Stargirl season 3, episode 5 review: The Thief

“Even dead, they’re mocking me!” Spoilers for Stargirl season 3, episode 5 follow.

While Stargirl is dealing with her personal life, Starman and the JSA begin their search for Dragon King.

Amidst this, Courtney mulls over how much she should tell Cameron about his powers, his dad, and the ISA.

Here’s everything that happened in DC’s Stargirl season 3, episode 5 “Frenemies – Chapter Five: The Thief”.

Stargirl season 3, episode 5 review

Madness

Sylvester, as much as he tries to hide, didn’t come back from the dead with his mind entirely together. Just from the flashbacks we’ve seen, he was never the nicest guy, but his quickness to outright rage shows that something deeper is wrong within him. Whether this has to do with who he always was, coming back from the dead, or something more insidious, it’s unclear, but it really seems that he’s just having trouble coming to terms with his new reality, which is very relatable.

Because of his anger, though, Sylvester can’t sleep, leading to Barbara checking up on him. This is really the first time we’ve ever seen them interact and it’s genuinely great. The pair’s conversation about examples and parenthood that leads to Barbara calling Mike her son is so wonderful, heartwarming, and genuine, which really gets at the heart of what the show has always been about: family. Pat has consistently called Courtney his daughter, so it’s really nice to see Barbara talk about Mike the same way.

But Sylvester continues to be a terrible example (while also being a genuinely nice person) to Beth when he calls her during a math test. Bothering her during a test? Bad. Complimenting her in an extremely nice way? Good. Leading to her accidentally cheating because she has the goggles on? Also bad. So at least there’s one good thing. But yet another thing on his path to hell (which is paved with good intentions) is basically telling Rick to take the limiter out of the hourglass, which could lead to an addiction arc – something that has been a consistent thing for Hourman in the comics.

Research

Courtney begins to use old ISA files to research Cameron’s emerging powers, which probably isn’t the best decision that she’s ever made, which she knows. But infatuation makes us all do some crazy things, so I think most of us, if we were in her shoes, would do the same. Honestly, this is probably the most “CW” that the show has ever been and yet, it doesn’t feel out of place in this episode. It’s entirely driven by realistic character decisions and never overplays its hand to make it feel like melodrama.

While she does so, she also wants to figure out whether or not she should tell Cameron about his father, to which she goes to Cindy for advice. And while it’s a short conversation between the two, it really highlights how similar Courtney, Cindy, and Cameron all are. Each of their dads are garbage, so to hear Cindy be kind and tell Courtney to try and spare Cameron the pain of knowing who his father really was, it shows how much she’s changing.

But clearly not changing that much once she goes to antagonize Cameron and he begins to show off his powers, at least slightly, to her out of his anger, which catches her off-guard. It’s obvious that she’s goading him so that she can pursue her own interests, but it’s also clear that, even in her often weird ways, she cares for Courtney and doesn’t want to see her get hurt.

The King Returns?

As for The Dragon King returning, at this point we have no idea if he has or not, just like the characters in the show. Both the JSA and Cindy are searching for old hideouts of the monstrous professor, but for very different reasons. The JSA thinks he murdered The Gambler, while Cindy continues to look for a way to curb her mysterious illness.

There are so many questions left that the season has to answer and no answers are given here, only more questions.

In action-light episode, Stargirl still manages to be incredibly engaging because of its continued fantastic character work.

Stargirl season 3 airs on The CW on Wednesdays at 8/7c.

If you’re a fan of Stargirl, listen to The CW Spiral podcast for all of the latest news and updates. Subscribe to their YouTube channel here. 

What did you think of Stargirl season 3, episode 5? Let us know in the comments below!