S02.E04: Summer School: Chapter Four

[scarynikki12]

Quote

As Pat considers whether he should come clean to Courtney about Eclipso's past, a surprise visit from Crock and Paula catches him and Barbara off guard.

 

 

[Jediknight]

Please let Artemis see right through Cindy.  Let her join the young JSA.  Perhaps Pat and Barb could let her stay with them, since her foster family seems to only care about the money.

On one hand Crusher and Paula are members of the ISA, on the other hand they are good parents, and I liked them with Pat and Barb.  Gonna suck that they won't reappear.

[cambridgeguy]

Pat and Barbara really should be smart enough to know that Courtney and the rest will eventually figure out what happened between the JSA and Eclipso.  Not only did the Shade already clue her in to the bit about Dr. Mid-Nite's daughter, Eclipso seems like the type to spill the beans just to brag about how powerful and dark he is.  And when all this comes out I hope Barbara will point out how Courtney insisted that Pat keep her in the dark last season.  Turnabout is fair play!

[AimingforYoko]

Sportsmaster and Tigress are psychopaths bur good parents. The Shade is bad, but not evil. Pat and Barbara are good people but are keeping secrets. Shades of gray, so refreshing in a superhero show. Especially on the CW.

I do wonder if Shade has a personal score to settle with Eclipso.

[Lantern7]

I feel bad for Mike.

Mike: (walking to the stack of newspapers) I don't know what's worse . . . that I got strongarmed into this gig, that people here don't get their news online, or that I had ultimate power in my hand and screwed up. Eh, the heck with it. Hey, that jerk Sportsmaster in on the cover of today's editio-

Crusher: Hey there, slugger!

Mike: AHHHHH!! DAMN IT!

Crusher: Did I scare ya?

Mike: Yeah! Why aren't you . . . somewhere that's not in front of me? Today's collection day, and that's the one day of the week I like the most-

Paula: (popping beside Mike) That will have to wait.

Mike: (facepalming) Of course they both broke out. (closing eyes tight) So cool, so cool, so cool . . .

Crusher: What's that, junior varsity?

Mike: Nothing. Just . . . so cool that I run into two bad guys that aren't murdering me.  (pause) See, there was this thing last week-

Paula: We need to chat with your dad.

Mike: *sigh* Of course you do. You couldn't just drop into the garage without me, could you?

Crusher: No, we needed some incentive for him to come! (gives Mike a noogie)

Paula: Our ride's over there. Oh, and if you scream? We will kill you and make it look like an accident!

Crusher: Honey, be nice to the boy! (to Mike) So . . . what's it like to live in a house where the dog gets more attention that you?

Mike: (groaning) I was better off with Shade . . ..

Lots of warming up. Crushing and Paula continue to be good parents and horrible people. Artemis has to deal with people that aren't dedicated to her dreams like her parents, AND she has a major Cindy-induced freakout freakout.  Cindy starts recruiting for her team. And Courtney has a tense conversation with Shade, who has been impressive so far. I can't imagine him in the same state as the Crocks, let alone sharing a secret clubhouse.

Bruce Gordon name-drop! I don't think Justice League (the animated series) did that in "Eclipsed." And of course there would be a used book store called House of Secrets.

Wait, so Chuck is been in a shadow realm this whole time? Or maybe he's in the diamond? Very interesting. Also, his silhouette makes him look like he's in his costume, so I'm thinking it could also be an old-school Phantom Zone situation.

[Diapason Untuned]

1 hour ago, Jediknight said:

Please let Artemis see right through Cindy.  Let her join the young JSA.  Perhaps Pat and Barb could let her stay with them, since her foster family seems to only care about the money.

On one hand Crusher and Paula are members of the ISA, on the other hand they are good parents, and I liked them with Pat and Barb.  Gonna suck that they won't reappear.

Sportsmaster and Tigress have been promoted to series regulars, so we'll be seeing them again

 

[Frozendiva]

The show continues to pleasantly surprise me. So unlike the other CW shows.

[AnimeMania]

That bookstore was really dark, I don't know how you can see what you are buying. Maybe they should give their customers mining helmets to wear.

If Artemis was a nicer person, she should have been able to get all of the food she wanted from the rest of her football teammates.

[thuganomics85]

Sportsmaster and Tigress return and are still kind of awesome!  I mean, yeah, they're murderous, unhinged psychos, but dammit, they love each other and they love their daughter enough to break out of prison and hold another family hostage (more or less) just to be there for the try outs and support her!  Family goals right there!

Pat and Barbara were great with interacting with Lawrence and Paula, but they sadly fell into the classic trap of "We are going to keep a dangerous secret from out loved one to protect her, even though she'll probably find out herself a few episodes from now and is rightfully going to be pissed once she finds out we kept it from her."  I mean, to be fair, yeah, Courtney is impulsive as hell and that will always be a risk, but keeping her in the dark seems like a way more risky plan to me.

