WiC Watches: Stargirl
By Ariba Bhuvad
Pictured (L-R): Anjelika Washington as Beth Chapel and Luke Wilson as Pat Dugan — Photo: Mark Hill/The CW
Episode 8: “Shiv Part Two”
Stargirl has to take a hiatus from being her superhero duties after Shiv beat the crap out of her. I’m just putting this out there, but is anyone else curious as to why she didn’t realize Shiv is Cindy? Is there some sort of disguise Shiv is wearing that makes others perceive her differently?
Pat spends a lot of the episode trying to come up with something to tell Barbara about Courtney’s bumps and bruises. He can’t exactly say that she involved in a showdown with a supervillain. The only other thing he can think of is to say she was in a car accident. He takes on the blame by saying he let her drive and even crashes his car on purpose to provide the perfect cover story…and it works!
I admire how much Pat cares about Courtney, and this week’s episode spotlights their developing relationship. He may not be her biological father, but the love he feels for her is real. His concern is for Courtney’s safety, and while their mission may be a noble one, nothing is worth risking her life.
I’m not the biggest fan of Mike, Pat’s son, mostly because of how the character is written. But I did enjoy and appreciate that his relationship with Courtney is maturing. They’re finally starting to bond as well.
Basically, this group is becoming a beautiful family, minus the whole, “Barbara and Mike don’t know about the Justice Society of America” part. Which brings me to Pat wanting to tell Barbara the truth. It feels dangerous and irresponsible to keep her in the dark, but he doesn’t take the opportunity to come clean just yet.
Every time the Dragon King graces our television screens, it gives me chills. There’s something about the hooded villain and his snake-like eyes that seems pulled right out of a nightmare. And does it break anyone else’s heart that Cindy and the Dragon King have the complete opposite relationship from Pat and Courtney? Stargirl does a tremendous job highlighting the differences in the two dynamics. It’s clear that Cindy wants nothing more than to please her supervillain father, but he doesn’t quite see her worth. His lack of appreciation for his daughter comes through in her behavior and personality. In this episode, we see that she’s a very malicious and conniving person who didn’t hesitate to hurt Stargirl when she has the chance. And with each passing moment, Shiv is evolving into a more intelligent villain who knows that she is capable of wreaking all the havoc in the world if she wants to.
We learn a tad bit more about Dragon King’s backstory. He used to be known as Dr. Shiri Ito. He’s a literal human/reptile hybrid and a war criminal who was ousted for performing illegal experiments on himself and others. There’s definitely more to unpack there, and I’m eager to get to it.
Right now, Dragon King isn’t sure if his daughter can join the ISA’s efforts. To show her how serious he is, he threatens to take off his hood. Please don’t do that, Dragon King.
The rest of the episode highlights the JSA, with Beth at the center of the action. She takes it upon herself to sneak into Cindy’s house with Pat to find leads. They nearly get caught, but Yolanda shows up and gets her out of there before Cindy finds her. Unfortunately, Cindy is quick to realize that someone was there, especially after Beth steals a picture of Dr. Ito (in his human form) from Cindy’s dresser.
This all culminates in Courtney leaving the house against Pat’s wishes so she can be there to save the JSA. She hasn’t healed, and at first, the Cosmic Staff refused to go with her because Pat advised it not to. But it can only resist Stargirl’s urge to save her friends for so long, and soon they’re off to Cindy’s place only to find that no one is there.
Then we get a pretty epic and gnarly fight between Shiv and Stargirl; I didn’t realize Stargirl could get that angry. However, the fight is interrupted when Brainwave’s son shows up, perturbed by the information overload that comes with reading everyone’s thoughts.
The story is definitely taking an interesting turn, and with all these characters now in play, I’m super pumped to see how this plays out through the rest of the season. So far, they’ve done an amazing job keeping things entertaining and not too confusing. We’re getting to know each character on a personal level as their story develops, and the narrative is moving along and keeping things coherent and engaging.
Until next week!
