S01.E10: Brainwave Jr.

[tessaray]

Air date: July 20, 2020

Quote

As Henry Jr. hones his newfound skills, uncovered secrets from his family's past force him to make a difficult decision; Courtney, Yolanda, Beth and Rick's latest plan brings them face to face with a member of the ISA.

 

 

[MarkHB]

Damn, Dragon King's face! Henry apologizes to Yolanda and gets a roof dropped on his head! That was a LOT to go to bed on!

Yolanda's acrobatics during the fight were amazing! But Beth is going to have to come up with some of Dr. Mid-nite's gadgets, because right now, with Chuck not getting a signal in the tunnels, all she's doing is being traumatized.

[MissLucas]

Well, that escalated quickly.

So, who the hell is Courtney's father? And where is he? And why did Barbara keep it a secret that she knows how to contact him? But kudos to Barbara for recording evil Norwegian grandpa and grandma (I told you to be more careful folks). Sadly it was less impressive to keep your email open when leaving your office, you don't do that even without suspecting your boss of being a supervillain. And while I applaud her for thinking to get them on record it's also a bit hilarious that she won't trust Pat or Courtney but Google translate.

Yolanda was terrific during the fight-scene. Making up for the fact that the most powerful member of the team was having a hissy fit in front of Grundy's cage. But they really need to do something about Beth - the moment the googles stopped working she became a liability instead of an asset. She had way too many narrow escapes already.

Damn Henry, you were such a compelling character. But you were also becoming too powerful I guess. I loved his reaction to Courtney's hug and part of me hopes he managed to survive though I admit for narrative reasons he should stay dead.

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by MissLucas

[Primal Slayer]

Definitely a great episode. Everything is leading up to what I feel like will be a great finale, I even teared up at the end, the teens in this town are in the most danger and it seems like only 2 villains actually care about their offspring.

The whole fight in the dungeons was great, Stargirls got some moves! Even without the staff she is a badass. Wildcat is also great and thinks things through. Hourboy....you stupid.

Part of me feels that Henry is alive and that Henry Sr. didnt crush him to death but basically put a little telekinetic cocoon around him while knocking him out at the same time. So I dont know if this is the end of Jr.

[speedroc]

It's scary how much this show just keeps getting better and better. Every time you think you've seen them reach the pinnacle they go further. Brainwave Jr. has to be the best episode (imo) thus far and we STILL have three episodes left.

My only issue is that they need to reign in Hour man and pump up Mid-nite.

[Cthulhudrew]

Didn't see that coming. I will say that this show keeps me on my toes, and that is great. It has definitely gotten a lot better at balancing the light moments with the dark, so there isn't as much of a stark contrast- but boy, it keeps getting dark. I really want to see our intrepid heroes start notching up some wins.

I'd also like to see a bit more development with the new JSA relationships; Rick is just too one-note angry, and the turmoil of Courtney's choice to stick with Henry vs. the JSA didn't quite feel as wrenching as I think it was intended to.

Curious to see what the deal is with Sam Kurtis, and I wonder why some of that couldn't have been resolved with an actual honest discussion between Barbara and Courtney about who her dad really is (and possibly Pat, too). Hopefully there is a real reason behind it, and not just "dragging the mystery out for dramatic purposes"; too much tv writing goes this route IMO, at the sacrifice of believable human interaction.

I'm kind of with Primal Slayer in thinking maybe this isn't the last of Brainwave Jr. I'd like to see Yolanda doing a little more boxing and a little less slashing, and would like Dr. Mid-Nite to have something more to do than share whatever Chuck is telling her. 

Anyone think Mike might stumble across STRIPE in the garage and decide to go for a test run? Or will he instead show up unexpectedly sometime in the next three episodes with a certain pink pen to (accidentally) save the day?

[RobertDeSneero]

In comic book land, no one's dead until we see a body (and sometimes not even then).  It could go either way.

Cindy might end up killing someone threatening Stargirl because only she gets to kill Stargirl.

Maybe Hourman damaged Solomon Grundy's door just enough to weaken it so that Grundy busts out at the most inopportune time.

I look forward to Pat finding out that young Henry's mother was Merry and that Brainwave killed her.

[readster]

7 hours ago, RobertDeSneero said:

 

I look forward to Pat finding out that young Henry's mother was Merry and that Brainwave killed her.

