After the somewhat episode last week, Stargirl kicks back into full gear in this week's installment. This episode served as the first official mission for the new JSA, and I'll say it delivered on all fronts. In what is effectively the end of the first half of the season, the stage is now set for the show to really dig into what the overarching plot is about.
The two villainous debuts here, Sportsmaster and Tigress, were most excellent (and quite violent, with the murder of the Football couch). Though we've seen them pop up here and there throughout the first half of the season, this was the first time seeing them in full costumes (which looked pretty good). We saw their daughter Artemis (mentioned in a previous episode) for the first time as well, and hopefully, this means she'll be joining up with the JSA down the road. In addition to the family debut, we got a better sense of how the two villains fit within the dynamic of the ISA, working as the "grunts" of the team. Looking forward to seeing how their family situation develops in the future.
The official team-up of the new JSA went as well you'd expect. The team was a bit rocky and didn't gel well in the beginning, with Rick primarily being the source of stubbornness. It also didn't help that Pat was telling Courtney to essentially disband the team, which furthered tensions between the teens. It all made for great drama though, and the cast works quite well with each other. Fortunately too, Pat finally came around and agreed to help train the team, which is good because his constant push back against Courtney was beginning to get frustrating. It made sense from a character standpoint, but I'm glad that he's now fully on board with building up the JSA and stopping the ISA.
That final battle scene was extremely well done, and the display of both the heroes and villains powers looked incredible. The Courtney and the Cosmic Staff continued to be the highlight, but it was also cool seeing all the heroes figuring out their place in the fight. On the villain side, Sportsmaster's baseball move was the coolest moment for me. All of this has got me even more pumped for the eventual, full-on JSA Vs. ISA battle in the finale.
Despite the rushed final formation of the team in the last episode, this episode made up for it in showcasing how great the cast is together. Now that Pat is on board and everyone's on the same page, hopefully, now we'll start to get a better understanding of the ISA's plans in the next batch of episodes. "Project America" is still very much a mystery, and it'd be nice to start getting tangible answers in that regard.
