DC’s Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Six

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

It’s a rough morning for the JSA. Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) is already struggling with messing up orders at her new job at the diner when she gets a tough customer: Isaac Bowman (Max Franz). She tries to be polite, but then he tells her he saw the sexts she sent Henry and everyone else did too. Obviously, this upsets Yolanda. She tells him to order something or else he needs to leave. He opts to get aggressive and says he knows what she and her friends did and they’re going to pay for it. Then, he storms out.

Beth’s (Anjelika Washington) morning isn’t much better. She goes to her father’s job to surprise him with breakfast and try to talk with him about her parents’ possible divorce. But James (Gilbert Glenn Brown) says he promised Beth’s mother that they’d only talk to her about this together. Unfortunately, Beth still isn’t okay with that because of how unresolved things were. But her dad isn’t budging and tells her he needs to get back to work. When she’s outside Beth dodges a series of baseballs that are thrown at her head. They were thrown by Artemis Crock (Stella Smith). Artemis blames her and the JSA for her family breaking up. Beth tries to empathize with her because of her parents’ possible split, but this just makes Artemis angrier. She threatens Beth before leaving.

Pat (Luke Wilson) and Courtney (Brec Bessinger) are cleaning up the art room in the aftermath of Paul’s possession. Courtney finds a drawing of what she thinks could be Diablo Island and then a picture of Cindy Burman (Meg DeLacy) with the Black Diamond. They realize she’s been involved in a lot of what’s been happening. They’re interrupted by Cameron (Hunter Sansone) who is upset to learn that Paul is in for an extended stay in a mental hospital, but they can’t really explain why bad things keep happening. Once Cameron leaves, Courtney and Pat decide to split up and gather the JSA.

Mike (Trae Romano) seems to be having a better morning…at first. He’s at the junkyard with Zeke and he’s excited to work on a project with Pat. He’s even happier when Zeke (King Orba) offers to let him assist with a power saw for S.T.R.I.P.E. He goes inside to find some parts and he comes face to face with Cindy. It turns out that Cindy didn’t actually want to recruit Mike because she thinks he’s useless. But she does think he’ll be the perfect bait for everyone she wants revenge on.

When Pat goes to get S.T.R.I.P.E. he finds he has uninvited visitors waiting for him. Isaac and Artemis ambush him in their costumes, but Pat doesn’t want to fight two teenagers. Unfortunately, they have no qualms about fighting him. Isaac uses his violin to incapacitate him and Artemis beats him. Once Pat’s unconscious they start dismantling S.T.R.I.P.E.

Courtney and Barbara (Amy Smart) sit at Pat’s bedside and we learn that Pat’s got a bad concussion. Courtney blames herself for wanting to split up and both Courtney and Barbara are worried about Mike. Barbara tries to reassure her but then Courtney gets a phone call from Cindy and she learns that Cindy blames her for everything that’s gone wrong in her life. Cindy delivers an ultimatum that Courtney and the rest of the JSA meet the ISA at school or Mike dies. At first Courtney is worried about going on a mission without Pat’s help, but after a pep talk from Barbara she goes to gather her friends.

We cut away and the Black Diamond tells Cindy to save Courtney for last. It says that it will make killing her more satisfying.  The JSA finds S.T.R.I.P.E. wrecked and they all swap stories about their respective negative encounters with Cindy, Artemis and Isaac. After comparing notes they head to the school.

Back at the hospital Barbara calls Richard Swift (Jonathan Cake). When she explains Cindy’s vendetta against her family Richard bluntly states that he doesn’t know what the current soap opera has to do with him. Then, Barbara tells him that Cindy has the Black Diamond and he understands.

Beth, Courtney, Yolanda and Rick (Cameron Gellman) enter the school and Isaac is playing the violin. There’s a massive brawl between the ISA and JSA in the cafeteria before the groups start splitting up. Artemis attacks Beth causing Rick to attack her in turn and Beth races to find Mike. She finds him tied up in a supply closet while Courtney fights Cindy and Rick tries to subdue the bombs Artemis springs on him. Courtney speeds over to Yolanda on the staff to assist her after Isaac’s violin music gives Yolanda a Brainwave-esque migraine. Once untied Mike helps Courtney by hitting Cindy with a toaster.

In the end Rick knocks out Artemis and Yolanda crushes Isaac’s violin. Then, Richard Swift appears out of the shadows and tells Cindy she shouldn’t be playing with this she doesn’t understand. Cindy insists she knows what she’s doing, but Richard says if she knew what the Black Diamond was capable of she wouldn’t be using it for a teenage rumble. However, what Cindy didn’t realize was the Black Diamond didn’t want to help her settle old scores – it wanted her.  After subduing Richard the diamond breaks open and Eclipso (Nick Taraby) appears. He consumes Isaac and Cindy. Only Artemis escapes. Courtney tries to fight Eclipso with her staff, but it’s no use. Eclipso escapes.

Pat’s concussed but he’ll live. Rick has a broken rib but is a little shaken despite disliking Isaac and Cindy. Richard seems wounded, but will also live. And at the hospital, when she talks about it with Pat and Barbara, Courtney realizes that Eclipso has been using them all. Mike demands that Pat teach him to fight. He says that Cindy was going to kill him and couldn’t defend himself. That seems to sway Pat finally. But what about Eclipso? Pat says he’ll keep corrupting people and feeding on souls.

We see Eclipso slinking through the shadows in his demonic form and then shapeshifts into a little boy (Milo Stein). He laughs manically before setting off into the town.