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Man this episode hit all the right feelings as we ramp up to the big two parter season finale. While lacking in action many story beats that have been built up throughout the season are finally resolved. Courtney (finally) realizes her father isn’t Starman, but just some low-life named Sam Kurtis who may or may not actually want to reconnect with her. Janitor Justin regains his memory as the Shining Knight. Finally, Icicle learns that Courtney is Stargirl and debates whether or not to save Barbara from Project New America.
Courtney meets her real father:
As someone who only recently just read the comic run ‘Stars And Stripes’ in which this season is based on I’m very happy with how the show handled Sam Kurtis. Where the comic lacked in rushing Courtney’s meeting with her father I feel the show succeeded in bringing more depth to that dynamic. It was hard seeing Courtney reel with having to learn what we as the audience already knew(or at least suspected), but I’m glad they didn’t wait until season 2 to resolve this plot line. The actor who played Sam Kurtis(Geoff Stults) did a very good job portraying what appeared to be just a father wanting to reconnect with his daughter. I loved all the scenes with him and Courtney as it felt so genuine; I actually thought that he wanted to reconnect with Courtney until that very stairs scene ripped straight from Star and Stripes Issue #14.
This show managed to recreate that scene with Sam asking for the locket back from Courtney so perfectly. Both Brec Bassinger and Geoff Stults managed to capture that scene very well from the comic which just made it all the more heartbreaking to watch. That being said though I am finally glad Courtney finally knows the truth. Watching her break-down with questioning what the point in being Stargirl is if her father isn’t Starman felt so well earned. This message just reinforced the whole show’s theme of family is what you make it to be and isn’t defined by biology which is what causes Courtney to re-embrace being Stargirl.
Return of the Shining Knight:
Speaking of plot lines that are finally resolved we finally got (most) answers about how Justin ended up as the Janitor of Blue Valley High. Every single scene he’s been in so far I felt so bad for Justin as his fragmented memory made him seem like a crazy person to everyone around him. All of that build-up has finally paid off though as he remembers Pat enough to come visit him in his garage. Watching Pat teach both the amnesiac Justin as well as Rick and Beth about the Seven Soldiers of Victory was a great scene to watch. I’m hoping in season 2 we delve more into that plot line as what happened to the Seven Soldiers of Victory in the comics would be great material to see on the show. There’s so much history with those characters especially why Pat looks like he hasn’t aged a day that is definitely gonna be explored in the future.
Final Thoughts:
It really sucked having to see Icicle in the end decide to want to hurt Barbara and the rest of the Whitmore-Dugan household. The audience knew that he would end up deciding to hurt her in the end, but that didn’t make it any less harder to watch him have to finally make that decision. In short this episode while having lots of less action, it was still quite a very enjoyable heartfelt episode. Other than wanting a scene with the JSA talking about Henry’s death I still felt like this episode hit everything it needed to(Henry’s memorial at the school scene was both sad and intense at the same time). It felt good to take one last breath of calmness before the big heavy action bits happening in the final two episodes.
Score:10/10
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