STARGIRL 2.10

 

RECAP - STARGIRL  2.10:  "Summer School - Chapter Ten"  

Well...what now?  Eclipso has gotten the new JSA on their knees, and the town of Blue Valley at his mercy.  The Dugan Family was the last to fall to his nightmarish powers.  And now with the family unable to trust each other, how will they handle defeating this evil monster?  Can they recover in time to stop Eclipso before he gets so powerful, that Blue Valley is only the beginning of something MUCH, MUCH, larger? 

As we saw in this episode, aside from continuing to play on the fears of everyone, Eclipso has also cast mistrust among the Dugan Family.  As Courtney and Mike find out the REAL truth behind who and what Eclipso is, and just what caused the original JSA to break up to begin with.  We go back decades ago, when the JSA had made the critical choice of doing away with Eclipso permanently...by killing Bruce Gordon.  Pat's working on the car in the JSA garage when Sylvester comes in with beer...looking to drown his sorrows.  He knows Pat was right...and they should've listened to him.  Those that made the choice felt their families threatened, and thought this was the only way---but only Pat knew better.  And Sylvester and the rest now have to live with this guilt.  He talked about his deadbeat dad, and how he thought his dad had gotten him a watch as a birthday gift, but really didn't.  He tells part that Eclipso had threatened his family too....Pat himself.  Sylvester says he should've treated Pat better, but he's always considered him family.  They toast to chosen families, and not knowing what the future would hold for the JSA at the time.  

Present day, Pat is taking the heat...along with Barbara...for withholding information about what Eclipso did to Dr. McNider's daughter, and just what he's done to everyone else:  Yolanda, Rick, tried to attack Beth, and has now come after them.  Courtney is VERY much pissed off, and before the argument is settled, and answers given, the Shade returns, weak as he is, and lands in the Dugan household.  He's weak, but alive.  He says the only way to defeat Eclipso is to fuse the diamond back together, and make sure they're not touching it when it traps him.  As Courtney asks Pat how they can re-fuze the diamond, since Cosmo doesn't have the power to do it, and no conventional tools will help, Pat has an idea, but he and Courtney are going on a road trip.  Barb and Mike stay behind, while Shade rests at their house.  Mike wonders who will protect them if Shade wakes up, or Eclipso comes calling, and that's when Courtney puts in a call to Beth.  Beth, who is dealing with her parents, gets a call from Courtney, as they're wondering WHY she is walking around with the goggles on all the time, and they think she's being weird.  When she gets Court's call, she's taking off, and when her parents wonder where she's going, she says she made friends while they were occupied working all the time.  She wanted to discuss the divorce, but they seem to want to continue ducking it, so she says that she has friends that need her that's where she's going, since her parents couldn't make the time for her.  So, they can discuss their divorce and whatever they're going to do.  Beth is busy.  She arrives at the Dugans, as Courtney and Pat take off

Pat and Courtney finally hash our THEIR issues on the car trip to Civic City...where they've gotten sightings of green flames enveloping the the federal building and the orphanage there.  As they're on their journey to find one Jenny Lynn Hayden, Courtney and Pat discuss WHY he withheld information about Eclipse, and he felt that maybe they couldn't handle it, that he thought he was protecting them.  He apologizes, and she says that had he been honest, maybe Yolanda wouldn't have quit being Wildcat, and Rick may not be in trouble.  Pat says she doesn't know that for sure.  But what she knows is that he's done some pretty bad damage.  He knows...because he wishes he had STOPPED the JSA from killing Bruce Gordon a long time ago.   They arrive at the old JSA HQ, and they look around to see if they can  find Jenny, but no luck...until they go into the garage where Pat and Sylvester used to work.  They notice files about a place called the Helix Institute where a young man named Todd Rice had been placed after a robbery.  Jenny's been looking for her brother.  That's the duo's next stop as they meet Nurse Love, who says that Todd isn't there, but his sister is.  She takes them too Todd's old room, where they find Jenny going over his belongings.  They talk about what happened at the federal building and the orphanage, and Jenny said she got frustrated, and couldn't control her powers when she couldn't find Todd, or get access to his files.  She says you'd do anything to protect family...anything.  This does cause Pat and Courtney to look at each other.  They end up leaving, as Jenny has what belongings of Todd's still there.  As Courtney and Pat explain that they need her help, we see Nurse Love call a Mr. Gomes, and says that she discovered that Todd had a sister.  This Mr. Gomes apparently still has Todd somewhere. 

