Stargirl season 3 episode 11 review: The Haunting

“Trust me, Barbara. I’m a changed man.” This week’s episode of Stargirl feels very slow, but it’s very deliberate with setting up for the final few episodes of the season. Spoilers for Stargirl season 3 episode 11 follow.

Stargirl and the JSA begin to plan their assault to take down the Ultra-Humanite, but before they can, an old face makes his return to Blue Valley.

Jordan Mahkent has returned from the dead and is now acting like he’s a changed man.

Stargirl season 3 episode 11 review

Icicle returns

After the surprising reveal at the end of the last episode, and his luring of and killing the Crocks in his hidey hole beneath Blue Valley, Jordan makes his grand reappearance in the small town and into his family’s life.

Honestly, something like this shouldn’t work, nor feel earned, and yet, everything about his return has felt inevitable. His defeat at the end of season 1 always felt weak. It wasn’t cheap, but it just didn’t have the catharsis that you would think it would have. So, retconning it so that he didn’t actually die, but was just basically decorporealized for a year paves the way for a more cathartic beating of Jordan.

As for his arrival back into Cameron’s life, it just shows just how awful of a person Jordan is. Jordan has been, and will always be, an evil piece of ice. He doesn’t regret anything he’s done nor does he even take any responsibility after the horrendous acts he’s committed. He lies to everyone about how why and how he killed the Crocks, which is honestly the least of his crimes, which is saying a lot. He even lies directly to his own son when Cameron simply states that Jordan’s killed people and, instead of admitting anything, he basically says he did nothing wrong, but regardless, he’s “changed his ways.”

And after he first reappears to his family, he then makes his grand reappearance at his foundation, much to the shock of Barbara. Sadly, no one thinks too much about how or why Jordan has been gone for so long and believes the first thing that he says, much to the chagrin of Barbara.

Making plans

As the JSA begins to make plans to try and take down the Ultra-Humanite, they get interrupted before they can get far into it. However, it’s for a very good reason as it’s Artemis, who’s looking for her parents. Obviously, the team quickly goes to search for them, but when they find the Crocks’ remains, Artemis’ reaction is heartbreaking. The episode isn’t afraid to linger, just letting us hear Artemis’ screams. It’s not afraid to hurt you like that.

It then repeats at the end of the episode when Artemis is alone in her room and she just breaks down. As Barbara comes in and just holds her, it’s hard not to feel the tears welling up in your eyes. This then segues incredibly well with Yolanda calling her mom in a scene where Yvette Monreal absolutely kills it. These two scenes back-to-back will just tear your heart out.

When Sylvester finds out that Jordan is alive, his reaction is very apt after everything that happened. He wants to kill Icicle, just like Icicle killed him. But this isn’t what Courtney wants to do. While it may seem that it’s tied to her feelings for Cameron, it’s really just who Courtney is.

She wants peace, but despite her feelings toward trying to redeem people, it’s clear that she still doesn’t trust Jordan, even if she wants to give him a chance. But it’s a good thing that she doesn’t trust him because he and the Ultra-Humanite are working together which really sets up the endgame for this final season of Stargirl.

This week’s episode of Stargirl feels very slow, but it’s very deliberate in setting up for the final few episodes of the season.