Summer school may still be in session but the JSA is still going on. In this week’s episode of DC’s Stargirl, the Justice Society try to dig deeper into Eclipso but also run into the Shade. Meanwhile, Cindy is building her own ISA and two members come back, but not for the reason you may think. And one superhero may actually be alive?
Keep reading for all the best moments from the newest episode of DC’s Stargirl, “Summer School: Chapter Four.”
Just Who is Eclipso?
In last week’s episode, Chuck had warned Beth that Eclipso was in Blue Valley and he’s bad news. The JSA had no idea who he was. The group goes through the Lost Societies book to find out what the black diamond is and who Eclipso is. But there still isn’t much information. Courtney goes to the library to try to dig up any more information and when she does, she bumps into the Shade.
Courtney accuses the Shade of taking the black diamond and teaming up with Eclipso but he’s not really fond of a supervillain team-up. Courtney tells the Shade he is just as bad as Eclipso, he killed Dr. Mid-Nite.
“Don’t you know there’s a difference between bad and evil?”
The Shade tells Courtney that while he’s killed people, hurt people, it was only those who deserved it. Eclipso, on the other hand, has done things much worse, like killing Dr. McNider’s 10-year-old daughter. The Shade is actually determined to get rid of Eclipso so he doesn’t hurt anyone ever again, which is very surprising, to say the least. Now, why would he do that? The simple answer is that he’s bored. He tells Courtney to leave this to him, but I think we all know that that is not going to happen.
No one on the ISA can be trusted, obviously. But ISA members have killed one another before so it’s not so surprising to see that the Shade is willing to off Eclipso, especially since he has distanced himself from the ISA. Though what could this mean moving forward? Courtney will definitely not back down, because that’s just not who she is, so this could spell trouble for her and the rest of her friends.
A Villain Within
Cindy is getting more powerful and manipulative, as Eclipso has been getting a stronger control over her. The longer she holds on to the black diamond, the more control he holds and the more manipulation he has. Cindy has been hallucinating her birth mother, and it’s motivating her to make her own ISA. She tries to befriend Isaac, Anaya, and The Fiddler’s son.
Cindy takes Isaac through the tunnels running underneath the school, revealing who his dad really was. And Isaac isn’t the only one that Cindy is trying to recruit. She shows up at football tryouts, keeping her eye on one Artemis Crock. Though she also spots Courtney running towards the bleachers. Needing to do what she can to keep Courtney away from Artemis, Cindy uses the black diamond to make Artemis think that Courtney and people around her are S.W.A.T., trying to kill her parents. Artemis leaves the field and tackles Courtney, but she soon gets pulled back and is back to normal. What just happened?
She later finds Artemis and tells her that while the college recruiter didn’t want her, perhaps she’d be willing to get recruited to something else, something that her parents were part of. Cindy is her father’s daughter for sure, and even though she wasn’t able to be part of the ISA, she is looking to start her own.
Is Artemis Just a Villain’s Child?
While last season we did get to see what the toll of being a villain’s kid was, rest in peace Henry and Joey, we are getting deeper into the lives of other students at Blue Valley High whose parents are not the best. Meet student-athlete Artemis Crock, the daughter of ISA members Sportsmaster and Tigress. Although her parents pushed her intensely in season 1 due to their obsession with fitness, following their arrest she got put into the foster care system and it is not treating her nicely.
Things start to change for her, however. While at football tryouts, she doesn’t do as well, but once she sees her villainous parents on the bleachers, she does a lot better. Cindy, off to the distance, wants nothing to stop her from recruiting Artemis for her new ISA. Once she sees Courtney, she uses the black diamond to make Artemis hallucinate that Courtney and bystanders are actually S.W.A.T. officers, there to kill her parents. She tackles Courtney and once she’s finally pulled away, it’s like she’s lost everything. Her parents decide it’s best if they leave because football is her dream. But Artemis doesn’t get recruited. That doesn’t stop Cindy from trying to recruit Artemis for something that her own parents were part of. But does that mean she’ll actually take Cindy up on her offer?
From Villains to Escaped Convicts
As mentioned above, Larry Crock and Paula Brooks, aka Sportsmaster and Tigress, were incarcerated and Artemis had been spending time visiting her parents. Trying to get in every last bit she can. However, it doesn’t last as the two actually break out of prison. And the first thing they do? Capture Mike and get him to convince Pat to come down to the Pit Stop. Crock and Paula promise Pat they’re not there to hurt them, they simply want to see their daughter at tryouts. He helps them lay low until tryouts and they’ll break back into prison afterward. Easy as pie, right?
“Scout’s honor.”
Pat reluctantly gives in to save Mike and his S.T.R.I.P.E. identity, but Barbara is not too keen on the idea. Especially since Paula nearly killed her. Pat is trying his hardest to keep Barbara calm about this but it’s not really working. She follows Paula into the kitchen while Pat stays in the living room with Crock. The two talks are definitely something and make you think that maybe Crock and Paula aren’t so bad after all. Barbara and Paula even bond over being a mother. Wait, what?
Pat later shows up to football tryouts with Paula and Crock, who are being discreet. Artemis isn’t doing so well but once she sees her parents, it’s definitely better. It’s clear that they care about Artemis and want her to pursue her dreams rather than theirs. They say a tearful goodbye to their daughter, knowing that this is the right choice. Maybe villains really can change.
This definitely won’t be the last we see of Sportsmaster and Tigress, as Neil Hopkins and Joy Osmanski were just upped to series regulars for season 3. So what could this mean for the villains and Artemis? Guess we’ll find out.
A Twist Fit for a Superhero
In the final minutes of the episode, Beth tried desperately to get the Dr. Mid-Nite goggles to work again and they did. Though when Chuck finally came back, he didn’t know who Beth was, and he wondered why she called him Chuck. Beth told him that he’s Dr. McNider’s AI, though the voice told her that he is Charles McNider, he’s been trapped in a shadow world all this time. The last thing he says before getting his signal cut off is “Shade.”
We see Dr. McNider in a shadow world, trying to get a hold of Beth again or any other source. The Shade didn’t actually kill him, but instead, send him to this different world where he’s been trapped this whole time. It was a twist that I definitely did not see coming. Could this mean that more JSA members could have possibly survived? I guess we’ll find out.
DC’s Stargirl has just one more chapter left in the “Summer School” session so what will happen next? Find out in a new episode this Tuesday, September 7 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on The CW, streaming free the next day on The CW app!
