S02.E02: Summer School: Chapter Two

[scarynikki12]

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Still on the lookout for evil in Blue Valley, Courtney grows suspicious after an unexpected visitor shows up at the Dugan house.

 

 

[scarynikki12]

Girls Just Want To Have Fun!

::dances around::

I want to live in Ms Ordway’s house please. That porch is a dream.

Where have I seen summer school teacher?

I see Zeke gets to play with the robot and has never been happier.

Dude’s wearing a top hat in the daytime. He’d be less obvious if he wandered around with a sign saying “I’m a bad guy!”

Ha! The shot of the kids running past the diner window was funny.

Courtney was beyond excited about The Shade showing up, hee.

Cindy you’re talking with a magic stone. You’re not in control.

I hope we see Jenny again.

[AimingforYoko]

Sucks to be Bobbie. At least her suffering is over. (I hope).

I wonder if Shade knew the game would be up so quickly. (Courtney's reaction was classic.)

[cambridgeguy]

A certain Arrowverse character needs to watch this and see how awesome a fully powered Green Lantern is.  Alas, she's too powerful and too expensive to keep around, so it's off to search for her long lost brother.  Maybe she can run into Sylvester on the way and tell him that it shouldn't take months to get to Blue Valley.

[AnimeMania]

It is weird that none to the kids at the group home wanted to say goodbye to Jennie when she was leaving. Did Jennie manage to get her belongings before the ring whisked her away?

I wouldn't want to sleep anywhere near that Bulldog, especially if I slept with my mouth open.

Where is Rick getting all this money from to buy all of this food?

If the Eclipso Diamond did to Rebecca McNider what it did to Cindy's stepmom, I don't know how the girl's mother would realize that pile of black ashy stuff was her daughter. 

[thuganomics85]

Let's be honest: has there ever been a time a British character with a top hat and cane showed up and not automatically sent suspicious vibes everywhere?  Of course, this guy isn't just suspicious but is none other than The Shade: the only member of the ISA not accounted for until now.  At least Courtney seems thrilled to finally have a target/villain to go after, but I'm sure taking him down will be easier said than done.

Hope this isn't it for Jennifer.  I liked the actress and I thought she made for some interesting dynamics with the JSA.  Not surprised that Courtney was suspicious at first, and while I do think some of it had merit, I do think part of her was also just annoyed and jealous over how much everyone was liking her: both the family and her friends/teammates.  Glad they ended things on better terms, at least (with some help from a Pat pep talk, because dad pep talks are a staple in the Arrowverse!)  But her suddenly going away to find her long lost brother definitely screams of a "Need her off screen to save on the budget!" move and probably won't be back until possibly finale time.

Zeek certainly seems to know what he's talking about!

Solomon Grundy (?) certainly seemed to like the fried chicken, but will he enjoy the pizza?!

Yeah, Cindy, keep telling yourself that you are in control and Eclipso is just along for the ride.  You are so over your head that it's almost funny.

So, summer school seems to consist of Courtney, Yolanda (because, if it wasn't already established last season, her parents are massive assholes), Rick if he actually bothers showing up, and Isaac/Fiddler's son.  And while they are being taught by someone who claims his name is Paul, he is played by Randy Havens a.k.a. Mr. Clarke from Stranger Things, so I'm totally choosing to believe he's a descendent of the coolest teacher ever!

[immortalfrieza]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

It is weird that none to the kids at the group home wanted to say goodbye to Jennie when she was leaving. Did Jennie manage to get her belongings before the ring whisked her away?

Doesn't look like it. On top of that, that group home lady was a total bitch. Look, I get it, she's 18 so you you kick her to the curb, but at least have the decency to do it bright and early in the morning where she could actually make arrangements for somewhere to live or something instead of the middle of the night!

2 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Sucks to be Bobbie. At least her suffering is over. (I hope).

My guess is Bobbie is spending the rest of eternity suffering in a hellscape or something. Because you do not get killed by a demonic being and not end up in a hellscape.

26 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Yeah, Cindy, keep telling yourself that you are in control and Eclipso is just along for the ride.  You are so over your head that it's almost funny.

And what's worse is Cindy clearly knows exactly what Eclipso is. She doesn't even have the excuse of not knowing what the thing is and what it could do and thus being fooled into becoming Eclipso's puppet. No, she's willingly working with a powerful demonic being in a stone that corrupts people so it can eat them.

On that note, apparently it's a sin to try to escape from an abusive kidnapper. Who knew?