Back at the Dugan house, Shade awakens, as Barbara wants answers about Eclipso.  Shade then calls her his sister, saying that he is sorry he let her down.  Barbara isn't sure what to make of it.  Meanwhile, Mike slips out with his toolbox and heads to the Pit Stop in order to work on S.T.R.I.P.E., while Beth has dug into her laptop to try and get more info on Eclipso.  However, Dr. McNider calls out again, and he explains to Beth how Shade had managed to save him by trapping him in the Shadowlands.  The signal is better, so he retells the story of the Shade, who comes from the 19th Century, and was a con-man, who conned a group of powerful men who wanted to use a ritual with the black diamond to bring forth Eclipso in order to attack their enemies, but Shade sold the a fake diamond, and the used HIM for the ritual anyway.  He ended up getting his powers from this ritual.  Beth asks Dr. McNider to see if she can get more info about Eclipso, and he unlocks the passcode to access his files.  Beth begins to dig in. 

Mike is at the garage, and not able to get far, when he hears a news report on the radio about a strange occurrence with pink lightning....he knows what that means, and he heads off to see what it's about.  He manages to stumble onto a gingerbread house in the neighborhood...knowing this is the work of the Thunderbolt. We also pay a visit to Rick, who is in jail awaiting trial, and staring at the ceiling when he notices things falling down in his cell.  Turns out, Grundy's keeping on eye on his friend, by giving him apples. 

Back at the JSA garage, Pat, Court, and Jenny try to get her to focus her powers on fusing the diamond back together.  As she is making that happen, Beth finishes pouring through the info McNider gave her, and she realizes that they're making a big mistake.  What she finds out is that fusing the diamond back together won't trap Eclipso, but will draw him TO them, and then it will allow the Shadowlands to be open to Earth, thus healing the Shade.  Which, once Jenny fuses the diamond, both things happen.  Shade apologizes to Barbara for leading her and her family on, but he did what he needed to to do for himself...and he promptly vanishes.  As for Pat, Courtney, and Jenny, they end up facing Eclipso, who blasts Jenny when she tries to fight back, knocking her out.  He then opens up a black hole that ends up dragging Courtney down into it, as Pat tries to rescue her....but she gets sucked in----without Cosmo.  Eclipso takes off, as Pat is left distraught, unable to save Courtney, and having Jenny knocked unconscious.  

We have gotten some dark stuff this season, but tonight was even more of that.  We now know A LOT more about the Shade....and he IS, indeed, quite the conman.  No doubt he fabricated the story about his sister, and played the Dugans once again, as they did exactly what he wanted---to get his powers back and heal...and can honestly care less about Eclipso....despite what Dr. McNider said.  We now understand just WHERE Dr. McNider is, and have no idea if he'll get out.  But we know the Shade is back to full strength, and who knows what his next move will be.  As for Eclipso, he managed to take out Jenny AND Courtney.  And considering how Courtney disappeared, we KNOW she isn't dead.  So, it's possible that wherever she went....Cindy Burman is there as well.  

I like how Beth took her stand with her parents, and bailed on THEM for a change.  Forcing them to have to deal with the fact that she just abandoned THEM for once.  But she laid it all out...so, now we'll see what they do next.  As for Rick...I wonder how long before Grundy breaks him out.  But we do know one thing---Grundy is going to be looking out for him.  

We finally got more information about Todd Rice, and while I'm not feeling that we'll SEE him this season, I DO expect that the team (once they reunite....trust me, they will), will help rescue him from the Helix Institute.  But we are starting to have pieces fall into place, and with only a handful of episodes left this season, we'll see how things transpire as the JSA must pick themselves up off the floor to face off against Eclipso.  And will this also include the new kid with Thunderbolt at his control?  Mike will certainly look into it.  

This show just keeps getting better and better, and this has been a pretty damn good season.  How about all of YOU?  Everyone enjoying this season along with me?  What did you think about this week's installment?  Subscribe and leave me your thoughts and opinions below.

Until next time.....keep your eyes on the stars.