Shining Knight – Director: Jennifer Phang/Writer: Geoff Johns
This one starts with Justin (aka Shining Knight) out in the countryside asking a farmer about a gallant white steed. The farmer apparently knows Justin and isn’t too fond of his rambling, telling him to get lost. Justin seems to be kinda out of it, almost like he has dementia, but the sight of an American flag makes him remember that he saw Stripesy at the school not too long ago. While pondering that, he’s almost hit by a bus … a bus that has Courtney’s father Sam Kurtis as a passenger. We see Sam has a locket just like Courtney’s and he heads straight for her house as soon as he gets off the bus.
Pat, Barbara, and Courtney are discussing what to do now that they know Jordan is a member of the Injustice Society. Barbara refuses to leave with the kids, so Pat tells her she’ll have to pretend everything is normal so Jordan doesn’t get suspicious. The doorbell freaks them out, but it turns out
to be Sam. He’s come to connect with Courtney, but she’s in denial since she really believed Starman was her father. Now she’s having an existential crisis, wondering why the Staff works for her if she’s not actually Starman’s daughter, and blaming herself for Henry and Joey’s deaths. Pat tries to console her and Mike gets mad about being left out of the loop (again). Barbara gives Sam shit for just 
disappearing and then showing up again after ten years. He claim he wants to get to know Courtney before it’s too late and Courtney decides she wants to hear his story. Sam invites her for a walk, promising Barbara she won’t be late for school. At the school, Justin is half out of it, seeing visions of dragon King. A flyer from Pat’s garage snaps him back to reality and he decides to go see Pat, taking his sword with him.
Sam apologizes to Courtney for running out on her ten years ago, convincing her to have breakfast with him and hear his side of things. At the garage, Pat
finds Rick and Beth waiting but before he can update them, Justin shows up. He’s still hallucinating and mistakes Pat and the kids for Dragon King and his minions. Pat manages to get through to him and Justin begs for help getting his mind back. At American Dream, Jordan and Brainwave discuss recent events (Brainwave showing no remorse for killing his son) and Brainwave tells Jordan that Stargirl is Courtney and her stepfather is Stripesy. Jordan doesn’t want Courtney dead 
because he has some feelings for Barbara, which Brainwave reads in his thoughts. He offers to “reprogram” Barbara, but Jordan doesn’t want her mind warped by Brainwave’s power. Brainwave tells him his powers are augmented since killing his son, so he can now affect minds over half the country instead of just a few states. Brainwave urges Jordan to forget Barbara and get on with the plan, suggesting that he can force him to comply if necessary.
Courtney and Sam have breakfast at a diner and he tells her how he left to chase business opportunities, none of which worked out. He talks about re-connecting with her and Courtney’s such a good person (or is so desperate to connect with her father) that she agrees to try. At the garage, Pat shows
Justin the photo of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and urges him to tell the story of how he got his sword (Excalibur) from King Arthur. Justin then recounts how he was looking for Dragon King and got captured, his identity and sense of self being stripped from him. Pat takes Justin home to look after him and speculates to Barbara that the Society might be planning some kind of mass brainwashing. Sam and Courtney return from breakfast and he finally gets to why he really showed up: he wants Courtney’s locket. Apparently, they’re quite valuable and he 
says he wants to sell them to get a bigger place so Courtney can come visit him in Los Angeles. Courtney’s not stupid and sees through his bullshit right away, but gives him the locket anyway. Sam leaves with a bunch of empty promises, but she knows he’s never going to call her again. Courtney goes inside and Pat offers to let her vent her anger on him, but she hugs him instead.
Pat goes out after Sam to give him shit and ends up decking him when he insults Barbara. A home, Courtney can’t get the Staff to work and assumes it’s because she’s no longer worthy, not being Starman’s daughter. She tells Barbara they might as well leave Blue Valley, since she can’t be Stargirl
anymore. At American Dream, Jordan has Gambler hack Barbara’s computer and finds out she’s onto him. At school, Courtney tells the others she’s not Starman’s daughter and Yolanda and Beth tell her that doesn’t matter, but she’s obviously lost faith in herself. Later, they attend Henry’s memorial where Brainwave speaks, pretending he’s broken up about his son’s “accidental” death. He telepathically taunts Courtney, which scares her enough to try the Staff again. Pat tells her the Staff chose her because it believed in her and she 
needs to believe in herself again for it to work. She asks Pat and Barbara to help her, taking strength from their faith in her, and that awakens the Staff’s power again. Justin feels it and comes down to the basement to witness Courtney’s triumph. Meanwhile, Jordan is pissed off at Barbara having figured out his secret, so he tells Brainwave to go ahead and wipe out her entire family, even Mike. And we see that there are only twelve hours forty-three minutes left before the Society’s big brainwashing plan goes into action.
This is a pretty good episode, giving us a closer look at Shining Knight and having Courtney finally meet her biological father. In the comics, Sam
Kurtis was a supervillain, a member of the Royal Flush Gang. I’m not sure if that’s the case here, but he’s definitely an asshole. (Pat decking him was great.) I think Courtney letting him have the locket symbolizes her letting go of her expectations (and delusions) about her father. I love the scene right afterwards when she hugs Pat. I think she’s finally accepting him as a father (or father figure), realizing that her mom was right back in the first episode when she said Pat 
is the only guy who’s consistently been there for both of them over the last decade. They’re going to have to let Mike in on the secret soon, but they’d better hurry up since time is running out. Brainwave is obviously responsible for Justin’s condition, so I hope the Staff can restore his memories so he can help fight the Society. But if the mass brainwashing works, he might end up losing his mind again, along with half the country.
Favourite Quotes:
- “For what?” Brainwave’s response when Jordan says he’s sorry. (Jordan was talking about Henry Jr.’s death, but Brainwave doesn’t seem to give a shit.)
- “I … know, Beth.” Pat’s response when Beth points out that the Seven Soldiers of Victory had eight members.
- “You’re lucky I’m busy.” Pat to Sam after punching him, letting him know he’d like to give him a few more.