DC’s Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Ten

By starrymag | October 19, 2021

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The episode starts with another flashback. Sylvester (Joel McHale) and Pat (Luke Wilson) return to the garage after having killed Bruce Gordon. Both still appear shaken over what’s happened. Sylvester says he shouldn’t have brought Pat along, but he’d hoped that with Pat there that there’d be a chance of saving Bruce. He goes on to say to Pat that family isn’t born, it’s chosen and that Pat taught him that. When Sylvester turned sixteen there was an engraved watch on his desk. He assumed it was from his parents. But a group of bullies beat him up and stole it. He was so ashamed but he told his parents; however, they had no idea what he was talking about. They’d forgotten, like they always did, and Pat wanted Sylvester to believe it was from him. Sylvester tells Pat he got the watch back the next day and that Eclipso (Nick Tarabay) hadn’t threatened his blood relatives; he’d threatened Pat. He adds that he doesn’t know what’ll become of the JSA, but he doesn’t want this to be the end of him and Pat. They have a toast and drink to found families.

 

In the present there’s conflict at the Whitmore-Dugan house. Courtney (Brec Bassinger) is furious that Barbara (Amy Smart) and Pat have been lying to her. She’s upset that the JSA killed an innocent man and that they kept quiet as Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) was agonizing over having killed Brainwave. Although, that was secret for a while. Pat says they did the best they could and the discord between them is exactly what Eclipso wanted. But Courntey said what’s happening now isn’t because of Eclipso – it’s because of something he did. The argument is interrupted when Richard Swift (Jonathan Cake) comes through the window injured.

 

Pat still doesn’t trust Richard, but Barbara points out that he saved her from Eclipso earlier. Courtney and Mike (Trae Romano) are somewhat more willing to hear him out. Yet, Pat blames Richard for being the one who told Sylvester how to stop Eclipso the first time around. Richard says it’s not his fault if they regretted their actions and points out that nothing he told Starman was untrue. He explains the way to stop Eclipso is to resemble the diamond. The usual way would be to use the staff, but after trying Courtney realizes the staff is still too weak.

 

At Beth’s (Anjelika Washington) house things are still slightly less tense. After the mind games Eclipso played with her she’s keeping the goggles on, all the time. Her mother (Gilbert Glenn Brown) and father (Kron Moore) are concerned about why and wonder if she’s acting out because of the possible divorce. She says she’s not happy about the possibility of them splitting up, but the goggles have nothing to do with them. Beth adds that it’ll be safer if they don’t know why. They want to take her to the hospital, but she suggests instead that they talk and figure out their own relationship before talking to her. Then, she gets a message and says she has to go. They want to know what’s gotten into Beth, but she reminds them they’ve been telling her for years to make friends because they’re busy; now she has and they need her a little more at the moment.

 

Pat thinks that if the staff is too weak to fix the diamond then Jennie (Ysa Penarejo), the Green Lantern’s daughter, has enough power to put the diamond back together. But Barbara reminds him that Jennie didn’t exactly leave a forwarding address. Pat says he has an idea on how to track her down. Barbara is also concerned that Mike and Courtney will never trust them again. Pat says they’ll find a way.

 

Meanwhile, Courtney and Mike talk too. Mike warns Courtney that even without Eclipso inside the diamond is incredibly dangerous. He recalls that holding a small piece made him hallucinate he was being devoured by leeches. Pat isn’t sharing Jennie’s location with Courtney yet, but he and Courtney are going on a trip to find her. Beth shows up just in time as she’s still the only one who can see through Eclipso’s illusions.

 

Courtney and Pat drive in complete silence until they can’t anymore. Courtney asks how Pat thought murder was okay. Pat says he didn’t, but he was outvoted and Rebecca McNider was dead; they had to do something. Courtney can’t get past how knowing this might’ve helped Yolanda. Nothing’s really resolved between them.

 

Rick (Cameron Gellman) is in solitary confinement and generally feeling not great. That is until apples are thrown into his cell. Apples thrown to him presumably by Grundy. He smiles and accepts them and seems to take comfort in knowing he wasn’t wrong to give Grundy a chance.

 

At the Whitmore-Dugan house Beth is filled in on the Shade, currently sleeping, being injured and at their house and the fact that the JSA killed a man. She wonders if Dr. McNider (Alex Collins) was involved, but through the goggles he says he vowed to never kill. Mike leaves without telling anyone to run an errand. And on the road Pat finally shares his lead on Jennie. There were a few federal buildings burned down by fire with green flames. Courtney says it had to have been an accident. Maybe, Pat says, but they still have to find Jennie one way or the other.

 

Beth is doing research and Dr. McNider gives her the Shade’s backstory. He explains that Richard Swift dabbled in the ISA mostly for his own amusement, but he doesn’t believe he ever actually wanted to kill anyone in the JSA. In fact, Dr. McNider says he believes that the Shade tried to save him but it was too late and he was pulled into the shadowland. We learn that the Shade started out as a con-man and once was tasked with acquiring the diamond. But he got mixed up with the people he was working for and they ended up using him for a ritual sacrifice. They botched the ritual and he ended up with powers.

 

While Beth talks to Dr. McNider, Richard talks to Barbara. He keeps mixing her up with a woman named Emily; his sister. He apologizes for going off to run cons when their father was sick. And for not coming back after he gained powers, which he abused. Richard tells “Emily” that he did try not to abuse his powers, for a little while.

 

Beth thinks that since the Shade put him in the shadowlands then he can help get him out. Dr. McNider seems less than optimistic, but he says he’ll help Beth however he can. Beth asks for him to open the Eclipso files. There are a lot of files, but she’s going to read them all.

 

Pat takes Courtney to the original JSA headquarters. She’s still feeling pretty somber but is intrigued by all the memorabilia. Pat tracked Jennie to an institute for troubled kids where Jennie’s brother Todd was living. They head there to find her. Meanwhile, in Blue Bell Mike went to the garage to try to fix S.T.R.I.P.E. When he turns on the radio he hears a report about pink lightning being shot across the sky and decides to go check it out.

 

When they reach the institute Pat and Courtney wonder what Jennie’s brother could’ve done to wind up in a place like this. The nurse (Lynne Ashe) says that Todd isn’t there, but Jennie is and takes them to her. She’s sitting in a room looking at a picture of herself and a boy who is presumably Todd when they were younger. When Pat and Courtney find her she explains that the fires were an accident. She was looking for Todd’s adoption records but just when she thought she’d gotten close to finally finding them they were sealed. She lost control because she was afraid she’d never find her brother and that’s how the fires started.

 

Courtney tells her that everyone makes mistakes. Jennie is genuinely sorry for the fires, but she’s devastated that she missed Todd being at the institute by a week. She says you have to do whatever it takes to protect your family.  In that vein Courtney and Pat ask for help. Once there, Nurse Love reports to an unknown person about Jennie and says she lied about Todd.

 

When Mike goes to investigate the weather he finds more strange things. Like a giant gumdrop on the sidewalk, gentle reminder it’s July, and a real-life gingerbread house. He realizes this is Thunderbolt’s doing.

 

Pat takes the girls to the JSA HQ and once she calms down more she uses her powers to start resembling the diamond. But it’s a good news and bad news deal. The good news is they were right about Jennie being the answer. We learn the bad news from Beth. She finishes reading the files and realizes that the Shade lied. Putting the diamond back together doesn’t stop Eclipso. It reconnects the human world with the shadowland and it summons him. It also restores The Shade to full power. He tells Barbara he’s sorry and then vanishes. And he’s not the only one. Once the diamond has resembled Eclipso appears, and ensures that Courtney is dragged into the darkness.