[tvwatchergordis]

I thought this episode was much better than last weeks. Eclipso is scary, so he likes to feed on hatred and chaos huh? He's even willing to manipulate people into becoming instruments of evil just to feed? wow! this guy is bad news I think Cindy is way over her head. She has no idea what she's gotten into. And I think she'll end up paying the price time will tell. 

Loved learning more about Green Lantern thru his daughter. From all the DC heroes he's the one I know the least of. Though I looked up Alan Scott and I saw that he's not considered a real Lantern because his powers don't come from the ring/corps but from the Lantern he had. Which would explain why Jenny is able to have the same powers while the other GL's are usually chosen. I want to have more knowlege I liked her an that scene where she gets her powers was awesome! Poor Court though when she saw her family and friends falling under Jennie's spell fast. Her jealousy was realistic.

Aw Courtney I felt her despair at meeting yet another hero that's one thru genetics not like her. Good thing that Pat got it thru to her that she's special because her parents weren't a hero. The staff chose her for a reason and that's because she has the heart of a hero. LOL how cute she was getting all excited when Pat told her there was another villain for the JSA to defeat. 

So I guess this show is part of the Arrowverse after all because like all the heroes Alan has a two children: a son and a daughter. I've only heard of the daughter so I'm guessing the son is Oliver Queen's work lol. 

Speaking of the second villain Richard is intimidating. Dude alreay has me worried haha. Great casting choice for Shade.

Think S2 is gonna be pretty good going by the first two episodes and the set up of the villains. 

[cambridgeguy]

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I do think part of her was also just annoyed and jealous over how much everyone was liking her: both the family and her friends/teammates.

I'd be annoyed too if the person who broke into my house got to sleep in my room while I was banished to the couch and had to share it with a snoring dog.

[magicdog]

8 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

I'd be annoyed too if the person who broke into my house got to sleep in my room while I was banished to the couch and had to share it with a snoring dog.

Ditto.  Jenny could have waited until morning and knocked on the door to try to obtain the lantern.  Breaking and entering in the middle of the night just makes you look bad.

 

18 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

If the Eclipso Diamond did to Rebecca McNider what it did to Cindy's stepmom, I don't know how the girl's mother would realize that pile of black ashy stuff was her daughter. 

 Maybe the damage was based on age and depth of evil.  Rebecca was a child who was being a bit bratty and stole a toy (at the behest of Eclipso) but that's different than attempted murder by an adult who has much more soil on the soul.  Interesting that stepmom was kidnapped and forced to mother Cindy.

 

I'm a little hung up on Jenny and the photo.  The actress is obviously ethnic Asian, yet the photo of [supposedly} her and her brother show two white children together.  IIRC, she and Todd were fraternal twins.  Did they forget to change photos to show this?  Or did they intend to have a white actress for the part and forgot?

18 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Where is Rick getting all this money from to buy all of this food?

Been a while, but does he work at the garage for Pat?  If so, that could be it. 

 

13 hours ago, tvwatchergordis said:

So I guess this show is part of the Arrowverse after all because like all the heroes Alan has a two children: a son and a daughter. I've only heard of the daughter so I'm guessing the son is Oliver Queen's work lol. 

Yes and no.  It's an alternate Earth (established during the Crisis episodes) but Alan Scott always had two children.  

 

16 hours ago, immortalfrieza said:

Doesn't look like it. On top of that, that group home lady was a total bitch. Look, I get it, she's 18 so you you kick her to the curb, but at least have the decency to do it bright and early in the morning where she could actually make arrangements for somewhere to live or something instead of the middle of the night!

This!  You would think they'd start preparations 6 months before Jenny's 18th birthday so there would be a plan for her to leave and how to take care of herself.  The opening scene was a recipe for homeless youth 101!

[shapeshifter]

51 minutes ago, magicdog said:

I'm a little hung up on Jenny and the photo.  The actress is obviously ethnic Asian, yet the photo of [supposedly} her and her brother show two white children together.  IIRC, she and Todd were fraternal twins.  Did they forget to change photos to show this?  Or did they intend to have a white actress for the part and forgot?

I thought both kids looked possibly Filipino-American (like Ysa Penarejo, who plays Jennie) but the girl was blonde. IDK. Some clue to the audience? Maybe Jennie is like Courtney, and will turn out to be not really the daughter of Green Lantern?

ETA: Maybe the blonde girl in the picture (whether or not it is Jennie) will be Courtney’s half sister. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Noneofyourbusiness]

22 hours ago, immortalfrieza said:

 Look, I get it, she's 18 so you you kick her to the curb, but at least have the decency to do it bright and early in the morning where she could actually make arrangements for somewhere to live or something instead of the middle of the night!

