STARGIRL - SEASON 1.4

REVIEW:  STARGIRL - SEASON 1.4:  "Wildcat"

The Icicle has made his presence VERY much known.  After finding out about the Cosmic Staff having a new owner, Stargirl, he's determined to put an end to her before she gets bold enough to stop him.  He scored the first victory against her by killing off a young man she befriended after their battle.  It also turns out, it was a two-fer:  the young boy was the son of one of his teammates, The Wizard, who had not done his part to help Brainwave in stopping Stargirl.  To drive his point home even moreso, he ended up killing his own teammate, when the Wizard discovered that he did it on purpose.  Meanwhile, Pat showed Courtney the HQ of the Justice Society of America, talking to her about how they died, and that he and her cannot stop the Injustice Society on their own, and that it's time to call it a day.  Courtney, however, is undeterred, and heists the equipment of the JSA, and goes to recruit a new JSA...

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We're finally getting the new JSA together!  Courtney recruits her new teammate on this episode, as Yolanda Montez becomes the new Wildcat.  This episode also dove deep into Yolanda's backstory, giving us the reason she's been ostracized by not only those at school, but by her own family as well.  That's a painful thing for me--seeing a child cast out or treated terribly by their own parents because said child has brought "shame" to them.  The lack of support for Yolanda by her own parents is just a sore spot for me, because I personally feel that NO child should EVER be "cast out" by their own family...regardless of transgression.  But I guess in HER family, honor matters more than love.  But, it's now become a driving force to not only recieve redemption in HER eyes, but to do some good in the world.

The episode began with a little background on Yolanda, as we see that she WAS, at one time, one of the nicest, smartest, and well over gal with the kids in school.  She was running for Class President, and was making the rounds, getting compliments from teachers, and from fellow students, and was dating Henry King, Jr, which raised the ire of the school mean girl:  Cindy Burman.  We later on see Yolanda at home texting Henry, who wants her to send a naughty pic of herself, which she does.  We see the next day that Henry's showing off the pic to his buddies, and then Cindy comes up, snatches his phone, sees the pic, and he snatches it back before she can do anything with it.  Later on, we have the class debates, and Cindy, in her act of cruelty, sends the picture of Yolanda shirtless and in her bra out to the student body, which causes her to leave the gym, but also become osctrasized by her family and the school itself.

We next head to the Dugan household, where Pat's working breakfast, and Barbara leaves for work.  Courtney's still discouraged from Pat ending their heroic ventures to assemble a new JSA.  She had been overlooking her booty from JSA HQ earlier, and she still pressures Pat into looking for the other members of the ISA, but he says he's working on it, and she doesn't want to be kept out of the loop.

Courtney sees Henry bump into Yolanda, who tells him to watch it, and he glares at her as he passes by.  Cindy, now Henry's girlfriend, goes up to Yolanda to start trouble and bully her, and Courtney comes to her defense.  Cindy then threatens Courtney, and she takes off.  Yolanda wants Courtney to stop trying to make friends with her, but Courtney is persistent.  She then sees Yolanda working the punching bag in the gym...as she's adept at boxing it seems.  Courtney convinces her to come to her house, and she wants to show her something.  Yolanda reluctantly agrees, and  Courtney gives her the address to her house, since Yolanda can have no phone.  Yolanda never shows up because she's forbidden to and permanently grounded by her parents.  She's upset, as is her brother, who is bothered by the fact that she's shut down by her parents. 

Pat is at his garage, when Denise Zarick shows up, needing some work on her vehicle.  Pat give his condolences to her for the loss of her son and husband.  She said she's leaving town, as he notices her black cat in the car, as well as  a magician's hat.  She leaves her car there for him to work on, while she conducts some final business.  It raises Pat's suspicions.

Jordan Mahkent heds into ISA headquarters and meets up with Dr. Ito, the Dragon King.  They discuss happenings, and the Dragon King discusses how he's working with his daughter , as she wants to follow in his footsteps.  Jordan discusses that he's working on his new project:  New America, and he wants Ito's help.  Ito volunteers, and also wants the Wizard's body, so that he can conduct his sick experiments on.  They also discuss the growing situation with Stargirl in town, and looking to take down the ISA.  

Eventually, Yolanda and Courtney meet up, and after Yolanda tells her story, Courtney says she needs her help in taking down the ISA.  Yolanda has no idea what she's talking about, and thinks that Court is crazy.  Courtney tells her that she blew up Henry's car, and will show her how.  Later on, Courtney tells her about the Cosmic Staff, and shows her the Wildcat outfit and mask.  Yolanda reluctantly tries it on, and at first it doesn't fit, until she puts on the cowl, and then it transforms and it fits her.  They have Yolanda try out the suit, but she feels she's not ready for this kind of thing.  They then notice Henry out late, and Courtney tells her that his father is the villain Brainwave.  They then surmise that he's going to the hospital to see his dad.  So, they follow, and get to the hospital.  Courtney goes to create a distraction, while Wildcat scales the building and into Dr. King's room.  She sees Henry there, upset that his father is hurt.  Yolanda wants to slice him to bits, but then she doesn't.  She then stays in hiding as he leaves.  Her and Stargirl stay in communication, and need to find out who else has been to see him.  The Staff manages to help Courtney make a distraction to draw the nurse away from the nurse's station, and Yolanda checks the visitor's log.  She then sneaks back into the room, and that's when Prinicpal Bowin shows up.  She whips out her violin, and plays a little bit to see if it would wake Brainwave up, but it doesn't.  She then packs in it and leaves, and Wildcat escapes out the window where Stargirl is, and they take off.  Unbeknownst to them, Beth Chapel, who'd been there to visit her mom (and has no other real friends), noticed Stargirl and Wildcat taking off from the hospital.

