DC’s Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Thirteen

By starrymag | November 8, 2021

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

Eclipso (Nick Tarabay) is still terrorizing Beth (Anjelika Washington) and Dr. McNider (Alex Collins) as Bruce (Milo Stein) and says that he wants Courtney (Brec Bassinger) to come. He adds that he has the power over the darkness that’s been growing in town and they should all be very afraid. And, yet, he admits he still needs the power of the light to become a god.

 

Dr. McNider wants to know what he’s done to the people who work at the American Dream and he reveals that he’s gotten to Beth’s parents. James (Gilbert Glenn Brown) was working later and Bridget (Kron Moore) came by to talk about Beth’s strange behavior and Eclipso trapped them. Beth looks into the office with her goggles and sees that her parents are having an awful vision of their divorce ruining their relationship with their daughter. Eclipso says coming here will kill them both to Beth’s horror.

 

Back in Courtney’s room Jennie (Ysa Penarejo) wakes up from a nightmare/vision about Courtney going dark. Barbara (Amy Smart) hears her screaming and comes in to see what’s wrong. She tells Barbara they can’t let Courtney go to confront Eclipso as it’s exactly what he wants. But Barbara tells her that they’ve already gone.

 

In the town square Courtney, Cindy (Meg DeLacy), Pat (Luke Wilson) and Yolanda (Yvette Montreal) are heading to the American Dream. The girls are a little nervous about their short-handedness, but Pat reminds them that S.T.R.I.P.E’s repairs aren’t finished. And they can’t really wait as the portal to the shadowlands are open.

 

Rick’s (Cameron Gellman) still in the garage trying to fix the hourglass but not having much luck. Mike (Trae Romano) and Jakeem (Alkoya Brunson) are downstairs and witness him yell and storm out of the garage in frustration. They also get some bad news. Pat told Mike he could help with the face-off when the robot was repaired. But Zeek (King Orba) informs the boys that he’s missing the final part to get S.T.R.I.P.E up and running and there’s no way to find it tonight.

 

Eclipso is waiting for the JSA plus Cindy when they arrive. He taunts them by saying that Beth is watching her parents die. And he says they’re next and makes them see their worst nightmares. Yolanda is confronted by Ted Grant who tells her she’s a wimp for falling apart over killing Brainwave. Pat sees himself telling him that he’s a failure and a grease monkey who’ll never be able to protect his family. Courtney is fighting with Eclipso as Bruce. And Cindy sees a younger version of herself reminding her about what happened to her mom.

 

Fortunately, Pat realizes what Eclipso is trying to do and breaks through the illusion with Dr. McNider’s help. Beth uses her goggles to direct Courtney to blast at one of Eclipso’s weak spots and that makes the other illusions disappear. Now they’re all going to try and fight the real Eclipso.

 

At the garage Mike and Jakeem make a few realizations. First, Rick took his suit so he’s gone to join the first. Second, Pat probably already knew that they weren’t going to be able to find the part to finish the robot. He just wanted to keep Mike out of the fight and protect him. But Mike still wants to help. Luckily, just then the Thunderbolt finally comes back from China with the Chinese food. Zeek, for whatever reason, takes the man made of purple lightning in stride.

 

Elsewhere the fight continues and things look dicey for the JSA. Yolanda has been knocked out and Eclipso is climbing the clock tower. McNider tells Pat he’ll help her and Pat should help the other kids. As Courtney and Cindy continue trying to fight Eclipso he’s ready to declare himself the winner, but then S.T.R.I.P.E being controlled by Mike appears. He uses the giant saw and then the flamethrower. And Jakeem, who overcame his hesitancy to come along, wishes for the Thunderbolt to electrocute Eclipso, but unfortunately Eclipso redirects him towards Mike which causes S.T.R.I.P.E to shut down.

 

While Pat runs to check on Mike, Eclipso goes to attack Jakeem only to be stopped by Rick. Eclipso reminds Rick that he broke the hourglass. But Rick says he still has strength on his side and this time it won’t only last for an hour. He means Grundy who at Rick’s command attacks Eclipso. At first this looks bad for Eclipso, but then he blasts Grundy through the chest and he falls. This horrifies Rick who goes after Eclipso, but gets thrown to the ground.

 

Pat tells Mike to reboot the system. Eclipso breaks Pat’s arm and warns Courtney then he’ll keep breaking his limbs and then torture her family unless she gives in. He tells her to tell her how she’s feeling now after everything he’s done or else. Courtney admits that she hates him. Eclipso says a sliver of hate was all he needed and grabs Courtney and infects her with his darkness: Courtney is now his vessel.

