Stargirl Episodes 1-4 (2020) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! Happy New Year! How were your holidays? Mine was weird, but definitely not boring. Welcome to a new year at Josh's Geek Cave. I've got lots of reviews and other posts coming your way in the coming year so stay tuned for all of that. Today though I'm here to talk about the DC Comics based TV series, Stargirl. Specifically the first four episodes of season 1. I got the first two seasons on Blu-ray from my sister for Christmas, and I decided to dive into it finally since now that Star Trek: Prodigy is over and there's no Marvel, Star Wars, or other Star Trek shows starting for a while, there aren't any current shows on that I'm watching, except for Willow, at the moment. Which gives me lots of time to watch the first two seasons of Stargirl. There will be spoilers for these first four episodes so if you've never watched this show before and are interested in watching it, please do so before reading this review. And because this is the first time that Courtney Whitmore, a.k.a. Stargirl, has been the star of her own show, I'll also be talking about the history of the character a little bit as well. So let's get into it.

 Stargirl was the fourth and final live action series that Warner Bros. commissioned for the now obsolete DC Universe streaming service prior to all programming shifting over to HBO Max. However, because it didn't end up airing here in Canada at all, I completely missed it. I had bought the first season on iTunes two years ago, but, with so many Star Trek shows coming out and then Marvel shows and Star Wars shows coming out, in addition to shows like Only Murders in the Building, Love, Victor, and The Hardy Boys catching my interest I never got around to watching the season. So I asked for the first two seasons on Blu-ray for Christmas, got them, and now I can dive in. So before I get to the episodes and my favourite characters so far, let's talk about the history of Stargirl and why I think it helps to make this show so good.

Courtney Whitmore, also known as Stargirl, was created in 1999 by comic book writer, Geoff Johns. The character was created as a tribute to Johns's late sister, Courtney who was killed in a plane crash in 1996, while Johns was working as an intern for legendary film director, Richard Donner, who directed Superman: The Movie (1978), and The Goonies (1985), among many others. 

Stargirl first appeared in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0, which was dated July 1999. The series was written by Geoff Johns with art by Lee Moder. It ran for a total of 15 issues (0-14) from July 1999 until December 2000. Back in 2020 the entire series was published in a trade paperback collection called Stargirl By Geoff Johns. I have it in my collection so I'll be reviewing it in the very near future. However that would not be the end for Stargirl in the comics. 

Around the same time that Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. was in publication, the Justice Society of America was reformed for a new montly series, JSA, written by James Robinson and David S. Goyer. when the book launched in August, 1999, Stargirl was on the cover with the rest of the Justice Society. Johns would begin writing the book with Goyer starting with issue 6 and continued on the book until it was canceled in 2006. Courtney became one of the lead characters of the book and Johns was one of the only people to write the character during this period. 

Along with the rest of the DC Universe, Stargirl was revamped when DC launched the New 52 in 2011 beginning with Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, and Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison. Being that I haven't read anything that Stargirl has been in during the New 52 or even DC Rebirth, which started in 2016, I have no idea how much about Courtney's character was changed from the original version that Johns created in 1999.

Her first appearance in the New 52 didn't happen until 2013 in the first issue of Justice League of America, which served as a companion to the main Justice League book that was coming out at the time, as well as a spin-off of that book. 

More recently Stargirl has appeared in a one-shot Spring Break issue as well as a new six issue limited series called Stargirl: The Lost Children. I haven't read any of the more recent Stargirl comics, but if I can get them, I will. And like many of DC's other characters, Stargirl has appeared on TV.

Courtney's first appearance in live action was in season 9 of Smallville in the two part episode, "Absolute Justice", which was written by Geoff Johns. She also appeared in the season 9 finale and returned for two episodes in season 10. This version was a member of the Justice Society of America who would team up with the Green Arrow, Black Canary, Clark, and the other heroes in Metropolis. I've watched "Absolute Justice" and this version of Courtney did not have a whole lot to do in the episode except to talk back to Carter Hall, a.k.a. Hawkman, played by Michael Shanks. Brit Irvin played Courtney here.

The second live action version of Courtney appeared in season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow. Unlike the other two live action versions of the character, this version isn't from modern day. Instead she's a member of the JSA during World War II. She only actually appears in three episodes, and is played by Sarah Grey. Which now brings us to the actual review part of this post. I did want to get the history part out of the way just because she is the newest character to get her own show. Let's start with episode 1.

Titled "Stargirl", this is probably the best pilot episode of any of the CW DC shows, including Smallville. It opened with your typical superhero fight between the JSA and the Injustice Society of America (ISA), but once it switched over to the present day stuff with Courtney, Barbara, Mike, and Pat, it felt different. It felt unique. I think part of that is because the creator of Courtney, Geoff Johns, not only developed the show, but was the showrunner so it feels more like a slightly different version of how Johns portrays these characters in the comics. Plus I also think that because Courtney isn't as well known of a character as Superman and Batman are, the show doesn't feel predictable the way Titans and Superman & Lois do. 

