. He tells Grundy that Jax got better when he was with people who cared. He wonders if that’s what Grundy needs or if Grundy can even understand him. Grundy responds by patting Rick on the back.

Beth is still at home when her mother (Kron Moore) and father (Gilbert Glenn Brown) surprise her with lunch. They decide they’re ready to talk about their possible divorce. They start explaining that they got married young. Then they were focused on their work, then on her, and juggling all that was hard. Then they tell her that she made their lives harder. At first she’s confused and then horrified when she sees maggots crawling in her sandwich. Then starts hearing whispers, which her parents say they can’t hear. So Beth runs off with them calling after her.

Rick goes to his car and hears an alarming broadcast. There’s been a bear spotted in the woods, so the local hunting organization has volunteered to kill it. The only problem is the bear that’s been sighted is Grundy. Rick calls Pat and tells him he needs his help.

Beth goes to Courtney’s house likely to tell her about Eclipso’s mind games. But no one’s home even though the door’s unlocked. Inside she sees Bruce (Milo Stein), the form that Eclipso takes sometimes. At first Beth is confused, but then Bruce starts making a lot of pointed comments. He says that Beth’s a thief and that she doesn’t belong and takes the googles, which forces Beth to chase after him.

Pat and Courtney go to the woods. Courtney’s worried because the staff hasn’t recovered from the fight with Eclipso yet. Pat says they’ll figure it out. Rick runs into two hunters, one of whom is injured. The hunter who isn’t hurt says they ran into the non-bear and that a little girl from a farm has gone missing. They say whatever the creature is it needs to die. Rick is alarmed and runs off vowing to find the little girl.

Beth continues chasing Bruce and Bruce keeps being hostile. Bruce says that Beth is useless and doesn’t live up to any of the stereotypes about “her kind,” and Beth points out that he’s being racist. First he says that the staff chose Courtney, Courtney chose Yolanda and Rick’s father chose him. No one, Bruce says, wanted Beth.

Beth, still being terrorized by Eclipso, runs into a room of now dead JSA members telling her she doesn’t belong. And Bruce tells her she’s the wrong age, gender, and color. Courtney and Pat search the woods and realize there are no hunters. They hear Rick screaming for Grundy and try to find him. Rick finds Grundy next to the body of a little girl (Olive Abercrombie) in the river. He’s horrified and thinks Grundy killed her. He calls him a monster and chases after him. Pat and Courtney stay behind with the little girl’s body. Except, her eyes open and she laughs maniacally before disappearing: it was all Eclipso.

Rick goes after Grundy and asks Grundy why he killed the little girl and attacks him presumably using his Hourman strength. Beth isn’t having a much better time. Bruce tells her that she’s a fake. That she’s been hiding behind a smile her whole life and the truth is she’s just scared. But Beth says if she’s the one who’s scared then why is Bruce the one who’s hiding? Eclipso (Nick Tarabay) reveals his true form and says he’s not.

At the farm Rick thinks he’s fighting Grundy, but really he’s been fighting Matt. Courtney and Pat try to make him see that, but when they can’t Courtney zaps him with the staff. When he realizes it was his uncle Rick breaks the hourglass.

Beth continues her face-off with Eclipso who keeps belittling her. Eclipso tells her point blank that Beth has to force her way in everywhere because no one wants her. But Beth says she chose herself to be Dr. MidNite and she loves who she is. Those are the magic words to send Eclipso away, for now.

Beth’s wearing the goggles and Dr. McNider tells Beth that she never left her house. The whole thing was a vision. While the goggles are on she can see through Eclipso’s visions. But Dr. McNider tells her that Beth saved herself.

When Beth’s parents come in they notice she’s still a little shaken up and ask if she’s okay. She admits that she’s not and that she feels like she doesn’t belong sometimes. Beth’s mother says she understands that she was the first Black doctor in Blue Bell when she moved there. People distrusted her, but eventually she managed to win them over. This leads to a nice conversation with her parents.

Rick is arrested, presumably for assault, and Matt is taken to the hospital. We cut away and we learn from Mike and Barbara that Matt is in the ICU and Pat and Courtney have gone to the police station to see if they can help Rick. Mike wonders what they can do and Barbara says they’ll just try and be there for them.