Stargirl S1 Ep. 4 Highlights

"Wildcat"

Stargirl has been on a successful streak since the show's pilot for me dishing out one highly enjoyable and/or admired episode after another. This week's biggest positive spotlight centers around the introduction of new superheroes and villains to the series' roster while building out a larger scope for the story. So, let's breakdown some of my personal highlights from the episode.

The Shade! They Finally Did It!

To start things off with a minor (for the episode) yet major deal for me personally, I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when the Shade got revealed as being part of this universe. For almost 2 decades now, I’ve been asking for The Shade to show up in a live action movie after first getting introduced to him via the Justice League animated series. I remember always loving his character design, overall sense of presence, and the imagery of how his shadow manipulation power set was conveyed always imagining how awesome it'd look in live action. Seeing his image on the ISA headquarters banner and hearing his name be referenced by Dr. Ito (as a traitor?) placed an immediate smile on my face as I internally yelled with geeky joy. Thank you Stargirl for effectively bringing two DC villains to live action that I've always wanted to see (even though this was just an image on a wall) with a more than satisfying visual execution. The other being Solomon Grundy as I felt Gotham’s version only “sort of worked”. Also, I am aware of the Flash series' version of Shade...no thanks.

The Dragon King's Debut

Alright, I'm just gonna say it. I’ve already fallen in love with Dr. Ito (the Dragon King). The character design is visually intriguing with the combination of an evil scientist and a masked cult leader who may or may not be mutated underneath his garbs all warped together. The mysterious allure surrounding his presence is potent with his morbidly curious and confident personality being front and center as he criticizes other ISA members, boasts his own loyalty to Icicle and his agenda, and bluntly asks for the Wizard’s corpse to experiment on while alluding to previous "work" done on his own daughter. I also like the random hooded people surrounding the room twitching implying that they might also be some frightening inhumane experiment of the doctor's that are covered up for a reason and are servants to him.

Jordon's reaction to Ito's presence stood out to me giving me the impression that though he may see him as essential to his plan, he also views him as a wild card that he may not be fully in control of and may actually feel cautioned by. It's an interesting dynamic that I'd be very curious to watch expanded upon. Much like Icicle during Episode 4’s villain debut, the Dragon King has already won me over as an antagonist worth getting invested in and keeping an eye out for. It’s crazy how swiftly this series have sold me on its villains whereas many of the CW shows go back and forth quality-wise with delivering genuine excitement surrounding theirs. Also, I'd really love to see this lab of Dr. Ito that he briefly alludes to when sending his servants away. It’s almost as if he has his own crazy villainous lair full of nightmarish terrible imagery (which is right up my alley as a hardcore genre fan). "The lair of the Dragon King". Hmmm. Has a very retro science-fiction adventure ring to it which is how this character comes across to me...and I love it.

The New Wildcat

On the hero spectrum of things, I’m already liking the new Wildcat character so far as the writers did a great job at setting up the disastrous emotional foundation behind her socially distant personality as well as her already established boxing skill being a nice nod to the original character. It’s the perfect match for a new generation follow up to a classic DC superhero and Yvette Monreal has more than impressed me in the role. There are layers to this character's sensibilities, so it's nice to have an actress that can convey those different sides to the character when necessary. Also, something that stood out to me that I really admired was the scene where Yolanda tells Courtney that, although she really enjoyed the experience of being Wildcat for the first time, she needed to get her life straight first before thinking about donning the suit. It’s an awesome show of maturity for the character and one that I felt resonated showing that not every young generation hero will be as gung-ho and naive as Courtney.

These characters have other things going on in their lives that they have to figure out that isn't superhero related but of "real world" issues...and I like that. The family scene with Yolanda pleading for her family's forgiveness surrounding her mistake was dramatically impactful as most of them just casted her out in disgrace. You can clearly see why her character would feel the drive to burst out of her guilt smothering environment towards something new, freeing, and transformative again making her the ideal new Wildcat. Also, the established connection to Henry and Brainwave was a nice logical addition to making her even more invested in this crusade of Stargirl's (pretty sure she's about to kill him). There's a highly positive trend with this series that I’m starting to pick up on which is its amazingly executed character debuts. If they can stick the follow up just as strongly as the introductions (unlike other several other superhero shows), then I think Stargirl would already have a major point of success in the genre for me. I look forward to seeing Wild Cat's arc.

