REVIEW: STARGIRL 1.1: "Pilot"
WELCOME!! I know it's been a crazy TV season, gang, what with some of our favorite shows cut short due to the COVID-19 concern, and has thrown a monkey wrench in the works for the forseeable future, and our Arrowverse shows will be on an extended hiatus until 2021 at the very least. Until then, we have been given the offering of a brand new heroine to join the ranks of our CW brethen: Stargirl! We will now head to the brand new Earth-2 for the adventures of our Star-Spangled Teen. So, without further ago, let's learn about our newest hero, the Justice Society of America, and this new world...
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We begin our new series with the origin of our main hero, Courtney Whitmore, who's a high school teen forced to move from her California roots to Blue Valley, Nebraska, due to the fact her mom (Amy Smart), gets a job back in her old home town. Her mother has married a man named Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson), whom we see at the beginning of the show is a man named Stripsey. Stripsey was the sidekick of the Sylvester Pemberton, the former Star-Spangled Kid, now known as Starman (Joel McHale).
Stripsey is racing to the HQ of the Justice Society of America, to assist, as they are under attack from their arch-nemises, the Injustice Society, led by Brainwave. Stripsey arrives, and sees several members down, including Wildcat and Sandman, plus we see Flash's winged helmet. Stripsey goes inside the building, and is almost attacked himself, when Starman arrives, and holds back the villains. It's not enough, though , as he's wounded. He and Stripsey escape, and the manage to get away from the Injustice Society. Unfortunately, Starman is mortally wounded, and tells Dugan to hold onto the staff until the one worthy of it comes along...though that's not Dugan. Dugan promises, and Starman dies.
We skip to 10 years later (with the 10 years prior being the "Age of Heroes"), and Dugan, now married to Whitmore's (Brec Bassinger) mother, and her brother Mike, as they make the trek to Blue Valley (BTW - LOVE the name of the moving company: "Action Movers" after Action Comics). There, Whitmore encounters the not-so-nice "queen bee" of the school, and also the social misfits, who she sits at the cafeteria table with, but not much for conversation. As they're picked on by the head high-school jock, Courtney stands her ground, only to get in trouble with the principal. Pat does what he can to make a connection with Courtney, but she rebuffs him at every chance, not accepting him has her stepfather. She recalls the past when she was awaiting her actual dad at Christmas time with a present for him, only for him to never show. Depressed and upset at having to relocate, and not having any gymnastics team to join...and her bad day at school, Courtney goes into the basement, and comes across an amazing discovery.
Courtney accidently knocks over a box of Pat's, and rummages through it, and finds a picture of the family, but then she notices a picture BEHIND it: The Justice Society of America. While looking at Dugan's box of JSA secrets, this long box Dugan had been very careful with begins to move. Courtney opens it to discover the Cosmic Staff that belonged to Starman. Only someone worthy would be able to use the power of it, and it activates for Courtney. She's amazed at what it is, and eventually tests it out. She hides her discovery from her mother and Pat for the time being, and then the staff begins to "talk" to her, and she takes it out for a test spin, discovering she can fly with it, or "ride" on it. However, she doesn't have complete control of it, as it still doesn't quite obey her commands.
She later stumbles across a drive-in, where the same high school jock and his buddies are disrupting everyone's evening, so she disguises herself, and only aims to deflate the jock's tires on his car to teach him a lession. However, she's caught by the jock and his buddies, and they attack. They didn't anticipate---and neither did Courtney---that the staff would attack back, and she was able to defeat them with it. Then, for good measure, the staff unleased an energy beam, and destroyed the jock's car. Courtney then bails, leaving the young man to ponder the consequences of having his father's car destroyed.
She returns home, and her and Pat have a talk about the staff, and the fact that he used to be Stripsey. She inquires about Starman, and who he is, and she makes this connection that Pemberton was her real father. Pat denies it, trying to hide much of the truth from her, and telling her about the staff, and the dangers of it. Pat realizes that the staff chose HER, and she promised to keep HIS secret, if HE promised to keep HERS. She also inquires about her dad to her Mom, and her mother simply says that her "hero" dad was nothing more than a deadbeat father who couldn't be there for her, but Pat has ALWAYS been there for her.
The jock kid returns home to his father, and tells him of the incident at the drive-in. The father is REAL curious about the staff that shot "lasers" according to the kid. the kid said he didn't know who the person holding the staff was, but he just knew it shot lasers. When the kid is sent away by his dad, he opens up a secret room in his library, and it turns out, it's Brainwave.
The staff once again goes active, and wants Courtney to take it out again. It ends up pointing her in the direction of a tire store, where she's eventually attacked by Brainwave. He's very interested to know just HOW she got the staff, and he wants it. She manages to resist just enough, but he tosses her around, and she tries to avoid him. She then uses the staff and blasts him. However, in the process, she sets the tires in the warehouse on fire, and begins to make her mistake, only to bump into this giant robot. The robot is operated by Pat, who came to Courtney's rescue.
For a first episode, it's pretty straightforward, and not only gives us a glimpse into Earth-2's "Age of Heroes", but we see the fall of the original Justice Society. We got some nice easter eggs in the form of Flash's helmet (now, not sure WHO is playing Jay Garrick in this series, but we'll find out), and the Sandman. Joel McHale looked good as Starman, and Wilson's Pat Dugan is a very honorable "aw, shucks" kind of a guy. We see that the Justice Society fell on Christmas Eve, around the same time Courtney's father was SUPPOSED to be home, but never showed. We learn from her mother that her "hero" father was never around, and that Pat has been the best thing to a father the kids have had. It also telegraphs the future members of the New Justice Society when we meet the misfit kids Courtney's forced to sit with at the cafeteria. We get what will probably be her school nemesis in the catty girl, and then there's Brainwave's son, who will more than likely give trouble to Courtney throughout the first season.
We also got a good look at the Injustice Society, who a couple have taken up residence in Blue Valley. We have Brainwave, and, of course, the gym owner who's across the street from Dugan's auto shop. He'll be the future Sportsmaster (book it, trust me, I KNOW this stuff!). But we're getting the premise set for the new team to emerge. Especially since Courtney is now the chosen one for the Cosmic Staff, and Dugan's history with the Justice Society will motivate her to be the hero much like her father (if it i, indeed, the late Sylvester Pemberton, though he used a different name back in the day). I also enjoy the fact that the location of the series takes place in Blue Valley, Nebraska...which, if you know your comics lore--is Wally West's hometown.
While this series will probably have its share of drama, it seems as though it's going to become much more lighthearted, and not as heavy handed as some of it's other Arrowverse contemporaries. While this episode didn't explode onto the scene, it's got a really nice set up, and a good vibe going for it. Of course, I'll be invested in it, and we'll see how Courtney grows into her role as Stargirl.
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That's it for this premiere episode of our Star-Spangled heroine. What did YOU think? Subscribe and leave me a comment below!
Until next time: Keep Looking to the Stars!
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