My Mom was hung up on this. Why is it happening at night?

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

My Mom was hung up on this. Why is it happening at night?

Drama.

ETA: Plus, like @AnimeMania says below: 12:01 a.m. of Jennie’s 18th birthday was the soonest the foster mom could get rid of her, and, like the foster mom said, Jennie being perfect was really irritating everyone (i.e., foster mom).

Edited August 19, 2021 by shapeshifter

[AnimeMania]

5 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

On 8/17/2021 at 11:34 PM, immortalfrieza said:

 Look, I get it, she's 18 so you you kick her to the curb, but at least have the decency to do it bright and early in the morning where she could actually make arrangements for somewhere to live or something instead of the middle of the night!

My Mom was hung up on this. Why is it happening at night?

Because the lady was so mean that right when the clock struck midnight on Jennie's Birthday, the lady threw her out!

[MissLucas]

All I know about Green Lantern I learned from the Big Bang Theory - which clearly isn't a helpful source at all. I still have no idea how that gizmo is supposed to work and/or what it's supposed to do. It produces what you think about? So why did Jennie think of a vintage car and not her brother? And if humans are not within the lantern's reach how about fixing the Dugan's kitchen? And yes, it's odd and inconsistent for a supposedly perfect character to think it's okay to do some breaking and entering. After her intro last week I had assumed she was a bit of a badass intent on getting what was hers never mind the consequences. But then she turns out all timid, a perfect people-pleaser? That did not work for me. Also: she knew who Patt was, so did she not bother to check whose house she was breaking into? A perfectionist would have and when registering the name probably chose to wait until morning, ring the bell and talk to her father's old friend.

Cindy is in over her head and now has to cook dinner herself - serves her right. I loved the scene with Pat noticing the kids running panicky through town and his reaction. I would have liked to see the Shade's reaction to his tea too, sadly there was no time.

I'm not sure who got the better leather jacket this week - Courtney or Lois Lane.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

17 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

It produces what you think about? So why did Jennie think of a vintage car and not her brother? And if humans are not within the lantern's reach how about fixing the Dugan's kitchen?

1. It was a larger version of the toy car in Jennie's box. It had the name Todd on the bottom.

2. The ring produces constructs of green energy, not permanent objects.

[tennisgurl]

I love that Barbara took one look at that weird British guy in a top hat with a big ass cane dressed like some kind of steampunk Jack the Ripper and called Pat immediately like "pretty sure there's a supervillain in town" this is so not her first day anymore. The Shade already seems like he's going to be a great villain, I dig his style. 

This was a really good episode, I like Jenny already and hope that she can come back. Interesting that they are using the Alan Scott Green Lantern, one of the oldest, less known, and one who's powers are pretty different than most later versions of the character, but it totally fits the JSA's throwback 40s vibe. Also, interesting to note, I am pretty sure that one of his first villains was Solomon Grundy! Courtney certainly was wrong to be so jealous of how seemingly perfect Jenny is, to the point of almost making her want to leave, but I could see how that would really hit on a lot of Courtney's insecurities. Not only is she the biological daughter of a JSA member (which Courtney wanted to be so badly) but she hit it off right away with Pat and her family, while Courtney had some angsty teen stuff to deal with before they bonded, so now Jenny not only has the ancestral JLA bond with an object and the JLA parent, but is also seemingly honing in on Courtney's step dad, the only dad she actually has. Hopefully she comes back again soon, maybe for a big midseason fight where she shows up at the last minute to save the day? Courtney's jealousy at least gave Pat the chance to throw out a classic dad speech complete with a real "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed" dad expression.

Although, next time Jenny, maybe just knock?

Zeek certainly is taking to this whole "Pat's giant robot" thing like a duck takes to water! I think I have a new favorite minor character! 

Poor Bobbie, we finally find out a bit about what might have happened to her and now she's gone. Even Cindy looked freaked out, which was actually surprising a bit. yeah Cindy, maybe the creepy ultra powerful amulet that you are using that also happens to suck people dry and feeds off of bad vibes might not be totally trustworthy? 

Courtney almost doing a happy dance when she realized there was a new villain around was so great, she was positively glowing. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by tennisgurl

[cambridgeguy]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

This was a really good episode, I like Jenny already and hope that she can come back. Interesting that they are using the Alan Scott Green Lantern, one of the oldest, less known, and one who's powers are pretty different than most later versions of the character, but it totally fits the JLA's throwback 40s vibe.

