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DC’s Stargirl is here to brighten up the sometimes-brooding superhero scene with a weekly, multiplatform rollout on DC Universe (starting May 18) and The CW (premiering Tuesday, May 19). But when all is said and done, will the gung-ho teen’s biggest adversary be oh-so-serious supervillains?
Brec Bassinger (of Hulu’s All Night) headlines the series as Courtney Whitmore, a spry teen whose life in Los Angeles is upended when her widowed mom, Barbara (Felicity‘s Amy Smart), remarries and in turn relocates them to super-quaint Blue Valley, Nebraska. Courtney is no insta-fan of stepdad Pat Dugan (Roadies‘ Luke Wilson) or his son Mike (Trae Romano), and she for no logical reason is banished to the “losers” table at her new school’s cafeteria, where she sorta meets outcasts Yolanda (Faking It‘s Yvette Monreal) and Beth (Tall Girl‘s Anjelika Washington). Courtney’s countenance literally brightens up, though, when she discovers in her stepdad’s cellar a glowing staff that veritably calls out to her.
For a short while thereafter, DC’s Stargirl is pure, contagious joy, as Courtney gets acquainted with her inanimate-yet-animated staff and all the tricks she can do with it. (Cue jaunty montage set to poppy music!) In fact, time and again when watching DC’s Stargirl — especially the first couple of episodes, out of the five I screened — it very much evoked the Walt Disney films of “old,” namely the ones in which college student Kurt Russell was accidentally bestowed with one power (invisibility) or another (supersmarts), and rightly geeked out. (Kids, ask your parents about Now You See Him, Now You Don’t.) The costume sewing process, almost always overlooked in such an origin story, here is played to great comedic, and logically sound, effect.
When confronted by Courtney with this fantastical find, Pat confides in her his past with the Justice Society of America, some of which is depicted in flashback in the series’ intense opening minutes. The Reader’s Digest version: A member of the Injustice Society years ago iced Starman (guest star Joel McHale), who may or may not have been Courtney’s dad. Pat, as the clumsily named “Stripesy,” was Starman’s hapless sidekick. Now, it would seem, Courtney is fated to pick up the star-spangled mantle, as injustice again begins to brew in the shadows of Blue Valley….
Things drag a bit in the second episode as Stargirl deals with the repercussions of accidentally blowing up a bully’s car (whoops!) and then faces off with her first supervillain. But the series gets a second wind at the very end of Episode 3, because after all there is no “I” in Justice Society of America. (OK, there are three, but you get my point. A team must be assembled!)
For DC comic fans, Stargirl is an abundant basket of Easter eggs, as a multitude of names are dropped, Golden Age backstories are touched upon, and at one point a green lantern gets shoved into a gym bag. Blue Valley is picturesquely realized as a Normal Rockwellian hamlet where the Main Street theater is a hallowed venue and folksy auto shops get framed in hero shots. (The series was shot in Georgia; no over-filmed, overcast Vancouver here.) The visual effects work — from the personality-infused Cosmic Staff to S.T.R.I.P.E. the robot (who, yes, gets his own training montage) — is solid and sometimes stellar, without ever being splashy.
Bassinger and Wilson shoulder the lion’s share of the first episodes, as Stargirl gets schooled on the JSA’s rich history and then finds her own footing, and they are each pitch-perfect in their roles — respectively ebullient/plucky and prudent/dorky. Smart is also well-cast though Barbara isn’t given much to do at first, other than be vexed by Courtney’s fits of odd behavior; but slowly and surely, she is steered in the direction of danger. (As for stepbrother Mike: Akin to this Comedy Central bit making rounds, he can be a tad… bit… much.)
Here is what is more disappointing, though: They say a hero is only as good as his villain, and at first blush Stargirl’s adversaries are painted with the exact same brush — super-serious, stone-faced men. All sinister, no style. So in that respect, ISA get-togethers more resemble the Seven of Amazon’s The Boys. Also, Brainwave (Christopher James Baker channeling Willy Wonka‘s phony Slugworth), Icicle (Neil Jackson) et al are pretty damn ruthless, which is only an issue in that it clashes with the lighthearted tone of Stargirl’s own arc. (It’s also discomfiting to see grown men whale on/rough up a teenage girl. Fortunately, we eventually sense that some ISA members may be passing along legacies of their own.)
DC’s Stargirl gets off to a rousing, high-flying start, then loses some momentum when subsequent episodes open with deep-diving, Titans-style, -centric flashbacks. But by Episode 4, the stage is set for what is both DC Universe’s and The CW’s lightest, brightest, family-friendliest live-action superhero show yet.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Gung-ho Stargirl stands to brighten up TV’s superhero scene — if drab, one-note villains don’t bring her down.
Want scoop on DC’s Stargirl, or for any other show? Email [email protected] and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
This may be touted as a family friendly show, but the CW channel has joined the ranks of Freeform with promoting threesome sex scenes on their shows, so viewers need to be wary of what they let their kids watch on either.
