Stargirl Reviews: Season 1, Episode 1

Pilot – Director: Glen Winter/Writer: Geoff Johns

Welcome to my first Stargirl review. I’ve seen the first two seasons of this show but not the third, so I figured I’d do some reviews while checking out the episodes I missed. We start out ten years in the past at Christmas, with Pat (Stripesy) Dugan driving towards a mansion where the Justice Society of America are getting their asses kicked by their evil counterparts, the Injustice Society. We see JSA members like Wildcat, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Hourman getting pulped by villains (Wizard, Tigress, and Sportsmaster). Not having any superpowers, Pat is in danger but Starman arrives and starts pounding the bad guys with his Cosmic Staff (and no, that’s not a euphemism). Icicle puts an ice spear through Starman’s chest, so he and Pat are forced to flee. They’re almost caught by Solomon Grundy, who damages Pat’s flying car (yeah, you heard me) which soon crashes in the woods. Starman tells Pat the JSA has to be rebuilt and the Cosmic Staff has to find a worthy successor, but mentions several times that Pat absolutely, positively isn’t that guy. Starman dies after telling Pat he was a good friend. Across town, young Courtney Whitmore is waiting for her dad to come home, since she has a special Christmas present for him. Courtney’s mom (Barbara) has to go to work, so she leaves Courtney with the neighbours, still hoping her father will show up.

Ten years later, Courtney is a teenager and Barbara has gotten remarried to Pat (who has a son named Mike from a previous marriage of his own). They’re leaving Los Angeles to move to Blue Valley, Nebraska, which Courtney isn’t happy about. We find out she’s quite the athlete (medals in gymnastics and boxing) and that she’s pissed off at Pat for making them move (although I think a lot of it is that she never got over her parents splitting up). Barbara reminds her that moving was her idea too, since she grew up in Blue Valley and just got a job there, but that doesn’t improve Courtney’s disposition. When they get to Blue Valley, Courtney and Mike are weirded out by how friendly everyone is, but Mike seems to like their new house. That night, we see Pat heading to the basement, where he keeps his JSA stuff, including files on the Injustice Society and we see that he’s been tracking various anomalies which seem to be centred in Blue Valley. The next day, Pat drives Courtney to school (he seems to have replaced his car, although I don’t know if this one flies) and tries to bond with her, but doesn’t get too far. Courtney’s obviously nervous her first day at school, and things don’t get any better when she learns the school has just cut their gymnastics team. At the garage he’s rented downtown, Pat meets Larry “Crusher” Crock, who runs a gym down the street and offers to get Pat pumped up.

Barbara goes to her new job at American Dream, which is some kind of foundation that invests in local businesses. Barbara is shown to her new office, getting a glimpse of a couple of American Dream’s executives (William Zarick and Steve Sharpe) along the way. At school, Courtney meets Cindy Burman, who has a real Regina George thing going on, and inadvertently offends her by not being enthusiastic about joining the cheerleading squad. At lunch, Courtney ends up sitting at the pariah table with Beth Chapel (who’s friendly to her), Rick Tyler, and Yolanda Montez (who aren’t). When Henry King Jr. (Cindy’s boyfriend) and one of his friends start taunting Yolanda, Courtney stands up for her and knocks Henry on his ass, earning her detention after school. Naturally, she misses the bus and has to walk home. Mike had a great first day, meeting some fellow gaming fans who he wants to hang out with. Courtney retreats to the basement, where she finds Pat’s stash of JSA memorabilia, including a team photo.

Going through more stuff, Courtney figures out that Pat was Stripesy, Starman’s partner, and when she touches Starman’s costume, the Cosmic Staff starts glowing in its crate. It glows even brighter when she touches it and shows it has a mind of its own by dragging her upstairs and out of the house, taking her to a park to practice gymnastics … and flying. She ends up at the drive-in, where Henry King Jr. is being a dick, as usual. Courtney disguises herself and goes to let the air out of Henry’s tires, but when she’s spotted she ends up kicking the shit out of Henry and his friends and accidentally blowing up his car (although it was more the Staff doing all that than her). When she gets home, Pat is waiting for her and confirms that he was Stripesy and that the Cosmic Staff belonged to Starman. When Pat tells her the Staff only worked for Starman, and that he died on Christmas Eve ten years ago, Courtney gets it into her head that Starman was her father, explaining why he never showed up that night. When she asks her mom about it, Barbara tells her that her father a deadbeat who was never there for her, unlike Pat. Henry Jr. tells his dad about what happened to the car and his dad gets worried. We see that Henry King (Senior) is Brainwave of the Injustice Society, and he’s obviously worried that the Cosmic Staff has resurfaced. He gets in contact with Icicle, who tells him to play it cool (see what I did there?) and not panic. Courtney talks to Pat, who tells her how he and Starman first met and started hanging out with the JSA. Courtney agrees to keep his secret from her mom. Later, the Staff takes Courtney out for another training session, this time on a rooftop. Brainwave attacks her while she’s flying, bringing her down at a tire warehouse where he tries to use his telepathy to find out where she got the Staff. Courtney fights back, causing another explosion and taking off. Outside, she runs into a gigantic robot … but it turns out to have Pat inside controlling it.

This is a really good introduction to the series, giving us not only the demise of the JSA at the hands of the Injustice Society, but showing us Courtney and her extended family. It was cool to hear Pat tell Courtney the classic Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy origin, and we get plenty of cameos from heroes and villains alike. In the opening fight, we see Wildcat, Hourman, and Starman, as well as Flash’s helmet and what looks like Sandman’s dead body. At Courtney’s school, we see various unnamed (but important) characters: Beth Chapel, Rick Tyler, and Yolanda Montez; Cindy Burman, Joey Zarick (doing card tricks in the hall), and a brief glimpse of Artemis Crock with the football team. We also see Principal Bowin and gym teacher Paula Brooks, who will both turn up later under different names. There’s also a weird janitor who keeps watching Courtney, not to mention Crusher Crock, William Zarick, and Steve Sharpe. Of course, any fans of the original comics (like me) will recognize these names right away, although I’ll admit it took me a while to figure out who the janitor was.

Noticeable Things:

• A newspaper story shows Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy capturing Dr. Weerd, a villain who appeared in their first comic book adventure way back in 1940.
• The moving company that takes their stuff to Blue Valley is American Action Movers, with “Action” written in the style of the comic book of that name.
• In the JLA photo, we can see Johnny Thunder (and his T-Bolt), Green Lantern, Hourman, Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Wildcat, Dr. Fate, Sandman, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Starman.
• Starman seems like kind of a dick, repeatedly telling Pat that he’s not worthy to wield the Staff and reminding him that he’s not really a JSA member.