 

And she’s not the only one with problems. Inside Beth asks Dr. McNider how she can save her parents, who are still trapped. But they don’t actually need to do anything. Magic courses through the room and frees the Chapels from the room and the Shade (Jonathan Cake) reveals himself to Beth and Dr. McNider, who are more than a little confused. He admits that him “dying” in the theatre was just him being dramatic and merging the shadowlands with reality really did heal him.

 

But that leaves Beth’s parents still really confused, about what they just saw and who these men are. Having no other choice Beth explains that Dr. McNider is a superhero and she’s one too. Dr. McNider tells Beth’s parents they should be very proud of their daughter. She doesn’t have time to give them all the details but she says right now they’ve got to help with what’s happening outside.

 

Speaking of that, Cindy wants to kill Courtney because Eclipso’s inside of her. But Yolanda forbids it and says that Courtney needs their help. The plan is to break Eclipso’s hold over her and then stop him. They try to fight her, but Eclipso!Courtney literally throws them away. Triumphantly, Eclipso says there’s only one person who can wield the staff. Then, Sylvester Pemberton (Joel McHale) appears and says that’s not technically true. He grabs the staff and tries to get through to Courtney while Eclipso tries to use her insecurities against her. Sylvester says that if Courtney can wield the staff then that means she’s chosen. She remembers all the people who love her and Pat yells at her to remember who she is.

 

With that Courtney frees herself from Eclispo. And Larry (Neil Hopkins), Paula (Joy Osmanski) and Artemis (Stella Smith) arrive and help to subdue Eclipso. In his weakened state Richard says that now would be the time for anyone who wields light to strike. Starman, Stargirl and Jennie band together to end Eclipso. Then, Jakeem says he wishes Eclipso were toast and he literally turns to a very burnt piece of toast.

 

The next day the gang is decompressing and is relieved that it’s finally starting to feel like summer. Sylvester is sticking around and it doesn’t seem like Pat is too upset over the whole faking his death thing. And he’s willing to help train Courtney, who explains the whole ordeal with Eclispo made her believe in people more. As for Dr. McNider, he’s decided to go find his wife and he learns she isn’t alone. Beth tells him that she was pregnant when he was presumed dead and now he was a 10-year-old little boy. He gives Beth the suit and his blessing to take the mantle and bids her goodbye.

 

Jakeem and Mike talk about recent events. Mike thinks they should start their own team. Jakeem isn’t against the idea exactly, just slightly overwhelmed after fighting a literal demon. Mike thinks they could be great if they combine S.T.R.I.P.E and the Thunderbolt. So, he suggests that Jakeem wish for their paper routes to be taken care of and they go discuss the future over donuts.

 

Jennie goes home. Sylvester is going to crash in the basement, and Yolanda has decided to join the JSA again. Once she’s gone Cindy approaches Yolanda and says she’s interested in joining, too. We don’t see her response, but Cindy says she knows Courtney believes she won’t be on board if Yolanda isn’t. Cameron (Hunter Sasone) has finished painting the mural for his father when his grandparents Lily (Kay Galvin) and Sofus (Jim France) approach him. They say it’s time he learned his family’s history and they show him their ice powers.

 

Rick is planting an apple tree at Grundy’s grave and the Shade swings by. He finds it ironic that Rick is mourning his parents’ killer. But he says to buck up because Grundy can come back if he’s buried in the right place. Rick hopes he’ll tell him what that means before he leaves town. The Shade says he finds the new JSA intriguing, so he has no intention of leaving town anytime soon.

 

When Beth gets home she gets some news. The near death experience puts things in perspective and they’ve decided not to divorce. And they’re really excited about Beth being a superhero. In fact, they’ve got tons of ideas for Dr. Mid-Nite and say from now on they’re not letting Beth out of their sight.

 

The Whitmore-Dugan family thinks that things are back to normal by their standards, until there’s a knock on the door. The Crocks appear with blueberry muffins and they learn they’ve moved in next door. It’s not clear what this means for the criminal charges facing Paula and Larry.

 

The last scene we see is at the Helix Institute. Nurse Love (Lynne Ashe) is giving an update on Jennie and the goings on in Blue Valley to skeletal figure. He says the idea of heroes and villains living together is intriguing and that maybe they should visit.