Stargirl S2 Ep. 5 Thoughts

"Summer School: Chapter Five"

This week's episode of Stargirl takes things to a whole new level as far as building up its main antagonist by delivering some awe-inspiring cinematic direction leaning heavy on horror elements. If Eclipso didn't grab your attention before as just a stone hanging from young adult woman with mental issues then this episode will mercilessly yank you out of your seats and glue your eyes to the screen to witness the terror that this character brings to the table. Couple this with an intriguing set up for one of Stargirl's more questionably aligned characters and you have yourself a fantastic episode of comic book adapted television. This is without a doubt Season 2's peak of quality so far which makes me more and more excited to see what comes next considering this is essentially a major set up episode. So, let's dive into all of the highlights that stood out to me here.

A Fantastic Opening Scene

Regarding Season 2 specifically, I’d say Episode 5’s Cindy flashback is by far the best opening scene so far. The incredible horror atmosphere being displayed here was a sure sign that the show is definitely more than capable of taking things to some dark and scary corners. We open things with a young Cindy screaming for her life in her room at night to which her mother rushes in to comfort her. Here’s where we get our first major reference to Dragon King as Cindy talks about seeing her father who wants to transform her into whatever he is. This alone would’ve been great on its own showing how traumatized Cindy was as a child having nightmares about her father’s monstrous likeness, but then they take things to a whole other level. 

Once her mother comforts her that her father is too far away to be in their lives, we get this absolutely eerie moment where everything goes silent with only the nighttime sounds of crickets heard in the background as Cindy goes back to sleep in the dark. Then after a long while, we get this horror music-like cue come in as the Dragon King, unmasked, emerges from the shadows towards her like some creature out of a nightmare. Truly a creepy piece of imagery right there, and as a hardcore horror fan watching this, this made me smile with genre loving joy (more of that to come). We cut to outside of the house hearing Cindy scream again which then transitions to present day Cindy staring off in a trance reliving this trauma in her mind before snapping back to reality.

These are the types of character scenes that really latch onto me as we get in the heads of someone (whether a hero or villain) showing what affects them at their core. This show has done an amazing job at building up and developing the Cindy character since Season 1 from “generic cheerleader bully” type of antagonist to super powered weapon with a twisted backstory, to now mentally unhinged ISA leader still hanging onto her past. Kudos to the writers for not making this character so cliched, boring, and/or annoying like she could’ve easily been in the beginning. 

Cameron’s Interesting Position On The Show

Ever since Season 1, there’s always been fan speculation about which way Cameron could potentially turn in regards to becoming a legacy villain or joining the JSA. This is the episode where we get to finally spotlight that question as Cindy continues her ISA recruitment setting her eyes on him in the beginning quarter of the episode. What I’m really liking about the storytelling surrounding Cameron is that the show never flat out answers the question of his future allegiance but instead consistently paints him as someone innocently standing on the outside of everything.

How much does Cameron actually know about his father? Is he remotely aware of the ice power that runs in his family? Does he have any inclination as to the existence of the ISA or JSA? The show always puts a neatly pressed black tape over these questions by having him never talk about nor be in the same room as people talking about these subject matters. This places Cameron in an interesting position as the show paints him as being genuinely innocent in all of this. His grandparents are presented as guardians to keep him away from any potential threats (interesting reveal of the grandmother’s ice powers) and the character himself seems to be mature enough to know if someone’s trying to manipulate him.

This brings me to Cindy’s attempt to turn him over to her side which just leads to him immediately seeing through her manipulation tactics for bringing up his father’s death. This shows that Cameron, just naturally speaking, has some sense of intellect versus say someone like Courtney who seems to be easily exploited. There’s also one of my favorite bits in the episode where he paints the mural of his father and, whenever he mentions him, is hit with a chilling breeze. The obvious question here would be an exciting one for me which is “Is this our tease of Icicle still being alive?”. Some of you may know that I absolutely despised the way they took him down in Season 1 after such a fantastic build up of his character, so if this is indeed implying that he is still somehow around, consider me a happy camper.

