Stargirl is Courtney, the nicest teen girl from Los Angeles who moves to Blue Valley, Nebraska after her mom marries Pat, whom Luke Wilson plays. Courtney discovers a secret about Pat-he was a member of the Justice Society of America (JSA), the trusted sidekick to Starman and the keeper of Starman’s Cosmic Staff, which now answers to Courtney. Pat is not the only person in Blue Valley with a secret. It turns out that the Injustice Society of America (ISA) has been lurking there and working on taking over the US. They are alarmed that the reappearance of a member of the JSA could thwart their plans. Will Courtney be able to reassemble the JSA and stop the ISA without hurting her new blended family?
Stargirl is the first CW series that I watched and thought, “I am too old to watch this.” If we were not in the middle of a pandemic, it is entirely possible that I would have denied my completist tendencies and not continue to watch the series. The debut season consisted of fourteen episodes, and I did not start getting into the show until episode 4 when the show no longer rested on Pat and Courtney.
Stepparents are unsung heroes, and we have come a long way from the unsupportive or absent families of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While intellectually I understood Stargirl’s ultimate goal with the Pat and Courtney dynamic, and I loved it when the series finally got there, the early episodes did not work for me. Maybe I am a broken individual in a degenerate world, but the first three episodes consisted of a grown man and a little girl keeping a secret from everyone else, which I found deeply disturbing regardless of the substance of the secret. He was newly wed to her mom. I was uncomfortable because married couples should not start a relationship with secrets between them, especially if that secret involves a child. Nothing untoward was going on. It was wholesome and innocent. Still it was disturbing while it was one on one. Once Courtney started to make some age appropriate friends then bring them into the JSA, and the series rested on the entire cast, I could start to breathe and relax.
Courtney is the most childlike teen on television. It is actually one of the nicer aspects of the series although in retrospect maybe a skosh unrealistic. She is from LA, the big city, and does not have a mean or sexual bone in her body. She is goodness and light. The series toys with the idea of her having a love interest, but it would be akin to watching a cat with a calculator. It would not make sense given her maturity level. Whereas the teens in Blue Valley run the gamut from Beth, who is the sweetest, loneliest kid and enjoys hanging out with adults, including her neglectful, ungrateful parents, to Yolanda, who has to deal with bullying through revenge porn and unforgiving parents, but never changed from being the best kid in the school-smart, great personality, beautiful, devout. Yolanda’s little brother is also a treasure for siding with her and not his family in deciding that she deserves kindness, not punishment for her ordeal.
In contrast, the teen boys of Blue Valley have uneven storylines. The casting is weird, and in the Twilight Edward Cullen style-pale, muscular build and big hair. All of them look like they are in their late twenties to early thirties. They are not, but they do. They are largely underwritten and have to heavily rely on their past story lines. Only one of the teen boys acted like a kid, and he was killed off pretty quickly. Other guys seem to get forgotten in the hurly burly. When one guy joins Courtney’s group, it ultimately works, but it initially felt forced as if it was to bow to demographics–“We need one guy, or guys aren’t going to watch it.” It is unfortunate that their emotional default is anger. Trust me, but the guy with the best storyline is Henry, and it is way too abbreviated for my tastes. He initially seems like the one-dimensional bully jock, but he has the most complex narrative arc in the series.
Out of all the CW DC Comics shows, formerly known as the Arrowverse, Stargirl is the one that is safest to skip. At this point, it is still independent from the other shows so you do not have to watch it to understand what is going on. Even if it was not independent, it is definitely the weakest of the others. I never felt as if it was supposed to take place during 2020. It feels very old fashioned, which in some ways is nice, refreshing and sweet in a way that only The Flash has succeeded in delivering, the family dynamic. In other ways, it feels absurd. If Black Lightning feels rooted and germane to our time, Stargirl feels as if it is in an unrealistic vacuum even with the revenge porn, child murder and blended families.
I can never completely lose myself in Stargirl because they seem like kids. I cannot enjoy them kicking butt because they do not seem as if they can handle themselves, even the men boys. I find myself worried about their safety, property damage and getting grounded. Other than Yolanda, who enjoys boxing, they are not ready to fight, and their fights are not beautiful. Courtney is a gymnast. Rick is just the human side of Clark Kent or a poor Batman with a dreadful father who reluctantly adopted him so his power is anger issues. Beth is a nerd with little to no physical prowess. aRemember when Supergirl trained to fight because she realized that without her abilities, she had no skills. These kids don’t even really have that level of self-awareness. Pat keeps talking about training, but it never happens yet they keep confidently jumping into battle with villains who relish killing kids. They could credibly die.
One of Stargirl’s weaknesses is the rhythmless way that the villains were introduced. It initially appeared that Brainwave was the Big Bad then Icicle took the baton until Dragon King emerged from the shadows. The Gambler, The Fiddler, Sportsmaster and Tigress are sprinkled throughout the season, but not in a consistent way. Instead of a committee style approach, one overarching Big Bad throughout the season may have provided the necessary backbone, and I think that person was supposed to be Icicle. Oops. Sportsmaster and Tigress endlessly amused me. The Fiddler was definitely under utilized and was virtually pointless. The Gambler could have worked, but felt tropey. Icicle’s human persona was more interesting than his villain identity and vice versa for Brainwave. The series seemed to want to have a segue from the old to the next generation, but never followed through in an interesting way except for Henry.
Cindy was probably the most interesting villain because her villain and human persona felt unified. She was sympathetic and off the wall bonkers in terms of her next step, and I am glad how the series left her character because otherwise she would be one note, needy and annoying. Neither side felt like an afterthought like Icicle’s villain persona (he really did not need superpowers based on the way that his character was written) and Brainwave’s human cover (no one would like or trust that guy). I look forward to seeing Cindy become a lead villain.
Stargirl needs a lot more work to compete with other comic book series. The last few scenes that act as teasers for the next season left me mildly concerned regarding the series’ overall story. As the kids get older, I have no idea if the series will be able to mature the storylines while keeping the family friendly joy, which is its strongest asset. Stargirl’s ensemble teamwork is strong, but the story’s ultimate trajectory needs work. Also if it was just a show about the titular character, I would not be interested.
