In Review: Stargirl (S2 – EP9) Summer School: Chapter Nine

Synopsis: In Chapter Nine of Summer School. Pat is reminded of painful memories from his past. Mike gets forced to control the guilt he feels for his role in Icicle’s death. Courtney struggles to hold on to hope after Eclipso targets those around her.

The Story

Having managed to scare off Yolanda as well as managing to get rid of Rick in last week’s show. Eclipso turns his attention to everyone else. Having failed to scare off Beth. He turns his attentions to Pat, Mike, and Barbara. Pat basically has a series of flashbacks retelling what really happened when the original JSA came up against Eclipso. While Mike gets a visit from Cameron Mahkent who forces him to deal with his guilt for the death of Icicle. 

Meanwhile, Barbara is taunted by a hallucination in which she sees Jordan Mahkent in the back of her car. Lucky for her that The Shade is somehow able to snap her out of it.

Elsewhere in the Dugan house. Courtney is on the phone with Beth trying to figure out a way that they can take down Eclipso.

The Acting

We get a nice guest appearance from John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick. Who joins the original JSA team in their attempt to stop Eclipso. This gives us a few nice scenes with Luke Wilson. As it seems that Jay and Pat share a similar moral compass. As both Jay and Pat have to make somewhat of a stand when the JSA casts a vote on killing the host body that Eclipso is using. We also get a solid performance from Joel McHale as Sylvester Pemberton aka the original Starman.

Trae Romano also gets to shine as Mike who shares a really intense series of scenes with Hunter Sansone as Cameron Mahkent who torments Mike about Icicle.

Overall

Chapter Nine gives us an episode in which shit is getting real. The various attacks by Eclipso on Courtney’s crew are getting more and more intense as he makes them all face their worst fears. As well as trying to tap into the darker side of their nature. The scene at the very close of the episode in which we have the young Bruce Gordon smiling while watching Courtney walk out on Pat was eery as hell. It actually put me in mind of the young creepy little blonde girl from the Poltergeist movies.

Overall. A great ride…