Stargirl Season 2 - Discussion ( Spoiler Warning)

[Christopher]

Except she was clearly powering the ring before that and Pat didn't understand how she'd been using it so long without a battery...

Yes, exactly. When she first put on the ring at the start of the episode, her eyes lit up first, and the green light went from her body into the ring, not the other way around. The characters erroneously assumed the power came from the ring because that's how it worked for Alan Scott, and because they were never looking at Jenny when her eyes lit up.

Indeed, Courtney figured out that she could absorb the lantern's power because she was also generating it. If she'd just been a normal human, she couldn't have absorbed the energy and would probably have just been killed.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Either the Ring/Battery rewrote Alan's DNA to make battery children, or the Ring/Battery, whenever it could, rewrote the "current" sperms in his scrote to make battery children...

Shit.

Is Obsidian the battery Child for a Black Ring?

Black Rings control the dead.

Maybe that's why the ring needed charging every 24 hours, no matter how much you used it? So that the Battery can get personal time with Alan Scott's junk.

Sinestro's Daughter is not a Lantern Child.

The Star-heart is not a real Green Lantern Battery.

 

[Tuskin38]

My understanding is that she absorbed the Lantern's power when it exploded and that she was just a normal human being with a Power Ring before that point.

She was powering the ring before that. Pat even made an observation that she had been using it a lot longer than it's power should have allowed.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Either the Ring/Battery rewrote Alan's DNA to make battery children, or the Ring/Battery, whenever it could, rewrote the "current" sperms in his scrote to make battery children...
Shit.
Is Obsidian the battery Child for a Black Ring?
Black Rings control the dead.
Maybe that's why the ring needed charging every 24 hours, no matter how much you used it? So that the Battery can get personal time with Alan Scott's junk.
Sinestro's Daughter is not a Lantern Child.
The Star-heart is not a real Green Lantern Battery.

Allen and Alyx were trying to get pregnant and it wasn't working. Aylx suggests trying the ring to help it along. The subsequent embryo is imbued with mystical green light energy.

I've read stories in comics that were a lot more more far-fetched.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Star-Heart is what the current writer needs it to be. Sorry, I've been living with this principle for over 50 years so it's normal to me, and given me tons of great stories.

With Marvel you could get a No-Prize for finding some faulty continuity. (I actually got one a very long time ago.) With DC it's a different story.

Every few years, a very different story.

 

[Commander Troi]

And I assume that the "James Robinson" who wrote this ep is the same one who wrote probably the best-ever STARMAN comic-book series some years ago? No wonder he had the Shade's voice down perfectly.

And, yes, the comics nerd in me loved the throwaway gag about the Green Lama, who was indeed an old Golden Age superhero.

I had to look up Robinson separately, but both use the middle name "Dale" and he was responsible for Courtney getting the staff in comics, so I think it's the same person.

I totally missed the Green Lama joke, but the Ordway Home made me "awwww".

I was thinking before that they might simplify Jade's backstory and just have her use the ring like a typical Green Lantern, but that was just a fakeout and they stuck closer to her comics backstory. Even the part about being a foster child separated from her brother Todd, aka Obsidian.

Once again, the lack of recaps is an issue, as I had no idea who the woman smashing things in the kitchen was until Cindy showed up and called her "Mom," whereupon I belatedly and vaguely remembered the whole trophy wife/hostage angle.

I am looking forward to seeing Todd. IIRC his power comes from the same place as Shade's does. I was pleased with Jenny's personality too - I remember her as upbeat, people pleasing, and a perfectionist and Todd as completely opposite. (But I could be remembering wrong.)

I was so pleased with myself - I remembered who she was! Poor "stepmom".

All the first season episodes are on Amazon Prime. The second season eps are released the same day as telecast.

Thanks! My cable doesn't have CW, so I've had to watch online next day.

So.... what about Eclipso? Cindy is really in over her head with this one!

 

[Caretaker]

Summer School Chapter Three.

The Girl Scouts are protective of the use of their names and uniforms, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a real uniform (clearly showing the phrase "Girl Scouts") and cookies.

When I heard Jim Gaffigan was voicing Thunderbolt, I didn't know what to make of that. His comedy has been getting a little darker (see his pieces on CBS Sunday Morning over the past year and a half) due to the pandemic, so it was nice to hear him go really light-hearted again.

Loved the "crowdsourcing the wish" scene. An interesting and unique take on getting the wish right.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Yeah, Gaffigan/Thunderbolt was great. I especially liked Thunderbolt's conversation with Pat. And yeah again, the "crowdsourcing" was fun, especially how their personalities came across without needing dialogue.

I'm wondering now if the Shade is... well I don't think he's benevolent and cuddly, but maybe not the villain I was expecting.

 

[Christopher]

Wow, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt. That's really digging deep into the weirdness of Golden Age DC. The original Johnny Thunder feature, a backup in Flash Comics, was not a favorite of its writer Robert Kanigher, and when Kanigher and Carmine Infantino introduced Black Canary as a supporting character and love interest for Johnny, she was so much more popular that she ended up getting a solo feature replacing JT entirely just five months later.

