In Review: Stargirl (S2 – EP3) Summer School: Chapter Three

Synopsis: In Summer School: Chapter Three. After getting a taste of the superhero life, Mike pleads with Pat to let him join the team.

The Story

Having learned that there is a new villain in town during last week’s episode. Courtney and the gang set about trying to find out where Richard Swift aka The Shade is hiding. Their quest becomes somewhat complicated when Courtney’s little brother Mikey gets hold of a pen that contains a Genie of sorts called Thunderbolt. Having gotten used to what Thunderbolt has to offer. Mike is pretty psyched and wants to be a member of the JSA.

However, having Thunderbolt on your side is a bit of a double-edged sword as you have to be very specific in regards to what you wish for. Seeing this as an opportunity to help them find The Shade. Courtney asks Pat to allow Mike to use Thunderbolt for the one-off task of locating The Shade.

The Acting

Trae Romano puts in a really solid performance this week as Mike Dugan, who very much feels alone in the world and is getting bullied. The establishing scenes between Mike and Thunderbolt are a lot of fun as we get to see Mike beam with excitement at the possibilities presented to him. Romano does a great job of making you empathize with his character and manages to tap into the lonely kid that is within all of us.

We also get a great performance from Luke Wilson as Mikes’s father Pat. The scenes where Pat tries to explain the dangers of Thunderbolt to Mike are really well performed. But it was the micro-expressions across Wilson’s face when Pat finds out that his son feels alone that really hit.

Finally, we get a proper villain as Jonathan Cake gets to show us a bit more of just how manipulative and scary The Shade is. The scene when the whole JSA confront him and come off as second best was loads of fun. You could tell that Cake was having a ball and twirling that metaphorical mustache. I can’t wait to see more of this villain in the weeks ahead.

Overall

After what has been two weeks of rather exposition-heavy episodes. We finally get an episode that has some action in it but also introduces us to Thunderbolt. I really appreciated the fact that the writers gave Mike a little more to do. As he is a character that has felt very much sidelined thus far.

The confrontation between The Shade and The JSA was done really well. The closing scene of the episode gave me chills. Overall Summer School: Chapter Three delivers what is perhaps the best episode of the season thus far.