In Review: Stargirl (S3 – EP6) Frenemies – Chapter Six: The Betrayal

Synopsis: In The Betrayal, After learning that Courtney has been spending time with Cameron, Pat and Barbara go on a recon mission to see if the Mahkents pose a threat.

The Story

Betrayal and secrets are pretty much the main themes of this week’s episode. Picking up from last week. Yolanda aka Wildcat has managed to steal The Gambler’s laptop from Cindy Burman’s house and has asked Beth to download its contents and decrypt them to find out what is going on and who is behind it. Meanwhile, Courtney continues her clandestine relationship with Cameron and is teaching him how he can use his icicle powers to create instead of destroy, which sees the troubled teen create an ice statue of his late father who Courtney killed. Elsewhere, Pat and Barbara pay a visit to the Mahkents to try and figure out if they are a threat. However, things get somewhat awkward when Cameron and Courtney walk in.

Having gotten all of the data off of the Gambler’s laptop. Beth discovers that someone. Most likely the Lizard King has the entirety of the town under surveillance. But unsure what to do with the information she just has Yolanda aka Wildcat return the laptop to Cindy’s place, but when Yolanda breaks into Cindy’s home to return it she is caught in the act and a fight between her and Cindy breaks out. Cindy is still insistent that she is innocent of the crime of murdering The Gambler, but Yolando and Hour-Man do not believe her. The fight continues until Courtney eventually breaks it up and tries to mediate a feeling of peace and says that Cindy should have let them know about the changes that she has been going through. This triggers Cindy into letting Hour-Man and Wildcast know that Courtney has been keeping secrets from them.

The Acting

The acting was fairly solid throughout this episode. I really enjoyed the scene between Cindy and Yolanda and the fight that ensued as it has been building for weeks. However, it is the quieter scene between Sylvester (Joel McHale) and Courtney (Brec Bassinger) after the reveal of the betrayal that really sold it. Especially given that Sylvester has been through it all and has the hindsight to be able to see Courtney’s situation with more clarity than she can.

I also thought that Meg DeLacy was awesome. She has been fairly consistent with her very layered performance as Cindy Burman who is dealing with a lot of stuff. I’ve really appreciated her performance and how she has portrayed the gradual transformation that Cindy is going through. So much so that I really want Cindy to become a part of Courtney’s team by the close of the series or at least more of a neutral character within this universe that can straddle that middle ground between light and dark. Either way, DeLacy continues to impress.

Overall

Although it was predictable that things were going to come to this. I really appreciated the performances from all the cast and am enjoying the various character journeys that are happening. The various scenes of the Lizard King watching the surveillance footage were well-handled and served as a great plot device to ratchet up the tension. The question is. Has Lizard King figured out that Beth and Pat know that he is watching them? I can’t wait to find out.