Summer School Part 6 – Director: Walter Carlos Garcia/Writer: Paula Sevenbergen
This one starts with Yolanda at work in the diner, having to deal with a problem customer. Isaac Bowin comes in and pisses Yolanda off by mentioning the naked photos of her that Cindy circulated. Before stalking out, Isaac also says he knows that Yolanda and her friends are responsible for his mother’s death.
Beth is at the American Dream offices (getting freaked out by a portrait of Brainwave) to see her dad. She tries to push him into working things out
between himself and Beth’s mom, but he just puts her off, saying they’ll all discuss it later … which doesn’t really make her feel any better. Outside, Beth calls Rick for support but Artemis Crock shows up and starts tossing baseballs at her. Artemis is pissed off about what’s happened to her parents and blames Beth (and the rest of the JSA). At school, Courtney and Pat look through the trashed art room for clues and find a painting of Diablo Island done while Paul Deisinger was under Eclipso’s influence last episode. Cameron Mahkent drops in to look at the mess and 
when Pat finds a painting of Cindy holding the black diamond, Cameron tells them he saw Cindy there yesterday. At the scrapyard, Mike tells Zeek he’s looking for a project to work on with Pat and Zeek suggests he build something for the STRIPE robot, an idea Mike loves. Cindy shows up and tells Mike she needs him as bait for the JSA. At the garage, Isaac and Artemis attack Pat and kick the shit out of him, then trash the STRIPE robot.
At the hospital, Barbara tells Courtney Pat has a bad concussion but should
be okay. They’re both worried because Mike is missing. At the garage, Yolanda, Rick, and Beth examine the wrecked robot as they compare notes and realize Cindy has recruited the Injustice Society’s kids to come after them. At the hospital, Courtney tells her mom about Cindy and Eclipso and gets a call from Cindy, letting her know she has Mike. Cindy tells Courtney she wants to kill her friends and family 
before taking her out and challenges her to come to the school cafeteria. Courtney isn’t sure if she can handle things without Pat, but Barbara gives her a pep talk to restore her confidence. Eclipso warns Cindy to save Stargirl for last, but Cindy is pretty pissed off at Courtney, so she might not listen. Barbara calls Shade and when he appears in the hospital room, she tells him about Cindy having the black diamond.
The JSA show up at the school cafeteria, where they’re attacked by Cindy, Isaac, and Artemis. While Rick and Artemis pound each other, Wildcat takes on Isaac, and Courtney fights Cindy again. Beth uses the goggles to find
Mike tied up in an office. After almost getting drowned in a toilet (!), Rick pounds Artemis and Courtney does pretty well against Cindy, even gaining herself some time to help Yolanda against Isaac. The JSA regroup and Cindy pulls out the black diamond to end the fight for good, but Shade shows up to confront her. Eclipso takes over Cindy’s body and attacks Shade, so Courtney jumps in to help. But when her 
Staff touches the diamond, the gem absorbs the light and shatters, causing an actual eclipse in the sky. Eclipso manifests in his true monstrous form and when Cindy attacks him, he opens a hole in the floor that she sinks into. Courtney tries to save her, but Cindy is pulled in and disappears. Eclipso kills Isaac and absorbs his soul, so Artemis takes off. Shade attacks Eclipso, but he says Shade’s powers come from the same place as his own and he makes Shade vanish. When Courtney tries to use the Staff on him, Eclipso absorbs its light (which does seem to hurt him some) before
taking off. We see Shade appear at his house briefly, but he can’t stay solid for long and disappears again. The eclipse ends, but Pat warns that Eclipso will run wild and corrupt people to gain power. Mike says he needs his own version of STRIPE to help the JSA. Downtown, we see Eclipso skulking through the alleys and transforming into he innocent-looking kid who lured Rebecca McNider to her death decades ago.
This is a really good episode that not only gives us the first fight between 
the new JSA and Injustice Society, but their first confrontation with Eclipso, who used them and Cindy to escape the gem and manifest in the real world. Cindy’s fate was pretty intense, but I’m thinking she’s not gone for good and may pop up to help defeat Eclipso in the end. I thought it was cool that Courtney tried to save her, considering Cindy was trying to kill her a few minutes earlier. I don’t believe Shade is gone for good either, but he did look to be in pretty bad shape. The revelation that Shade’s darkness has something to do with Eclipso (maybe
they both draw power from the Shadow Dimension?) was interesting and maybe that’s the key to beating him. (Maybe Dr. Mid-Nite will take a hand, since he’s trapped in the Shadow Dimension.) The fight scenes were great, especially the JSA/ISA fight which featured some cool continuity shots matching various characters in similar poses from one scene to another.
Favourite Quotes:
- “And honey? Kick that girl’s ass.” Barbara’s motherly advice to Courtney about Cindy.
- “And you call us losers?” Rick’s reaction on first seeing the new Injustice Society.