S02.E03: Summer School: Chapter Three

[scarynikki12]

Quote

After getting a taste of the superhero life, Mike pleads with Pat to let him join the team.

 

 

[cardigirl]

Am I supposed to find Courtney as annoying as I do this season? She's just so full of herself. 

[cambridgeguy]

Shade sounded concerned about the kids at the end of the episode.  I think he'll end up saving them at some point - unlike his former comrades he doesn't seem like the type to kill teenagers.  If he really wanted to he could have done it in this episode.

And hey, maybe Pat will start paying more attention to his kid now.  As the best Dad on the show you're supposed to notice when your son walks in with torn clothes and a bummed out look.

[AnimeMania]

17 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

And hey, maybe Pat will start paying more attention to his kid now.  As the best Dad on the show you're supposed to notice when your son walks in with torn clothes and a bummed out look.

Stare at Mike or stare at a big plate full of Bacon, you know they live in America, Right?

[AngieBee1]

Definitely my favourite episode so far; written by two formers Smallville producers and writers Turi Meyers and Al Septien.  Loved

Spoiler

Thunderbolt and the introduction of Jakeem Thunder! 

 

[thuganomics85]

Ah, what could possibly go wrong when you have a genie voiced by Jim Gaffigan backing you up?!  Thunderbolt was fun and it was nice seeing Mike take front and center here.  Even if he is reckless, I do feel for him because it does feel like he's being left how and ignored by the rest of the family, even if I don't think they mean too.  Not surprised that it didn't work out at the end but I do hope he eventually finds his place in the JSA.  I did like that Courtney went to bat for him and even tried to point out she messed up a lot too when she started out (and, honestly, still does.  Superheroing ain't easy!)

But I'm guessing this Jakeem character getting the pen/Thunderbolt at the end is going to possibly set him up as another JSA member.  Especially since he seems to be a loner as well.  That's required for this gang!

So, it looks like The Shade is after Eclipse.  Still don't trust him, but I do get the sense that he is sincere about not actually wanting to hurt any innocents or even the JSA themselves, and just wants to accomplish whatever his current goal is.  Of course I can still see his endgame being nefarious...

The Mike/Yolanda scene/interaction was a nice surprise.  But I really hope Yolanda gets some kind of help soon because she is clearly not over what happened last season.

Is Rick ever going to learn that he can't just "RICK SMASH!" is way through every problem?

This episode really highlights why I love that the whole family is in the know, and we can get different and refreshing scenes like Pat and Barbara just going over the game plans and making sure bases are being covered.  No lies or secrecy!  It's like they're just treating this as normal outings now.  Family goals!

Next week looks like it's going to be fun!

[Lantern7]

How could Mike feel any lower before he grabbed the pen? I'm thinking walking in to see the rest of the family dressing Max in his own Starman/Stargirl/Star-Spangled Kid costume. Related: I think I'm going to get that sketched out for me.

This week: we meet Johnny Thunder! He's a bit of a shade (no pun intended) of the canon version, but Thunderbolt is fun to watch. I don't think Jim Gaffigan would be my first choice to voice it, but he does a good job. I also like how the kids and Pat needed a whiteboard to overthink the hell out of making a wish to locate Shade. On the other hand, I don't think I've seen that level of caution used in any situation like that. Refreshing!

I think I know where Mike is heading. Most things would be way better than having him call himself "Mikey Thunder." Only thing lamer were the bullies mugging him for paper money and robbing a Girl Scout of her cookies. That's low.

Yolanda continues to get headaches and feel guilt over killing Brainwave. I don't think she felt better when Mike told her he didn't really mean to plow Icicle into cubes.

Beth's drama rears its head at the end of the episode. Nice for Rick to comfort her. Also nice for "Chuck" to come back, warning the kids about Eclipso. Finally, that name is used! And we really need to arm Beth. That outfit on her looks so . . . you see her, the words "bless her heart" would echo in your head.