They head back to Courtney's, and they wonder WHY Principal Bowin didn't log into the visitior's log.  Courtney wants to follow up, but Yolanda says she can't.  She's not ready for this kind of thing, and she gives the suit back to Courtney.  She feels needs to work on herself  before she can go forward with anything else, and that means standing up to her parents.

Yolanda heads home, and she asks her parents for forgiveness, and feels she's been punished enough.  But neither of her parents relent, and she is told that she brought shame to her family, and that was that.  She goes upstairs, followed by her brother, STILL visibly upset over the treatment of his sister.  She then sits up in her room, and notices the Wildcat suit, with a note from Courtney that says "I can't do this WITHOUT you!"  We later see Courtney in her room, when there's a tap at her bedroom window.  It's Yolanda in her Wildcat gear, smiling and ready to go.

We see that Denise had returned to collect her vehicle earlier, and warned Pat to get out of Blue Valley, and trust NO ONE.  She KNOWS that her husband didn't die of a heart attack, and she's getting out before more trouble happens.  She lost everything, and thus no reason to stay.  It makes Pat VERY curious.  Later on, as he goes to the junkyard to get some parts, he stumbles upon Denise's cat, and then her vehicle, which had been involved in a wreck...with the magician's hat in the front seat.  Pat is now aware that something bad has happened to Denise.  

This was a good episode that provides the backstory for Yolanda Montez, and how we got to her point in her life where she's now an outsider at school, and we find out that her family has all but disowned her, except her brother.  She has NO ONE to lean on all this time...until she met Courtney.  Courtney hasn't been swayed by Yolanda's past, and therefore, understands what it's like to be an outsider, considering she's one herself.  We discover that Yolanda is VERY good with boxing, and the Wildcat suit enchances any abilities she has, which will make her formidable down the road once she's gotten training.  But I am liking that we're getting backstory on all our new heroes and villains.  And we now have the first "new" recruit for Stargirl's new JSA.  I like how she has at least ONE ally in her family...her brother.  Because, honestly, I wanna slap the crap outta her parents for being that cruel.  THEIR name and THEIR reputation is more important than their daughter's mental and emotional well being.  It bugs me to no end.  

We also get some tiny Beth Chapel backstory, as we see that she doesn't have any friends (outside of Courtney...IF that!), and it's concerning to her mother, who WANTS her to make friends.  But we also get a glimpse into one of Beth's extrordinary abilities, as she's able to see Wildcat and Stargirl leaving the scene of the hospital, after they had been snooping around in Dr. King's room.

We see that Dragon King as made his presence known, and is ensuring that his daughter is following in his footsteps.  And we also notice that Principal Bowin has ties to the ISA, as she came into Brainwave's room unannounced, and played for him.  It's apparent that she's The Fiddler, and a member of the ISA herself.  

Pat, who had said to Courtney that he IS handling the ISA situation...was going to ensure that whatever evidence he got on them, he'd pass along to the autorities.  But, his suspicions got raised when Denise informed him that no one in Blue Valley is to be trusted, and she KNOWS that her husband wasn't killed by a heart attack.  Pat discovering her cat, and wrecked car in the junkyard gives him notice that she had been killed to keep her silenced.  I believe this will spun Pat on to not only jump back into the hero game, but help Courtney assemble the new JSA.  Because we all KNOW he wasn't in the junkyard looking for simple car parts....he's refining S.T.R.I.P.E. for better combat.  

Is it okay to say that I HATE Cindy Burman?  I can't stand bullies.  But trust me...there's more to her than meets the eye---and it's WORSE than we can possibly realize.  Remember...A LOT of the kids at that school are the sons and daughters of the Injustice Society.  We already knew about THREE of them:  Cameron Mahkent, Henry King, Jr., and our late Joey Zarick.  Cindy is an offspring too...and you'll find out soon enough.

Lots of backstory in this episode, and it continues to keep setting up for the future.  I like that Yolanda's story is told, and now we can see her become a hero, and get some self esteem and self respect back.  I also like how she WANTED to slash Henry for what he and Cindy did to him...but she held back---especially once she noticed how broken up he was about his father being comatose.  For her enemy, she showed compassion.  And with Stargirl, it seems that the Staff has a mind of its own, seeing as how it's directed Courtney in certain situations to help her out.  Still needs to work on the communication though.

Overall...quality episode.  I'm thoroughly enjoying this series, and I am invested in the characters.  I look forward to how this story plays out.

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Alrighty, kids.  That does it for this installment!  Please subscribe and leave a comment, and lemme know YOUR thoughts on this episode.

Until then...Keep an Eye on the Stars!