Courtney and Pat took a trip all the way back to California to visit the headquarters of the Justice Society of America. There, Pat tried to instill the fear and dangers that come with being a superhero and just how terrible the ISA is. Courtney, being her stubborn-headed self, only saw opportunity. The artifacts of the JSA lay dormant in the dusty old hall of the JSA and Courtney intends to steal them to recruit new members into her new JSA! As we learned today, first up was Wildcat! Our very own Yolanda Montez (aka Yvette Monreal). Just how did Yolanda get ears and claws? Check out our recap below:
- Three Months Ago: We open on Yolanda three months ago. It turns out she was the popular girl in school. She was running for class president and actually was dating Henry King Jr. However, it all fell apart when Yolanda accepts Henry's pleas for a "sexy" photo. She sends him a topless photo that leaks to the entire school via Henry Jr. and Cindy. If you remember in the first episode, Brec asks if Cindy needs her phone number but Cindy says she already has it. Does Cindy have some kind of hacking ability?
- Present Day: Courtney is hiding all the JSA artifacts that she has in her closet. Pat tells Courtney that he needs to find the ISA members without them knowing he's looking. Courtney is hell bent on recruiting new members. At school, Cindy starts to attack Yolanda and Courtney comes to her defense again. Cindy threatens Courtney that "she'll never see her coming". Back at Pat's mechanic shop, Denise, The Wizard's wife has car trouble and Pat begins work on her vehicle. This will be important later in the episode.
- Dragon King: At the underground lair of the ISA, Jordan meets with the Dragon King. Dragon King explains that he's been working on his daughter (Cindy) but we aren't sure what that means. Jordan is expediting project New America and he wants Dragon King to build "his" machine. We don't know what it is but he says that "one generation's ultimate sacrifice will protect another". He then asks for The Wizards body. Very spooky stuff coming from the Dragon King.
- Yolanda the Boxer: At school, Courtney finds Yolanda in the gym boxing. We see that she is a good boxer. Courtney invites Yolanda to her house for dinner. She'll explain it all if Yolanda will just come to dinner. Back at Yolanda's house, we see that her family isn't treating her very well. Courtney decides to tell Yolanda that she blew up Henry's car. Yolanda explains how terrible it is that Henry shared her photos. Courtney and Yolanda bond over the incident and Courtney offers to show Yolanda how she blew up Henry's car.
- Denise's Exit: Denise is leaving the town for good. She tells Pat that she's leaving town but tries to warn him, not everything is as it seems in Blue Valley. In Courtney's room, Yolanda and Courtney try on their superhero suits. The pair begin to discover Widlcat's abilities.Yolanda has the idea to check the hospital visitors' log to see who's been visiting Brainwave. Courtney offers to make a distraction while Yolanda scales the building in her Wildcat suit. Courtney and Yolanda are successful getting the visitors' log but Yolanda walks in on Henry visiting Brainwave. She was going to slash him up but thinks better of it. Hiding in Brainwave's room, Stargirl and Wildcat see The Fiddler visit, their principal! She tries to wake Brainwave with her powers but it doesn't work. The two make it out of the hospital but Beth Chapel sees them and hears Courtney call Wildcat "Yolanda".
In the final moments of the episode, Yolanda says she needs to be comfortable being herself before she is comfortable being Wildcat. Yolanda heads home and demands her family finally stop punishing her. They don't seem to agree though. Her mother says "She'll never be the Yolanda Montez she used to be". They choose to send her to her room again. In her room, though, Courtney has visited and left Wildcat's costume for her. There's a note saying she can't do this alone and Yolanda accepts the mantle of Wildcat! Pat heads back to the junkyard looking for parts for STRIPE. There he finds Denise's car and the cat she had. She tried to leave Blue Valley but the ISA killed her and wouldn't let her go.
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Comments
Yolanda's story provided a look at a relevant and grounded issue. High marks to Yvette for portraying the complex emotions that come with that situation.
The Wildcat costume and abilities seem well conceived and executed.
The episode did exactly what it needed to do and did so while maintaining a balance between being entertaining and saying something relevant of value.
I will say it feels like Courtney brushed off Joey's death way too quickly. Pat dealt with the ramifications, when it came to Joey's mother. But other than a passing comment at breakfast, Courtney was back to her perky self. If the show is going to go as dark as a classmate's death, then I feel like the ramifications of that should carry for a bit.
Again, not a bad episode. DC Universe is more serialized, anyway, taking one BIG story, and kinda just chopping it up into 13 pieces. But after the stakes established in episode 3, this episode felt like it didn't really have any stakes, short of Yolanda possibly saying "no" to Courtney.