Yolanda is off the team. At least for now. Was it Brainwave that synced his brain with hers that took her out of the game? Was it Eclipso pulling the strings? Could it have just been the stress and crisis of faith that Yolanda is going through? Questions remain unanswered as we go into tonight's all new episode of Stargirl! We left Eclipso last week standing outside of Beth's bedroom. If his plans are to take out the JSA members one by one, Beth looks to be his next target. But in a season where everything is increasingly being asked what is true and what is manipulation, it could be Rick that is the next to fall. His protection and feeding of Solomon Grundy may have been a kindness, but if Grundy did kill under Rick's protection, that could end up crushing him! More questions and answers below, here's what stood out to us:
- Visitor to the Tyler Home: Rick's teacher drives all the way out to Rick's place. She wanted to apologize again for thinking he cheated and she wanted to offer financial aid programs and college brochures for Rick. His uncle chases the teacher off the property and throws the college applications into the wind. Rick wanders out to the woods to feed Grundy when he breaks and screams into the woods at just how tired he is of constantly giving and never getting anything back. It's then that Grundy finally shows himself to Rick! Courtney wants to speak with Yolanda but before she can, Yolanda drops off the Wildcat costume and disappears. Beth continues to work on the goggles when she speaks with Dr. McNider. The goggles seemed to have synced to each other. As long as it isn't Eclipso, the doctor is in the shadowland. We do see Eclipso flash across the screen though. Rick sits with Grundy, while he eats Rick shares a story about his uncle's dog and when Rick thinks that Grundy doesn't understand, Grundy pats him on the back and offers him an apple.
- Wildcat Returned: Courtney takes the Wildcat gear down to the basement to keep it safe. She checks on the staff and it's looking very de-powered. Beth's parents finally sit down with her during lunch to discuss the divorce. Her parents claim that they are getting divorced because of Beth. Beth then sees grubs in her sandwich and it looks to be clearly Eclipso's influence. Another "bear" siting has brought the hunter's association to the woods where Grundy is to kill a bear. Rick runs into the woods to assist. When Courtney arrives at the Pit Stop, Pat has made a lot of progress on STRIPE. She want's to help Cosmo (her new name for the staff) but Pat advises caution. Rick calls Pat and asks for help to save Grundy!
- Pat, Courtney, Rick and Grundy: The Staff only has a few blasts left right now so Courtney needs to be deadly accurate. Pat and Courtney enter the woods to assist Rick. Beth heads to Courtney's house to try and get assistance with her Eclipso episode. No one seems to be in the house until young Bruce Gordon appears on the stairs. Bruce calls Beth a thief and if you remember in season one, she did kind of take the goggles. Bruce runs to hide and dares Beth to find him and take the goggles back. Beth figures out that Bruce is Eclipso and calls him out on it. He baits her with his racism. When he can't get Beth to be the aggressor he forces her into the closet. Rick runs into some hunters who have run into something other than a bear. They tell him it isn't safe but Rick runs off to find Grundy.
- Beth's Visions: Beth gets out of the closet and meets the original JSA. Bruce is trying to manipulate Beth again noting the original JSA didn't have women or people of color. Beth doesn't give up though and continues the chase to get her goggles back. Out in the woods, Rick finds Grundy and asks if he killed a woman. Grundy runs off and it isn't certain if he killed her or not. Rick believes it's so but Pat and Courtney investigate. It turns out the woman was a girl and it was actually Eclipso's manipulation. Rick jumping to conclusions about Grundy is the same that has been done to him. Grundy has not killed in the forest.
- Rick vs Grundy 2.0: Rick begins to fight Grundy under the fireworks of the fourth of July. Beth continues to chase Bruce. Eclipso is still trying to manipulate but Beth is standing her ground. When she asks Eclipso what it is he fears, he appears to Beth in his flesh. We cut back to Rick vs Grundy and find out he wasn't fighting Grundy, he was fighting his Uncle. Eclipso has manipulated him to beating his uncle nearly to death. Rick, terrified of what he did smashes the hourglass and it would appear Eclipso has taken out another JSA member. Beth, however looks to be beating Eclipso. Standing up to him and not allowing his manipulations made it so his power couldn't touch her. She wakes with the googles back on and she never left her house. It was all a vision.
In the final wrap up moments of the episode, the police are called to assist Rick's uncle but the evidence is that he did this and he is put in the back of a cop car. The real Grundy watches from the shadows and calls Rick a friend. Beth makes a connection to Dr. McNider and we learn that the goggles can cut through Eclipso's visions. She was able to defeat him. As long as she wears the goggles, Beth can see the truth of the world. Turns out Beth never even talked with her parents that afternoon. When Beth's parents do show up they offer her good advice. When they ask about the goggles she says she's going to join the swim team. Barbara and Mike share their concerns over what's happened to Rick. Mike calls Barbara "mom" and while the pair hug, the window begins to ice over.
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Comments
I'm not saying Supergirl is garbage, but showing it back to back with Stargirl is highlighting how long in the tooth the older show is.
This series has exceeded almost every one of my expectations. Loving the horror theme this season.
Beth was, in many ways, my favorite character in season 1. This was probably the first episode to really showcase her in season 2.
I've always thought of Grundy more as an misunderstood anti-,hero than straight up villian. It looks like Stargirl will play that angle... awesomeness! But, does the broken hourglass put Rick out of super hero commission permanently?
Mike calling Barbara mom was great. We have seen the two bond as the non-JSA family members of these first two seasons.