Beware of spoilers for the episode in the article. Please do not continue reading if you haven’t watched the episode yet and you are not okay with being spoiled.
Introduction :
The series finale opens with a cold open set nine months ago with Dragon King digging up Sylvester's body, bringing him back to life and transferring Ultra-humanites brain into Sylvester’s body. We also discover the real reason Jordan brought Ultra-humanite back in Sylvester's body ( so he could have a superhero he could use to carry out his plans without suspicion ). Jordan even wanted Sylvester to go as far as running for President because people were more likely to listen to a superhero. Sylvester-humanite would as a result regain the fame and public adoration he had before as the Hollywood actress Dolores Winters. Jordan is truly evil and he hasn't changed at all. It was pretty sad that the last thought Sylvester had was worrying about what happened to Pat, in the end Sylvester really cared about his best friend.
The JSA figures it out :
The gang quickly put two and two together that Sylvester was their enemy within this whole time and he had actually succeeded in his plan to both weaken and fracture the JSA.
Jordan :
Jordan told Cameron that the Ultra-humanite killed Pat (which was the truth but he left out the fact that Sylvester is the Ultra-humanite). This made Ice Grandpa mad at Jordan who he told not to lie to Cameron. Ice Grandpa ,Ice Grandma and Jordan proceeded to have a disagreement about this conversation in their native language which Cameron couldn't hear at all. Jordan thereafter made Cameron call Courtney and lie to her about Sylvester and Jordan teaming up at the Junkyard to take out the Ultrahumanite without telling Courtney about Pat's "death" which probably laid the first seed of doubt about his father ( these seeds only accumulated from this point onwards in the episode ).
Pat and the All Stars :
Elsewhere in the episode Pat crawled out of his grave just as Cindy , Mike and Jakeem managed to escape from the Dragon King's base and ended up conveniently at the Blue Valley Tire factory.
The Junkyard and Tire Factory Fight :
The gang suited up for one final time as they went to the junkyard to find meet up with Cameron , Jordan and Sylvester. When they arrived Sylvester lied of course and said Pat was killed by the Ultra-humanite. Courtney didn't buy the subterfuge just as Pat showed up at the Junkyard ready for battle with Stripsy. Sylvester-humanite dealt the first blow with the cosmic staff as the fight began and Ice Grandma attacked soon afterwards as she had a rematch with Yolanda.
Cindy faced off against her father with the All Stars at the Tire factory as she protected Mike and Jakeem. Just as Dragon King was about to crush Cindy to death Jakeem saved Cindy with a wish to save the most beautiful girl in the world according to him, turning the Dragon King into a plush toy.
Beth and Ice Grandpa quickly resolved not to fight again and instead agreed to stop everyone from hurting each other. Ice Grandma, angered by her husband not wanting to fight, tried to kill Ice Grandpa and she ended up accidentally crushing herself with a car Wicked witch of the East style ( this reminded me of The Wizard of Oz ).
Barbara showed up just in time to save Courtney with a crossbow in hand as she shot Jordan. Icicle is a very delusional character , how he thought him and Barbara were going to get together with his new plan is beyond me, it’s probably one of the reasons he sanctioned Pat’s murder. Jordan obsession with Barbara did him in as he tried to kill Barbara again after she rejected him , this turned out to be the final straw for Cameron as he turned against his father and joined the JSA’s side in the fight.
Courtney mustered up enough courage thanks to a pep talk from her mother to save Pat and get the cosmic staff back. Sylvester manipulated Courtney all season and laid seeds of doubt in her about her worthiness of the staff and Sylvester deserving it more , which actually gave Sylvester-humanite more power over the cosmic staff. Once Courtney realised this it was game over for the Ultra-humanite. Courtney has struggled a lot throughout the series regarding her own belief in her worthiness for the staff especially after she found out she wasn’t Sylvester's daughter (this even later caused some tension with Jade in season 2 because Jade was actually the daughter of a JSA hero and she wasn’t ).
Courtney left Pat to take care of Sylvester-humanite as she flew into the sky. Pat and the Ultrahumanite fought back and forth for a bit until Pat gained the upper hand and he hit the Ultra-humanite over the head with a rock and defeated him. Courtney flew to face off against Jordan and assist Cameron. Realising just how far gone his father was for himself Cameron unleashed his ice powers at Icicle and turned him into a cloud. Cameron and his Grandfather left Blue Valley soon after the fight. That was just the first 20 minutes of the episode.