Don't you mean JSA?  Alan has always been the JSA's Green Lantern, just like Jay Garrick has always been their Flash.  It would have been an odd choice to pick Hal Jordan or one of the other Corps members.

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

Courtney almost doing a happy dance when she realized there was a new villain around was so great, she was positively glowing.

Yeah, although I wonder what she did after the scene ended.  Are you planning to head out and fight him right now?

[AnimeMania]

On 8/17/2021 at 9:00 PM, scarynikki12 said:

Courtney was beyond excited about The Shade showing up, hee.

Courtney's friends were getting a little tired of hanging out with her all night and patrolling the streets for villains, now Courtney gets to throw it in their face with an "I told you so".

[Terrafamilia]

When Jenny said she thought the ring was leading her to her brother and then the lantern started going into overdrive I thought it would end up with Todd popping out of the lantern.

[SnarkShark]

Blue Valley: the town where nobody sees nuthin'. 

[Noneofyourbusiness]

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I love that Barbara took one look at that weird British guy in a top hat with a big ass cane dressed like some kind of steampunk Jack the Ripper and called Pat immediately like "pretty sure there's a supervillain in town" this is so not her first day anymore.

That and he was asking about the collection of William Zarick, who Barbara must know was the Wizard by now.

.

[Starfish35]

I was surprised that Jenny left.  For some reason I had been under the impression that she was going to be a regular, but I guess I had that wrong.  

Other than introducing Jenny (Hi Jenny! Bye Jenny!) and helping her get her powers (and setting up a way for Courtney and Pat to have a talk about how she’s still important even if she isn’t Starman’s daughter), the rest of it was mostly just setup for the future.  Rick is still feeding Grundy, and skipping summer school.  Yolanda’s folks have put her in summer school to “keep her out of trouble” - wow, they really are something else.  Beth….ah, nothing really on Beth this week.  Zeke is upgrading the robot - really, who IS this guy?  Is this going to turn out to be a janitor/Shining Knight situation?  

On the villain front, The Shade’s in town.  I was a bit afraid at the end that Pat was going to keep that a secret from Courtney with all her “normal life” resolutions, but good for him for not doing that.  It was hilarious watching her trying to stay serious but you could see the delight she was trying so hard to repress until the end.  😄 And Cindy.  Oh Cindy.  You have a tiger by the tail and you are not even remotely in control.  I almost feel sorry for you.   I DO feel sorry for poor Bobbie,  who was apparently abducted and held prisoner to provide the step-mom cover story.  I’ll bet she wished she’d forgone the wine and the dish smashing, and just headed straight for the exit.  Although who’s to say Cindy wouldn’t have come after her.  

ETA:  Although now that I’m thinking about it, why was she still around, other than plot convenience? As far as we can tell, Cindy and Dragon King disappeared five months ago.  I would have thought Bobbie would have gotten out of Dodge Blue Valley long before now.

I did wonder what was the deal with that one shot where she was sweeping up the glass.  It looked like the kitchen island was gone, but then later it was back.  🤔

Edited August 22, 2021 by Starfish35

[Lantern7]

Courtney: I've made a decision, Pat. I'm going to be me first. Stargirl comes second. I gotta pass summer school and not obsess about anyone being a potential villain. Not even the substitute teacher I've been saddled with. Normal stuff for me!

Pat: (heavy contemplation)

Courtney: Something wrong?

Pat: Well, Court . . . I think we got another Injustice Society villain in town.

Courtney: . . . . oh?

Pat: it's the Shade. He's the only ISA guy we haven't encountered yet. He's in Blue Valley right now.

Courtney: (frozen in place, grinning)

Pat: Um . . . Court? You okay?

Max: (howling in pain upstairs)

Pat: Damn, you're squealing so hard and so high, only animals can hear it.  Telling you may have been a mistake.

CW affiliate preempted the episode on Tuesday for Red Sox/Yankees, and I didn't get around to watching before the rerun last night. Good stuff. Jenni is a welcome addition, but she couldn't stay because she's off to find her brother. Also, because even with the advances in CGI, hard-light constructs are probably still expensive to create. I will say that showing that the car was a toy and Todd's name underneath was a cute touch.

I forget . . . is Yolanda in summer school because her parents don't want to deal with her? That's the impression I got. If that's true . . . shit, man. Also, Beth's parental divorce drama was forgotten for this week.