It’s very much like Brainwave’s sound effect playing over Yolanda’s headaches in the previous episode teasing the idea that he may still be around in some shape or form inside of her head. So with Cameron, you have this genuinely good kid with no nefarious agenda or fractured mental state like the other ISA legacy characters who also so happens to be romantically interested in Courtney while potentially still being targeted by the new ISA and guarded by his corrupted family. Guys, I think Cameron might actually be the most interesting non-villain this season flying right under everyone’s radar. The ending cliffhanger of the episode showing his powers manifest (for the first time?) pushes this fork in the road destiny aspect that I'd very much like to see play out this season.

Eclipso’s Terrifying Grand Entrance

As some of you guys may know, one of my favorite things about Season 2 has been the way in which the writers have taken the time to build up both Eclipso and The Shade. This episode shines the spotlight a bit more on Eclipso, but the Shade is brilliantly utilized to drive that intrigue forward. Before we get to him, let’s talk about the various ways in which they perfectly set the stage for Eclipso here. Last episode started to showcase Eclipso as part of this piece of lost history between warring tribes on an island called Diablo Island (“Devil’s Island”) that got erased off the map. Through Pat’s ambiguous and secretive dialogue surrounding the JSA’s history with the entity and and this mysterious island’s history, Eclipso is being showcased as a shadowy entity that has deep dark roots with various circles.

What this episode does that I absolutely loved in particular is highlight more of the “apocalyptic Devil” side as we see through Paul (the art history teacher), Eclipso’s method of attack on the JSA, the bizarre weather, and the Shade’s warnings. So, talking about the Shade for a bit, we get another intense interaction scene between Richard Swift and Barbara where the mysterious villain(?) warns her that Eclipso is nothing to be meddled with by her or the new younger JSA as the diamond should be handled by him. There’s a great line where he states that the currently bizarre dark weather is only the prelude and she wouldn’t want to see the finale. The fact that we saw the Shade completely dominate the new JSA with immense power now speaking about Eclipso with severe caution brilliantly hypes up his threat level.

Speaking on the weather aspect, I thought it was cool how the weather slowly but surely becomes more and more noticeably stormy as the episode plays out. We get these exterior shots showing the skies becoming more cloudy with accompanying scenes of different characters taking notice of what appears to be an impending storm. This nicely sets up an eerily gloomy and chilling atmosphere of something foreboding approaching on the horizon.

Here enters the big moment that all the spine tingling set up has been leading to in the episode, the possession of Paul and the attack on the JSA. This took me completely by surprise in all the best ways (remember I’m a hardcore horror nerd so this episode was essentially written for me). After Cindy has a tension packed interaction with Cameron, Mr. Paul comes in at the right time only to get the cold shoulder from Cindy. But this isn’t just the cold shoulder as we see immediately that Eclipso (whether by Cindy’s orders or not) planted his self into his mind slowly making his presence known throughout the episode. Another cool little detail that I like here, whether it's intentional by the director or not, is that Cindy comes off as a witch-like figure much like someone out of The Craft (remember that movie?) in this scene. So take that witch-like presentation of Cindy and mix in Paul's possession here and you have yet another bit of demonic imager to feed into Eclipso's character. This lead to what I’d easily label as the show’s greatest horror moments yet (aside from the Cindy flashback with Dragon King).

What’s so tragic about this is that, despite only seeing him a few times on the show, Paul has always been shown as a gentle spirit individual making Eclipso’s possession all the more frightening. Nobody’s safe here as he can seemingly target whoever he wants whenever he wants to. Paul earlier had a charming conversation with Cameron about Courtney perhaps being his muse to which he states of also having one of his own in his hey day as an artist. Eclipso uses this information to exploit Paul’s nostalgia telling him that he is his muse and the this art deserves to be seen by the world. I honestly wasn’t sure where they were gonna take this angle and boy was I unprepared for the sheer horror direction that came flying in like a tidal wave later on. 

