Stargirl Review: Summer School: Chapter Two (Season 2 Episode 2)

Green may be a good color on Jennie, but it’s not on Courtney. Stargirl grapples with her jealousy of the new girl in town on Stargirl Season 2 Episode 2, “Summer School: Chapter Two.”

Although it seemed like Courtney had moved on from her disappointment over not being Starman’s daughter, Jennie’s presence reopens old wounds. Underneath Courtney’s bratty behavior and unfounded suspicions towards Jennie, there’s real hurt and insecurity. 

When Jennie asks for Pat’s help, it makes Courtney jealous and worried she’s losing her place as the leader of the JSA. 

Seeing her so vulnerable reminds us that she’s more than just a superhero. She’s a teenage girl who’s still trying to figure out her place in the world and heal from old trauma, which makes it much more understandable why she feels threatened.

You can feel the salt in Courtney’s wound when she hears Beth call Jennie a “real legacy,” something Courtney can never be. 

As Pat points out, Jennie’s story is parallel to Courtney’s in discovering a power she didn’t know she had and trying to find answers. We also learn that Jennie comes from a foster home and is searching for her missing brother, making her life a lot less perfect than it initially seems to Courtney. 

Ysa Penarejo gives a powerful performance when Jennie finally unleashes her emotions instead of bottling them up in an attempt to be perfect.

It’s made all the more impactful by the Green Lantern battery power surge created by her emotions that leads to an emergency the JSA must come together to solve.

Watching the JSA support her in her moment of need and Courtney finally accepting her into the fold is emotionally rewarding. It’s also an example of what this show does best with its theme of found family. 

As enjoyable as the plot is with its parallels between Courtney and Jennie’s journeys, it does feel a bit rushed.

We witnessed in Season 1 that Stargirl is capable of creating nuanced and deeply explored emotional journeys, so I wish Jennie’s wasn’t crammed into one episode. 

Stargirl also does some heavy lifting by explaining the Green Lantern mythology for viewers who may not be familiar with it. The show explains how Jennie is different from other Green Lanterns as a living power battery, though we don’t get a satisfying explanation as to why.

The scenes of Jennie making her first construct and then learning to fly after the battery explodes are very cinematic in a family-friendly blockbuster way and a joy to watch. That joy is diminished slightly by her hero origin story feeling so condensed.

I would have preferred Stargirl to delve even deeper into what being a Green Lantern means as a part of her story, but hopefully, there’s still time for that in the future.

Knowing that John Wesley Shipp will appear later in the season as Jay Garrick means we may get some more flashbacks with the original JSA including Alan Scott. 

By the end of “Summer School: Chapter Two,” Jennie sets off to keep searching for her brother, and we’re left with the feeling that she’ll be back. 

Things also heat up on the villain front just as Courtney’s starting to accept that she needs to focus on her life outside of being Stargirl.

She practically yelps with excitement when Pat tells her about the arrival of Richard Swift aka The Shade (Jonathan Cake), whose interest in William Zarick’s magic collection raises Barbara’s suspicions.

Eclipso also proves to be a nasty piece of work, manipulating Cindy’s stepmom into trying to kill her so that he can feed off her newly corrupted soul.

Cindy can’t control Eclipso like she thought, which may hitch her plan to start a new ISA (we don’t get any updates on her recruitment efforts on this episode, unfortunately).

Cindy may not be the most sympathetic character but seeing her manipulated by Eclipso after she was already abused by the Dragon King is hard to watch. If Courtney can save everyone else, is it wrong to hold out hope that she’ll save Cindy too? 

With two very dangerous villains in town, summer school may have to take a back seat for the JSA. 

Additional Thoughts:

• No Starman sightings on this episode.
• “Who’s this Green Llama girl?” made me laugh.
• I don’t understand who is running The American Dream with Icicle dead. Glad Barbara still has a job though.
• I thought Beth’s parents were the worst. Yolanda’s parents voluntarily signing her up for summer school reminds me that they’re actually the worst.
• The Grundy scenes make me a little jealous. Can someone drop off three pizzas at my house?
• S.T.R.I.P.E. Update: S.T.R.I.P.E. has flame throwers now. Heck yeah!
• Is it just me or are there a lot of kids in summer school? Is Blue Valley’s education system that bad?

—

What did you think of this episode of Stargirl? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

Breeze’s Top 10 Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror TV Series of 2020