Summer School Part 9 – Director: Andi Armaganian/Writers: Alfredo Septien, Turi Meyer
This one starts decades ago in Bruce Gordon’s palatial mansion. Despite his fame, Bruce’s life has been ruined by Eclipso and he regrets ever bringing the black diamond back from Diablo Island. When Bruce contemplates killing himself, Eclipso plays on Bruce’s guilt and tempts him, saying he can give Bruce the woman he loved (Mona). Bruce doesn’t want to hurt anyone (not even Mona’s current husband), but Eclipso says he won’t have to as long as he surrenders control of himself to Eclipso. Bruce mulls it over and then allows Eclipso to take over.
A huge storm is heading for Blue Valley, so everyone is heading home to wait it out, including Barbara. At home, Mike and Pat are gathering supplies but Courtney wants to go after Eclipso with whatever resources they have left. She tells Pat that she and Beth are looking for the heart of the storm
and will try to do something if they find it. Of course, Pat still hasn’t told Courtney everything about the JSA’s first battle with Eclipso and we get a flashback to Rebecca McNider’s funeral. The JSA (Starman, Wildcat, Hourman, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, and Flash, as well as Pat) attended. Dr. McNider’s wife blamed him for their daughter’s death and the JSA were at a loss as to how to fight Eclipso (and we see Starman was a dick back then too). In the present, Pat’s guilt over not being honest with Courtney causes him to hallucinate, seeing Rebecca’s 
coffin in the dining room. Pat’s not the only one seeing things, as Mike suddenly finds the house empty and freezing. Pat has another flashback to the day of Rebecca’s funeral, when he and Starman discussed what to do about Eclipso. Starman seems to have an idea, but Pat is disturbed when Starman leaves him to go talk with the Shade and vanishes soon after. On the way home, Barbara’s car conks out and she can’t get any cell reception. She gets worried as the storm suddenly looses a deluge around her.
We get another flashback, with Pat at JSA headquarters getting the Star Rocket Racer prepared. Starman shows up to tell him that Eclipso isn’t actually human, it’s a force of pure evil that’s possessed Bruce Gordon.
Starman says the only way to stop Eclipso is to kill the human host, but Pat reminds him that the JSA are supposed to save lives, not take them. Upstairs, the house is really freezing now and Cameron Mahkent shows up claiming he needed shelter from the storm. On the road, Barbara realizes she’s trapped in her car and freaks out when Icicle suddenly appears in the back seat and ice forms around the car. At home, Cameron starts acting weird and talking about how Mike’s mother abandoned him as a kid. Cameron mentions how Mike killed his father and 
Mike says that was an accident, but Cameron claims Icicle is still alive and is with Barbara right now. That does seem to be the case, with Icicle claiming he started the storm and blaming Barbara for not loving him the way he loved her. At home, the dog tries to attack Cameron and he kills it with his freezing power, attacking Mike afterwards. In the car, Shade appears (rather insubstantially) and tells Barbara that Icicle isn’t really there and that her car will start just fine if she disbelieves Eclipso’s illusion. He’s right and she heads for home.
At home, Courtney uses the Staff to cure Mike of Eclipso’s illusions and he’s happy to find out Cameron was never there (and the dog is still alive). In the basement, Pat finds blood on his hands and can’t wash it away. He has
another flashback to a meeting of the JSA where they voted on whether or not to kill Eclipso’s human host. Hourman, and Wildcat vote to kill the host, while Flash and Pat vote no. Pat assumes Starman will vote no as well, but he votes to kill Bruce Gordon, surprising Pat. Flash refuses to go with the JSA, but Pat does agree to accompany them to Gordon’s house in case they need his help. Pat has a vision of Bruce Gordon about to kill him, but Courtney shatters Eclipso’s illusion with the Staff. Pat knows the only way to assuage his guilt is to tell Courtney the truth and we get another flashback to Starman coming out of 
Bruce Gordon’s mansion with the black diamond. He tells Pat he was right about the JSA not killing, but it’s too late to change it now. We see some blood on Starman’s costume. Pat tells Courtney that mission kind of killed the JSA, with everyone just drifting apart until the Injustice Society mission. But even then they weren’t the same and couldn’t work together to defeat the Society. Naturally, Courtney’s pissed off but she feels even worse when Pat tells her Barbara already knows the truth. When she gets home, Courtney starts giving her shit and everyone starts arguing, as young Bruce Gordon watches from outside with a big smile on his face.
This is a pretty good episode that shows how evil Eclipso really is. His illusions are so convincing that I wasn’t sure if they were illusions until Shade showed up; Icicle and Cameron’s arguments seemed logical enough
to be true, which is why everyone (including the viewers) believed them. It was good to finally see how the JSA defeated Eclipso, although I had kinda suspected they must’ve killed Eclipso’s host. It was cool to see John Wesley Shipp playing the Jay Garrick version of Flash, since he played the Barry Allen version on TV back in the 90s. We also see how the vote broke down (and that Wildcat was kind of a dick to Pat too, just like Starman was), with Starman voting to kill and Pat agreeing to go with them against his better judgment. It seems like Eclipso 
caused dissension in the JSA which led to their break-up, and now he’s sowing dissension in Courtney’s family. But I think Pat telling the truth will take away a lot of his guilt, which means Eclipso won’t be able to screw with his head so easily. It was interesting to see how Bruce Gordon was corrupted too; the diamond kinda reminds me of the One Ring, tempting good people with power and preying on the darker aspects of human nature. I hope they can get Shade back to normal, since they’re going to need all the help they can get against Eclipso this time.
Noticeable Things:
- The magazine that published the story of Bruce Gordon’s trip to Diablo Island was My Greatest Adventure, which is the name of the classic DC comic where Eclipso appeared.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Pat, I love you, but when have we ever been prepared enough to make you happy?” Courtney ignoring Pat’s suggestion that they aren’t ready to take Eclipso on yet.