I'm very happy they kept that fact that Sly is Henry Jr's uncle. That also makes it more personal for both Pat and Courtney. 

[Starfish35]

I’ve been on vacation so I just caught up on the last three episodes.  Wow! 😳A lot going on!  That last scene with Henry Jr had me actually tearing up!  😢 I think we’ll see him come back though, somehow.  And we’re finally about to find out about Courtney’s real father, and Barb is really really mad at Pat (understandably), but starting to come around.  Was it me though or was everyone in the Mahkent family (other than Cameron) being really creepy about Barbara?  Like, evaluating her as a second wife for Jordan?

[Kromm]

Okay, now THAT's what this show needed.  I mean after some super-strong early episodes, it had been dragging a bit.  But this episode kicked ass.

It didn't feature any gigantic cliche busting, like some of the other great episodes.  In fact, the eventual end was, if we're honest, a huge cliche.  But it was truly well done.  Plus, we had Barbara's plot turn to satisfy the cliche busting, even if it was only a medium sized cliche bust.  That does seem to be the pattern. They'll allow a major cliche if there's also some element in the same episode that tosses a wrench in a different cliche.

Lil' Hourman really is holding up being a real dick.  I mean they seem to alternate between him and Courtney who's the most selfish that week, and this was his week.  But unlike Courtney he's not charismatic and likeable.   Frankly he's the biggest failure of a character in the show. Even the annoying little step-brother is better, especially the last few episodes.

I know some Norwegians.  Man... they are NOT 1/100th as creepy as these Norwegians.

I do wonder if the twist is that Courtney's father is someone we've already met.  What was that email address of his again?

On 7/20/2020 at 7:13 AM, MarkHB said:

Yolanda's acrobatics during the fight were amazing!

I also think they really upped Courtney's as well, especially to justify her actually being at least moderately effective with no staff.

[Kromm]

23 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Anyone think Mike might stumble across STRIPE in the garage and decide to go for a test run? Or will he instead show up unexpectedly sometime in the next three episodes with a certain pink pen to (accidentally) save the day?

His is the character I'm most at sea on with what they're going to do.  I do feel that whatever they do will follow the cliche busting part of the show rather than the cliche that other plots do.  We shall see.

19 hours ago, RobertDeSneero said:

Maybe Hourman damaged Solomon Grundy's door just enough to weaken it so that Grundy busts out at the most inopportune time.

This.

I mean as I said, for every cliche busting there's a cliche. I see this as one of those.

On 7/20/2020 at 7:16 PM, Primal Slayer said:

it seems like only 2 villains actually care about their offspring.

If you're referring to Tigress and Sportsmaster... I'm not 100% sure about that. There's something too... clingy there to be healthy.  If she ever dissapoints them, don't you wonder what they'd do?  Or do you mean Jordan and maybe... I dunno... Principal Bowin?

Edited July 21, 2020 by Kromm

[Jediknight]

Dude, they just did that.  I can't believe it.  I thought the Staff would break through and let them pull Henry to safety.

For something happy, that fight between 3 of the new JSA and Ito and his minions was fantastic.  Yolanda shredding minions, Henry tossing them around with his mind, and Courtney using her gymnastic background was great.  That was some best of Arrow and Batwoman fight sequence there.

[AimingforYoko]

That was a pretty big episode. Henry, Jr. is Courtney's cousin? That development, I did not see coming. At least it wasn't Cameron. And I'm not entirely sure he's dead.

So Barbara reacted as expected, but she rallied nicely. It'll be good to have her more involved in the story.

The fight sequence was great. I'll just assume training has been happening offscreen.

ETA: I wonder if the fact that Barbara now knows that Jordan has a thing for her will come into play.

Edited July 22, 2020 by AimingforYoko

[Cthulhudrew]

8 hours ago, Starfish35 said:

Was it me though or was everyone in the Mahkent family (other than Cameron) being really creepy about Barbara?  Like, evaluating her as a second wife for Jordan?

I think they definitely are doing that. Which reminds me: am I the only one that is under the impression they may be Frost Giants or somehow related to them? I seem to recall them mentioning Niflheim while at dinner (or something similarly Asgard-related). Add to that Icicle's frost powers and...

[shapeshifter]

On 7/20/2020 at 8:10 AM, MissLucas said:

So, who the hell is Courtney's father? And where is he?

