Stargirl 1x2 : S.T.R.I.P.E review

Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it. 

Stargirl returns it's second episode and it picks up right where the pilot left off. Last time we saw Courtney she was straight in the sights of the villain Brainwave before Pat (her step dad and former sidekick to Starman) showed up in a giant robot suit he built. Pat offers Courtney the hand of the robot to climb on top of it before they shoot off into the night sky leaving Brainwave behind with a lot more questions than answers. Back home and Pat explains everything to Courtney that he possibly can. He mentions that on the night where the JSA were wiped out they were fighting a group named the Injustice Society. A force of highly powerful villains whose leader Icicle ended up killing Starman. Starman who Courtney is stilled convinced is her father. Pat also mentions that Hourman who was another member of the JSA did manage to escape that fateful night but would later end up getting killed in an accident along with his wife. Courtney absorbs all of this energy although her frustrations are still very clear. She wants to stop Brianwave. She wants to become something better and she wants to get justice for the JSA. Of course Pat straight up tells Courtney to stop pursuing this and locks the Cosmic Staff away again.

We then skip to Pat whom we see training in his robot suit as the hunt for Brainwave begins. The robot has a mechanic that will let it shoot off one of it's hands but it fails to work for Pat at first. This leads into a training montage that was extremely funny and charming. As a matter of fact whenever Pat and Courtney are on screen together it's all insanely fun and charming and just such a joy to watch. As Pat is off preparing and bettering his robot Courtney is at school and after secretly stealing Starman's old costume she uses the school's resources to adjust the suit and turn it into some more befitting that of a girl. She actually ends up breaking the sewing machines which was funny too. While Pat is off joining the gym and attempting to get in better physical shape Courtney continues her school day and tries to get to know her classmates. As all of this is happening however Brainwave is looking for her in a situation that quickly turns into a game of cat and mouse as later that evening the Blue Valley High School have a open house evening where all students and their parents can attend. 

The episode draws to a close in said school where Brainwave searches for the girl who got the better of him last week. Remember he doesn't know her name yet so it's all kept on the down low as he uses the open night as a way to scout the area. Courtney and Pat are doing something similar in the gym hall of the school all while interacting with other parents and high ranking figures in Blue Valley. Courtney wanders off on her own and soon gets greeted by Brainwave himself who lays out both a demand and threat to her. Bring him the Cosmic Staff and return to the exact location from last weeks or he will kill her mom..slowly. This puts Courtney on increasingly high alert as she tells Pat everything. Pat who knows how dangerous Brainwave is tells Courtney to leave Blue Valley with her mom and never return. That he will deal with Brainwave himself. And that he does, Pat shows up in place of Courtney at midnight and dukes it out with Brainwave who of course gets the better of the robot and Pat inside who takes quite the beating here. Back at home though Courtney senses something is up and we're treating to the birth and suiting up of Stargirl who uses the Cosmic Staff as a way to travel to Pat's location. She arrives and immediately gets the better of Brainwave at first. Things turn sour when the villain gets the upper hand knocking the Staff out of Courtney's hand. Pat who had been stockpiled in between two vehicles mere seconds before Stargirl's arrival is powerless to help and can only watch on, that is until he shines a bright light from his robot into the face of Brainwave stopping him right in his tracks just as he was using his powers on Courtney. Stargirl then manages to grab the Cosmic Staff and places it right into the center of Brainwave's head causing him to short circut right before her eyes. He falls to the ground with a small bit of smoke coming out of his head. We soon see him in hospital where apparently he is being treated for a seizure. This surely isn't the end of him. Back at home and Courtney and Pat celebrate their victory even though it doesn't exactly sit well with either what just happened out in the field. Pat says that he can't carry on any longer and even if Courtney is indeed Starman's daughter he can't fight anymore. Courtney refutes his claims and calls him her sidekick now with the name S.T.R.I.P.E which has a double meaning. S.T.R.I.P.E = Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer. A cool name according to Courtney who asks Pat who is next in line in the Injustice Society. We're then shown who that very person is and after we get a glimpse of Solomon Grundy locked up in a cell and more footage of Stargirl from earlier that evening we see Icicle who says that he killed one Starman now it's time to kill another. The battle between this new generation of hero's and the Injustice Society is about to begin and it's going to be something special. So that was that. Episode 2 of Stargirl. Much like last week's pilot this was incredibly charming and just so much fun to watch. It flew by in an instant thanks much to the main characters who are all really likable and easy to root for. The action was great and exciting, the jokes really landed and overall Stargirl is shaping up to be quite the little series. Roll on next week.

★★★★