Summer School Part 3 – Director: Lea Thompson/Writers: Turi Meyer, Alfredo Septien
This one stars eleven years ago on Christmas Eve, the night the JSA were wiped out by the Injustice Society. This time we see Pat and Johnny Thunder, both of whom were left behind at JSA headquarters. Johnny is bummed because the JSA think he’s a big loser even though the Thunderbolt makes him more powerful than all of them. Pat gives Johnny
the old speech about sidekicks being important and tries to cheer him up with some eggnog, but Wildcat shows up to get Johnny. They need the T-bolt’s power to fight Solomon Grundy, but Wildcat says that Starman specifically ordered Pat to be left behind (again). Johnny tells Pat they’ll have some eggnog when he gets back, but we all know that never happened.
In the present, we see Mike on his paper route, running into some bullies who have been shaking him down for the money he’s making. When he mouths off, they beat the shit out of him. At home, Pat, Courtney, and Barbara are discussing how best to handle the Shade and they’re so engrossed in the conversation that none of them notices how beat up Mike 
looks. He gets a call from his boss, who wants to add a customer to his route. Mike doesn’t have a pen, so he borrows a pink one from Courtney’s room … which just happens to be the pen that holds the Thunderbolt. The next day, Mike notices that the words “so cool” seem to pop up everywhere along his route: steet signs, bystanders’ clothes, even the front page of the newspapers he’s delivering. When he finally says the words out loud, he’s shocked to see the Thunderbolt emerge from the pen.
The Thunderbolt explains who he is and says that since Mike freed him
from the pen, he can wish for anything he wants. Mike soon learns that there are strict rules governing wishes, the most important of which is to be specific. At the garage, Pat tells the JSA about Shade and Beth gets pissed off when she finds out he killed Dr. Mid-Nite. Rick wonders how they can fight someone who turns into shadow and Pat (reluctantly) admits that the Cosmic Staff might work 
on him, which makes Courtney very happy. Downtown, Barbara is going through William Zarick’s stuff when Shade appears, still posing as antiques dealer Richard Swift. Barbara is freaked out to be alone with him (especially since her phone won’t work), but he’s more interested in finding the Eclipso stone. He’s rather disappointed when he finds the empty box the gem used to be in and when Barbara tries to stop him from taking it, he uses his darkness powers to escape (which freaks her out even more).
At summer school, Yolanda is still having headaches and she tells Courtney she doesn’t want to kill anyone else. They’re so busy talking that they don’t realize Isaac Bowin overheard them mention Brainwave. Elsewhere, Mike
finds the bullies threatening a Girl Scout and tries to stop them with the Thunderbolt. Unfortunately, he wasn’t specific enough and the bullies end up being surrounded by stop signs until they take off. Courtney and Yolanda see what happened and meet the Thunderbolt. At the garage, Pat isn’t happy that Courtney didn’t tell him she took the pen and warns them that the Thunderbolt is bad news. He tries to take the pen back, but the T-bolt won’t let him. Pat talks to the Thunderbolt alone and finds out that Mike is the perfect master because he 
feels completely and utterly alone. Mike asks Courtney to stand up for him, so she and the others beg Pat to let Mike join the JSA. Pat is reluctant, but says Mike and the Thunderbolt can help them find Shade. Since specificity is so important, they take a long time to get the wording of the wish exactly right. It works and they find out Shade is in William Zarick’s old house, but Mike isn’t happy to find out he won’t be going with the others to confront the villain. Pat tells him to stay behind and guard the garage, the irony apparently lost on him.
After letting Barbara know what they’re planning, Pat and the JSA head for Zarick’s house. Naturally, Mike isn’t content to stay behind and starts
working on his own wish so he can help them fight Shade. At Zarick’s place, Shade seems to be expecting them since he has the table set for tea. He tries to be civil but the JSA don’t trust him, especially Beth, who blames him for Dr. Mid-Nite’s death. Pat convinces them to play along, but Shade isn’t very forthcoming about why he’s in Blue Valley. He denies wanting anything to do with the Injustice Society, but tells Courtney it’s better if they don’t know his true purpose. Before they can learn more, Mike bursts in and attacks Shade with the 
Thunderbolt, who is quickly overwhelmed by Shade’s darkness. That starts a big fight, but Shade’s shadow powers easily outclass his opponents, only faltering when trying to grasp the Cosmic Staff. He disappears into the darkness after warning them again to stay out of his way. Mike feels bad for fucking things up and Yolanda tries to comfort him. She asks if he feels guilty for killing Icicle, but Mike admits the whole thing was an accident, which doesn’t help Yolanda process her own guilt too well. Courtney defends Mike to their parents but Mike wishes the T-bolt was in better hands, which makes the pen disappear. We see it reappear in Jakeem Williams’s room. Jakeem is Jenny
Williams’s brother and she treats him like shit, which probably fits with what the T-bolt said about being drawn to people who feel completely alone. Barbara tells Pat she figured out what was missing from Zarick’s stash and he realizes it’s the Eclipso diamond. At the garage, Beth opens up to Rick about her parents getting divorced and she’s thrilled when the McNider AI starts working again. But it conks out right away, just after warning her that Eclipso is coming. On top of the clock tower, Shade contemplates the empty jewellery box and laments the fact that Eclipso will probably kill the new JSA.
This is a good episode that finally gives us the confrontation between Shade 
and the new Justice Society, although they don’t do too well against his powers. The story is mainly about Mike and his feelings of isolation, which are alleviated (temporarily) when he finds the Thunderbolt. Mike obviously just wants to be part of the team, something Pat certainly understands (and finally seems to get at the end of the episode). In the comics, Jakeem is the master of the T-bolt and it looks like that’s happening here too. If anything, Jakeem is even more alone than Mike, since Mike at least has the support of his family, something distinctly lacking for Jakeem. Of course, if Jakeem ends up
joining the JSA, that might make Mike feel even worse, which could make him easy prey for Cindy and Eclipso. It’s interesting that Shade seems to want to stop Eclipso, but I’m not sure why he doesn’t just tell the JSA why he’s there. Maybe he’s afraid of getting them killed and figures they’re safer not being involved.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Mom, you’re embarrassing yourself. Let the professionals deal with it, okay?” Courtney advice to Barbara when she tries to suggest improvements to the STRIPE armour.
- “Turns out if you actually read the book, history’s not that hard.” Courtney realizing the key to academic success.
- “If there’s one thing worse than a man who wants to rule the world, it’s a man who wants to save it.” Shade decrying Icicle’s grand plan to take over the country.