Stargirl season 2, episode 13 review: Summer School: Chapter Thirteen

“After all I’ve done to your friends and family, tell me how you feel!” Spoilers for Stargirl season 2, episode 13 follow.

Stargirl and the Justice Society of America must use everything at their disposal try to and defeat Eclipso and stop his upcoming planfrom  coming to fruition.

With how barebones they are though, it doesn’t seem like it will be enough. How will The CW‘s new show fare?

Here’s everything that went down in DC’s Stargirl season 2, episode 13, “Summer School: Chapter Thirteen”.

The final fight of Stargirl season 2

The final fight against Eclipso is here and it’s all that you could expect and even more than that. Seeing all the different characters and aspects of the show come together after twelve episodes, many of which were a slow-burn, is just an incredible feeling. Everything that has happened this season pays off in the finale and it works so well.

The final fight starts out as excellent and only gets better as the barebones JSA first confronts Eclipso inside of the American Dream Foundation (which has apparently become the de facto finale setting for the show). Seeing Yolanda fight the original Wildcat, Cindy fight herself as a child, and Pat fight himself, and each of these aspects preying on each individual character’s fears, it’s excellently done. It’s well done form a character standpoint, as well as choreography standpoint, because it’s a very well-executed fight from that aspect as well.

When Eclipso begins to bring the Shadowlands into the normal world though, one positive thing happens. The Shade returns from the brink. It’s simply wonderful to have him brought back into the fold in a way that doesn’t take anything away from his death scene in episode 11 simply because, as The Shade puts it, he has a flair for the dramatic.

Light and dark

So, after an entire season of the dark slowly chipping away at the light, the light is finally engulfed by the ever-encroaching pitch black of Eclipso. Not only because he begins to open his pathway to the Shadowlands, but because he manages to completely destroy what little light is left in Blue Valley, Courtney, at least for a short amount of time.

The way that Eclipso does this is so simple, and he also gives a solid explanation of why he toyed with the JSA the entire season rather than straight-up killing them. He wanted to build the anger, fear, sadness, and, above all else, hate inside of Courtney as he tore apart those that she cared about. And then, when he had Pat and literally threated to tear him apart limb from limb, it would be anyone’s breaking point and Brec Bassinger plays it so well. The way that she says “I hate you!” is palpable and you can hear every ounce of pain that Courtney has gone through this entire season.

But what this episode then explores is our relationship with our hate and our fear. It drives us to become our worst selves and people who only destroy what’s around us. That little voice in the back of our head that tells us we’re worthless, we’re unloved, that we don’t deserve what happiness we have in life, our own little Eclipsos. But the episode doesn’t stop there as Starman comes to the rescue and helps break Courtney out of Eclipso’s control. This just creates such an excellent showing that our fears and our hate are temporary and that sometimes, just to break us out of our stupor, we need to the help of others, sometimes even strangers.

Rebuilding

In the end though, unsurprisingly, Eclipso gets defeated and the heroes win the day, as is normal in superhero storytelling. This is not an inherently bad thing mind you, as it fits well into the hopeful nature of Stargirl, both as a show and main character, but obviously, it was a bit predictable.

What wasn’t as predictable though was the fact that Starman showed back up and didn’t immediately demand the staff back. Watching him see that the staff had chosen Courtney for a reason and seeing him respect that, it was a nice change of pace to this kind of storytelling and one that endears us to Sylvester after seeing his bad sides during the flashbacks this season. Plus, seeing him tell Courtney that he’ll help train her even more, it should make for some great moments next season.

Plus, the final reveal that the Crocks are going to be back in Blue Valley full-time and bought the house right next to the Whitmore-Dugan household? Genuinely funny and surprising and a nice way to cap off this season.

What did you think of Stargirl season 2, episode 13? Let us know in the comments below!