Shade is basically as James Robinson (hard for me to insert the "Dale" in the middle) wrote him in Starman way back in the day. You can't really blame him for being indignant over Pat and the kids dropping in on him. "Hello, Stripsey. Children. I have tea, which I wager none of you desire. I also have biscuits. If I say the word with the letters 'C' and 'K,' I start dying. That isn't a weakness of mine. It's one all British people share." Also: I'm amused the plan was to trap Shade in a tanning bed.

1 hour ago, cardigirl said:

Am I supposed to find Courtney as annoying as I do this season? She's just so full of herself. 

Well, she has been looking for fights between seasons. Even if the Staff doesn't bug her, she's probably itching to get near the highs she had last season. I did like her in history class Turns out you can learn stuff if you open books and read them. The way she delivered that bit was funny.

[tvwatchergordis]

Very good episode. Drastic change in tone from last week's episode to this one tbh. Actually, drastic change of tone from the first 30 mins to the last 30 mins to be exact. Don't know how many times I burst out laughing. Then it got serious at the end.

It was fun meeting Thunderbolt 😍. Great work on the CGI. Poor Mike I can't help feeling for that kid so much. He's what 14/15? and he's alreay experienced so much loneliness in his life. Pat is a neglectful father, the way he ignores his own son is horrible.  People can say he's being an over protective father by keeping Mike outside of the JSA. Yet he lets Courtney do the super heroing business although she's not much older than Mike is. Double standards much? Anyway he looks horrible: either he's overprotective or neglectful with Mike or he is an uncaring & selfish stepfather with Courtney. She's not his real daughter so he won't protect her as much as he does Mike. Now I'm not sure if this is the image the show is going for when it comes to Pat, but it just comes out that way especially after tonight's episode. He let Courtney and the rest of the JSA(Who are teens by the way) face of with Shade and told Mike to stay back... hmmm. It can be argued that he was also over protective with Courtney in the beginning & he was yet he let her become Stargirl. He won't let Mike be in the JSA since S1. I just don't like how this makes him look when it comes to both of his kids. Sure Mike is impulsive seeing how he messed up with Shade but Courtney is too. Pat needs to find a common ground with both. Especially, after he heard how lonely Mike feels from Thunderbolt. If he doesn't I fear this will lead to Cindy & Eclipso manipulating Mike into the new ISA. Cindy does have Mike's pic afterall. 

Now I don't know much about Shade but I'm not 100% sure if he'll be a villain. He seemed worried about Courtney and the JSA at the end of the episode. Hmm. 

Back to Thunderbolt he was fun. His scenes with Mike were hilarious. Esp the Stop sign one with the bullies. Now he's with his real owner.

Courtney and Mike have come a long way they seem more like siblings. Love how she tried to help him with their parents. P.s it was great to see the original members of the JSA in the opening of the ep. 

[appositival]

If Mike becomes both evil and immediately competent it will just prove that he should have been a villain all along. If you don't think he is villain material, just look where he was putting those newspapers!

Why else would they focus on those newspapers? Does Courtney have some throw-able supertoys in that box?

 

[shapeshifter]

8 minutes ago, appositival said:

If you don't think [Mike] is villain material, just look where he was putting those newspapers!

😆🤣😁

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, appositival said:

If Mike becomes both evil and immediately competent it will just prove that he should have been a villain all along. If you don't think he is villain material, just look where he was putting those newspapers!

Why else would they focus on those newspapers? Does Courtney have some throw-able supertoys in that box?

 

I thought they might have been simulating the video game, Paperboy, that was the first thing that popped into my mind while watching the scene.

[rmontro]

On 8/24/2021 at 10:26 PM, AnimeMania said:

Stare at Mike or stare at a big plate full of Bacon, you know they live in America, Right?

I don't understand how they picked out breakfast food, it's always eggs, bacon, sausage, or pancakes.  How can people eat that everyday?

I guess they blew the effects budget on the genie - three episodes in and we haven't seen S.T.R.I.P.E in action once.  

Pat kind of cracks me up with his knowledge of villainess lore.  "That's the black diamond.  It's very, very bad".  "His name is The Shade.  He's bad news".

Don't know why the Green Lantern girl had to leave the show.  I wonder if the new Thunder guy is going to be an intermittent character also.

