Stargirl Series Premiere Highlights

"Pilot"

Setting The Stage For Standards & Expectations

The opening sequence of the pilot depicting the JSA losing to the Injustice Society had a solid sense of scope surrounding this very comic booky battle of superheroes and villains displaying a great sense of vibrancy within the visual presentation. The stakes of Starman's death and his sidekick witnessing it and being left with the eventual mission to continue the team was well felt. The action direction during this entire scene was serviceable as the arsenal of superpowers and costumed characters covering the screen made up for some unremarkable fight choreography. The same can be said for the visual FX which, with the inclusion of the later scenes where super powers and a CGI character get shown off, looked pretty decent for a comic book series airing on the CW living up to Arrowverse standards.

Starman Was A Formidable Hero

This is really just a massive sigh of relief highlight for me as I was worried that Starman, before his death, wouldn't be shown off enough as a more than competent superhero. Flashing back to the Supergirl series where Superman felt frequently downgraded to make Supergirl look better, I'm happy to see Stargirl not make this same mistake as Starman is quite the badass before getting overwhelmed by the Injustice team.

Geek Out Worthy DC Comics Fan Service

I was grinning from ear to ear loving every bit of the surprising DC Comics easter eggs that showed up. I loved that these nods were in the form of in-universe world/lore building as opposed to just slapped together fan service. Also, as a big fan of the Arrowverse, and knowing that Stargirl does indeed take place in the same multiverse as the shared TV franchise’s world, there are certain characters and pieces of imagery that made me smile considering their potential parallel Earth implications.

The Hero Discovers Their Power

Courtney discovering and trying to adjust to the cosmic staff was one of the more enjoyable and engaging bits from the pilot aside from the opening. I love that they utilize her natural grounded passion for gymnastics as a way for her to adapt to the more supernatural component of the staff. Having the hero already have a natural character skill that is then morphed into their eventual superpower upgrade is an fun and interesting idea. Speaking of the staff, much like a spotlighted droid in a Star Wars property, I love how the cosmic staff feels like more than just an object of interest but a character in of its own with a sense of personality and agency. This element gives the action scenes where its being utilized an added layer of teamwork to an extent. In addition to this, the pilot does a great job at showing how powerful this weapon can be in the hands of the wielder as shown during various action scenes giving us an early example of what we can expect as the hero eventually masters her craft.

Characters & Performances Are Fine

In regards to performances, Brec Bassinger does a pretty solid job as the lead character Courtney Whitmore who struggles to undergo a family related transition while experiencing her very own profound transformation in the process. The pilot covers all the necessary essentials to get me invested enough in the protagonist’ story, but a lot of it leans on Brec’s performance to sell me on this newly introduced iteration of Stargirl. So far, I’d say I had no major issues with her acting or the character’s debut.

As for Luke Wilson who plays Starman's sidekick, and Courtney's stepfather Patrick, I share the same feelings about him as I do with Stargirl herself. Luke delivers a solid performance in the role while the writing of the pilot gives us all the essentials that we need to get invested in his character. Patrick so far seems to be a well intentioned father figure to our hero (something shows like the Flash and Black Lightning previously did a great job with in the realm of great parent-child hero relationships) with an interesting history of his own. Something that I'm already starting to positively cling onto with this series is the fact that one of its main characters has quite an alluring established history already being deeply rooted in the world of superheroes.

The fact that he's not the titular hero of the series but instead plays a mentor/parental role sets up some potentially fun and awesome "trips down memory lane" moments. It also gives our lead someone that they can legitimately lean on in their larger than life situations instead of having to keep every single thing a secret which can sometimes be frustrating to watch with these types of shows.

The performances and casting all around so far ranges between serviceable and decent with my only cause for concern being Brainwave played by Christopher Baker. I’ve seen Christopher play a side villain on another comic book TV series called Agents of Shield which left me with the same impression that I felt here. “Generic and dull bad guy”. I’m not sure if its the actor himself (whose actually not bad really) or the direction given to him, but his presence just screams “Look at me. I’m the bad guy and I’m here to do bad things just because” which I personally just don’t find interesting. Also, the whole idea of making his son the school bully which our protagonist so happens to go to just took the generic cliche element of his character’s presence to a whole new level to where I laughingly thought “Oh of course that’s his son!”.

Considering that Brainwave is a member of the Injustice Society, I’m hoping that he’s not the main season villain that we have to constantly follow along but instead venture through the other members who are hopefully much more compelling and entertaining to watch. For crying out loud, we have Solomon Grundy on this show (a character who was attempted on the Gotham TV series with somewhat satisfying results and only teased on an earlier season of Arrow). Him alone I'd love to see much more of as well as who I'm assuming to be Icicle who looks far better than what we got on the Flash series.  With Brainwave, at the very least, his psychic powers does open up the opportunity for some great action scenes depending on how they utilize him later on as shown in this pilot. I just hope the actor is given more to do than just "look obviously evil".

Overall Thoughts

Stargirl may not have had the most exciting and jaw dropping pilots of the superhero television genre, but it did deliver everything that it needed to in order to sell me in as a new viewer. The lore building surrounding the cosmic staff, Luke Wilson's character being a sidekick to a previous hero, and the concept of superheroes having a golden age back in the day was well executed. The visual direction of the pilot was solid enough keeping things cinematically satisfying from beginning to end and the tone and direction overall felt naturally lively with a sense of innocence in its storytelling. It's a charming and enjoyable pilot that I recommend Arrowverse fans and just comic book TV fans in general to check out if you're open to something that's slightly more targeted towards a younger audience. I say Stargirl seems to be worth a watch and a show that I'd gladly be up for eventually joining the Arrowverse in a future crossover.

Bonus Thoughts/Easter Eggs

1. Action Comics Logo

Briefly during the scene where Courtney and her family is shown moving into the new home, a moving fan drives in front of the camera with the name "American Action Movers". The "Action Movers" portion of the logo is a visual homage to Action Comics utilizing the same text style. Action Comics is of course the classic comic book publication that introduced characters like Superman to the world and essentially being the predecessor to DC Comics. 

2. Jay Garrick's Hat

Early in the episode during the opening sequence showing the JSA being defeated by the Injustice Society, there's a brief shot of Jay Garrick's iconic cap on the floor. This piece of imagery immediately took me to the Flash TV series (which Stargirl is considered to be officially linked to in the multiverse) where Garrick's (or rather Hunter Zolomon's) cap was first introduced in that series by being thrown to the floor through a wormhole breach. It may be a visual Easter egg or just the show's symbolism of fallen heroes, but I did find it interesting that both versions of the Flash with this famous cap gets introduced to a CW series via their hat being on the floor.

Episode Rating: 8/10