Summer School Part 12 – Director: Greg Beeman/Writer: James Dale Robinson
This one starts in Courtney’s empty house … well, it’s not quite empty, as the dog has the run of the place and is taking advantage of that, hewing everything in sight. When Courtney and her family return (with Cindy and Dr. Mid-Nite) they find the dog cavorting with the Staff, which seems to be feeling better.
We flash back to four hours ago, with Beth and Jenny investigating the other
instance of dark energy that Jenny tracked with her ring to the school cafeteria (which is still smashed up from the fight with Eclipso). The others found Shade at the movie theater, so Beth and Cindy find only a blob of dark goo at the spot where Cindy was sucked into the Shadow Realm. Unknown to either of them, some of the dark residue is absorbed into Jenny’s ring. At home, Pat and Dr. McNider discuss Eclipso 
and how best to fight him. McNider points out that light is the best weapon against darkness and not just the light from the Staff, but the light of hope that burns within Courtney. Beth and Jenny show up and Beth isn’t happy about them working with Cindy, but Cindy points out that evil is relative, so they can trust her to help against Eclipso. Beth finally meets Dr. McNider in person and is so happy she can hardly contain herself.
McNider tells Beth to keep her goggles (since he has another pair) and offers to work with her to figure out where Eclipso is. Courtney realizes they
need everyone’s help, including Yolanda and Rick. Meanwhile, Mike is out trying to track down the Thunderbolt and when he finds an abandoned newspaper bag next to a giant cheeseburger, he realizes it’s Jakeem who’s controlling the T-Bolt now. Courtney tells Yolanda how the JSA killed Bruce Gordon, but instead of 
making her feel better, it just makes her feel worse and she refuses to help fight Eclipso. Courtney doesn’t know Cindy was watching her failed attempt to bring Yolanda back into the JSA fold. Pat goes to see Rick’s uncle Matt in hospital to ask him to drop the assault charges, but Matt is still a dick and tells Rick to go to hell. Pat tells Matt what an asshole he is, locking the door and pulling the blinds before letting him know that he can be an asshole too.
Mike finds Jakeem and lets him know he’s the one who wished the Thunderbolt into his possession. (The T-Bolt is currently off getting Jakeem some Chinese food, probably from China.) Courtney asks her mom about what Eclipso made her experience in the Shadowlands and Barbara tells her
she doesn’t blame Courtney for stifling her career. Cindy visits Yolanda to let her know she’s helping Courtney against Eclipso. Cindy tells Yolanda she’s the one who sent her sexy pics to the whole school, not Henry. Mike tells Jakeem about Eclipso, but he refuses to give the magic pen back, especially after hearing that Mike wished the T-Bolt was in “better hands”. Jakeem agrees to help the JSA, but he asks Mike to help him do the dishes before they go save the world. Rick is released from jail after Matt dropped the charges, so whatever intimidation 
tactics Pat used must’ve worked. Yolanda comes to see Courtney and tells her she’ll come back to help against Eclipso, but mostly just to protect everyone from Cindy. Cindy tells Courtney she has to embrace her own dark side to fight Eclipso’s evil. As everyone prepares for the big fight (and Cindy calls for some extra help), Beth and McNider run into Eclipso at the American Dream offices. Meanwhile, Jenny is having nightmares about someone killing the JSA … and that someone turns out to be Courtney.
This is a downtime episode, leading into the big fight in the season finale. It’s cool to see everyone cooperating to bring the JSA back together. It’s
interesting that Courtney needed Cindy’s help to get Yolanda back, but Cindy’s ploy worked; as she said to Courtney, she played Yolanda like a fiddle, but part of me wonders if her confession stemmed (at least partially) from some genuine remorse. I’m not sure who Cindy called for help, but I’m guessing it’s Artemis and her parents. I suppose it makes sense that Eclipso would want to corrupt Courtney, since she’s the one who always sees the best in everyone and never loses hope. Taking that from her would be sweet for a force of 
Darkness like Eclipso, but I don’t think he’ll be able to do it … at least, not permanently. It was cool to see Pat intimidating Matt, although I’d like to know exactly what he said (or did) to make him change his mind. I’m also looking forward to seeing what Jakeem can do with the Thunderbolt (besides creating gigantic junk food) and I hope Jenny can purge Eclipso’s influence from the ring. There were also some great humourous moments in this one, like Mike and Jakeem doing dishes, or the dog having a field day in the empty house.
Favourite Quotes:
- “All right, I admit it … taking the black diamond was a big oops on my part.” Cindy’s proving she’s the master of understatement.
- “I got some bad in me too.” Pat letting Matt know he pissed off the wrong guy.
- “Is that like the Boy Scouts, cause I’m really bad at tying knots.” Jakeem asking about the JSA.