DC’s Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Four

By starrymag | September 7, 2021

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The episode begins in prison, two prisons actually. Artemis Crock (Stella Smith) is visiting her mother Paula (Joy Osmanski) and father Lawrence (Neil Hopkins). She says she can’t stay in the foster home any longer because it’s miserable. Also, she tells Lawrence her big tryouts are coming up. Lawrence tells her she’ll do great and Paula tells her the same. But their time together is cut short by a guard.

 

At the Chapel house Beth (Anjelika Washington) is still trying to resurrect Chuck (Alex Collins) and get some answers about who Eclipso (Nick E. Tarabay) is when she’s interrupted by her mother (Kron Moore). She tells her mother that she missed her father. Beth not subtly suggests that her parents to mini golfing together like they used to as a family. But Beth’s mom says they’re both very busy. Once she’s gone she tries to pull up the JSA files only to be told the info’s confidential.

 

At the Dugan-Whitmore residence Barbara (Amy Smart) is still reeling from what Pat told her the previous night about the Black Diamond. She wonders if they should tell Courtney (Brec Bassinger) about the JSA and Eclipso. They’re interrupted by Courtney who wants to know what Pat (Luke Wilson) knows about Eclipso. She wants to know why all the files on Eclipso are missing or sealed. Pat explains that Eclipso is evil and the diamond drives people to do bad things. Pat says the JSA stopped Eclipso, but whoever has it is dangerous because they have its power. Courtney says she’ll do some research and won’t rush in.

 

Barbara is not the only one who’s been reeling. Cindy (Meg DeLacy) is alone and talking to the Black Diamond. She says she didn’t want Bobbi dead and she wishes the Black Diamond hadn’t messed with her head. But the Black Diamond says this isn’t really about her step-mother but her biological mother. It gives her a vision of her mother begging her not to hurt her. The vision upsets her and she demands the diamond take it away. The diamond says he was only trying to help and that Cindy needs to quit wallowing. We see an image of what Cindy desires: a new ISA. One that includes Mike Dugan (Trae Romano).

 

Speaking of Mike, he’s doing his paper route. He sees a headline about a married couple, Lawrence and Paula, who broke out of prison. Then, he finds himself standing face to face with Lawrence. He tries to feign ignorance and leave, but Paula grabs him and tells him not to bother trying to escape.

 

After an unpleasant encounter with her uncaring foster mother, Artemis goes out to the field and remembers what it was like to have her parents cheering her on. Later she is trying and failing to find fresh fruit in the cafeteria. Courtney offers her an apple as an apology for their dust up on the last day of school. She accepts briefly, but then Courtney brings up her parents which upsets Artemis and she storms off. Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) notes that Artemis has anger issues.

 

Rick (Cameron Gellman) is having a slightly better day. He retook the test and passed with flying colors. The teacher is forced to admit she was wrong for accusing him of cheating and apologizes. He says it’s fine, everyone doubts him.

 

Pat’s driving around and gets a message from Mike. It says that Pat’s old friends are in town and they want to talk. Pat sees the newspaper and realizes that Mike’s talking about the Crocks and speeds to his garage. Once he arrives he sees Paula and Lawrence there with Mike.  They offer a deal: they want to see Artemis’s tryout. If Pat helps them they’ll go back to jail without a fight.

 

Reluctantly Pat agrees and when he takes the Crocks home Barbara is shocked. She reminds Pat that Paula and Lawrence tried to murder them. But Pat says going along with their plan lessens the potential for carnage. After the initial shock Barbara and Paula and Pat and Lawrence have a parent to parent talk. Lawrence advises Pat to teach Mike to fight but he brushes him off. Barbara and Paula commiserate over their similarly stubborn, willful daughters and realize they might not be so different.

 

Elsewhere the gang gathers at the diner where Yolanda is off to a rocky start at her new waitressing job. She messes up everyone’s order, but the group tries to be supportive. But they’re still trying to get answers on Eclipso. The Black Diamond is from a place called Devil Island. It appears to have been erased from maps in the 1800s to keep people away. They find a legend about a group of people who summoned a god of vengeance, but when it got out of control they sealed it in the diamond. An explorer named Bruce Gordan went to the island sometime later but found everyone dead.  He’s the only person to have ever returned but after that there’s no info on him.

 

Courtney goes to the bookstore to do more research, but while searching for a book that could have answers she runs into Richard Swift (Jonathan Cake). She accuses him of wanting to take the Black Diamond for himself and team up with Eclipso. He also tells her that implying he’d ever work with Eclipso is an insult. Richard laughs at her assumption and says she doesn’t know what she’s talking about when she says he killed the first Dr. Mid-Nite. But he firmly points out that Courtney wasn’t there when Dr. Mid-Nite died and says there is a difference between bad and evil. He says he’s been called wicked many times over the years and sometimes that’s been deserved, but Eclipso killed Dr. Mid-Nite’s 10-year-old daughter. Likely Dr. Mid-Nite’s daughter and the little girl who died outside of the birthday party in the first episode are one in the same. When Richard finds the Black Diamond he says he’s going to make sure it ends up at the bottom of the ocean. Courtney wonders what’s in it for him. Of course, he doesn’t give her a real answer other than boredom. He tells her to leave it to him and vanishes into the shadows.

 

Pat takes Paula and Lawrence to Artemis’s tryout. She’s a little in her head at first, but then she sees her parents in the stands and is able to get back into the game. She impresses the coach and her parents are really proud, it’s a lovely moment. That is until Cindy comes onto the field. She uses the Black Diamond to bring out Artemis’s worst fears. When Courtney comes to see Pat, Artemis hallucinates seeing the police come to arrest her parents and attacks her. The rest of the team pull her off leaving her pretty confused.

 

In the next scene Paula and Lawrence have decided to come clean with their daughter. She doesn’t understand why they weren’t honest with her sooner. They explain that they wanted to protect her. They tell her she has a future now – she’s going to be a quarterback at a major university. But they don’t want to interfere or derail her so they’re going to leave.

 

While the Crocks are saying goodbye to Artemis we watch Courtney confronting Pat. She wants to know why Pat never told her that Eclipso killed Dr. Mid-Nite’s daughter. Pat says he didn’t want to scare her. Courtney thinks Pat just didn’t trust her with the truth and says she wouldn’t have gone charging in. She’s not the same Stargirl she was a year ago. Pat says he believes her and they go to take the Crocks back to jail.

 

Inside the school Artemis receives a disappointing phone call. The recruiter says she’s an amazing player, but they can’t have someone with such a bad temper representing their school. Once she hangs up she’s approached by Cindy. Cindy says she’s got another team she can join.

 

At home Barbara and Pat talk. Barbara asks Pat if he told Courtney everything. He says no and asks if she thinks he should’ve. Barbara observes that Paula didn’t tell Artemis the truth about her double life and now that she knows she’ll never be the same. If Courtney learns the truth she and the rest of the kids will never be the same. So, they agree to “protect them from the truth.” Meanwhile, Courtney sneaks out in search of answers about the JSA’s history.

 

Beth is still working on her goggles and is able to talk to Chuck, but not the AI she’s used to. She’s talking to the real Dr. Mid-Nite who says he’s been stranded for years and wants to know what happened to the JSA. Beth starts trying to explain, but the connection cuts off. She’s shocked that Chuck might not be dead after-all.