‘Stargirl 3×03: Frenemies Chapter 3 – The Suspects’ Review
Stars: Brec Bassinger, Luke Wilson, Amy Smart, Yvette Monreal, Anjelika Washington, Trae Romano, Christopher Baker, Joel McHale | Created by Geoff Johns
What Happened This Week
The Scooby-Doo gang of Courtney and the JSA are still on the case of who killed the Gambler and this week, we rule out another suspect…or this time, two suspects. Plus, we find out a little more that Rick and Cameron are your typical moody teenagers but just with superpowers, we get words of wisdom from Zeek, and Mike finally does something!
Suspects? We Got Suspects!
The JSA, slowly but surely, are whittling down their list of suspects and this week they take a hard look at the Crocks, aka the Sportsmaster and Tigress as it’s found out that prior to his death, the Gambler was extorting the couple. This information is courtesy of Cindy, who was hacking into the ISA computer system and found out about the payments. Once Cindy sends this information to Beth, the JSA is unsure what to do next. Rick and Cindy want to physically confront the Crocks while Courtney and Yolanda want to take a more cautious approach and actually talk to our new suspects. What a novel approach. At least they all agree not to tell Sylvester as they feel he will just overreact with this news.
After the confrontation at the grocery store, again see below, the Crocks come over the Dugan household to confess about the blackmail. The Gambler was extorting our two suspects over crimes the ISA committed but the Crocks were not involved in. They felt they had no choice but to pay the Gambler as they feared losing their daughter, Artemis, again and going back to prison but then the Gambler stopped blackmailing them two months ago. It seems the Gambler was actually “turning over a new leaf” but Lawrence did not believe it. He admits to travelling to the Gambler’s trailer on the day he was murdered but he confesses that he never got out of his truck and left without the Gambler even knowing he was there. This is good enough for Courtney and Pat to rule them out as suspects.
A Lost Sylvester
Besides a giant game of Clue this season, the other major storyline is Sylvester’s journey and how he fits into this world after his resurrection and now only being a part-time Starman. Throughout the episode, Sylvester is shown struggling with his new life as he confesses to Pat (and Zeek) that he has only known himself as Starman. He never had another job like the old JSA members and now that he is not Starman 24/7, he doesn’t know what to do. Zeek, while working on the new S.T.R.I.P.E., tries to provide some wisdom by stating junk is junk but salvage is another opportunity of making something great. It’s a metaphor for Sylvester’s life but the meaning is lost on him.
Cindy tries to join up with Sylvester when she cannot find the rest of the JSA members and lets Sylvester know that the Crocks were being blackmailed by the Gambler and are the prime suspects. Sylvester is onto her plan tells her that he doesn’t trust the daughter of the Dragon King and it’s only a matter of time until the JSA knows Cindy isn’t trustworthy either. After slamming the door in Cindy’s face, Sylvester grabs the Staff and goes off to confront the Crocks by himself, which is overheard by Mike.
For the second season in a row, Mike is the most underutilized character in Stargirl and I’m not sure how you can save this character anymore. The actor, Trae Romano, is entertaining but the writing has seemed to fail him yet again. After last week’s episode in which Mike was working with Jakeem and Thunderbolt, I was hoping we would see more of this trio but for now, it is not meant to be. It’s disappointing because the writers do a good job providing enough screen time for the large cast but every season, Mike seems like a wasted character.
Back to the episode, Sylvester faces off with the Crocks in the local grocery store because why talk things out when you all have superpowers? The store confrontation is the best fight scene in quite some time and lasts a good portion of the final act of the episode. Once the fight extends to the grocery store’s parking lot, Sylvester’s anger gets the better of him and just before it looks like he is going to finish off the Crocks, Pat arrives in the new S.T.R.I.P.E. suit to prevent any further damage.
At home, Pat has a heart-to-heart talk with Sylvester about how Courtney originally thought Sylvester was her real father and how heartbroken she became when she found out that it wasn’t true and learned what a horrible human being her actual father was. This seems to be the turning point for Sylvester and he realizes that his actions due effect the ones he cares about, resulting in Sylvester promising to be a better person, not just a better Starman.
This is put to the task later when Sylvester feels he missed a vital clue at the Gambler’s trailer and decides to investigate the scene of the crime again. He puts the Staff back as it was nighttime and that is when Courtney wields the Staff, so he sets off to the trailer by himself. While investigating the scene, a mysterious force picks him up in the air, roughs him up, and drops him to the ground! Don’t you dare kill Sylvester!
Quick Takes:
- Rick and Beth continue to become close friends and while Rick hints at his troubled past with his less-than-stellar uncle, he still cannot fully open up to his friends.
- Cameron’s ice powers are occurring more frequently and are getting stronger but despite taking walks with Courtney and being friends, he still cannot tell her about his powers. It looks like this comes a head next week.
- The JSA learns Cindy told Sylvester about the blackmail plot, but she confesses that she just wanted to prove herself and be part of the team. Courtney understands but warns her that if she does it again, Cindy is out of the JSA.
- There is an unknown villain (I think) that has surveillance cameras all around Blue Valley, watching our heroes. Who is this villain and what is their objective?
Quote of the Week:
Sylvester to Cindy, after she fails to recruit him on a mission to talk to the Crocks: “Why don’t you go find someone who’s impressed by a dime-a-dozen cheerleader in green Spandex with daddy issues?”
Grade: B- (Good)
Stargirl’s third episode was meandering on the “average” side this week until that fun fight scene in the grocery store. While the first 30 minutes of the episode were plodding along, the last 15 minutes really amped up the action and paid off the storylines from earlier in the episode. Sylvester seems to be the focus lately in the series while Courtney and the Dugans are pushed to the background, at least for now. Overall, this episode is the weakest of the third season but still propelled the mystery forward while adding new internal strife to the JSA.
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