IN REVIEW: STARGIRL (S3 – EP12) Frenemies – Chapter Twelve: The Last Will and Testament of Sylvester Pemberton

Synopsis: As the team devises a plan to deal with their latest threat, Sylvester takes matters into his own hands and leaves Courtney, Pat and the JSA fearing for what comes next.

The Story

Picking up from the last episode. Sylvester has decided to go after Icicle on his own, which leaves Pat and the JSA fearing for the worst. Meanwhile, Mike, Jakeem, and Cindy have managed to find one of her father’s old laboratories and seem to have walked right into a trap.  As Courtney looks to reunite the JSA. Sylvester has taken the staff and gone after Icicle on his own. With part following close behind it soon becomes apparent that the man who Pat knew as Starman is in fact someone else entirely and he is up to no good.

With the JSA back together. It is up to Courtney, Beth, and Yolanda to do what they can to help Rick who has become too dependent on the hourglass that gives him his powers.

The Acting

Joel McHale puts in a brilliant performance this week as he pulls off a twist that I hadn’t really seen coming. The reveal that Sylvester Pemberton has been taken over by the Ultra Humanite was a twist that came out of now where and it could not have been done. Had McHale not been up to the task. I loved the monologue at the end of the episode where Pemberton talks Pat through how his plan worked while burying him.

Brec Bassinger also has a really good scene with McHale’s Starman after she overhears him belittling Pat by telling him that he was always thought of as a joke by the other members of the JSA. Shortly after that scene Courtney confronts Pemberton and tells him that she’s always admired Starman and at one point thought that he was her dad. But it had been Pat who had been a proper dad to her all along because he’d always been there for her. It’s proper dramatic stuff.

Overall

The Last Will and Testament of Sylvester Pemberton do a fantastic job of setting things up for next week’s show, which could well be the series finale. The episode had a few clever twists and turns when it comes to characters like The Ultra Humanite, Icicle, and of course the Dragon King who gets reunited with his daughter thanks to the unintended help of Mike and Jakeem.

I’m really looking forward to next week now and hope that the finale will do this episode justice.