So much devastation, so much fighting, and so much action. DC’s Stargirl packed a huge punch during “Summer School: Chapter Six.” After weeks of wondering what Cindy had up her sleeve with Injustice Unlimited, her mysterious plan was put into action… and it blew up in everyone’s faces. No one could’ve guessed that Eclipso would emerge to betray the villains and knock through all the heroes with ease. This episode delivered on all the action we needed for Stargirl Season 2 and the great character moments that were built up to this moment.
One of the big surprises came from Cindy’s real purpose for Mike in Injustice Unlimited. Stargirl earlier teased his potential turn to the dark side, but for him to simply be Cindy’s JSA bait, it felt underwhelming in the grand scheme. Why does Mike keep being sidelined by both the heroes and villains? If push came to shove, he could develop into a character with the technology and equipment to fight alongside them. Instead, Stargirl gave yet another plot of Mike being the “kid brother” and having his one moment against a villain. It’s a cheeky red herring, but hopefully, Mike is given the room to grow as a character and become the hero he wants to be.
For the villains, it’s a shame that the ragtag group of supervillain kids was snuffed out in one battle. Artemis, The Fiddler (Isaac), and Shiv (Cindy) could’ve posed a serious threat against the Justice Society of America, and the duality of them all being teenagers would’ve been an interesting comparison. At least Stargirl Season two spent the last five episodes building up to this climactic battle and developing each of the teens as villains. Each one has a reason for wanting the JSA to suffer; you could feel the anger radiating off Isaac and Artemis because of what happened to their parents. The trio felt like fleshed-out characters, but it would’ve been great to have more of them before Eclipso fractured the group.
The two battle scenes had great fighting choreography, especially the second fight at Blue Valley High School. Pat’s reluctant fight against Artemis and The Fiddler gave a nice tease to what skills the two new villains had up their sleeves; up until now, we had no clear idea if the teens could match their parents’ abilities. The climactic battle, on the other hand, gave everything we needed and more for a superhero vs. supervillain battle.
I loved how each of the characters showcased their abilities in clever ways. Like, how The Fiddler played a cat-and-mouse game with Wildcat (Yolanda) using the partitions and violin or when Doctor Mid-Nite (Beth) used her goggles to distract Artemis so that Hourman (Rick) could fight her. The battle didn’t seem like a quick fight scene; the fight was intricate and balanced, which worked since this was the scene we had all waited for. The best part came across during the seamless editing of the fight moves. Particularly, when characters would flip, throw, punch or attack toward one character but then the scene would transition to another part of the battle where another character is performing a similar action. Absolutely flawless!
The Shade’s actions during “Summer School: Chapter Six” proved he’s a more neutral character than outright evil. If he had wanted to stop the JSA and Injustice Unlimited, he could’ve easily used his powers to take them all down. All Richard needed to do was arrive earlier to the battle to stop Cindy; he couldn’t have known that Cindy would accidentally bring Eclipso out into the world. I think he and Barbara have a good-yet-strange friendship and respect for each other; as much as he wanted Eclipso, he most likely would’ve ensured that Courtney and the rest of the teens would’ve been alright. All he needed was Eclipso, no one else needed to get hurt.
Speaking of hurt, do you think that both Cindy and Isaac are truly dead? It would be a bold and shocking move for Stargirl to kill off two characters in one big move, especially a series regular (Cindy). Isaac seemed like the most obvious one of the two to have died; Stargirl had shown previously Bobbi and the original Doctor Mid-Nite’s daughter dying in similar ways, so he’s most likely dead like them. Cindy, on the other hand, may have just been pulled into the shadow world like Charles McNider. This twist pleasantly kept us on our toes; no one could’ve guessed that this would have happened, so kudos to Stargirl for shocking us.
“Summer School: Chapter Six” answered many burning questions and transitioned Stargirl Season 2 into the next phase with the return of Eclipso. What does this Big Bad have up his sleeve? Who will be his next victim? Stargirl took a while to get here, but the momentum shot up fast and left us wanting more. Plenty of excitement to see where this plotline goes next.
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DC’s Stargirl airs new episodes Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW and streams Wednesdays on cwtv.com.
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