Summer School: Chapter Two
Episode 2 of Stargirl Season 2 begins with Cindy heading back to see her Mum. Armed with that same strange purple diamond, she controls her Mother as she suddenly stops in her tracks. While Cindy thinks she’s under her control, in reality Eclipso tries to coerce the woman to kill Cindy. We then jump back six days ago to the Ordway Home For Children. A girl called Jenny leaves the home but not before being handed her Father’s ring. Her Dad, Alan Scott, is actually Green Lantern. After this brief prologue, we then jump back to the present day as Jenny apologizes for causing damage to their home. She’s a big fan of Pat and wants his help to unlock her true powers using this mysterious ring. For now, she’s given a roof over her head and a place to stay. Courtney though is concerned. She’s worried that Jenny may not be wholly truthful, although Pat does go some way to ease her concerns. At least a little anyway. In the morning Yolanda and Courtney both show up at summer school, but Rick is missing. While this is going on, Pat starts to help Jenny out with her ring. She’s obviously anxious but through Pat’s guidance, learns how to conjure up the ring’s power. As she controls it, Jenny manages to project a car while Yolanda and Courtney show up at the garage. There’s obviously tensions between the pair, leading to friction in the group. This spills over in devastating fashion as Jenny and Courtney come to blows. The former lashes out; she wants to find her brother and believes this ring may be the key. That frustration and anger bubbles up to see the lantern look like it’s going to blow. With no other option, the kids encourage Jenny to absorb the energy. Courtney steps forward, now believing Jenny is true the successor to Green Lantern, and trusts her completely. Although the power is absorbed, it also causes a big shockwave and explosion, leaving a crater on the ground and Jenny hovering, surrounded by a green aura. While this is going on, Richard Swift shows up at Blue Valley and visits Barbara. He’s an antique collector but there’s definitely something unnerving about him. So who could he be? Well, the hints here seem to be that he’s The Shade; the last member of the ISA. Deeper evil stirs in the recesses of Blue Valley though. Eclipso continues to manipulate Cindy, turning her Mother against the girl and stepping in to thwart the threat. In fact, Cindy’s Mother is reduced to ash as Eclipso claims he only took control to protect her. Cindy however, seems to fall for this very-obvious manipulation.
The Episode Review
Stargirl returns this week with a slower chapter, one that starts to flesh out more of the players in Blue Valley – especially Jenny. Seeing her origin into becoming Green Lantern’s spiritual successor – given she’s his daughter- is a nice touch. However, it does bring up more of the teen drama this show is synonymous with, as Courtney finds herself distrusting Jenny for large stretches of the run-time. This seems like a way of injecting drama into the show when it’s not really needed, especially given the antagonistic threat building up in the background during this second season. The writing is slightly more geared toward the teen drama this time around, which to be fair was a concern that many people had going into this one ahead of release. It’s still also unclear exactly what Cindy’s purpose is in the grand scheme of things here. Still, it’s early days yet and this chapter serves its purpose of introducing Jenny and adding her to the team. Quite what next week has in store for us though, remains to be seen.