Speaking of keeping things in the dark, sure enough, it looks like Swift/The Shade actually doesn't want to align with Eclipse, but wants to take him off the board instead.  But I suspect he and the JSA will continue to butt heads over their conflicting methods, even though I don't think he has actually hurt anyone (yet.)

Between Artemis and Jennifer, Blue Valley's foster system could clearly use an overhaul...

Cindy is beginning to assemble her own ISA by first bringing Isaac into the fold and now possibly Artemis (although if Artemis ever finds out that Cindy was the reason she raged out, that might change things...)  But I still think Eclipse himself is the one that is really running the show and Cindy has know idea what she's gotten herself into.

Mid-Nite might still be alive?!

[Jediknight]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Artemis has to deal with people that aren't dedicated to her dreams like her parents, AND she has a major Cindy-induced freakout freakout.

They're not so much not dedicated to her dreams, as they don't seem to give a shit about her.  Foster mom threatened to cut off the calls she gets from her parents, that's some bullshit right there.  They may be criminals, but she loves them, don't sever that.  And telling her to get out of the truck because of a nail appointment.  She's got football tryouts, a nail appointment isn't more important than being their to support her.

5 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

Sportsmaster and Tigress have been promoted to series regulars, so we'll be seeing them again

Woo hoo!  Maybe they'll get an arc where they go good.  Maybe help their daughter to go good and join the JSA.  You did have some hints of that in this episode, with Paula and Barbara finding out how much they have in common and Paula liking Barbara.  And I do think Crusher is sincere when he says he could have seen he and Pat becoming good friends.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

If Artemis was a nicer person, she should have been able to get all of the food she wanted from the rest of her football teammates.

Pride. She doesn't want her fellow students to know she's being treated like trash. That's part of why she reacted so strongly to Courtney mentioning her "situation".

Edited September 1, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[tennisgurl]

Sportsmaster and Tigress are still awesome, it was great seeing them back again. Still murderous psychopaths, but such fun murderous psychopaths, and it is still really is sweet how much they love each other and their daughter, despite the whole blood thirsty super villain thing. Watching them awkwardly hanging out with Pat and Barbara at the house was hilarious, with Crusher being genuinely confused as to why Pat thinks that just because he tried to murder him that means they aren't still friends (and is disappointed that Pat has been slacking on his workout routine) and Paula and Barbara reluctantly bonding over the difficulties of raising a teenage daughter. The scenes between Paula, Crusher, and Artemis actually were quite touching, as bad as Paula and Crusher are, they really do love Artemis and it is weirdly endearing that they really did break out of prison just to support their daughter during her big game, and then apparently really did go right back. I am glad that we got more focus on Artemis this episode, she isn't the easiest person to get along with but I do feel bad for her. She is very close with her parents so them being in jail is really hard on her, her foster mom cant even bother to hide she is only fostering her for the money, and now her try out is blown thanks to Cindy and she finds out her parents really do deserve to be in jail. 

Now Cindy is going around recruiting her now IJL Jr like an evil teenage Nick Fury, first with Isaac and then Artemis. Also, is Artemis getting powers, or was her super strength she seemed to be getting the result of Eclipso? I know she's really athletic, but her strength level was through the rood when she was hurling those footballs. 

I know that Pat and Barbara mean well trying to keep some nastier information from the kids, but this is so going to backfire so badly, and everyone knows it. Has hiding information from friends and loved ones, especially kids, ever ended well in the entire history of fiction? Has it ever not just made everything worse? Seriously, when will parents learn just to tell their kids the damn truth while they can before shit gets real and everything comes out anyway and blows up in everyone's faces? This is especially bad with Mike, I know that, again, they mean well with trying to keep him out of the fight, but Mike is clearly feeling angsty about not being a part of the JSA and feeling left out, which could lead him to get manipulated by Courtney and Eclipso. 

The Shade might be a creepy shadow man who dresses like Jack the Ripper, but I do believe him when he says that he really does not want to fight the JSA and he really is degusted by Eclipso and wants to destroy it. He might have some other goal in tandem to that, but I do think he is being sincere in that he has no desire to work with Eclipso at all and that Courtney is trying to fight him without knowing the whole story. In general this episode had a lot of fun with moral greyness that I enjoyed. Paula and Crusher are bad people but still love their daughter, The Shade admits to not being a good guy but also says he has lines he refuses to cross, and even Cindy showed actual grief and remorse over what happened to her mother and step mother.

Oh Pat. The guy has a giant robot but still uses flip phone from 2007.