On 8/24/2021 at 11:40 PM, Lantern7 said:

And we really need to arm Beth. That outfit on her looks so . . . you see her, the words "bless her heart" would echo in your head.

She does not look very intimidating, does she.  Answer me this:  If you were in deep trouble, and this bunch showed up to protect you, would you be filled with confidence? 

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

I don't understand how they picked out breakfast food, it's always eggs, bacon, sausage, or pancakes.  How can people eat that everyday?

You can't eat it everyday, but nobody can be sad when you have a breakfast like that. Yet, they used it to show the sadness two episodes in a row. Mike was happy and Courtney was sad (skipped the meal) when they had it when Jennie was around. Courtney was happy and Mike was sad (skipped the meal) when they had it after Mike got bullied.

[cambridgeguy]

7 hours ago, rmontro said:

Don't know why the Green Lantern girl had to leave the show.  I wonder if the new Thunder guy is going to be an intermittent character also.

The real reason is the effects are too expensive.  GL might also be too powerful, although that didn't help Alan Scott. At least with the Thunderbolt we know it takes a long time to come up with a foolproof wish and there's no way they'd be able to pull that off in combat.

7 hours ago, rmontro said:

And we really need to arm Beth. That outfit on her looks so . . . you see her, the words "bless her heart" would echo in your head.

They really did waste the six months between seasons.  Have everyone improve their self defense skills, double check the dead villain's stash, etc. 

[tennisgurl]

Nice to get a Mike centric episode, I felt really bad for him. Its clear that he feels left out of the superhero stuff (especially as its seems like it was just him and his dad for a long time) and while this didn't work out, I hope he can find more to do with the JSA. At least now Pat has realized that he has been neglecting his son while being so focused on Courtney and the JSA and that he needs to spend more time with him. If only they could have gone on the camping trip. The scene between Yolanda and Henry was really good, even if it doesn't seem like Yolanda didn't quite get what she was looking for. I hope she can talk to someone soon, she is clearly still really struggling with everything that happened last season.

Thunderbolt seems like a lot of fun, I can see what Pat meant when he said his pen was one of the most dangerous things in the JSA collection. He's super powerful and basically benevolent, but his powers are both so chaotic and so specific that the power can be more trouble then its worth. I hope the lonely kid he showed himself to shows up, he can maybe be a part time JSA member. I don't want to get rid of Thunderbolt and his genie style great gazoo hijinks quite yet.

The Shade is a really interesting villain so far. I don't trust him, but I do think he was being sincere when he said that he had no desire to hurt anyone in town or even fight the JSA, and that he really does just want to get Eclipse and be on his way. Unlike the rest of the JSA, who seemed to be pretty much down right away with murdering the teens, he just seems to want them to stop bugging him. Even when he clearly showed how easily he could kill them when Mike showed up during tea time he just used his shadows to incapacitate them and left. He even sounded concerned that they would get themselves killed at the end of the episode. I think he might end up being more of a mysterious wild card then the actual Big Bad, even possibly saving them from Eclipse, the actual main bad guy of the season, before he disappears in a puff of smoke.

If Beth is allowed to run around in her awkward suite with no real weapons, powers, or training, then I would think Mike would be qualified to join the JSA, even without his genie pen. 

[AnimeMania]

13 hours ago, rmontro said:

I wonder if the new Thunder guy is going to be an intermittent character also.

There is no guarantee that he is even lives in Blue Valley, but I am guessing that he does.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

There is no guarantee that he is even lives in Blue Valley, but I am guessing that he does.

He's Mike's friend and paperboy co-worker Jakeem. He was mentioned but not seen earlier in this episode, and in the Season 2 premiere and in Season 1. His name was mentioned in the scene at the end of the episode where he appeared. His sister is Cindy's friend Jenny.

.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[SnarkShark]

Interesting.  I'd suspected they might pull a fast one and use the hero version of The Shade. Glad to see I was right. 

I don't remember.  Did we actually see Dr. Midnight die in the pilot? 