Well, according to the previews, I think:

Spoiler

Courtney's father is "The Finder" LOL: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1943524/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

but my TV was too dark to follow the fight scenes, so I may be wrong.

 

 

On 7/20/2020 at 6:16 PM, Primal Slayer said:

Part of me feels that Henry is alive and that Henry Sr. didnt crush him to death but basically put a little telekinetic cocoon around him while knocking him out at the same time. So I dont know if this is the end of Jr.

Yeah: "no body = not dead." 
But I kind of thought Henry had to die when he apologized for what he did to Yolanda (I was still hoping it was all Cindy's doing), but maybe when Henry wakes up he'll have no memory of doing that, or would that make it worse? 

 

 

2 hours ago, Kromm said:

I know some Norwegians.  Man... they are NOT 1/100th as creepy as these Norwegians.

The Norwegians I've known have all been more saintly than Mother Theresa, so maybe that's whey they made the Norwegians the baddies? Because it is the opposite of stereotyping? 
But then why not make them Canadians? Oh. Right. They needed to speak a language not widely studied.

 

Nice bookended scenes in the diner at the beginning and end of the episode with Pat & Barb. ❤️
I don't usually go for Twu Wuv, but their's is pretty darn cute.

Edited July 22, 2020 by shapeshifter

[Kromm]

19 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

That was a pretty big episode. Henry, Jr. is Courtney's cousin? That development, I did not see coming. At least it wasn't Cameron. And I'm not entirely sure he's dead.

Except I think they made it pretty clear he;s not, since they made it pretty clear that she's not Starman's daughter.

[Kromm]

21 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

So Barbara reacted as expected, but she rallied nicely. It'll be good to have her more involved in the story.

I have a theory that more's been going on with Barbara all along than we realized.  I think it's at least possible that her getting a job where she did might not be a coincidence.  I mean her turn towards being proactive about this was very sharp.  I firmly believe she in no way knew about Courtney's activities or Pat's past.  But that doesn't mean she didn't know anything about what's going on in that town.

This is a thin theory admittedly. Confidence only about 10%.

[thuganomics85]

Well, damn!  I had a feeling something was going to happen to Henry Jr. after they had the scene with Yolanda telling him that being sorry about he did to her wasn't enough, but I figured it was going to end with him simply getting injured to protect her (an admittedly classic staple.)  Instead, he freaking stands up to his father so that the JSA can escape and gets crushed under a pile of rocks for it.  And said rocks was caused by his own freaking dad!  Now, those are some big family issues right there!  Pretty dark ending, but I'll also wait and see, because I can see there being a twist with Brainwave somehow using his powers to make sure Henry Jr. didn't actually die.  Either that or Dr. Ito is going to use his creepy resurrecting powers.  Of course, even if that's true, Henry Jr. would still be in for a rough time.  I mean, I wouldn't want my own worst enemy to have to be cellmates with freaking Cindy!

Glad that Barbara is officially in the know now, and Amy Smart finally got some great material to work with.  It was understandable that she would be upset over the secrets and Courtney being in danger, but I still felt for Pat when he got kicked out, and hopefully he will be able to build back up that trust.  At least she seems to be holding back on the whole "Get out of dodge!" plan, and instead secretly recored Jordan's parents, so that they could translate them.  So, now she knows that her boss is up to no good.  Oh, and apparently has a crush on her.  Yikes!

Despite being the most physically strong member of the team (for an hour at least!), Rick really is showing himself to be the weakest link of the team, honestly.  Something is definitely going to come out of him damaging Solomon Grundy's cell door.

Mike is now the lone character who is not in the know, and is getting pissed over being kept in the dark.  I wonder what is in store for him.

Aww, the flashback of Pat and Barbara's first time meeting!  Luke Wilson and Amy Smart would have made for a great pair in a romcom years ago.

Still love that the Cosmic Staff is it's own character, and keeps acting like a mixture of a loyal pet and a impulsive teen, who keeps getting in trouble.

Nice to know that Dr. Ito's zombie henchmen are about as effective as the Puttys were against the Power Rangers.  I guess disposable, ineffective goons will never go out of style!

Surprise, surprise: Starman might not be Courtney's father after-all! 

Great episode!

