Frenemies Chapter 13: The Reckoning – Director: Walter Carlos Garcia/Writer: Geoff Johns
This one starts nine months ago, with Icicle and Dragon King digging up Sylvester and bringing him back to life. Icicle says he wants to use Sylvester as his mouthpiece, since he has so much credibility as a superhero … he might even get elected President. Naturally, Sylvester has no interest in helping his enemies, but he’s not
given much of a choice. They’re going to put Ultra-Humanite’s brain in his body and Dragon King’s brain in Ultra-Humanite’s giant ape body, which means Sylvester’s brain will no longer be needed. As the operation begins, Sylvester’s last thoughts are of Pat, which is ironic since in the present Ultra-Humanite (in Sylvester’s body) has just buried Pat alive, as we saw last episode.
At home, the JSA figures out that Sylvester has been sabotaging them, trying to push them apart and weaken the team. They decide they need to find Pat before anything else. Meanwhile, Icicle tells Cameron that Pat was killed by Ultra-Humanite and that he’ll need Cameron’s help to convince the JSA to work with him against the monster. Cameron calls Courtney and tells her Pat’s at the junkyard so Icicle and his family can meet the JSA there. But Icicle hasn’t reckoned on Pat’s stubbornness and we see Pat literally climbing out of the shallow grave where “Sylvester” buried him. While fleeing Ultra-Humanite (who has
Dragon King’s brain), Cindy, Mike, and Jakeem end up at the tire factory. At the junkyard, the JSA meet with Icicle, his parents, Cameron, and “Sylvester”, who tell them Pat was killed by Ultra-Humanite. Before they can digest that, Pat shows up in the STRIPE armour to let them know Sylvester is really Ultra-Humanite.
“Sylvester” attacks Pat while Lilly prepares to waste the rest of the JSA. Icicle puts the freeze on Courtney and Rick squares off with Cameron (again), while Beth and Sofus both decide not to fight each other, which pisses Lilly off enough that she’s ready to kill her husband. But Yolanda distracts her and she brings a car down on top of her own head, crushing herself. At the tire factory, Cindy takes on her father in his ape body and gets her ass kicked. Jakeem makes a wish from the heart to save her and it works, channelling the Thunderbolt power through himself
to turn giant ape Ultra-Humanite into a stuffed toy gorilla. At the junkyard, Courtney stops Cameron from killing Rick and Barbara shows up to put a crossbow bolt in Icicle’s shoulder. When Icicle starts ranting like a supervillain, Cameron realizes who his father really is and switches sides.
As “Sylvester” prepares to finish Pat off, Barbara convinces Courtney that 
she’s worthy to wield the Staff and that it only went to the fake Sylvester because Courtney believed it should. Courtney reclaims the Staff just in time to save Pat, giving Pat the chance to beat the shit out of “Sylvester” himself, finishing him by smashing his head in with a rock. Courtney helps Cameron against his father and Icicle uses his ability to alter his form to flee into the upper atmosphere. After the fight, Cameron feels so guilty over lying to Courtney and siding with his father, he takes off with Sofus, telling Courtney he can’t
see her anymore. Later at home, Courtney puts the Staff back in its original crate and Pat tells Courtney that he got out of the grave by using some old advice from Sylvester about slipping out of restraints. Rick apologizes to the Chapels and asks them to examine the hourglass, and Beth says she’s cool with them being involved in her superhero career.
We get a series of vignettes showing the changes in the lives of the JSA and their allies. Dr. Mid-Nite tells Pat and Courtney that Sylvester’s body is fine 
but Ultra-Humanite’s brain is damaged beyond repair. Even though Ultra-Humanite claimed Sylvester’s brain was destroyed, Pat decides to keep Sylvester’s body on life support just in case the villains preserved his brain (and we see that they did, with the brain languishing in a jar in a lab somewhere). Pat and Barbara take Mike to meet his birth mom, Maggie; it goes well, but he still thinks of Barbara as his real mom. Courtney finds Gambler’s daughter Becky and gives her the letter he wrote, letting her know he really did care about her. Out in the woods, Rick visits Solomon Grundy’s “grave” and is happy when Grundy digs his way out. Everyone gathers at Courtney’s place for dinner (which
inspires Yolanda to reach out to her mother and tell her the truth) and Courtney runs into Cameron on her way home (and ends up hugging him, so I guess things aren’t too bad between them). We jump to Copenhagen three months later, where Icicle has been hiding out. He’s confronted by Artemis (who was supposed to help with the junkyard fight but never showed up) and she avenges her parents by using a special chemical to kill Icicle.
We get another time jump to ten years in the future, with Shade leading a tour group through the JSA Museum. He tells them about the JSA’s triumphs 
and mentions a bunch of names (Starwoman, Wildcat, Jade, Obsidian, Dragon Queen, STRIPE 2.0 (who I assume is Mike), Jakeem Thunder, Icicle, Artemis, Sand, Damage, Hourman, Dr. Midnight, and even Grundy), hinting that there may be a new generation of to take over from them. (And for all the Rick/Beth shippers out there, we find out that they’re getting married.) He’s interrupted when Flash shows up to tell him he’s needed to help the JSA on their layest adventure …
This is the final episode of the series and it goes out with a bang. We get a great fight with the villains and resolutions to all the plot threads. I’m wondering if they originally were planning on having another season? That would explain some of the set-up stuff, like Sylvester’s brain the jar,
Grundy’s resurrection, meeting Becky, and the mention of Sandman’s nephew a couple of episodes back. Maybe the coda with Shade was added on after they found out they weren’t getting renewed, just to give us some closure. Shade mentions the JSA restoring Sylvester’s brain to his body and rescuing the Seven Soldiers of Victory from Nebula Man, so maybe those were stories planned for 
Season 4, as well as introducing Damage and Sand. Whatever the plan was, the show is finished now which is too bad because I really liked it and would have loved to see more. But as the message at the end said, it’s never really the end …maybe we’ll get a reunion show or something one of these days. Next week I’ll be sharing my final thoughts on Stargirl and announcing the next show I’m reviewing. I hope you’ll join me.
Favourite Quotes:
- “For you my queen, from your not-so-secret admirer … it’s Jakeem, it’s from Jakeem.” Thunderbolt’s words to Cindy after changing Ultra-Humanite into a stuffed gorilla toy.
- “I didn’t do it.” Yolanda after Lilly is crushed by the falling car.
- “Are they ever?” Shade’s question when Flash says their adventures aren’t over yet.