DC’s Stargirl season 3 episode 3 is really getting underway as the Justice Society of America tries to crack the case of The Gambler’s murder. This episode heavily focuses on one of the suspects that were discovered in last week’s episode – the Crocks.
Warning: Spoilers for DC’s Stargirl Season 3 Episode 3 “The Blackmail”
The episode kicks off with Sylvester taking time to explore the town of Blue Valley, saying that he needs to find balance. When speaking with Yolanda he realizes that he would like to find a job. He wants to serve a purpose and be important. Without the Starman title, he feels like a nobody.
During the Whitmore / Dugan family breakfast, the Crocks arrive with a well-balanced meal, and throw away the waffles they were all about to dig into. Beth’s parents are still trying to be heavily involved in her superhero work, offering up their own ideas and theories. Someone then anonymously sends Beth some files to her goggles that suggest The Gambler was blackmailing someone. The scene cuts to Cindy and it is revealed that she is the one who sent the files over.
Courtney is sad to think that The Gambler wasn’t trying to be a better person, she was holding out hope for that. She spots Cameron at school and tries talking to him, but he ignores her and walks away.
After doing some digging, Beth discovers that the wire transfers came from Erwin Hassen, but that the name is an alias for none other than Lawrence Crock. Another villain that Courtney believed was changing his ways. This casts a whole lot of doubt on him and his family – especially after the scene last week where he and his wife were saying “eventually they will find out.”
Now or Never?
The rest of the Justice Society of America wants to rush in and confront them, but Courtney says that this is not proof that they killed The Gambler. If she is going to have a hand in taking Artemis’ parents away from her again, she wants to be one hundred percent sure they are guilty. Not only does Courtney ask the team to hold off on doing anything, but she also requests that they don’t tell Sylvester anything either, knowing what a hothead he can be after what he did to The Shade.
Cameron has been letting things slip with school. When his teacher confronts him, asking if everything is ok, he makes up an excuse that he has just been preoccupied lately. She tells him she will let this assignment slide, but after pressing him to talk about what is bothering him, he snaps at her. That’s when Rick steps in to tell Cameron to be respectful to their teacher. The two have a slight confrontation and when leaving school Cameron shoots an icicle at Rick’s car’s tire, turning it flat. He is certainly starting to take after his father, which would not be a good thing for Blue Valley.
Cindy stops by Courtney’s house pretending to be there for a JSA meeting. When Sylvester answers the door, she tells him all about The Gambler blackmailing the Crocks, and suggests the two of them go take them in together. Sylvester really lays into her about how he doesn’t trust her and never will. He calls her a demon spawn and a dime-a-dozen cheerleader. Something really has gotten into him. Then, Sylvester calls for the Cosmic Staff before heading off to confront the Crocks. Mike witnesses all of this as he is watching from behind the wall.
Sylvester shows up to a grocery store where the Crocks are shopping and confronts them. They exchange a few words before an all-out battle starts. Cut to the real JSA meeting and Courtney is discussing how they should go to the Crocks and give them a chance to explain before jumping to any conclusions. That’s when the meeting is interrupted but Mike calling and letting her know that Cindy told Sylvester and that he is on his way to confront them.
And… Action!
The supermarket fight is actually really cool. It is nice to finally get some great action in DC’s Stargirl season 3, as it has been lacking. Because it is a grocery store, lots of props are used throughout the fight, and big messes are made. It keeps things entertaining and lasts for quite a long time with epic stunts and cool effects. Things are getting intense when S.T.R.I.P.E. shows up to stop the fight. Once again, it is great to see him in action as well.
After the fight, the Crocks go over to Courtney and Pat’s house to explain their side of the story. They confess that they might have wanted to kill The Gambler, but they stayed strong for Artemis. He was blackmailing them with a list of ISA crimes that they didn’t even commit. But with those members being dead already, there is no way they could prove their innocence. Leaving them no choice but to pay The Gambler or go back to jail.
The strange thing is, about two months before this, The Gambler stopped blackmailing the Crocks. He even paid them back, in full, right before he was killed. Of course, this news makes Courtney happy as she has been holding out hope that he was after redemption, and to become a changed man.
When Sylvester gets back to the house, he confronts Pat about stepping between him and the Crocks. He calls him his sidekick, which Pat stands up to. Sylvester is harboring a lot of hate for the villains that killed his friends, and rightfully so. However, Pat explains to him that there is no use in destroying everything around them because it sends the wrong message.
He even explains that Courtney thought Starman was her father when the staff first connected to her. Pat goes into detail about how her real dad disappeared the same Christmas Eve that the JSA died. He explains that he did come back into her life, but only to ask for the locket he gave her back because it was worth some money. Pat tells Sylvester that they need to be there for Courtney, and they need to be good role models for her in the process.
Consequences
The JSA confronts Cindy about telling Sylvester about the Crocks at school. Cindy confesses that she did this because she wanted to prove herself to the team. She figured if Sylvester gave her his approval, then the rest of the team would too. Courtney tells her that if she goes behind their backs again, then she is off the team, and she says she understands.
Cameron decides to talk to Courtney and apologize for the way he has been treating her. She asks if everything is okay, and he says that he isn’t ready to talk about it yet. They go for a walk but when Courtney tries to hold his hand, Cameron tells her he has to go.
In the final moments of the episode Sylvester decides to inspect the crime scene himself, Tigress goes to see Barbara’s boss to convince him to be nicer to her, and Pat is sewing what we assume to be his own superhero costume? Meanwhile, someone is watching surveillance cameras of locations around Blue Valley, including the Sharpe trailer. We see Sylvester pulled high into the air and then dropped on top of the trailer, knocking him out. This is done by an unknown something that is growling – could it be that Grundy is alive again?
The biggest issue with this episode is that the dialogue is especially cheesy at times and includes a full-on discussion of the Purge movies in a supermarket. DC’s Stargirl hasn’t ever had incredible scripts, but season 3 episode 3 really lowers the bar. Sylvester going back and forth between completely flipping out and being compassionate is getting strange. However, it will hopefully pay off later in the season. He is struggling internally quite a bit, with this season setting up for a big character arc for him.
Still, this episode finally brought some big action to the screen and although we could use a bit more, there is a fair amount of story development as well, making it forgivable.
Rating: 7/10 SPECS
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Tessa Smith owns MamasGeeky.com and is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic and a huge geek. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for almost ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Hollywood Critics Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association. She grew up watching movies, playing video games, and reading comic books — and still loves all of those things. She proudly lets her geek flag fly and spreads the word that there is nothing wrong with being a geek.
