Summer School Part 13 – Director: Gregory Beeman/Writer: Geoff Johns
This one continues directly from last episode, with Beth and Dr. McNider running into Eclipso at the American Dream offices. Eclipso gloats about using Courtney’s inner darkness to feed him and help him merge the Shadowlands with Earth’s dimension so he can take over everything. Beth is distracted when Eclipso shows her a tableau of her parents being told off by an illusory version of Beth herself, which Eclipso says will kill
them with sadness and shame. Jenny tells Barbara about her nightmare of Courtney turning evil, but it’s too late to warn Courtney since she’s already downtown with Pat, Yolanda, and Cindy. Meanwhile, Rick is trying to fix the broken hourglass but isn’t making much progress, which pisses him off. Zeek, Mike, and Jakeem are checking out the STRIPE robot, which needs a rare part to get it going again. At the American Dream offices, Courtney and the others find Eclipso 
(in the form of young Bruce Gordon). They go after him, but he creates duplicates to fight for him: Yolanda faces a Ted Grant Wildcat simulacrum, Cindy squares off with the younger version of herself that killed her mom, and Pat mixes it up with himself as Stripesy. Courtney tries to blast Eclipso with her Staff and finally gets him with a little help from Beth. That banishes the illusions and they go after Eclipso directly, Courtney and Cindy teaming up to take him on until he throws them outside.
At the garage, Rick tries the hourglass again but it still doesn’t work, so he heads out anyway. Mike realizes Pat put him in charge of fixing STRIPE to keep him out of the fight. The Thunderbolt finally shows up (with a lot of
Chinese food) and Mike gets an idea. He wishes for the missing part for STRIPE and takes the robot downtown to fight Eclipso, using Zeek’s chainsaw and flamethrower mods to attack. Jakeem and the Thunderbolt show up to help, but Eclipso uses the T-Bolt to short out the STRIPE armour. Before Eclipso can kill Jakeem, Rick shows up with Solomon Grundy, who starts pounding Eclipso. Unfortunately, Eclipso is too powerful and he blows a hole right through Grundy, killing him. At home, Barbara and Jenny are ready to head 
downtown when they get a surprise visitor. Downtown, Eclipso tortures Pat to force Courtney to admit she hates him, which makes her vulnerable to Eclipso’s power and he takes over her body. Courtney looks like she did in Jenny’s nightmare and Eclipso now has power over darkness and light (which is reflected in the Staff when it changes to a bluish light to show Courtney’s new darkness).
At American Dream, Shade is reconstituted by Eclipso’s attempted merging of the Shadowlands with Earth and he saves Beth’s parents by absorbing the
dark energy that makes up their illusion. Beth tells her parents the truth about being the new Dr. Mid-Nite before she and McNider suit up to go join the fight. Cindy is ready to kill Courtney to stop Eclipso, but Yolanda says they have to do it without killing. Eclipso knocks them around until Starman shows up to fight him for control of the Staff. (Yeah, he was the surprise visitor at Courtney’s place.) As everyone gathers in the town square, Starman fights Eclipso for control of the Staff and tells Courtney to throw off his influence. Eclipso tries to 
convince her she’s unloved, but when she remembers all the love she feels from her friends and family, she pushes Eclipso out of her body. Everyone (including Sportsmaster, Tigress, and Artemis, who Cindy called for help last episode) confront Eclipso in his true form and Jakeem wishes he was toast, so the Thunderbolt (with help from Courtney and Jenny) literally turns him into a piece of toast.
The rest of the episode is basically denouement. Courtney tells Pat her faith in people has been renewed, since the fight against Eclipso showed that everyone has good inside them as well as bad. Sylvester says he’s not there
to reclaim the Staff, but does offer to teach Courtney how to use it more effectively. Beth finds Dr. McNider’s wife, who was apparently pregnant when he disappeared, so he has ten-year old son he’s never met. The Crocks buy the house next door and move in. Rick buries Grundy, but Shade (who’s decided to stay in Blue Valley) tells him that Grundy has a habit of regenerating if he’s buried in the right place. Yolanda rejoins the JSA, Jenny heads for Milwaukee to look for her brother, and Cindy tells Yolanda she’s sticking around Blue Valley and wants to join the JSA. Beth’s parents accept her being the new Dr. Mid-Nite, 
but they go overboard with suggestions on how she should conduct herself as a superhero (and the crisis has apparently brought them closer together, so the divorce isn’t happening after all). Mike and Jakeem discuss forming a team of their own. Cameron’s grandparents finally reveal their powers (and his legacy) to him. We get a sneak preview of next season with Mr. Bones at the Helix Institute deciding to visit Blue Valley after hearing about all the heroes and villains there.
This is a really good episode and a great way to wrap up the season-long Eclipso storyline. The overall theme seems to be that everyone does have some darkness in them (as Eclipso said), but everyone has some light too
and choosing to embrace that light is what made it possible to defeat him. It was cool to see Courtney and Cindy fighting side-by-side and others like the Crocks, Grundy, and Shade joining forces to get rid of an evil entity like Eclipso. Next season is called Frenemies and they’ve already set things up with Cindy wanting to join the JSA, the Crocks moving in next door, and Shade deciding to hang around. I’m not sure who the main villain will be next season, but it could be either Cameron as a new Icicle, or Mr. Bones. In the comics, Bones and Helix fought Infinity Inc. but Bones ended up joining them, so maybe he’ll turn 
out to be a Frenemy too. (Bones also killed Sylvester in the comics, so let’s hope the show doesn’t mirror that aspect of the original story.) Speaking of Sylvester, there’s no explanation as to why he’s still alive (Pat says he promised to fill them in later), but it looks like he’s moving in to tutor Courtney in the use of the Staff, which may cause some friction between him and Pat since Sylvester seems to think being a superhero is more important than going to school. Beth’s parents promise to be quite annoying with all their ideas for her superhero persona, although thee was a cool joke about them wanting her to adopt a yellow and black costume (which the Beth Chapel Dr. Midnight did have in the comics).
Favourite Quotes:
- “Yeah, Rick really needs to learn how to meditate.” Mike upon hearing Rick rage because he can’t fix the hourglass.
- “What up, bitch?” Mike on first attacking Eclipso with the STRIPE armour.
- “Oh Charles, you know I’ve always had a … flair for the dramatic.” Shade explaining his touching death scene in the movie theatre.