In this week’s episode of DC’s Stargirl, Courtney and Sylvester test their working relationship while the hero formerly known as Starman works through his complex feelings surrounding the villains. The Gambler’s murder has everyone on edge while the Crocks struggle to leave their evildoing days behind them. Read on to find out what happened in “Frenemies — Chapter 2: The Suspects”!
Blending In, Standing Out
Jakeem and Mike deliver papers while discussing The Gambler’s murder. Mike wants to solve it to make the others take them seriously. They use Thunderbolt to find out the murderer’s name but only get the cryptic reply that the killer “has many names.”
Paula Crock finds Barbara at her office to talk about the murder. She wants to make it clear her family had no involvement. They’re not interested in going back to prison and want to be there for Artemis. Barbara hilariously tries to explain basic facets of humanity to Paula, who is confused about how to make people trust and like her. Wanting to help, Barbara teaches Paula to bake for an upcoming event. It goes badly as neither are bakers, but it seems that Paula truly wants to understand how to live a normal life.
Everyone’s a Suspect
The episode opens 12 hours prior to the end of the last episode as The Gambler arrives at his new trailer home. He makes himself right at home, putting up a photo of his infant daughter, but Crock lurks outside. While The Gambler searches for baby Becky, Crock fights his villainous instinct to get revenge. He forces himself to drive away, and The Gambler doesn’t see his car.
In the present, Courtney assembles the team to discuss The Gambler’s murder. Sylvester and the team are mixed on whether to investigate — it’s a villain who’s dead, so who cares? Yolanda is convinced Cindy is to blame, considering she was standing over the body holding a murder weapon. But Cindy told them she was only there trying to connect The Gambler to the robbery, and Courtney believes her even though her story doesn’t quite add up. Beth shares that her goggles searched for a bullet wound and couldn’t find one, helping Cindy’s story since she was found holding a gun.
The Gambler’s laptop is still missing, and from the evidence they’ve gathered, whoever has it is the killer. Sylvester believes the killer was one of the former Injustice Society members and again insists that the old villains can’t be reformed. Meanwhile, Cindy continues her medical experimentation. But it doesn’t seem to be about making her stronger or giving her new abilities. She’s in pain and looking for a cure. Rick visits Solomon Grundy’s grave, unsettled by Sylvester’s comment that he could still be alive.
Alone in her room, Courtney reads the card The Gambler wrote to Becky over and over. She tells Pat that she knows The Gambler was trying to be better, softly adding that she would give anything to have heard these words from her own father. She wants to find The Gambler’s killer and give his daughter closure. Pat agrees to help and tells her he and Sylvester will question the other villains while she is at school.
At school, the JSA discusses the cause of death. Officially, it was blunt force trauma, but Beth notes a stab wound directly to the heart. Cindy overhears and storms over, upset they’ve met without her twice. Yolanda faces off with her, still convinced she’s the killer, even as Courtney tries to smooth things over.
Is There Room For Two Heroes?
Later at the diner, The Shade meets with Pat and Sylvester. It’s a good cop, bad cop routine as Pat tries to be more open than Sylvester. Shade claims that after their fight at the diner, he went to Sharpe’s house to offer a clean slate. Sylvester doesn’t believe him, and the two escalate before Pat separates them. Sylvester is mad that Pat intervened, but Pat points out that in Blue Valley, he’s no longer the sidekick Sylvester remembers. He needs to let Pat take the lead because he knows this town and the people in it.
Sylvester claims he needs to go cool off but instead heads to school and pulls Courtney out of class. He wants to make sure she knows about all of the staff’s powers now that there’s a killer out there, and she’s excited to get some training time. They both show off for each other, with Sylvester zooming away into the sky with a move he calls the Shooting Star. After some encouragement, Courtney is able to replicate it. She convinces Sylvester to apologize to the Shade, who accepts. He also adds that if he were to have killed Sharpe, he wouldn’t have bothered with trashing the trailer.
But Sylvester can’t resist a dig at the villain, and Shade tells Sylvester that no one but Pat went to Starman’s funeral back in the day before, adding that no one needs or wants him now since Courtney is here. Unable to hold back, Sylvester grabs the staff and blasts Shade. But the staff listens to Courtney, not him, and flies back into her hand. Shade provides an alibi for the murder and actually seems injured. He tells Sylvester that clearly, he can no longer stay in Blue Valley despite his hopes of settling there before he leaves.
Pat is angry that Sylvester and Courtney went after the Shade, but Sylvester takes the blame. He tells Pat that he flashed back to his greatest regret: killing Bruce Gordon with the JSA. He feels survivor’s guilt and doesn’t understand why he gets to come back when everything was his fault. Courtney goes to him and tells him he’s more than just being Starman, echoing the message she got from Pat. She tells him he needs to find his place in Blue Valley, and he agrees to try.
The Shade, visibly ill, goes to see Rick and Beth. He apologizes to Rick for not being able to help with Solomon Grundy and says he’s leaving Blue Valley. Rick confides to Beth that there’s something wrong with his hourglass. Cindy has The Gambler’s laptop, and she tries to break into it. Meanwhile, the Crocks train while debating what to do, as “it’s only a matter of time before they find out.” But find out what?
DC’s Stargirl: Frenemies airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW. You can find the rest of our coverage here!
