Stargirl review: “Summer School: Chapter Eleven”

Stargirl is getting darker with every passing moment, and we are so here for it. This week Courtney (Brec Bassinger) finds herself trapped in the Shadowlands, which is supposed to be Eclipso’s (Nick E. Tarabay) birthplace.

It’s a very creepy place depicted in black and white, which makes it even more haunting and ominous. Courtney wanders this strange land lost and confused. She runs into many familiar characters, including the Zarick family, William (Joe Knezevich), Denise (Cynthia Evans), and Joey (Wil Deusner). They’re overly eager to welcome her, and a little too friendly (until they’re not).

Courtney ends up in her high school hallway where she runs into Cindy/Shiv (Meg DeLacy). The two come to blows and Cindy cuts Courtney, realizing she is not an illusion but the real deal.

Most of the Shadowlands is just an illusion created by Eclipso to mess with people’s heads, so we can’t blame Cindy for trying to push Courtney away. She has been killing her evil father (Nelson Lee) there over and over again.

So let’s get right into all the major details below! SPOILERS ahead!

Stargirl goes to the Shadowlands

Courtney’s next stop in the gloomy Shadowlands is Cindy’s bedroom, where she learns all about the Shadowlands’ beginnings. Basically, it’s a gathering of all the evil that exists in humanity. This place will feed on Courtney’s wholesome personality, so she immediately starts trying to figure a way to escape.

Throughout the entire episode, Courtney finds herself being transported to places that hold meaning for her. After the encounter with Cindy, she ends up in the apartment that she and her mom Barbara (Amy Smart) lived in. It’s a sad moment as Barbara mistakes Courtney for the babysitter and tells her all the woes of being a single mother. Listening to your mother tell you how she really feels isn’t the most pleasant thing, especially when the mother is saying her life was completely destroyed because she ended up pregnant with you. As guilt overwhelms her, Cindy shows up and pulls her away from the nightmarish illusion.

Cindy faces her past

Cindy has been stuck in her own hell in the Shadowlands, forced to face her father over and over again. Cindy is also forced to face her mother, whom Cindy killed when she was a young girl. It’s very traumatic to watch Cindy watch her mother die at the hands of the younger version of herself; Burman does an excellent job selling her pain. I was really in my feelings over this whole moment.

Meanwhile, Courtney is pulled out of the Shadowlands by the actual Dr. Mid-Nite (Alex Collins), who transports her to the JSA bay. We learn that Dr. Mid-Nite has been facing his own special hell of having to hear his daughter’s voice over and over again. But it was thanks to Beth (Anjelika Washington) that his hope was restored.

Back in the real world 

Meanwhile, Pat (Luke Wilson), Barbara and Mike (Trae Romano) are completely heartbroken over losing Courtney. But that sadness is short-lived when Beth reveals that Dr. Mid-Nite contacted her through the goggles and said that The Shade (Jonathan Cake) might be able to help get them back to the real world.

Jennie’s (Ysa Penarejo) Green Lantern ring coupled with The Shade’s business card creates a huge 3D map that reveals his location. He’s been hanging out at the local movie theatre where his energy has fallen and he’s barely hanging on.

Somehow, Barb and Pat convince him to help get Courtney back, and so he raises his hands up to the movie screen and creates a portal. (Major props to the visual effects department!) But instead of walking through the portal and coming home, Courtney decides she is going to get Cindy to come with them.

I don’t think she realizes that The Shade is barely muddling through…

Stargirl returns home

Courtney embarks on a journey through the Shadowlands to find Cindy. Every time she asks to be taken to her, the Shadowlands take her elsewhere, eventually right to young Bruce Gordon (Milo Stein), Eclipso’s current host.

I don’t know who this kid is, but he sure knows how to act. He’s got the whole creepy Eclipso vibe down to an art form! It takes Courtney a few tries to find Cindy, and it isn’t until she tells Eclipso she hates him that she is taken right to where Cindy is.

The Dragon King, aka Cindy’s father, is about to perform a procedure on Cindy just as Courtney shows up. Dr. Mid-Nite shows up and reminds Courtney that everything in this place is fake and an illusion. So if she doesn’t acknowledge that the Dragon King is real, he’ll just disappear, and that is exactly what happens!

All’s well that ends well, because Courtney grabs Cindy and the two of them plus Dr. Mid-Nite make it through the portal just before The Shade loses his energy to keep it open. Taking his final breaths, The Shade dies in front of their eyes, but not before he asks Barbara to tell people that he died doing something good. I know he’s supposed to be a villain, but I felt bad for the guy.

R.I.P. The Shade!

As this week’s Stargirl episode comes to a close, Cindy looks to the group and says, “So, who wants to kill Eclipso?” This is going to be one epic battle, folks!

I love everything about Stargirl this season! It’s been dark, broody, and has so much character and plot development. For an Arrowverse show on The CW, it has surpassed some of its predecessors in quality. (I’m serious!)

There is just something about this show that I can’t get enough of, and as we look ahead to the end of the season, I’m excited to see Cindy team up with Stargirl (and hopefully the rest of the JSA) to take down Eclipso. That guy has got to go, and I’m ready to see it happen!

Grade: A

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