The casting for this show is amazing. With the exception of the villains and most of the teen characters on this show, I'm familiar with most of this cast. Brec Bassinger, who plays Courtney on this show, was in the pilot episode of The Goldbergs as a girl that Adam has a crush on, and then she comes back either at the end of season 3 or the beginning of season 4 as the same character. She's great as Courtney, and I'll be talking more about her a little later on. Then you have Luke Wilson as Pat Dugan. Apart from being Owen Wilson's brother, Luke was a recurring character in season 4 of That '70s Show, where he played Kelso's brother, Casey, and he's been in several movies over the years as well. Amy Smart, who plays Courtney's mom, Barbara, on this show, was in a ton of comedies in the 2000s. And the last cast member I recognized was Meg DeLacy, who plays the show's resident mean girl/supervillain daughter, Cindy Burman. She was in a movie called F the Prom, which came out in 2017.

Episode 2, "S.T.R.I.P.E.", does a wonderful job at continuing the story. Courtney makes her costume, Pat refines the S.T.R.I.P.E. armor, and the villains realize that the Cosmic Staff is back in play after ten years. They also take out Brainwave and Courtney still has to deal with school stuff. Including the school's open house, which is something I remember more from my own life in high school, 20 years ago. It's not something we see much on TV shows or in movies when it comes to high school shows and movies.

Episode 3, "Icicle" is where things start to get a bit more real for Courtney. One of her classmates is killed by Icicle during her first battle with him. Not that she didn't take it seriously before this episode, but I don't think she really understood what kind of life she'd be leading as Stargirl. She also realizes that she and Pat are going to need help if they're going to take on the Injustice Society. Especially with the original JSA members all being dead. The craziest thing about this episode is that the fight between Courtney and Icicle is during the day instead of at night. I mean it's not really new since alot of the fight scenes on Superman & Lois, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow took place during the day, but usually the default setting for superhero fight scenes is nighttime. Particularly on TV. So to have one taking place during the day is pretty cool to see. Especially with how good Courtney's Stargirl costume looks.

Episode 4, "Wildcat", is probably my favourite episode of this batch of episodes. One of the problems that I've had with alot of superhero shows is that the vast majority of them don't get downtime episodes, where the characters have smaller missions or smaller battles or they just don't suit up. But this episode was a smaller mission involving only Courtney and the new Wildcat, Yolanda Montez, played by Yvette Monreal. After Courtney recruits Yolanda, the girls go to the hospital where Brainwave is unconscious to see who visits him or who doesn't. This way they can find out if there are any other members of the Injustice Society living in Blue Valley under secret identities. It was a pretty fun episode. Now I haven't talked about every plot detail in these first four episodes, just recapping the main plots. Before I get into my favourite characters, I want to talk about the music.

The show's score is by Pinar Toprak, a composer I'm unfamiliar with. However, the song selection is so '80s and '90s, it's ridiculously awesome. Most superhero shows on The CW stick to a simple musical score with pieces for each of the main characters, heroes and villains. Occasionally they'll play some modern song from artists nobody knows about. So when a cover of Hanson's 1997 hit single, "MMMBop" started playing during the introduction of present day Courtney at the beginning of the pilot, I was like, "Okay, I get what this show is now". Especially since songs from the '70s and '80s are played in the next three episodes.

It's really hard to choose favourite characters on this show, because they're all pretty great. But I love Courtney. She's the most refreshing superhero I've seen in a really long time. She's not super angsty, she's not brooding all the time, she's just your average teenager who becomes a superhero. And not even in the way that Spider-Man is. She's just really optimistic and genuinely wants to help people without wanting revenge because a family member or friend was killed either before or just after she got her powers. 

My next favourite character is Yolanda, a.k.a. Wildcat. I remember seeing the character in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book series, so she's slightly familiar to me. But, without giving anything away, she has a really interesting storyline. While Yolanda had a minor role in the first three episodes, episode 4 is where she really came to the forefront and I loved it as her superhero debut. Although I had to laugh when she first put on her suit because it was big on her, and then when she put the cowl on, it conformed to her body type and it just reminded me of Power Rangers Turbo where Justin, the Blue Ranger grows to adult size when he morphs, but as soon as his helmet comes off, he returns to his original height, but I am really excited to see where the show takes this character.

And of course, Pat Dugan is great. He's kind of unique because in the comics he's the adult sidekick of a teenage superhero, the Star-Spangled Kid. Normally the adult is the superhero and the teenager is the sidekick, not the other way around. Luke Wilson is fantastic in the role. I mean I wasn't sure about him because the last time I saw him on TV it was on That '70s Show as Casey Kelso, and that character was a jerk. So I wasn't really sure how he could play such an earnest character like Pat. He does it really well. I love his dynamic with Courtney too. And I can't wait to see his reaction when he finds out that she recruited new members into the JSA. 

Overall these first four episodes were awesome, and I can't wait to finish the season so I can talk about it in full on here. It's so refreshing to have a teenage superhero series, on The CW, where the high school stuff is done well, because it was pretty bad on Smallville and isn't great on Superman & Lois either. So I would recommend checking out this show.

That's gonna be it for me for today. But I will be back soon with my review of the entire first season once I finish watching it. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.