Cue the creepy organ music and get ready to hide under the covers because we should be afraid, very afraid.
If Stargirl Season 2 Episode 6 was anything, it was the one we’ve been waiting for when all the pieces come together gloriously.
We had twists and turns, dramatic reveals, and a game-changing cliffhanger. All in all, it was an outstanding installment.
Eclipso is shaping up to be the most formidable supervillain the JSA has ever faced.
As a result, the JSA may need to align itself with its enemies if it has any chance of defeating the demonic entity once and for all, especially now that Eclipso has escaped the Black Diamond and is once again corporeal.
Of course, this would be easier said than done if Eclipso hadn’t consumed Cindy and Isaac and hadn’t disabled and/or weakened the Shade. And with Artemis presumably down for the county and her parents still in prison, it, unfortunately, seems the JSA is on their one.
Now they might send up the equivalent of their Bat-Signal and rally the troops because, again, stopping Eclipso will take all of the JSA and their allies working together.
Reaching out to Jennie and tracking down Jakeem and the Thunderbolt would be a good first step, but to permanently defeat Eclipso, the JSA may need to call in the big guns, i.e., Starman.
Granted, this is problematic because Pat and the JSA are under the impression Starman is dead, but with Starman actively searching for Pat, it won’t be long — at least we hope it won’t be — until the not-so-dead superhero finds his way to Blue Valley.
Once there, the JSA, old and new, along with their allies, can assemble and do their best to stop Eclispo once and for all, whether that be reimprisoning it in a new Black Diamond of sorts, banishing it to the world it originated from, or destroying it entirely.
The bottom line is that unless the JSA can figure out some strategy to take Eclipso out or find a way to render the demonic entity powerless, there’s a good chance Blue Valley could come close to destruction once again.
Because beyond being outmatched, the JSA has no way to track down Eclipso when it’s disguised as an innocuous human boy.
Beth’s goggles may be able to help if Eclipso’s camouflaged self were standing right in front of her, but otherwise, it seems like finding Eclipso will be searching for a needle in a haystack.
Heck, the JSA may not even know Eclipso is disguising itself and could waste time looking for a demonic entity instead of spending their valuable time looking for a little boy.
Overall, the JSA is pretty much screwed, no matter which way you slice it, and if this weren’t a TV show, there’s no way they’d get out of this alive.
Yes, the JSA has the Cosmic Staff, but we don’t even know if it’s still in commission after going head-to-head with the demonic entity. In the best-case scenario, the Cosmic Staff needs time to recharge. Worst, its power source is drained for good.
Either way, the team can’t count on the Cosmic Staff saving their butts again, and it’s going to take some serious brainstorming to come even remotely close to dealing with Eclipso.
Elsewhere, Cindy’s new ISA was somewhat of a letdown, especially in contrast to Eclipso. I was expecting both more and less from the supervillain-adjacent teenagers. While their showdown with the JSA was epic, specifically the special effects, the result left much to be desired.
For one, Cindy has spent most of Stargirl Season 2 so far assembling her new team, so we anticipated it would be a much bigger headache for the good guys. Instead, the new ISA ended as quickly as it began.
The show built this new ISA up as a big deal, yet the teenagers don’t even make the top list of threats for the JSA this season. So, in the end, all the ISA ended up being was a minor inconvenience.
It’s is already out of commission after Artemis ran off to who knows where and Eclipso consumed Cindy and Isaac.
The show wants us to assume Cindy and Isaac are dead, and if that’s true, it’s a shame. I don’t care one way or another what happens to Isaac, but killing off Cindy this early in the series would be a poor choice on the writers’ part.
There’s still so much more to unpack with Cindy and so much more story to mine. Besides, if she’s dead, we’ll be robbed of an incredible redemption story arc, which I keep hoping is in the works somewhere down the line.
Yes, killing off a series regular gives the series real stakes and increases the tension, but can’t someone other than Cindy die? Wouldn’t killing off one of the good guys heightens the stakes even more?
Not that I’m angling for the show to off someone else over Cindy; it’d be a horrible mistake for her to be truly gone.
Mini ‘save Cindy Burman’ plea aside, something else that bothered me about the ISA’s brief reign was how evenly matched it seemed to be with the JSA.
The JSA has been at this longer, but you’d hardly know that from the battle that took place. Yes, the JSA “won” in the end, but it was sometimes too close to call.
Maybe being legacies meant Isaac and Artemis had a leg up on where the JSA first started, but it still felt off that teenagers capable of defeating supervillain adults nearly lost to those adults’ teenage children who are new to the whole supervillain thing. It’s a nitpicky thing, but it doesn’t jive with the worldbuilding.
On the other hand, what made perfect sense was Cindy’s interest in Mike. Cindy’s plans for Mike were a real headscratcher for most of the season, but kidnapping him and using him as bait was brilliant.
It should have been obvious that was Cindy’s plan all along, but her vision of a newly assembled ISA with Mike made me rethink her goals.
It was an ingenious idea — albeit a bit unoriginal. Poor Mike, he keeps getting kidnapped by supervillains. Pat may not like it, but he’s going to have to let Mike step up his involvement with the JSA.
Quietly sitting on the sidelines isn’t going to cut it anymore, as Pat’s refusal to train Mike puts his son in more danger now, as every supervillain under the sun continues to use the youngest Dugan as bait.
Some stray thoughts:
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Given how everything turned out, Barbara calling the Shade was the right call. Of course, the Shade may be regretting his involvement after the confrontation with Eclipso left him in dire sorts, but without his intervention, most of the JSA would probably be consumed by now.
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Artemis refusing to hurt/kill Pat because he and her father are friends was hilarious. I’m lowkey obsessed with Pat and Crusher’s “friendship,” mainly because Crusher doesn’t comprehend that he and Pat aren’t friends, so any reminder makes me smile.
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Has summer school now been canceled since the teacher is now in a psychiatric hospital?
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How much longer with Cameron stay in the dark? He can’t have thought that mess in the art room was normal, right? He has to realize there’s something else at play, even if he’s not quite sure what yet.
So what did you think, Stargirl Fanatics?
Is Eclipso the Big Bad we’ve been waiting for?
Was the new ISA underwhelming?
Are Cindy and Isaac actually dead?
Don’t forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the latest episode, remember you can watch Stargirl online at TV Fanatic.
Jessica Lerner is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.