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

The Shade is a really interesting villain so far. I don't trust him, but I do think he was being sincere when he said that he had no desire to hurt anyone in town or even fight the JSA, and that he really does just want to get Eclipse and be on his way. Unlike the rest of the JSA, who seemed to be pretty much down right away with murdering the teens, he just seems to want them to stop bugging him. Even when he clearly showed how easily he could kill them when Mike showed up during tea time he just used his shadows to incapacitate them and left. He even sounded concerned that they would get themselves killed at the end of the episode. I think he might end up being more of a mysterious wild card then the actual Big Bad, even possibly saving them from Eclipse, the actual main bad guy of the season, before he disappears in a puff of smoke.

Good synopsis of Shade, @tennisgurl! I wonder if Pat will notice any of what you did, LOL.

 

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Thunderbolt seems like a lot of fun, I can see what Pat meant when he said his pen was one of the most dangerous things in the JSA collection. 

I liked the way the whole team worked together to compose the foolproof wish.  But I was a little disappointed that The Shade overpowered the Thunderbolt so easily.  Guess it can't do everything.

So we have the pen and the Green Lantern accounted for now.  Are there any more superhero doohickeys at the house?  I can't quite remember.  Is there a Dr. Fate helmet or Flash helmet laying around? 

And what about Dr. Mid-Nite's owl?  I suppose a CGI owl is too expensive to have hanging around with Beth.   

[MissLucas]

Yes, to all the 'give Beth a better costume and some self defense skills' posts. Eve with the googles working properly she was a liability but until Cuck's back up and running she should not be in the field. Let her pull a Felicity - that would make so much more sense. Sorry Beth, I like you but right now you belong with Mike.

Poor Yolanda, she was hoping to talk to Mike about her trauma just to realize that he was not sharing her burden. Girl needs some therapy.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

5 hours ago, SnarkShark said:

I don't remember.  Did we actually see Dr. Midnight die in the pilot? 

We saw him dragged away by a giant shadow hand while he told Pat to run.

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

I liked the way the whole team worked together to compose the foolproof wish.  But I was a little disappointed that The Shade overpowered the Thunderbolt so easily.  Guess it can't do everything.

So we have the pen and the Green Lantern accounted for now.  Are there any more superhero doohickeys at the house?  I can't quite remember.  Is there a Dr. Fate helmet or Flash helmet laying around? 

And what about Dr. Mid-Nite's owl?  I suppose a CGI owl is too expensive to have hanging around with Beth.   

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if he's not such a bad guy), Mike told the Thunderbolt to attack Shade directly rather than turn him into a frog or something.

Doctor Fate's helmet should be somewhere. A Flash helmet would look cool but not grant powers. I wish Hootie were around.

.

[rmontro]

31 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Doctor Fate's helmet should be somewhere. A Flash helmet would look cool but not grant powers. I wish Hootie were around.

I thought I remembered seeing a Dr. Fate helmet.  That would be cool to give someone.  I thought I saw a Flash helmet too, but I wouldn't swear to either, I've slept since then.  I agree you wouldn't think that would give powers, but you never know with this show.  Hootie would at least give Beth some offense, potentially.

[Gimmick Genius]

1 hour ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

 

Doctor Fate's helmet should be somewhere. A Flash helmet would look cool but not grant powers. I wish Hootie were around.

.

While we're at it, is there a set of Nth metal Hawkman or Hawkgirl wings? Carter Hall, at least, was chairman of the original JSA.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if he's not such a bad guy), Mike told the Thunderbolt to attack Shade directly rather than turn him into a frog or something

Ooo. Good idea.
How about: "Turn Shade into a talking frog until I say to do otherwise with him."?

[SnarkShark]

19 hours ago, rmontro said:

I thought I remembered seeing a Dr. Fate helmet.  That would be cool to give someone.  I thought I saw a Flash helmet too, but I wouldn't swear to either, I've slept since then.  I agree you wouldn't think that would give powers, but you never know with this show.  

Wildcat is the major departure from the comics in terms of power origin.   I suppose its possible they'd change how Flash powers are granted just to be consistent.  They might lay off just because there are lots of Flashes already around in different properties. 