It's a pretty authentic take on Thunderbolt, though -- all-powerful and not ill-intentioned, but mischievous and prone to screwing things up. Although in the comics I've read, the problem was more Johnny's clumsy wishing than Thunderbolt's mischief. I'm not crazy about interpreting Thunderbolt's three forehead lightning bolts as some kind of wavy tentacles. I think they were probably intended as a stylized representation of actual lightning crackling out from his head.

It seems like Shade might be an ambiguous figure. He doesn't seem to want to hurt anyone if he can help it; he's just determined to get the Black Diamond, and it might be because he wants to stop Eclipso rather than for any nefarious reason.

Loved the "crowdsourcing the wish" scene. An interesting and unique take on getting the wish right.

I wouldn't call it unique -- I wrote a short story once around a similar idea, and I'm sure I've seen a similar beat in an older TV episode involving a wish-granting character -- but it was smart and nice to see.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Yeah, Gaffigan/Thunderbolt was great. I especially liked Thunderbolt's conversation with Pat. And yeah again, the "crowdsourcing" was fun, especially how their personalities came across without needing dialogue.

I'm wondering now if the Shade is... well I don't think he's benevolent and cuddly, but maybe not the villain I was expecting.

Shade was an Anti Hero in the turn of the century Starman.

Dude is from Victorian England.

Look what people just like him did to Africa, while maintaining that they were noble Heroes.

 

[Dick Whitman]

It would be interesting to see all these flashbacks of the original JSA on the days of their final battle edited together. Not now but as the show goes on.

 

[Greg Cox]

I understand the necessity, but I confess I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that the Golden Age of the JSA was . . . 2010? Even as a kid, reading DC Comics in the sixties, the JSA were the heroes of a previous generation, as in my father's day.

Granted, I suppose Courtney believing "I'm the great-great-grand-daughter of the original STARMAN!" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

I was amused to notice that this ep was directed by Lea Thompson of all people!

 

[Dick Whitman]

She directed at least one episode last season too. More and more she has been directing tv episodes of various series in recent years.

Yeah, the back story, time frame of the JSA is very vague. Some members seem to be the age of their actors. Or at least the age when the characters died. Others seem to been around for decades. There have been references to Ted Knight creating the Cosmic Staff when the first comic was published but not if he was Starman.

Would not surprise me if we learn there are different generations of the original JSA to span all those decades. Some maybe slowed their age like in the comics. That sounds like something Geoff Johns would do. He is guiding everything. For his guest appearance John Wesley Shipp said Geoff Johns was on the set every day.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Granted, I suppose Courtney believing "I'm the great-great-grand-daughter of the original STARMAN!" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

My great-great-grandfather was born around 1800. (Actual records might be in a church in Poland dating from when the village was part of Prussia.) My son is 17 and my father was running his own construction company in the 50's. It wouldn't have changed the story any if Rick and Jenny had skipped a generation. Courtney wasn't actually Starman's descendent. Yes, her belief that he was her father was a driving force in season one. That said, many people, including me, have a strong connection to grandparents.

It would have made a difference with Pat, but could have opened up a cute mystery about how old he really was and what exactly happened. Anti-aging serum? Cryogenic freezing, care of Icicle? Time warp care of Flash? Hell, it's a show about comic book superheroes. Suspending disbelief is the admission fee.

The ISA would be easier to explain care of Dr. Ito's specialties. And as I think about it, made them even creepier.

It could have worked very well. I'm still wondering if Pat's car is actually the Star Rocket Racer.

Looking back fondly at how the JSA was handled in Smallville. Still, I'm enjoying the series and willing to look the other way on this.

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[StCoop]

Good that the series finally answered the question of whether the general public knew about the JSA or not.

But I do agree that seeing these characters in literally recreations of their 1930's outfits in 2010 is a big odd.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Eh, they're superhero outfits. What's odd?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Johnny must have cursed himself, to be only allowed to wear that shitty suit?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Johnny must have cursed himself, to be only allowed to wear that shitty suit?

Should have gone with the plaid jackets he wore in the 60s.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I noted Mike was sporting a green plaid shirt.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Johnny must have cursed himself, to be only allowed to wear that shitty suit?

Hey! I resemble that remark! In the 70s my mum bought me a leisure suit cause she thought I'd look cool.

Yer mum thought I was pretty cool, let me tell ya.

I noted Mike was sporting a green plaid shirt.

So did my ol man. Seems like yer hungry for a knuckle sandwich.

You twos from Yancy Street? Would make sense.

 

[Noname Given]

I noted Mike was sporting a green plaid shirt.

Yeah once he had that pen he pretty much suddenly sported the same colors as it's previous user.

I'll give the writing staff credit for doing a nice little twist with respect to who ends up getting this pen and the genie like entity inside it. I was pretty much a Marvel comics fan the entire time I read comic books, and only delved into DC a little bit here and there, so I was completely unaware of this particular character until he showed up in this episode.

I am aware that DC merged / co-opted a lot of characters from the old Charleston comics line into their comics universe back in the day. I assume "Johnny Thunder" was one of them?