Good news, Doctor Midnight is actually alive! Bad news, he's apparently trapped in the Upside Down...

[Starfish35]

Oh man, I’m like Courtney at the end - “is it bad that I kind of feel sorry for them?”  I do actually feel sorry for Artemis; she deserves better than whatever lies and/or manipulations Cindy is going to fill her head with.  Although what is the deal with her, anyway?  Are we supposed to believe her abilities are all natural?  Because she definitely seems to have a bit of super strength going on there, at the very least.   In any case, she needs friends other than Cindy. 

I also did feel a tiny bit sorry for Cindy.  She’s obviously still feeling guilty over whatever happened with her birth mother, and Eclipso is totally playing her. 

Pat’s and Barbara’s forced parental bonding with the Crocks was kind of hilarious.  And the irony of Sportsmaster calling Icicle a “few shades short of a rainbow”.  Lol. You and your wife aren’t exactly the epitome of sanity, either, pal. But they are, bizarrely enough, very loving and dedicated parents.   Although I do wonder what would happen if a child of theirs decided they were interested in focusing on things other than sports.

Pat and Barbara…..no.  I really thought you were smarter than this.  Courtney is going to find out whatever you’re hiding, and it’ll be worse because you lied to her.   As far as what the secret is…..it occurred to me that maybe Pat was the boy that was Eclipso’s host in the first episode?  But I don’t know if that’s possible.  I went back and looked and the time stamp just said “Decades Ago”.  Although I did notice a car that looks like Pat’s in Dr. McNider’s driveway.  

Also, Courtney runs into the Shade.  Is it me, or does this guy really look like an evil Andy Griffith?  Although…maybe not so evil, since maybe he didn’t kill Doctor Mid-Nite after all.  I’m curious to see what he’s really up to. 

One thing that is frustrating me a bit so far this season, though, is that we’re not getting much on the regular characters, other than Courtney and her family.  We get snippets of each of them each week, but it’s just kind of a teaser.  Not really anything substantial.   Yolanda has gotten a job. I wonder if this is on her own initiative, or another of her parents’ plans to keep her busy and “out of trouble.”  Beth is still trying to get Chuck back and save her parent’s marriage.  Rick is still feeding Grundy, and went back and retook his test.  Good for him, and good for the teacher for apologizing.  Although she was kind of choking on it.  I wasn’t sure whether her look at the end was her realizing her prejudices, or being angry that he proved her wrong.  And also…I think Rick totally has a crush on Beth.  I’m not sure whether Beth reciprocates or not. I kind of think right now she’s totally oblivious.

One other kind of funny thing: could it have been any more obvious that the “apple” Artemis crushed was plastic? 😂

Edited September 5, 2021 by Starfish35

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 9/5/2021 at 12:40 AM, Starfish35 said:

As far as what the secret is…..it occurred to me that maybe Pat was the boy that was Eclipso’s host in the first episode?  But I don’t know if that’s possible.  I went back and looked and the time stamp just said “Decades Ago”.  Although I did notice a car that looks like Pat’s in Dr. McNider’s driveway. 

Interesting thought, but I doubt it because the boy said his name was Bruce, like the explorer, Bruce Gordon. Although the explorer would be older. But maybe Eclipso de-aged him.

[Starfish35]

2 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Interesting thought, but I doubt it because the boy said his name was Bruce, like the explorer, Bruce Gordon. Although the explorer would be older. But maybe Eclipso de-aged him.

Oh right, I forgot about that.  I didn’t rewatch the whole scene, I just was looking for a possible date.

[Trini]

I'm not going to have much commentary since I'm watching delayed most of the time; but I like how the various subplots are progressing so far.

Why has Green Lantern's daughter disappeared, though? I assume she'll be back at some point, but I thought she was going to have a bigger role.

Edited September 10, 2021 by Trini

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, Trini said:

Why has Green Lantern's daughter disappeared, though? I assume she'll be back at some point, but I thought she was going to have a bigger role.

She went searching for her brother.

[bettername2come]

I freaked out when Crusher had Mike. I was so sure he was gonna get revenge for the drill. 

I loved seeing Tigress and Sportsmater being legitimately good parents. And Tigress going from judgmental to understanding of Barbara's parenting ideas. And Crusher's genuine confusion about why he and Pat never ended up really friends. I was legitimately happy for them when Crusher said they got to have conjugal visits. 

[Trini]

4 minutes ago, bettername2come said:

I loved seeing Tigress and Sportsmater being legitimately good parents. And Tigress going from judgmental to understanding of Barbara's parenting ideas. And Crusher's genuine confusion about why he and Pat never ended up really friends. I was legitimately happy for them when Crusher said they got to have conjugal visits. 

Yay! for a villain couple that might actually have a chance at making it!