[rmontro]

20 hours ago, SnarkShark said:

Wildcat is the major departure from the comics in terms of power origin.   I suppose its possible they'd change how Flash powers are granted just to be consistent.  They might lay off just because there are lots of Flashes already around in different properties. 

Yeah, I think it would be cool to see a Dr. Fate.  But I have no real desire to see another Flash.

Edited August 28, 2021 by rmontro

[magicdog]

11 hours ago, rmontro said:

But I have real desire to see another Flash.

I'd like to see Jay Garrick again!  Then again, Flash 1990 has been a fave of mine!

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Why do people with unreliable genies never think of saying "I wish for you to grant this and all future wishes in the manner the wisher intends?"

[marketdoctor]

Quote

Why do people with unreliable genies never think of saying "I wish for you to grant this and all future wishes in the manner the wisher intends?"

In general, I'm not sure, but in this case, they could say that's one of the rules.

[immortalfrieza]

On 8/24/2021 at 10:40 PM, Lantern7 said:

 And we really need to arm Beth.

Amen. Especially without the goggles Beth has no purpose on the JSA and she didn't do that much even when she did have Chuck. Either get her some high tech super gadgets to fight with or something or just leave her behind because she's just a liability.

On 8/26/2021 at 8:29 PM, rmontro said:

But I was a little disappointed that The Shade overpowered the Thunderbolt so easily.  Guess it can't do everything.

Yeah, Mike was all depressed about screwing up but he didn't, not really. All that happened was his genie wasn't powerful enough to handle the bad guy who, let's face it, was probably was going to end up fighting the whole JSA and effortlessly kicking their butts regardless.

If I were Mike, my first wish after finding out about that ridiculous "have to be specific" clause would be this: "I wish that, without compromising my ability to speak or function otherwise, I will from this point on be incapable of speaking any wishes intentional or accidental that are not phrased in a way that will only generate results accurate to my intent when the wish was made." There, now I've got a safeguard.

3 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Why do people with unreliable genies never think of saying "I wish for you to grant this and all future wishes in the manner the wisher intends?"

Exactly! Especially with a genie like Thunderbolt that doesn't deliberately twist wishes to be malicious and thus would actually grant such a wish.

It's because then there wouldn't be any sort of conflict. When you've got a magical wish granting genie that gives you exactly what you want when you wish for something any plot stops working. It's the same reason why the Green Lantern ring Alan Scott or not can supposedly do ANYTHING but the user doesn't just wish the problem of the week away.

[rmontro]

41 minutes ago, immortalfrieza said:

If I were Mike, my first wish after finding out about that ridiculous "have to be specific" clause would be this: "I wish that, without compromising my ability to speak or function otherwise, I will from this point on be incapable of speaking any wishes intentional or accidental that are not phrased in a way that will only generate results accurate to my intent when the wish was made." There, now I've got a safeguard.

Smart, but probably wouldn't work.  It's probably one of those "rules" the genie was talking about, like not being able to wish someone dead, not being able to bring people back from the dead, etc.

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, magicdog said:

I'd like to see Jay Garrick again!  Then again, Flash 1990 has been a fave of mine!

Apologies, I meant to say I have NO real desire to see another Flash.  I edited it to fix it.  But Jay Garrick was on the last few episodes of The Flash, if you want to catch those.

Not that I don't like the Flash, it's just that there are several running around already.

[Starfish35]

I guess I never commented on this one last week.  Good episode, although I ended up feeling sorry for Mike at the end.  Poor Mike.   He got to be a superhero for a bit, and then poof, it was gone.  I loved Courtney being his defender though.  I’m glad they’re getting closer, and I hope that continues. 

The actor playing The Shade totally reminds me (with that hair especially) of an evil Andy Griffith.  Lol.  Although of course not the accent.  I’m curious to see what his real agenda is.  As others have pointed out, he didn’t hurt the kids at all, and actually seemed to be concerned about them at the end.  

Oh, one thing I just remembered.  What was with that ringing thing that happened to Yolanda in the classroom?  That wasn’t just a headache. More side effects manifesting from killing Brainwave?

Edited September 5, 2021 by Starfish35