The Aftermath (tying up loose ends) :
1. Courtney and Pat :
Pat and Courtney had a father daughter talk and he explained to her how he used a trick Sylvester taught him how to disjoint both thumbs to allow him to slip from any restraint which helped him earlier in the episode to get free and crawl out of his grave. Even though Sylvester and Pat did have a contentious friendship Sylvester still saved his best friend's life. Pat also told Courtney that he heard everything she said about him being her hero when Sylvester left the house and took the cosmic staff. The writers of the series really held back on letting Courtney call Pat her Dad a lot , at this point I’m wondering if they were planning on doing it more consistently in season 4 or 5.
2. Rick and Beth :
Rick gave up the hourglass and being Hourman as he apologized to Beth and her parents for his past behavior. Beth also apologized to her parents for pushing them away and she asked them for their help. Her parents were happy to be referred to as Beth's sidekicks. I'm sad we won't get to see Beth's upgraded superhero costume.
3. Sylvester’s body:
Charles McNider returned to the show for one final scene and informed Courtney and Pat that whilst Sylvester's body was still alive and well the brain bleed caused by Pat hitting him in the head damaged the Ultra-humanites brain. The three of them decided to keep Sylvester-humanite on life support whilst they searched for Sylvester's brain so they could possibly transfer it back into his body. We saw a short scene of Sylverster’s brain in a glass liquid container in an unknown mountain reliving his last memory worrying about Pat over and over again as Dragon King operated on him.
4. Mike and his Biological Mum :
Mike went to the Diner to finally meet his Mum as Barbara and Mike watched over him from the car. Mike called Barbara Mum when he came back to the car and thanked her. I'm glad we got to hear that again before the show ended. Mike and Pat’s mother son relationship is one of my favorite aspects of the show that we got less off after season 1. I’m glad the show didn’t go with the evil stepmother trope (Barbara was actually in reality a much better parent to Mike compared to Pat once she came into the picture).
5. Courtney finding the Gambler's daughter :
Courtney managed to find Gamblers daughter and she gave Rebecca her father's letter like she promised. Gamblers daughter seems to be a chip off the old block as she hugged Courtney , told her thank you and stole her necklace in broad daylight.
6. Rick :
Rick walked to Solomon Grundy's grave and talked with him as Grundy's hand punched through the dirt. Solomon Grundy came back to life after all.
7. JSA Dinner :
Back at the Whitmore Dugans house. Yolanda called her mother and she made the decision to tell her parents the truth hoping that like her friends' families the truth would be able to heal and bring her family back together.
8. Courtney and Cameron :
Courtney walked past Cameron's house and she reunited with Cameron in the snow. The two lovebirds hugged as Cameron asked Courtney if she could help him. I'm glad that they just hugged at this point it wouldn't have felt authentic to do anything else ( e.g… kissing), their relationship feels weird to both of them at this point.
9. Copenhagen , Denmark (three months later) :
Jordan has reconstituted back into human form and he is now living in Copenhagen,Denmark. Artemis who didn't appear at all this episode finally shows up and executes her vengeance on her parents' killer. She set him on fire to make sure he won't be able to come back.
The episode's epilogue (Ten years from now) :
The Shade gives a tour of the JSA museum and he reveals the current roster of the JSA. Courtney ( who is now Starwoman ) , Wildcat , Cindy now Dragon Queen , Jade , Obsidian ,Stripe 2.0 ( Mike ), Jakeem Thunder , Icicle ( Cameron ) , Artemis , Sand , Damage , Hourman (Rick) and Doctor Mid-Nite (Beth). He also announces that Rick and Beth are about to get married with the Shade officiating the marriage. I'm a little sad we never got to see that romance properly develop on screen (the two characters were still at the friend stage ). The Shade also mentions that the JSA rescued the Seven Soldiers of Victory from a cosmic deity called the Nebula man ( this was probably what season 4 or 5 might have been about ) and that Sylvester's brain was eventually recovered and he was revived.
Jay Garrick showed up in the final minutes of the episode looking for the Shade and announced that he needed the JSAs help (including the Shade who is also now a JSA member).The ending of the show echoes that it will truly never be the end as heroes will always rise up to save the day in the end.
Additional Notes :
1. All the Stargirl fight scenes are unique and I loved that the show brought it for one last time in it’s final big battle sequence.
2. I truly hope that the show can be saved by some miracle. I would love a tv series set in that ten years later timeline. With DC possibly rebooting everything and recasting everyone to form one joint universe this might be the last time we ever see any of these actors as these characters again.
3. This was a great finale episode that tied as many story threads that the writers could with the time and budget they had. Whilst I wish there was more I'm happy we managed to get three seasons of this great show.
It's been a pleasure writing these reviews for Stargirl I hope you've enjoyed reading them.
"What are your thoughts about the finale ? "
"Do you still hope the show comes back in one form or another ? "
"What are your overall thoughts about Frenemies as a season ? "
Let us know in the comments below.