[rmontro]

This show is such pure fun.  Aside from the apparent death of Henry, of course, and all the messy divorce stuff.  Still, it's so fun.  I hope it doesn't change in the second season.

I liked Courtney calling Dragon King "Snapdragon".

Cindy is a loon.

[Lantern7]

I lost a battery from the remote, and I wound up missing the first five minutes. I guess Pat didn't try to deal with Barbara with a brick to the head, huh? She reacts like any sane person would. "What the hell have you been doing?" "I'm taking up my father's legacy!" "Father?!? Pat, what have you been telling her?!?" "She came up with that on her own. If I had any sense in my head, I would have buried the staff under a lot of concrete." But since this is a genre show, Barbara seems to get in on the action via secret audio recording and an Evil Norwegian/English translator. Can that be found in an app store?

And JSA Jr. reacts to Courtney's pitch to have Henry join about as well as you'd expect. Yolanda wants to cut him up into Tender Vittles made for humans, Rick wants to pound on him because he has a lot of anger issues, and Beth seems good with the idea because she's just a ball of sweetness and light. Sadly, her main power is basically having access to an AI, and "Chuck" doesn't seem to work underground. She's not Dr. Mid-Nite. She'd barely qualify as Pre-Med Mid-Nite at this point.

Usual fun stuff goes down . . . Henry gets bonding time with a sympathetic version of his dad (System Restore?), but it turns out that he's as unrepentant an asshole that you can find, and he killed his wife/nemesis. Rick basically abandons the mission to try and extract vengeance on Solomon Grundy, and Beth can't talk him out of it. ("What happens if you fight him and he kills you? What then?!?" "Crap . . . he'd run amok in Blue Valley." "Actually, I was thinking he'd kill me next, but THEN he would destroy the town.") We get a good look at Dragon King, and now I'm hoping Cindy is adopted, because DAMN. Cindy also shows she's a massive pain in the ass even when she's locked up. And Mike is now the only person in the house that's out of the loop. With his luck, I'm thinking the bulldog has known about the Courtney/Stargirl thing.

[shapeshifter]

I am not a comics aficionado despite having read many more comics than books as a child, so I was going to ask which Grundy came first, but Wikipedia quickly reveals that the Archie comic Miss Grundy predates Solomon Grundy.

 

54 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Henry gets bonding time with a sympathetic version of his dad (System Restore?), but it turns out that he's as unrepentant an asshole that you can find, and he killed his wife/nemesis.

Part of me wants a reveal that Henry's dad's brain is half good and half evil, but (a) that's not how brain hemispheres work, and (b) I stopped watching Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as soon as they messed with Coulson's brain because: ew.

 

Three more episodes. So far, so good-ish.

[NeenerNeener]

Called it. Speculated that Starman wasn't Courtney's father, just by the running gag that she kept insisting that he was. Now, next week we'll see if Real Dad is married to someone else and living in Paramus, NJ.

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 hour ago, NeenerNeener said:

Called it. Speculated that Starman wasn't Courtney's father, just by the running gag that she kept insisting that he was. Now, next week we'll see if Real Dad is married to someone else and living in Paramus, NJ.

If Brainwave's wife was Starman's sister, maybe Starman also had a brother who might be Courtney's father.

[MissLucas]

Starman not being Courtney's father seems almost a given at this point although I find it exasperating that both Pat and Barb just say 'no, he isn't' without giving any additional reasons/explanations. At this point it feels like forced writing. Normally a person would continue with '...because XXX' and the repeated flat denial without additional reasoning feels unnatural.

There's also some inconsistency when it comes to the JSA and ISA's and abilities: Hourman's bond with the hourglass seems to be genetic. Yolanda and Beth just clicked with the suit/googles. Courtney assumes her  bond with the staff is also inherited (I wonder if she will struggle bonding with it when it's confirmed Starman is not her father). With the ISA's abilities there seems to be a clear genetic factor at play (probably even down to genetic engineering when it comes to Cindy). I find it a bit confusing and wish there was more worldbuilding/explanation on how the artifacts/abilities work. That might happen at one point down the road but I'm getting impatient. If the giggling pen latches on to Mike I want an explanation!