Max sleeping next to Courtney on the couch? Awesome. Double bonus seeing him laying upside-down. I like him a lot, even if we find out he saw Jenni break in and did nothing to warn the family.

SHADE! Great that James Robinson gets to write him again. After the creation of Jack Knight, I think Shade was Robinson's biggest success. Good to see the top hat, cane, and exhausting English accent.

Did anyone use the word "Eclipso"? I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. Some fans might want the "eclipsed" face instead of the full-on darkness, but I liked the effect. RIP Ms. Ordway. She died so Cindy could advance in being evil.

[MarkHB]

On 8/18/2021 at 2:53 AM, tvwatchergordis said:

So I guess this show is part of the Arrowverse after all because like all the heroes Alan has a two children: a son and a daughter. I've only heard of the daughter so I'm guessing the son is Oliver Queen's work lol. 

Please forgive me in case I'm rupturing a mental block your brain has created to keep you from remembering this, but her brother has actually appeared in the Arrowverse:

Spoiler

he's Obsidian, and he was in the WTF JSA in Season 2 of Legends. Granted, that was Earth-1 and this show is on New Earth-2, so there's lots of opportunity for improvement.

(Spoiled because I used his codename.)

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Just so everyone is aware, the correct spelling is Jennie with an IE.

.

[immortalfrieza]

20 hours ago, Starfish35 said:

I was surprised that Jenny left.  For some reason I had been under the impression that she was going to be a regular, but I guess I had that wrong. 

I prefer it this way. Jenny's ring is OPed if she knew how to use it and the effects are probably REALLY expensive, so Jenny would barely be able to use her powers anyway. This way we avoid the "why doesn't Jenny just wish this problem away?" question that would constantly come up.
 

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Zeke is upgrading the robot - really, who IS this guy?  Is this going to turn out to be a janitor/Shining Knight situation?  

Just as long as Zeke isn't secretly a supervillain and implants the robot with evil A.I. or something I'm satisfied whatever happens with him.

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 I DO feel sorry for poor Bobbie,  who was apparently abducted and held prisoner to provide the step-mom cover story.  I’ll bet she wished she’d forgone the wine and the dish smashing, and just headed straight for the exit.  Although who’s to say Cindy wouldn’t have come after her.  

Oh Cindy definitely would've come after Bobbie. She's just vindictive enough to hunt her down just for the crime of DARING to try to escape. Though apparently Cindy cared enough not to actually want her dead for some reason. That's another one of those little sparks of humanity in her every so often that make her so tragic as a character.

Quote

ETA:  Although now that I’m thinking about it, why was she still around, other than plot convenience? As far as we can tell, Cindy and Dragon King disappeared five months ago.  I would have thought Bobbie would have gotten out of Dodge Blue Valley long before now.

Given the SOLD sign outside, she probably was trying to sell the house so she wouldn't end up homeless and just managed to actually do it. Which considering what she was fleeing from she probably should've just run, but at least she seemed to have a reason rather than "just because."

[paulvdb]

1 hour ago, immortalfrieza said:

Though apparently Cindy cared enough not to actually want her dead for some reason.

Because now Cindy will have to do her own household chores. Or find herself a new stepmom to kidnap.

[Starfish35]

3 hours ago, immortalfrieza said:

Given the SOLD sign outside, she probably was trying to sell the house so she wouldn't end up homeless and just managed to actually do it. Which considering what she was fleeing from she probably should've just run, but at least she seemed to have a reason rather than "just because."

Oh, I didn’t remember seeing the Sold sign.  That makes more sense I guess.  

[tvwatchergordis]

16 hours ago, MarkHB said:

Please forgive me in case I'm rupturing a mental block your brain has created to keep you from remembering this, but her brother has actually appeared in the Arrowverse:

  Hide contents

he's Obsidian, and he was in the WTF JSA in Season 2 of Legends. Granted, that was Earth-1 and this show is on New Earth-2, so there's lots of opportunity for improvement.

(Spoiled because I used his codename.)

😃 thanks yep I didn't remember i watch too many shows I think, and this was a long time again. But now it seems familiar.

[SnarkShark]

On 8/23/2021 at 2:52 PM, paulvdb said:

Because now Cindy will have to do her own household chores. Or find herself a new stepmom to kidnap.

Nah. I think it was genuine regret. Cindy is a monster, but they've certainly made it clear she's got human needs and foibles, like a need for approval and affection. Just on her own twisted terms.  She would have terrorized that woman, quite knowingly, but still been capable of seeing the fake family structure as a viable substitute for approval and affection.