Stargirl Season 3 Episode 1 Review: Frenemies — Chapter One: The Murder
Many people have frenemies but most of them aren’t actual supervillains. The JSA and adults of Blue Valley learn to navigate tricky new dynamics on Stargirl Season 3 Episode 1, “Frenemies — Chapter One: The Murder.”
Although Season 2 wasted no time setting up its horror theme, this premiere takes a beat before slipping into the whodunnit setup for the season. Ignoring that the intro montage set to “America” by Neil Diamond could be half as long, it’s a joy to be back in Blue Valley with the JSA.
Part of Stargirl‘s charm is the chemistry of the cast whether it’s the Whitmore family or the JSA. The show has new dynamics to explore this season with a reshuffling of the villains and heroes on the board.
In Season 2, Courtney’s (Brec Bassinger) optimism literally saved the day but now it seems like it might be a liability. She is quick to want to embrace the reformed villains in town while others around her are not as enthusiastic.
Pat (Luke Wilson) is rightfully hesitant about the Crock family moving in as neighbors. Yolanda’s (Yvette Monreal) past encounters with Cindy (Meg DeLacy) prevent her from fully forgiving her.
Although the baddies stepped up to save Blue Valley, can you teach an old villain new tricks? Hopefully, the answer is yes, but either way, the new dynamics lead to mostly funny and sometimes cringeworthy interactions.
Cindy telling Yolanda to “get over [her] trauma already” is both messed up and sort of hilarious because of course she would say that. Cindy may help little old ladies with their groceries now, but she’s still got some venom.
As enjoyable as these new dynamics are, they do highlight one issue Stargirl carries over from last season which is its struggle to balance a large ensemble cast.
Yolanda, Beth (Anjelika Washington), and Rick (Cameron Gellman) don’t get very much screen time on this episode, though it’s enough to set up some future storylines for them. Stargirl needs to follow through in making sure the JSA it worked so hard to set up continues to shine.
Yet the villains aren’t the ones causing the most disruption in Blue Valley right now, it’s Starman (Joel McHale) himself. Sure he starts as nice and helpful, but it becomes clear his presence is going to cause some drama among the JSA and Whitmore family.
McHale is such a perfect casting choice for Starman/Sylvester because he can easily play a likable jerk or a just plain jerk, and right now we don’t know which one Sylvester is. He admits he doesn’t know who he is now that he’s not Starman.
What we do know is old habits are hard to break, and his dynamic with Pat might not be the healthiest.
Already we see him manipulating Pat, like when he distracts him from stopping him from using the Cosmic Staff by starting to tell Pat how proud he is of him. Then as soon as he becomes Starman again he jokes about Pat being a sidekick and talks over him.
Someone mysteriously coming back from the dead rarely bodes well. It doesn’t take long for him to admit he lied to Courtney about not wanting the staff back, and she generously agrees to tag team with him so they can both use it.
The thing is Courtney shouldn’t be in this position, and it’s Pat’s failure to actually hold Sylvester accountable that leads to this situation. If Pat is going to be an ally to the new JSA, he needs to put some of his old feelings aside.
Maybe Sylvester doesn’t have any nefarious plans, but he’s certainly not as humbled as he pretends to be. I will be keeping a close eye on him.
Then there’s the murder mystery, or as I will mentally be referring to it, Knives Out: “A Blue Valley Mystery” because much like Benoit Blanc, The Gambler (Eric Goins) also has an over-the-top Southern accent.
It seems obvious that Cindy’s appearance at the crime scene is a misdirect, but if she didn’t kill The Gambler then who did? Sylvester seems awfully convinced villains can’t be redeemed so he’s my number one suspect for now.
Or perhaps The Gambler’s missing daughter has a connection to The Helix Institute For Youth Rehabilitation from last season? Was it you Mister Bones?
Summer may be winding down on Stargirl, but the action is just starting to heat up. Let the conspiracy theories begin!
Additional Thoughts:
- Would it kill The Shade (Jonathan Cake) to make his own tea?
- I am already worried about Courtney falling behind in school again.
- Mike (Trae Romano) and Jakeem (Alkoya Brunson) barely get any screen time after having pretty big roles towards the end of last season. And Cameron (Hunter Sansone) who?
- “Kentucky Fried Felon” is a great villain name.
- I wouldn’t mind someone breaking into my house if it was just to make me a smoothie.
- Cosmo is being set up for an ugly custody battle, poor thing. The scene where they just hover in the middle between Courtney and Sylvester oddly broke my heart.
- Pat should keep the mustache, end of discussion!
What did you think of this episode of Stargirl? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Stargirl airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.