Stargirl Season 3 Episode 1 “Frenemies – Chapter One: The Murder”
Director: Andi Armaganian
Starring: Brec Bassinger, Yvette Monreal, Anjelika Washington, Cameron Gellman, Trae Romano, Meg DeLacy, Alkoya Brunson. Neil Hopkins, Luke Wilson, Joel McHale
Rating: TV-PG
Spoilers Follow:
Stargirl Season 2’s embrace of horror genre influences made sense for a season focused on the Justice Society of America’s battle with Eclipso and led to some interesting stylistic choices. But it also made the show darker and more somber than it really ever needs to be. Season 3 has fortunately settled on a new genre influence that’s more appropriate for the family friendly series. Last year, Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl (Brec Bassinger) and company found themselves allying with more and more former supervillains and anti-heroes like Cindy Burman/Shiv (Meg DeLacy) and The Shade (Jonathan Cake). This culminated in the Season 2 finale’s amusing credits scene in which supervillain family the Crocks gleefully informed the Whitmore-Dugans that they’d be moving in next door. The new season looks to mine the delightful comedic and dramatic tension that comes from these heroes and villains trying to coexist by putting them through the ultimate test of trust: a murder mystery.
Chapter 1 of Season 3, subtitled “Frenemies”, starts on a note of relative calm, so much so that the Whitmore-Dugans were able to leave Blue Valley for a vacation that they’re returning from. The family, especially Courtney, are optimistic that the Crocks and Cindy can turn over new leaves, though not all of their friends agree, with Yolanda Montez/Wildcat (Yvette Monreal) and Rick Tyler/Hourman (Cameron Gellman) objecting to Courtney’s decision to give Cindy a trial run as a member of the JSA. Even Courtney is incredulous when former Injustice Society cybercriminal Steve Sharpe/The Gambler (Eric Goins) claims he is also trying to reform, but she is eventually won over by his statement that he is doing so as an attempt to rebuild a relationship with his daughter, with Courtney’s judgment influenced by projected feelings about her own absentee father. This leads Courtney to stick up for Sharpe when the team becomes even more suspicious of him when some of his old criminal associates turn up in town, but the situation shifts when they hear a gunshot near Sharpe’s mobile home. When they arrive on the scene Courtney and company find Sharpe’s trailer torn to shreds and Cindy standing over his dead body, claiming that she didn’t kill him while literally holding a smoking gun. It’s a wonderful hook for the rest of the season which looks to be a tribute to traditional, pulpy film noir and mysteries within a superhero world.
The murder mystery setup is a clever way for Stargirl to avoid potential problems that it’s been inching towards. Like many previous DC series the show has quickly accumulated a very large cast. In addition to the Whitmore-Dugans, the teenage JSA, and the anti-heroes/villains, there are also some uncategorized characters like Cameron Mahkent (Hunter Sansone), Courtney’s love interest who remains ignorant to his late father’s identity as the supervillain Icicle, and the somehow alive Starman, Sylvester Pemberton (Joel McHale), as well as the looming threat of Mr. Bones (Toby Keith) and the Helix Institute teased at the end of last season. This kind of expansion led the less successful of Stargirl‘s predecessors to both lose focus on their leads and waste many of their interesting characters and talented actors, something the mystery seems to be preventing here. The viewer’s desire to figure out the whodunnit makes every detail and storyline feel vital, from the obviously suspicious stuff like Sylvester’s return (he claims his connection to Cosmo the Cosmic Staff revived him and he climbed out of his own grave. Sure.) to seemingly smaller details like Yolanda’s understandable grudge against Cindy being brought back to the forefront right before the latter is implicated.
The premiere also provides encouraging evidence that the series won’t be pushing Courtney off to the side, with plenty of interesting dramatic material for her to deal with. In addition to her emotional investment in getting justice for the Gambler, Sylvester’s return complicates her view of herself as Stargirl. While he is respectful and complimentary of everything Courtney’s accomplished it’s clear he’s not ready to give up his own superhero life, especially after he and Pat go out joyriding with the staff and STRIPE without telling anyone. Courtney suggests that they share the staff, with Sylvester using it while she’s at school and her taking it at night to lead the JSA, with Sylvester also promising to give her some additional training. They both seem happy with the arrangement, or fake it fairly well, but it’s a flimsy plan doomed to fail. Between Courtney’s struggles with confidence and how important Stargirl is to her identity and Sylvester admitting that he doesn’t really have anything left other than being Starman, resentments are bound to grow. Pat also needs to assert himself to Sylvester more, with the latter still arrogantly referring to the former as his sidekick despite everything Pat’s accomplished. But Sylvester’s presence might lead to more than just infighting. He is an obvious suspect in the murder, given both the shifty resurrection explanation and his vocal doubts about Courtney and Pat’s plans to rehabilitate the former villains. McHale skillfully alternates between making the character earnest and sympathetic in some scenes and conveying his stern, darker side, which may make him a threat to Blue Valley, in others.
Stargirl still has its work cut out for it in terms of juggling all the different characters and storylines it’s introduced, especially if it brings in any brand new ones, and reaching the heights of quality of Season 1, which last year’s run fell (just a little) short of, will be difficult. But the murder mystery set up is a clever way to attempt to do so while playing to the show’s strengths and the family-centric storytelling and exceptional cast continue to make it a pleasure to watch, with Season 3 off to a great start.
Notes:
- Neil Hopkins pretty much always brings a great mix of manic, amusingly absurd energy and more grounded, believable emotions to Crusher Crock/Sportsmaster but I found his performance in the scene where Crusher warns Pat not to trust the Gambler especially impressive. The dynamic between those two characters is a highlight of the series.
- The JSA is having quite a moment in various media this fall. Stargirl creator Geoff Johns is writing two new comic book series, Stargirl: The Lost Children and Justice Society of America, which are set to redefine the team’s place in current DC canon. And recent DC Extended Universe film Black Adam marked the team’s first cinematic appearance.
- Bassinger and Johns have effectively confirmed that the former will be making her first full DC TV crossover appearance with a role in the fourth season of HBO Max’s Titans.
Stargirl Season 3 Episode 1
Stargirl gets its third season off to a strong start with a superhero murder mystery.
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Writing8.5
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Acting8.5
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Production8.5