Edited July 22, 2020 by MissLucas

[readster]

54 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Starman not being Courtney's father seems almost a given at this point although I find it exasperating that both Pat and Barb just say 'no, he isn't' without giving any additional reasons/explanations. At this point it feels like forced writing. Normally a person would continue with '...because XXX' and the repeated flat denial without additional reasoning feels unnatural.

There's also some inconsistency when it comes to the JSA and ISA's and abilities: Hourman's bond with the hourglass seems to be genetic. Yolanda and Beth just clicked with the suit/googles. Courtney assumes her  bond with the staff is also inherited (I wonder if she will struggle bonding with it's confirmed Starman is not her father). With the ISA's abilities there seems to be a clear genetic factor at play (probably even down to genetic engineering when it comes to Cindy). I find it a bit confusing and wish there was more worldbuilding/explanation on how the artifacts/abilities work. That might happen at one point down the road but I'm getting impatient. If the giggling pen latches on to Mike I want an explanation!

As a fan of the comic book and characters, those are glaring and also fall into "TV drama" aspect. I mean you just don't repeat: "No, Starman wasn't your father." You have to explain, give reasons and hell Barabra could have even said: "Because I know where he is and I've been in contact with him over the past few years!" I was very, very they kept that Mary was Henry's mother, I also loved that aspect and that Henry Sr did have some humanity left in him instead of: "humanity bad!" 

[steelyis]

That meet-cute was unbearably cute. Barb asking Pat if he lied about the car crash? Ouch.

Mike, pal, kiddo--some brothers and sisters share everything, but it is not, by any means, typical sibling behavior.

Yolanda was MVP in the lair fight. Court's got some badass moves even without the staff. The fight choreography was pretty amazing, maybe the best the show's had so far.

Not to get all High School Musical, but someone needs to tell Hour Boy to keep his head in the game.

Okay, Henry. You got me. I was already softening towards him, even before his apology to Yolanda, but then his, "People are good. Don't let this change that," melted my heart to goo and made me tear up.

If Henry really is dead I would be okay with it, because his sacrifice was incredibly heroic. However, if comic book rules apply--no body, not dead--then I would be very okay with that, too.

[Kromm]

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

If Brainwave's wife was Starman's sister, maybe Starman also had a brother who might be Courtney's father.

Yeah, but why go there?  There was a good plot rationale for Henry to be connected to Starman.  To help set up why his Dad would kill his Mom and explain Henry's turn.  With Courtney it's the exact opposite. The only real plot advancement/character development is for her to be totally wrong about being connected to Starman, and a sibling would just be an unnecessary dodge. 

That said, I don't think her Dad is some random. I think he's got a legitimate part in the story.  Either through being someone we've already met, someone we've already heard of (or maybe saw a photo of), or if neither of those, at worst still having a big piece in Season 2. While in the real world there are plenty of reasons a Dad might just go away and never see a child again, I'm thinking in Superhero comics, it won't be any of the more passe ordinary reasons. 

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, Kromm said:

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

If Brainwave's wife was Starman's sister, maybe Starman also had a brother who might be Courtney's father.

Yeah, but why go there?

"If Brainwave's wife was Starman's sister" and if "Starman also had a brother who might be Courtney's father," that would:

• explain why the staph responds to Courtney (DNA)
• explain why the face in the locket looks like Starman

Of course, why then do the Google Goggles work for Beth and why does the Cat Suit work for Yolanda? 
Maybe Beth needs to ask Chuck to do a some Ancestry.com searching.

[peachmangosteen]

On 7/21/2020 at 12:06 AM, RobertDeSneero said:

Maybe Hourman damaged Solomon Grundy's door just enough to weaken it so that Grundy busts out at the most inopportune time.

100%.

I wasn't really aware of how much I liked Henry until I screamed "NO!" at the TV when it became apparent they were killing him. The actor's super bad acting of trying to hear people's thoughts was so funny. Even though it'd be cliche, I hope he survives somehow. If they wanna kill off one of the teens, let them kill of the completely useless Cameron lol.

I was rolling over Cindy just whining, "Let me kill her, dad!" in the background throughout the fight scenes.

I just adore the hell outta this show.

[paulvdb]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Of course, why then do the Google Goggles work for Beth and why does the Cat Suit work for Yolanda? 

Maybe the people who made the suit and goggles didn't create any sort of safety features for them and they'd work with anyone. Just like most things in real life.