Also, on a side note, I'm starting to come around on the Wildcat suit the more that I see it in action. The suit and mask didn't quite work for me in the beginning, but during the scenes where Yolanda is climbing or unsheathing the claws, I started to realize how effectively "primal" and "feline" it looks with the actress's slim physique. As far as capabilities go, it's cool how Wild Cat's suit itself is a source of power much like Ironman or Black Panther (which I saw some similar elements in imagery), but the wearer's competence and natural skill level is what's really going to spotlight the overall hero's effectiveness. A highly positive trend with the series that I’m starting to pick up on is what has now been a streak of amazingly executed character debuts. If they can stick the follow up just as strongly as the introductions (unlike several other superhero shows), then I think Stargirl would already have a major point of success in the genre for me. I now look forward to seeing Wildcat's arc.

The Potential Problem With Stargirl

My one tiny nitpick from earlier episodes that has bled over into this one is starting to become a growing concern being Stargirl’s impatience, stubbornness, and strangely enough, her disconnected feeling to the series. It’s weird, but I’m not sure if it’s the actress's performance or the direction for the character during her scenes, but Courtney almost feels like an outsider who is desperately trying to be the leading part of this superhero story by forcing herself in situations more so than actually naturally leading it as the titular protagonist. Maybe it's just me and this feeling will eventually fade away. As for her immatureness, I know this is clearly a character growth situation and we simply have to be patient as an audience, but I’m starting to see potential holes in this narrative plan if it drags out too long. This character can quite easily veer into “annoying territory” if the show runner isn’t too careful with how they pace out her development as a person/hero. We’ll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Detective S.T.R.I.P.E.

Last but not least, I’m loving that we get to see Pat play detective this time around putting more interest and focus on the ISA members being around somewhere close in operation. The follow up to The Wizard’s death with his wife now being paranoid trying to warn Pat while attempting to leave town was pretty interesting. I honestly wasn’t expecting her character to have much to do in the show after William and her son's death, so to have Pat later discover her abandoned jeep in the junkyard was a nice bridge towards the larger ISA mystery. I kinda like seeing Pat not just play the currently questionable mentor/father figure to Courtney and robot piloting sidekick but someone taking the personal directive to uncover the villains' grand plot. Of anyone on the show, Pat is the most logical character to try to piece together what the ISA might be doing and where their base of operations lie. I've alluded to it in previous episode reviews, but I'll say it more directly here, I'd be perfectly fine if the series completely shifted to Pat's arc as a hero with an intriguing established history seeking peace in a post-JSA world and justice for his partner's death.

Overall Thoughts

Stargirl is shaping up to be much more than your typical villain of the week superhero fare, but instead a larger scope feeling story about the importance of legacies and mysterious multilayered world affecting agendas that cannot be ignored any longer. Considering how slightly forgettable and stale some of the DC TV shows have felt in recent years, I'm happy to say that Stargirl has given things a refreshing new sense of direction while still appealing to the core elements of what makes shows like these generally entertaining to watch. In just one episode, I'm already excited to see the continuation of two newly introduced characters as well as the potential appearance of a third that was briefly teased. Consider me officially hooked on this show.

Bonus Thoughts

1. Stargirl's Universe Has An In-Universe Wiki

One of the coolest little elements that I think can easily get brushed over by audiences is the fact that the universe of this show has an actual wikipedia for its heroes and villains during the Golden Age. It's a fun way for characters to attempt learning some of the basics of how the old generation heroes operated with their unique traits but it's also another outlet for which the show can expand on its lore. The only cause for question I had with this little inclusion was how Yolanda seemed completely clueless about the JSA which makes me wonder just how famous superheroes are in this world. The Justice League were icons and even considered gods to some in traditional storytelling, so is the JSA like a myth or something on Stargirl who worked in secret?

Episode Rating: 8/10