I mentioned that this episode showcases Eclipso in a more “Devil” manner and one of the ways that stood out to me, though brief, is Paul’s throwing up. As gross as it was, this is a classic trope of demonic possession storylines when the victim would throw up due to not being able to physically handle what’s taking place inside of them. So I’m happy (albeit disgusted) that the writers inserted this element. Once Eclipso inspires Paul to paint on a blank canvas to which Paul is clueless, we get this amazing moment where Eclipso’s commanding voice pushes Paul to seeing something that the audience wouldn’t yet while his eyes turns a psychedelic-like color palette. Paul’s shocked expression while saying “It’s beautiful” followed by Eclipso’s sinister laughing as the teacher starts desperately painting like a mad man (the first image painted being a black cross-like picture interestingly enough) really did feel like I was watching a horror movie play out and not a CW superhero show about costumed children. Major props to you Stargirl for always managing to do something surprisingly edgy, mature, or dynamic like this.

Fast forward a bit to where our young JSA heroes get to the school after being lead there by the strange weather patterns leading to quite possibly my favorite Stargirl moment artistically speaking. The team walks into the school at night as a storm is shown to be brewing above the building (again…loving the atmosphere here). The score during this scene is most definitely invoking a horror film while accompanied by some fantastic horror imagery via splats of paint chaotically thrown around the room of Paul’s art studio. Really loved how the camera slowly showed only bits and pieces of what the studio looks like to the audience slowly building things up to the big moment like the reveal of a horrifying bloody crime scene.

The cinematography in this setting reveal moment deserves an award on its own as the camera brilliantly follows the JSA characters entering the room looking horrified while panning around to allow the audience to soak in the various freaky details before anything is highlighted. The paint blotches smearing all around the room like the result of some bloody massacre, the flickering lights making things feel ominous, Paul being completely absent from the scene, and the weird paintings of the black diamond being shown both behind and in front of characters before being mentioned really sets a scary atmosphere for Eclipso. My favorite shot here being Courtney staring with terror on her face at the big black diamond painting in the corner. 

We then hear the Brainwave sound effect cue come in as Yolanda picks up a Brainwave painting off the ground (which looks menacing on its own). This is where the situation starts to shift from “something scary happened to the art history teacher” to something much more deeper and personal of an attack. Yolanda starts suffering from a headache (wait so was it Eclipso the whole time since the first episode messing with her?) causing everyone to wonder what’s going before the door shuts on them and all hell breaks loose. Here enters our big boogyman reveal and boy is it a spectacular one. The black diamond painting behind Courtney starts to morph as a face or something begins protruding outwards like Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street giving us this long visually freaky shot to experience in all of its glory.

Courtney looks in pure shock as the team questions what this may be to which she answers “Eclipso”. If things weren’t already leaning heavy into horror, what follows surely broke the threshold. We get this nightmare fuel Hellraiser looking imagery where the protruding head sinks back into the painting forming some freaky looking portal (or mouth or…something else) that then forms into this bloody veiny looking structure eventually taking on the chaotic color pallet of the room. This…thing…was…FREAKY!!! And I loved every second of it. I love how the team doesn’t even try to fight it but instead immediately heads for the door to escape (another great detail building up the villain as a force of nature not to be taken lightly). 

Here’s where Eclipso’s attack on the JSA starts to become more personal as lockers slam open in front of Yolanda revealing smaller paintings of Brainwave then Henry as Eclipso’s voice gets inside of her head. This is where the show perfectly blends in background character arcs happening in the season and the terror of Eclipso himself all in one scene. He pressures Yolanda into confronting that she’s responsible for Henry Sr. and Jr.’s death (you can see the bizarre psychedelic imagery in her eyes just like Paul’s). Rick then sees his inner demons manifesting as a painting of Solomon Grundy shows up then another painting of him in Season 1 when he was close to beating Grundy to death. Eclipso forces him to confront the idea of which individual is the real monster (some pretty dark themes this episode…love it.)

Beth has her moment seeing her a painting of her parents be torn in two right in front of her as Eclipso throws her panic over the divorce papers right in her face (yikes!!). Courtney stand helplessly witnessing her teammates individually freaking out at these images on the lockers. If all of this wasn’t enough, that freaky blob looking thing that came out of the painting starts slithering up the wall then the ceiling towards Courtney (truly one of, if not thee creepiest things shown on a CW DC Comics show) which Courtney manages to blast back with the staff. It’s interesting how the staff is powerful enough to keep the creature somewhat at bay but doesn’t just disintegrates it showing that Stargirl may have a chance but not necessarily a high one. 