[Trini]

Aw, man! Please tell me they're not killing off Henry just when he got interesting!! Hoping he's only mostly dead.

I'm going to need them to explain more about the Cosmic Staff. I get that it has a personality; but it's weird that it can just go off on it's own mission.

7 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

... If they wanna kill off one of the teens, let them kill of the completely useless Cameron lol.
 

I want Cameron alive so we can get a reverse Romeo & Juliet/friends to enemies trope! Although, Courtney probably wouldn't want to date Icicle's son now, though.

[Kromm]

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

"If Brainwave's wife was Starman's sister" and if "Starman also had a brother who might be Courtney's father," that would:

• explain why the staph responds to Courtney (DNA)
• explain why the face in the locket looks like Starman

Of course, why then do the Google Goggles work for Beth and why does the Cat Suit work for Yolanda? 
Maybe Beth needs to ask Chuck to do a some Ancestry.com searching.

People here are over complicating these issues.  We were outright told why the Hourglass needed a DNA match: it's creator WANTED it that way.  That requirement was not stated for any other artifact.  Including the staff. The staff doesn't respond to anyone else, because it doesn't want to. We know it has intelligence. 

The locket is another issue entirely. We'd need to see it again. Are there any screen caps out there maybe? 

Oh... and I saw a recap where someone confirmed the email Barbara used was samkurtis61@bepromptmail.com. Supporting the notion that SOMEONE using the name Sam Kurtis is either alive, or has someone keeping the illusion a Sam Kurtis exists in play for her. 

Admittedly what she writes is a little suspicious, if you think about it. "If this is you, please contact me. It's important and it's about Courtney. We're back in Blue Valley.". 

Note the "if this is you". That's pretty important, speaking to how much she knows about Sam Kurtis. It does open a door rather widely to that identity being a sham, because at the very least it confirms she knows there's something wonky about his circumstances. That doesn't mean he's Starman, just that he's definitely lied to Barbara about something, and she knows it. 

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Kromm

[shapeshifter]

32 minutes ago, Kromm said:

The locket is another issue entirely. We'd need to see it again. Are there any screen caps out there maybe? 

No screenshot handy, but the face in Courtney’s locket is definitely Joel McHale.**  
However, every view of it has been sufficiently blurred so that they could easily retcon it into someone else with similar coloring for casting or other issues, including 

Spoiler

Geoff Stults, who was shown at the end of this episode in the preview for the next, and whose Wikipedia filmography already lists:

2020 | Stargirl | Sam Kurtis | Episode: "Shining Knight"

__________
 

**The face in Courtney’s locket is definitely Joel McHale to me, but I have painted and sold portraits with realistic likenesses for half a century, so maybe not so definitely Joel McHale to most people. IDK. 

Edited July 23, 2020 by shapeshifter

[readster]

4 hours ago, Kromm said:

 

Oh... and I saw a recap where someone confirmed the email Barbara used was samkurtis61@bepromptmail.com. Supporting the notion that SOMEONE using the name Sam Kurtis is either alive, or has someone keeping the illusion a Sam Kurtis exists in play for her. 

Admittedly what she writes is a little suspicious, if you think about it. "If this is you, please contact me. It's important and it's about Courtney. We're back in Blue Valley.". 

Note the "if this is you". That's pretty important, speaking to how much she knows about Sam Kurtis. It does open a door rather widely to that identity being a sham, because at the very least it confirms she knows there's something wonky about his circumstances. That doesn't mean he's Starman, just that he's definitely lied to Barbara about something, and she knows it. 

 

It also paints more that Barbara "specifically" didn't want Courtney knowing about Sam. It also adds in more Sam knowing about Blue Valley as they apparently met there and as we saw in the flashback when her and Pat met. She was there because she was selling her mother's house and saying she had "died" a few years ago. Since we saw grandma Whitmore in the pilot. Something the comics also never talked about was Barb's family background outside of grandma. The way they have talked about it and shown, it seems Barbara had father issues herself. 

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

The face in Courtney’s locket is definitely Joel McHale to me, but I have painted and sold portraits with realistic likenesses for half a century, so maybe not so definitely Joel McHale to most people. IDK. 

I thought it looked clearly like Joel McHale, too. IMO they should have blurred or distorted it more if they didn't intend for it to be obviously Joel McHale.

