DC’s Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Three

By starrymag | August 30, 2021

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The episode opens with a flashback to Christmas eleven years prior. Pat (Luke Wilson) is working on a car at the JSA headquarters and a man named Johnny (Ethan Embry) comes in. He laments the the entire JSA was gathered to take on the Injustice Society and he was benched. Johnny feels like he’s an obligation more than a part of the team. Pat understands it can be hard on the ego, but he feels the JSA is only trying to look after them by leaving them behind. That is until Ted Grant (Brian Stapf), the original Wildcat, comes in and says they need Johnny. Pat offers to come too, but Ted tells him he’s got a kid to think about. He needs to stay out of it.

 

In the present Mike (Trae Romano) is doing his paper route and he’s derailed by a group of bullies. His morning doesn’t improve once he’s home. Courtney (Brec Bassinger), Pat and Barbara (Amy Smart) are discussing the new big bad in town. When Mike tries to inquire about it Pat tells him it’s JSA business, therefore nothing for him to worry about. Crestfallen he goes to his room. Once there he gets a phone call from his boss about another customer and is missing a pen to take down the info with. After looking around he finds a pen in Courtney’s room that he doesn’t notice was glowing purple.

 

Once out on the paper route again strange things start happening. The phrase “so cool” starts showing up everywhere. At first he doesn’t notice. Then, it’s too obvious to miss when it’s on the headline of one of his newspapers. He says “so cool” out loud and a purple man is released from the pen. He introduces himself as Thunderbolt (Jim Gaffigan) and yes, “so cool” were the magic words. He’s basically a genie and now Mike’s his master. He can have all the wishes he wants but Thunderbolt is painfully literal, so Mike has to watch his word choice.

 

Back at JSA headquarters Pat gathers Courtney, Beth (Anjelika Washington), Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) and Rick (Cameron Gellman) to tell them the news. Courtney isn’t paranoid after all and there is a supervillain in town called the Shade. He explains that he was a member of the ISA, but there was some sort of falling out towards the end. Also, he is a few centuries old. Pat goes on to explain that although he probably doesn’t have any lingering loyalty to the ISA, he’s still dangerous as he killed the original Dr. Mid-Nite. This upsets Beth for obvious reasons. She wants to get justice for Chuck, but Courtney says they have to actually find him first. And Rick points out they don’t actually know how to fight a shadow. The staff might be able to, but emphasis on might.

 

Barbara is going through a warehouse for some of the antiques that the Shade/Richard Swift (Jonathon Cake)  inquired about. She’s already a little nervous being there alone in the dark and then Richard startles her. He wants to look around together. She doesn’t seem comfortable being alone with him, but she doesn’t want to risk antagonizing him so she reluctantly agrees. There are a few tense moments and then Richard finds an empty box. He wants to keep it but Barbara says no. Richard is disappointed by her answer and disappears.

 

In summer school Courtney and Yolanda are distracted. Yolanda is concerned that they don’t have a way to stop Shade. She says she doesn’t want to be in a position where she has to kill again. Courtney says it won’t come to that and promises Pat will figure something out.

 

Mike is out testing the Thunderbolt’s powers. He comes across the kids who were bullying him stealing cookies from a girl scout. He’s disgusted that they’re picking on a little kid and wants to teach them a lesson. He wishes the Thunderbolt would make them stop. He takes the request very literally and makes stop signs rain from the sky. And the stop signs won’t stop coming down until the bullies stop. Yolanda and Courtney catch the end of the stop sign shower and now know about the pen.

 

They head back to Pat’s garage and Pat isn’t happy. He wants to know why Courtney didn’t tell him about the Thunderbolt, but she says she honestly thought it was just a pen. Pat tells Mike he doesn’t want him to have the Thunderbolt, but Mike doesn’t want to give it up. Pat tells him that the Thunderbolt is unstable and unpredictable. He demands Mike give it to him, but the Thunderbolt keeps going back to Mike. So, Pat tells Mike to call the Thunderbolt out so they can talk.

 

Once downstairs the Thunderbolt and Pat talk. Pat is worried and reminds the Thunderbolt that even with all his power Johnny, his previous owner, still died. The Thunderbolt said that Johnny’s final wish was for him to find another friend. Pat wonders why he picked Mike. The Thunderbolt explains he can only partner with someone who feels completely and utterly alone.

 

Courtney and Mike talk. Mike really wants to be a part of the JSA. Courtney wouldn’t object, but she reminds Mike that Pat’s his father. That means he’s got veto power she really can’t overrule. Seeing how much it’d mean to him Courtney and the rest of the gang plead Mike’s case to Pat, but he’s still against it. Courtney points out that Mike already helped them when he stopped Icicle. That’s more of a reason for Mike not to get involved as far as Pat’s concerned. However, Pat decides Mike can let them locate the Shade but nothing else. The group works together to find the precise wording of the wish that’ll lead them to the Shade. It’s really specific and it works. But he’s not allowed to come along much to his disappointment.

 

He stays behind and clearly feels let down. Then he stands up and goes to the white board and starts writing out another wish. The JSA goes to the Shade’s lair with a plan, sort of. They are going to trap the Shade until they figure out a plan to depower him permanently. But when they get to the house much to their surprise the Shade is waiting for them, with tea. He invites them to sit down. Very reluctantly they sit down.

 

The Shade says he’s over being in the ISA. He thinks Brainwave and Icicle were mad men and has no intention of carrying on their mission. He’s in town for reasons that are of no consequence to the JSA, but it’s for the best that they don’t know. Of course, the gang are skeptical. They won’t even drink the tea. Before they can question the Shade any further Mike bursts in. He wishes the Thunderbolt would zap the Shade. The Shade releases shadows that quickly subdue the JSA. The Shade warns the JSA to stay out of his way and vanishes.

 

When the dust is settled Yolanda and Mike have a heart-to-heart. Mike feels guilty about making a mess of things. Yolanda asks if he ever feels guilty about killing Icicle. He says he does sometimes and that it all happened so fast it was mostly an accident. He doesn’t feel like a hero.

 

Back at the Dugan-Whitmore residence where Barbara and Pat sit the kids down for a talk. Courtney tries to plead Mike’s case. She reminds Pat that she made tons of mistakes in the beginning. Mike admits he thought the Thunderbolt was his ticket into the JSA and now he sort of wishes it was in better hands and with that it disappears. It reappears in a boy named Jakeem’s (Alkoyo Brunson) room. Based on his home-life he seems to be even lonelier than Mike.

 

Later Barbara and Pat talk about Mike. Pat feels guilty that he didn’t notice how lonely Mike has felt. Barbara says he’s a part of the team, pen or no pen. They both are, and she tells him about her encounter with Richard/Shade earlier. She remembers that there was a diamond in the box he wanted. Pat knows what she’s talking about and it’s not good.

 

Beth and Rick are in the garage and Beth is upset. She says she’ll never figure out a way to revive Chuck and now his killer’s gone, too. But Rick can tell something else is wrong. He says she can talk to him and to pretend he’s Chuck if that helps. She tells him that she thinks her parents are splitting up and that she found some papers. He tells her papers could just be papers and encourages her to talk to them. Rick says he’d talk to his parents if he could. Then, Beth hears Chuck’s voice. He tells her that they’re in danger because Eclipso is here and then cuts out.

 

Elsewhere Richard/Shade is on top of a building. He opens the empty box and worriedly says he’s (not referring to himself) going to kill those children.