Paul’s voice is heard insanely yelling “I see everything!” resulting in Courtney leaving the team to find him (I like the little detail here where you can hear the JSA in the background briefly yelling out their individual confrontations before she leaves them). Paul is shown to be smothered in the blog-like entity looking like something out of a nightmare. As Paul screams lines of hopelessness and madness, Courtney realizes that the staff’s light may be the key to setting him free. This leads to a pretty epic shot of Courtney blasting the blog back while Paul tries to reach out towards the light. It’s a visually impressive bit of direction with how the camera tracks Courtney during the tug of war moment before showing the full view of the battle. Paul also looks horrifying with his gaping zombie-like expression as the cosmic staff’s light shoots through his eyes and mouth. Amazing visual direction here overall.

The scene ends with the entity disappearing and the JSA team looking completely distraught from their encounter as the lockers appear to have no paintings on them but the physical damage that they dealt attacking them. The team finds Courtney who stands over Paul who now appears to be completely messed up from the possession laying on the ground in either paint or…well let’s just paint saying “I lost my muse”. Another dark twist given in this episode is that Paul isn’t dead and written off nor is he just up and well again in school confused as to what happened. Instead, he’s revealed by Pat to the team to have been under psychiatric evaluation which means, depending on how far the show takes it, this poor innocent gentle hearted guy could possibly end up in a psych ward from this experience. Just think about that.

Also, something that I really appreciated about this episode is that after such an event like that, we don’t just cut to the team making plans to fight Eclipso or acting upset that he got away or anything like that. No, instead we see these young kids looking absolutely defeated, worried, and even scared. This is exactly the appropriate response that I was hoping for to further solidify how completely out of their leagues the new JSA are with this entity. This isn’t some costumed human with powers trying to take over the world but a literal embodiment of pure evil as they’ve built him up as, so I admire that the writers take into consideration that children (as The Shade warned to Barbara) wouldn’t be able to handle the horror inside that comes with it.

The New ISA Forms & Seeks Its Next Target

One of our ending teases shows Cindy and the new ISA (Artemis and Isaac Bowin) sitting around the HQ as Artemis mentions the battle not being 4X4. I do like the detail here that it's Artemis mentioning the strategy element of not having Cameron recruited as it hints along her sports background already setting in what her role might be on the team. This leads to Cindy disregarding Cameron, mentioning that the black diamond is all they need, and setting her sights on Mike as the next target. I've theorized that she would have Eclipso exploit his desire to feel accepted and given attention on a team due to his loneliness from the JSA, but now I'm not sure how that fits in here. We saw earlier this episode that Pat, although initially not putting Mike on the team, gets encouraged by Barbara to let him be a part of it in some fashion as to not have him feel rejected. I feel like this scene is crucial in countering anything that Eclipso could exploit right? Or perhaps there's something more that I haven't considered like being worthy of a super power (the thunderbolt not being his anymore). Hmmm. Perhaps Eclipso promises Mike power like no other JSA member making him the most significant member? We'll just have to to see I suppose.

Bonus Thoughts

1. Stop Signs For Sale

In a hilarious bit of continuity, we see a large pile of stop signs for sale at the junkyard that Pat finds Mike in. This is of course following up on the Thunderbolt episode where Mike unintentionally had stop signs falling from the sky to "stop" a bunch of bullies from messing around with people.

2. Reference to Both Jordon & The Shade's Mysterious Past

During the scene between Richard Swift and Barbara, he mentions that she reminds him of someone to which Barbara immediately mentions how Jordon saw her as some sick romantic prize. This of course references how Icicle saw Barbara as another chance for a relationship after his wife's death despite her being married. The Shade assures Barbara that his comments were more tailored to a family member that she reminded him of. Perhaps this can be a daughter that he had in the past? And, this may be a stretch, maybe he lost said family member to Eclipso in the past? Just a long stretch theory.

 

Episode Rating: 9/10