I think Barbara knows more or something, too. She seemed a little cagey to me when she met Pat in the flashback. And then obviously the email to Sam Kurtis was weird.

[MarkHB]

Honestly, I thought the pic in the locket could have been anybody.

[tennisgurl]

So I finally get back from vacation and get to watch the new Stargirl, and this is what I get?! Heartbreak and sadness? The sudden need to find several boxes of tissues? 

As devastating as this episode was, it was a really great episode, even if Henry Jrs ending just tore my heart out and gave it a good kicking. His whole story of trying to prove to his dad that he was actually a good person, getting to redeem himself, trying to control his powers, and finally, he has his faith in humanity restored and rejects his fathers offer to join him in villainy, only to find out that his father killed his mother, and then his own fucking father kills him, was all terribly tragic. I am still not totally sure that Henry Jr is dead for real, its possible that Dr. Ito might try to resurrect him as part of his creepy mad science projects, maybe to use his powers while he is still comatose or something, which might be not a whole lot better than actually being dead, but then at least he might still have a chance! At least if he really is dead, Henry Jr went out fighting, and trying to make amends for his mistakes. I admit that I would love to see Henry Jr again, because I came to really love his character, but it would probably make for a stronger narrative if he stayed dead. Damn it. 

Well congrats Brainwave, you have joined the pantheon of truly horrible fictional parents. I am looking forward to seeing his ass getting stomped. He killed not only his wife but his son, all so that he wouldn't have to turn in his IJS membership card. Henry spent all that time staying with his dad while he was in a coma and telling him how much he loved him and faught so hard to save him and try to help him find his humanity, and it turns out his father wasn't even close to worth his loyalty or his love. 

Rick is turning into a serious liability, trying to pick a fight with Grundy, even for revenge, is seriously next level stupidity. If he had gotten that door open, he probably would have gotten himself and the rest of the team killed right then and there, because he is such a ridiculous hot head who cant think of the consequences of his actions. 

Thank god we have Cindy to make me laugh in the midst of all the sadness. "Daddy its that bitch! Daddy let me kill her! Let me kill her daddy!!" But daddy I want to slaughter my enemies nooowwwwwwww. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by tennisgurl

[Trini]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

... its possible that Dr. Ito might try to resurrect him as part of his creepy mad science projects, maybe to use his powers while he is still comatose or something, which might be not a whole lot better than actually being dead, but then at least he might still have a chance!

On one hand, I don't want Henry to come back as a zombie; but on the other, it seems a waste of resources to for the ISA to lose another telepath who could possibly be turned to the "dark side".

[Genius]

I'm just now bingeing this series and watched episode 10.  Ugh, just when Henry was starting to matter, they kill him!  If he and Courtney really are cousins, that is territory worth mining with both of them alive.  And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Henry & Yolanda's breakup a giant misunderstanding, with neither of them realizing Cindy was the actual spreader of the nude pic?  I kept waiting for them to actually discuss it and realize Henry wasn't to blame.  With Cindy right there in the dungeon during the fight, it would have been a perfect time for it to come out.  Unless I had it wrong the whole time and Henry was guilty.  It makes sense of his apology, I guess, but I could haven sworn it was Cindy's dong.

[cambridgeguy]

4 hours ago, Genius said:

I'm just now bingeing this series and watched episode 10.  Ugh, just when Henry was starting to matter, they kill him!  If he and Courtney really are cousins, that is territory worth mining with both of them alive.  And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Henry & Yolanda's breakup a giant misunderstanding, with neither of them realizing Cindy was the actual spreader of the nude pic?  I kept waiting for them to actually discuss it and realize Henry wasn't to blame.  With Cindy right there in the dungeon during the fight, it would have been a perfect time for it to come out.  Unless I had it wrong the whole time and Henry was guilty.  It makes sense of his apology, I guess, but I could haven sworn it was Cindy's dong.

Henry didn't spread the photos but he was showing them off to his friends and he didn't say a word when Cindy sent them around.  So he's not exactly an innocent bystander in all of this even if he's not really as malicious as Cindy.

[Kromm]

On 8/24/2020 at 12:58 PM, Genius said:

If he and Courtney really are cousins, that is territory worth mining with both of them alive.

They're not Cousins.

This is resolved pretty definitively. The spoiler tags likely aren't even necessary given WHEN they do that, but just in case, I guess.