Season 1
DC Universe / CW
May 24, 2020 @ 9:00pm PT (GMT-5)
Episode 2 – S.T.R.I.P.E
At the end of the first episode, Pat/Stripesy shows up inside a mech robot, following Courtney’s interrogation by Brainwave. He flies Courtney out of the situation and home.
Pat explains to Courtney how he searched all around for the Injustice League of America (ILA) and that they moved to Blue Valley because he thought they’d be safe there from them there.
Brainwave talks to his son, Henry, again about the fight at the drive-in. He wanted to know if it was a girl that beat up his friends and blew up their car? He replied that it was too dark and he couldn’t see.
Day #2 at Blue Valley High School and Courtney is trying to fit in. She took the Starman uniform and makes sewing alterations. She wants to have her own uniform to protect her true identity.
Pat visits Ripped City, a fitness gym to build his muscles. Nice use of music from Karate Kid (“Your the best!”). Starting to wonder if the creators are Karate Kid fans.
Open House at Blue Valley and Brainwave is trying to track down Courtney’s identity based upon an ID badge that was burned at the tire factory. He finds her and wonders if he is Starman’s daughter. “You keep thinking of him, over and over.” She tells him, “You’ll pay what you did to the JSA and my father.” Brainwave tells her that she’s going to bring him the cosmic staff at midnight. He threatens to kill her mother if she doesn’t comply.
Courtney tells Pat what happened and he tells Courtney to protect her mother. That if he doesn’t return after that night’s battle, to take her mom out of the city and somewhere where she can be safe from the Injustice League. Pat heads to his garage, planning to fight Brainwave as the mech robot known as S.T.R.I.P.E outside Blue Valley Tire.
Brainwave rather easily disables S.T.R.I.P.E and is about to destroy him when Stargirl flies in on the staff.
Brainwave attacks throwing all kinds of debris with his mind. Stargirl is trapped by the bumper of the car and Brainwave moves in, about to crush her with his mind …
Check out the second episode to see if Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E escape Brainwave’s attack. What about the rest of the Injustice Society? Is Stargirl’s mother safe?
Summary
Another solid episode, this one also written by Geoff Johns, co-creator of Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. Perhaps this is normal for superhero TV shows but there is a bit of an air of corniness. Some of the dialogue, in particular, just sounds a bit cheesy. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s a comic book adaptation, but at times it doesn’t sound like something people would say. Sure, they might say these things in comic books, but not in a live action show.
We now have enough origin backstory and see how Courtney Whitmore becomes Stargirl and Stripesy becomes S.T.R.I.P.E, we also know a few of the villains of the Injustice League. There is a real sense that another epic battle is brewing.
For those catching this show on DC Universe, they offer a bunch of comic books providing the history of Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. in a dedicated section called: Get To Know Stargirl here: https://www.dcuniverse.com/collections/gtk-stargirl
This show is acting as a good gateway, similar to Harley Quinn the adult animated show, encouraging viewers to deep-dive the comics and learn more. I haven’t read any of these comic books, but am getting more interested. It’s working.
An entertaining start for the series, I’m definitely looking forward to more episodes.
Overall episode rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
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