Whatever Donna. That is like saying every NBC show deals with rape because SVU does.
I’m not sure they are having threesomes across their entire series line-up. It doesn’t seem to be something Star Girl will feature.
They were was on Gossip Girl in s3& one on Reign in s4 in the series finale
You make my point that not all CW shows have threesomes when the ones you name are long cancelled.
Donna, maybe you should try a threesome, it might help ease your judgemental nature.
Obviously, wait until social distancing rules have been relaxed, hygiene is paramount. Enjoy.
I can see you clutching your pearls from here
Wow. The replies to you are from d*cks. Your perfectly harmless comment about the state of the CW (which is a fair comment, by the way) resulted in a rather strange outpouring of personal attacks against you. One has to wonder what kind of sad, lonely, hollow people feel threatened by a comment like yours. Apparently, it was a lot of them. They should start a club, and then they’d be less lonely.
I’m confused. When did the CW become a ‘family’ channel. Just because their shows are made for a ‘younger’ audience, that in no way makes it a ‘family’ network. And to that point, neither is Freeform. Just because it USED to be The Family channel, does not mean they have to be forever. If that is the case, when are all the people complaining about AMC not showing classic movies? The repliers are just tired of useless comments from people who keep living in the past. If you are that concerned about the values of the CW network, there are lots of other places you can go. We won’t miss you.
So what you’re saying is that no matter how these networks began, they now feature racier material, and despite that fact that Stargirl is being labeled as more family friendly, people should be careful if they want to avoid racier material.
Congratulations, you just agreed with the original post. You’re just hating on people for the fun of it.
Hey, there are threesomes on tv? Which shows are there, I want to see them!
Is it a fair comment, that every CW show has threesomes?
What’s wrong with a good threesome?
well, there is both the upside and and downside of a threesome and there is always a price for it!
Are you a real priest?
i’m a sexual who watched alot of tv, movies and read alotta online stuff about the mental and emotional effects that a threesome has on people, including the fallout of doing one!
Because sex is so much worse than violence right?
no, because sex can sometimes make things strange and complicated for those involved and sometimes somebody can get hurt by it that leads to her or him being undone/traumatized by their partners and friends, including enemies, thence the sad end.
I think it will be fun. S.T.R.I.P.E. looked good in the preview and special effect looked a bit better than typical CW, perhaps due to the joint nature with DC?
Of all the DC properties, Stargirl is Geoff Johns’ baby, so I can’t see them getting this too wrong compared to his original vision for the character. I love, love, love the Justice Society, so any time I get to see them in live action is good for me.
Looks like a fun show. I know that it is more family friendly than Titans or Doom Patrol, so I’m not too worried about that, but will the CW be airing the same cut of the show as DCU, or will it run longer for the streaming service?
Here is my theory on the other ISA children, some of them maybe stolen children of JSA and maybe in the case of Jade and Todd Scott both. I think on the show, Tigress could easily take the place of Alan Scott’s villain ex-wife Thorne from the comics and have her be the mom to both Todd and Jade. As for Cameron, I still think that this version of of him will end up being the son of hawkman and hawkgirl Hector or Daniel(which names from the comics the show decides to use) stolen by Jordan the icicle himself to raised as a villain since Jordan can’t have kids of his own due to his ice powers I believe(they could go there). Maybe a reborn Jesse Quick will be on a possible season 2 to be the heir to the flash mantle on earth-2 and she will be at least a few years older or more than Courtney and her friends. thats my thoughts, what do u guys think and what are ur theories?
Do we know if the CW version is identical to the DC version? Will there be difference that affect the show?
The difference, I heard, is that the CW version will be edited for television taking commercials into account. So full versions will only be on DC Universe.
That makes sense. Content exclusive to streaming services being streamed completely free on cable kind of takes away the point of exclusive.
I watched all Arrow and Flash and Legends from day one, i quit supergirl after 4 seasons coz the Terrible cgi and cheese was just tooo much.
Smallville has waay better storylines and CGi. Legends season 4 was very cringy and watching Batwoman for 30mins i wanted to smash my head against a wall.
90s Charmed is less cheesy and more watchable than Supergirl or Batwoman. Its like no one cares anymore about making good shows on the CW
I agree. The only great show on that network is All American. Every time they make a really great show it got cancelled (cf Frequency)
Titans and Doom Patrol seem to be the way DC is headed.
Looking forward to this … summer fun programming.
Here’s the question, if the show is going to be on The CW, a day after its airs on DC then what’s the point of it being on DC Universe? Will there be a difference between the Network and the streaming? Will the episodes on DC be longer, have curse words and such that CW can’t have? if not then why not just show the bloody thing on the CW.
I can’t seem to record this show on my tv because it’s internet only. What is the scoop on this? Can I ever it, or do I have use my tablet?
I can’t believe that the bad guys master plan for evil was so good…they would cure cancer at the cost of 500k americans. A cure for cancer. And they were the bad guys? I dont get it. Who is the bad guy in this show when that many die from cancer each year