Stargirl S01E03 Review: Small Town Conspiracy

Stargirl, Season 1, Episode 3: Icicle

Well, that was quick. After the huge, death-filled prologue to the first episode, the rest of the two-parter pilot was a lot less bloody. And sure, this doesn't get anywhere into 90's comic grimdark(tm) gratuitous violence territory, but Icicle sure makes one hell of an impression, huh? The show always has the hanging, looming fact that Pat Dugan has lost an entire superhero team fighting these Injustice Society punks, and there's always that bit of tension hanging above the show... but I didn't think we were going to have any more deaths until later on.

And honestly what made the death of the young, aspiring magician Joey Zarick so tragic is that we actually get some screentime for him playing around and trying to show off his magic tricks at school, but the episode keeps it pretty close to its chest that Joey is going to be relevant at all beyond the constant foreshadowings that, hey, the kids of the Injustice Society also go to the same school that Courtney does. And obviously not all the children are douchebags like Henry King Junior, because Joey is a kind if socially awkward kid. Courtney even gets a nice moment helping him out when he screws up a magic trick. And, of course, when the episode seems to focus more on Stargirl-vs-Icicle, you think that that's when the civilian stuff takes a bit of a backside... only for Icicle to attack the schoolbus and kill Joey because of an argument between him and fellow villain Wizard. The fact that the whole parent-and-children theme (even neglected Henry Junior gets a couple of scenes to see that he's broken up about his father's coma) is so ubiquitous in this show's core makes this hit far, far harder than the subsequent murder of Wizard himself.

And actually, that's an interesting thing to talk about in and of itself. William Zarick's interactions with Brainwave in the last couple of episodes and with Icicle here seems to paint him as a bit of a weak link in the supervillain organization (he killed his master before he learned all his tricks, and Jordan admonishes him for always giving up too quickly as a criminal and as a politician), someone who's afraid to go into battle and confront Stargirl properly. And the episode seems to really be heading for Icicle to pin Joey's death on Stargirl and motivate the Wizard to finally pick up his wand and be a proper supervillain. But then, turns out that Icicle is just a cold-hearted bitch and kills William anyway -- meaning that killing Zarick's kid was nothing but to make him suffer. Is it meant to be a warning to Sportsmaster, Tigress and the other supervillains-in-hiding, too? Fuck up, go against Icicle, and it's not just you that'll die. Your kids will die too.

And yet, the 'parent-and-child', and family-oriented vibe of the rest of Stargirl's cast apparently extends to Icicle himself. We don't quite get to see a whole lot, but we do see what drives Jordan. The episode opens with a flashback of Jordan's wife dying and imparting a message of 'if anyone tries to stop you, destroy them', which basically highlights that as far as Jordan is concerned, anyone that isn't part of his immediate family (his son and the two surprisingly calm parents) are just as disposable as his enemies.

More importantly, though, in terms of our character, we finally get Courtney 'punished', so to speak, for her yolo streak. While she got lucky with Brainwave in the first two-parter, I think it takes Joey's death to let it sink in to Courtney how this superheroing business isn't just a game, and real people die in this business to fight crime. Sure, Courtney doesn't quite realize that Joey was targeted by Icicle specifically thanks to a falling out within the Injustice Society, but Joey's dead all the same. Sure, all of the more procedural superhero stuff in this episode aren't terrible, but I just find it to not be as interesting to talk about compared to the scenes that make up the last part of this episode. Throughout the episode Courtney is still driven to avenge her maybe-biological-dad Starman by attacking and hunting down Icicle, but that's a completely different thing that avenging someone she actually personally knows. Pat brings his stepdaughter to the JSA base and lets her see the huge banners and little gadgets that were left of the dead Justice Society. I can't fault Pat for trying to get her daughter to get out of this very, very dangerous game, but Courtney being Courtney, of course she wants to be a hero, decides to, on her own initiative, steal a bunch of the superhero gadgets to rebuild the Justice Society. (Longtime DC fans will already realize that some of Courtney's classmates have very familiar names) Again, it's something that I felt flowed pretty well on-screen, even if narratively this episode is just there to both debut the big bad and introduce the concept of Courtney having to rebuild a new generation of heroes.

There are a couple of B-plots going around, too, although they are tied pretty neatly via Courtney's mom Barbara. In the New American Dream or whatever, Jordan shows up in front of Steven "Gambler" Sharpe and basically acts as a very cool, very nice boss, talking about how he has promised his dead wife that he'll make the world a safer place for their children, and being a far, far better and receptive boss to Barbara Whitmore than Sharpe ever was. Meanwhile, thanks to Courtney and Pat going around hunting supervillains, they end up missing out on the dinner night that Barbara works tirelessly for, leading to no small amount of friction between Pat and Barbara at the end of the episode where Barbara decides to, for once, put work before family.

The school stuff is... it's all right, but it's mostly just trying to introduce a whole lot of characters without overwhelming us, which is why Yolanda and Cindy don't get too much deviation from their respective 'surly target of bullying' and 'alpha bitch' personalities that we already know them as from the pilot. Which is another way to say that it's so easy to think that Joey Zarick is going to have a lot more to him in the same way that Cameron or Rick or Yolanda or any of the other school characters were. Mike also gets a bunch of neat, fun, bratty-son dialogue with Pat, but is mostly just there.

Overall, a very solid episode.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• We'll talk about the school kids now, at least those whose secret identities aren't a spoiler for subsequent episodes. Suffice to say that the 'losers squad' are inspired from the comics. Less of a spoiler is Cameron Mahkent, the jock bully, who is based on the second Icicle in the comics, the son of Joar Mahkent (the first Icicle), having mutated and being born with ice powers.
• Henry King Jr, meanwhile, in the comics would assume the mantle of "Brainwave Jr", although unlike his father, in the comics he would become a hero and a member of the team Infinity Inc. 
• Isaac Bowin, the principal's son that is forced into a music career, shares his real name with that of the Fiddler, an enemy of Jay Garrick's Flash that was able to use his violin to hypnotize people. Whether Isaac Bowin is going to be the Fiddler or just the son of the Fiddler isn't clear at the moment. 
• Hooty the Owl is the pet of the first Dr. Mid-Nite, Charles McNider, who cared for the wounded owl who flew into his house, and would inspire the then-blinded doctor to take on the garb of the owl-themed Dr. Mid-Nite. McNider apparently would have a series of pet owls, all named Hooty. The second Dr. Mid-Nite would name his pet owl Charlie after the late Charles McNider.
• I don't think he shows up or gets mentioned in the past couple of episodes, but Dr. Fate's picture could also be seen in the JSA base. The original Dr. Fate is Kent Nelson, an archaeologist who discovered the tomb of the ancient wizard of order, Nabu, and trained him to fight crime. The helmet of Dr. Fate would then pass on to numerous successors afterwards, delivering Nabu's will to many subsequent Dr. Fates. 
• Johnny Thunder's 5th-dimensional genie, Yz the Thunderbolt, is stored in a clicking pen when Johnny isn't summoning him. And being a reality warper, he is actually one of the most dangerous things available to the Justice Society.