2019-2021 - CW/AmazonPrime
Despite getting schooled in the cineplexes by Marvel, DC ruled television in the 2010s. Already having an amazing track record of animation behind them, DC built out a live action superhero multi-verse on the CW network that quickly expanded from the Green Arrow-centered drama Arrow to 6 connected series that would have increasingly epic annual crossovers each year. As successful as these shows were, DC and Warner Brothers weren't happy to just keep ballooning out the "Arrowverse" (or "Berlanti-verse" or "CWverse" as it has been known by these multiple names over the years), they also decided to expand into disconnected realities with their DC Universe streaming service (that eventually was absorbed by HBO Max). There was a horror series, Swamp Thing, a "mature" superhero drama Titans, and the delightful animated chaos that is Harley Quinn.
Even among all this, Stargirl was still an outlier. Originally intended for the streaming service, but then pushed over to the CW, it was a teen superhero drama that didn't have the edge of the other DC Universe shows, nor participating in the shared-universe of the other "Arrowverse". It's also the pet project of former DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, who co-created (with artist Lee Moder) the Courtney Whitmore Stargirl character in 1999 as a tribute to his sister. Johns clearly had both a personal (and financial and creative) investment in bringing Courtney to television, and as executive producer as well as co-show runner (with Melissa Carter) he has a lot of control over how the world of Stargirl plays out.
Johns is a long-time writer for DC Comics, and has been a key figure in shaping the trajectory of that company and its storytelling universes for around 15 of the last 20 years, so he's steeped in DC mythology and has genuine affection for it and its history (a little too much sometimes, but I digress). In the old world of comic-book storytelling, a new TV series or movie would have to ground itself in some form of reality, some sense that it's related to the world as we know it. I don't recall any live action series that just hits the ground running with a deep sense of superhero history. The Marvel movies have started to operate this way, but even still they're establishing themselves in a world that has been exposed. What I have always wanted is for DC and Marvel movies to start as if they exist in the DC and Marvel universe, and it has never happened.
Stargirl is the closest I've ever seen to this happening. In the opening moments of the series we witness the Justice Society of America being murdered by the Injustice Society of America. Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson), Starman's sidekick, arrives on the scene too late to do anything but hear his friend's final words, which are to find a worthy hero to wield his cosmic staff and rebuild the JSA. Ten years pass, and Pat, in researching the ISA as well as tracing down JSA artifacts, meets Barbara Whitmore (Amy Smart). They get married, blend their families, and move to Blue Valley (middle America).
In their new home, Courtney discovers the cosmic staff, which has a sort of sentience, and it bonds with her. She learns of Pat's relationship with the JSA, and courtney takes it upon herself to become a superhero and rebuild the JSA.
Each episode of the first season features the introduction of a new hero, or a new villain, and we learn that all roads lead back to Blue Valley and there is a purpose for that. The ISA, led by Icicle (who is in civilian life a corporate mogul and Barbara's new boss) have plans to brainwash a section of the United States, secede and form their own nation in the first stage of both world peace and domination. But Courtney first needs to negotiate superheroics and her secret identity, as well as finding new heroes to help her as well as fact the villains that quickly become aware of the new heroes in their midst.
The sort of en media res of Stargirl carries its first season on the back of swift clouds...it's light and breezes by quickly, and its depth of history gives the world a lived in feeling. It's exciting, percolating with both humour and intensity as it's clear that these new-to-superheroics teenagers are out of their league when facing off against some seriously sinister supervillains... that their mentor is a semi-inept former sidekick means they're facing a decidedly uphill battle.
For comics fans, the acknowledgement of the Justice Society of America carries so much weight, since these are the golden age of heroes, those that existed during World War II. In the series they existed in the 2000s, but the aesthetic of the show is a blend of modern and retro 50's to give a quasi baby-boom feel, which adds to that sense of history and importance. But the show doesn't just stop with the Justice Society, it even drops in Stripesy and Starman's affiliation with the off-shoot superhero team Seven Soldiers of Victory (with the running joke of "Then why were there eight of you?").
Unlike other superhero TV shows, the show's first season centers almost exclusively around superheroics. There's no standard "CW teen drama" here with crushes and backstabbings and bullying and whatnot, at least not unless it revolves around the complication of them also being superheroes and supervillains. Even the family drama all comes out of keeping secrets about the past as it relates to superheroics, and about hiding one's secret identity from others.
I loved it. It's the most comic-booky a live-action superhero show has gotten (the animated Invincible also does all of what Stargirl accomplished very well), and I couldn't have been more impressed.
Which is why the second season was all the more disappointing. The sense of discovery, the sense of revelation, the sense of expansion were all gone. Suddenly the characters in Stargirl (subtitled Summer School) were grounded, tied to the ramifications of defeating the ISA at the end of the previous season. Rather than the big adventurousness and excitability of superheroics, we get the darker side infecting the joy. This is in part because of the villain for the season, Eclipso (a classic DC big bad) who feeds of people's negative energy and has the ability to manipulate people's perceived realities to heighten those bad, sad, and angry moods. It's just a lot less fun.
It's also a more unfocused season, as the characters all seem to split off into their own subplots that drag out far too long and feel far too mundane against the larger scale scope of Season 1 (even if, perhaps, Eclipso's threat is greater). It feels more conventionally CW.
The cast is pretty good. Again we're still talking television here, not Marvel-movie worthy. Brec Bassinger makes for a great Courtney, believably optimistic and charming in her earnestness. She gets the comic-booky sensibilities the show is asking of her perfectly. Luke Wilson is rough to watch. I don't know if it's because he's effective as showing Pat Dugan's ineffectiveness, or if it's just Wilson's inability to emote with conviction. Amy Smart is good as Courtney's mom, but has a thankless job in a role that the show struggles to find meaning for. Trae Romano as Mike Dugan is an appropriate nuisance of a younger step-sibling for Courney...he has real Jim Belushi energy, for better and worse.
The rest of the cast as heroes and villains all do varying degrees of good performances, though nobody stands out, save for Neil Hopkins as Crusher Croc, local high school coach and gym owner as well as villain Sportsmaster in the ISA. Hopkins chews up every scene like he's eating a big meaty delicious steak, and he's great at the high-testosterone, aggro-alpha, both in his friendliness and his viciousness (Joy Osmanski plays his wife, Tigress, and has to work a little harder to keep up with his energy but does a good job).
I should note that Joel McHale appears in the first episode in a glorified cameo as Starman, a role which was hinted at as being recurring in the second season but ultimately wound up being a disappointment in his importance.
I was particularly excited that the Shade played a large role in this season, and that many of his feature episodes were written by James Dale Robinson, the creator of the 90's Starman comic book series from which The Shade was easily the standout character . The Shade serves the same purpose here, just as a source of chaotic neutrality injected into the show. They tempered the character somewhat, as his flamboyance could threaten to take over an episode completely, and Jonathan Cake does a pretty bang-on job of bringing an accurate representation of Robinson's comic book version to life.
The third season teases further changes to the status quo, which is good, bringing in more of the DC Universe's extended "Earth 2" pantheon (eg. Infinity Inc., perhaps even All-Star Squadron or Young All-Stars). I'm at my happiest when the show just goes for broke in exploring its piecemeal version of the DCU.
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