S02.E11: Summer School: Chapter Eleven

[scarynikki12]

Quote

After a frightening encounter leaves Courtney's life hanging in the balance, the team band together to determine their next steps.

 

 

[cambridgeguy]

Well, I hope they didn't actually kill off the Shade.  Charismatic baddies who actually aren't all that bad should be allowed to live and guest star in future seasons.

And way to go Barbara, saying you don't want to live without your daughter.  If anything happens to her you're on your own Pat and Mike!

[Lantern7]

That was some ghoulish fun. My main quibble is that the "Summer School" titles should be dropped. In "real time," I think that lasted about two weeks before the big battle. Any student that actually needed to make up grades is probably stuck at home, getting slowly tortured by Eclipso about missing summer school.

Shadowlands were impressively creepy. Naturally, Cindy is still a bitch even when trapped in purgatory, and she actually has the gall to blame Courtney for her getting there. Even with the implication that Dragon King was basically modding out his daughter like Thanos did with Nebula, Cindy is still far from a sympathetic character. Hopefully, she can pull some weight in the final two episodes of the season.

Shade's not dead. He's too awesome to be dead. At least his sacrifice brought back Courtney, Cindy . . . and Dr. McNider! Can't wait for the first meeting with Beth!

[Frozendiva]

The Shadowlands were sufficiently creepy. I liked the use of the Dorian Gray movie. Hope the Shade is just resting. He's too interesting of a character to just get rid of in a semi heroic moment.

The Bruce Gordon kid was quite good at being Eclipso. A sweet little boy who is actually menacing. Who created everything - Yolanda, Beth, Rick - all Court's demons. Pat, your wife is a keeper. Court, the whole mindmess of your mom resenting you and not wanting you resolved in the end with her loving you to pieces.

Courtney was a good person to also rescue Cindy and Dr. Midnight. Hope Cindy does actually help out with getting rid of Eclipso.

[AnimeMania]

The budget is so low this season that they can't even afford to put color film into the cameras.

Brilliant idea Courtney, bringing Cindy back, kill her and Eclipso goes back into his diamond.

Brilliant idea Courtney, bringing Dr. McNider back, now you can tell Beth that you have a real superhero and she can hang up her Long Johns and go home.

I was hoping that Courtney would go down stairs and find the Shadowlands version of Cosmo and really start lighting some bad guys up.

Stupid move Courtney, when kid Eclipso asks how do you feel about me, you should have walked over to him and pinched his little cheeks until they turned red and said "You are so adorable!".

[BK1978]

I have to say, I have really enjoyed this show since its very first episode.  When I first heard about it I was on the fence about watching it, but I obviously did and I am glad I did.  This is the best current DC show on the CW (I still really like The Flash.  Legends of Tomorrow has some good moments but sadly they are outweighed by the bad humor.  I never have watched Batwoman so I cannot speak on that one way or the other and Supergirl has its good moments but the insufferable woke preaching is just annoying.).   I say on the CW because Titans is just a little bit above this.

I would also like to join the Shade fan club and I hope he is not gone for good.  Villains, or whatever he is, are not usually fleshed out like he has been.  Sure he is out for himself, but he still have this goodness in him as well.

I want to see the redemption of Cindy.  She is another villain that has been fleshed out pretty well and you can see why she ended up the way she did.

[AnimeMania]

Last episode I thought Mike was out looking for Thunderbolt, how did he end up back at home with step-mom. How did his search for Thunderbolt end?

[tennisgurl]

I really hope that the Shade isn't really dead, he's way too cool to die. How could you not want a charmingly snarky two hundred year old morally ambiguous British shadow man to pop up from time to time? I know that him turning into shadows looks bad, considering he is basically a person made of shadow energy, but the rules of all fiction, especially comic book stuff, say that if there is no body there's a good chance that they aren't really dead. I know that this show has always loved killing characters off left and right, but it would really suck if this is his end, he has been one of my favorite parts of the season. Especially now that his old pal Dr. Midnite is back and Eclipso is still on the loose. If this is his end though, at least he died doing something heroic, which he seemed to be happy about, which just makes the whole thing even sadder. Even Pat, who has had a hate on for the guy since he first showed up, was sad to see him go and wanted to try and help him. Crossing my fingers that this isn't really his end. He's a great character, not exactly a good guy but a guy with standards and some goodness in him and a lot of layers, plus a lot of fun to have around. 

The Picture of Dorian Grey is certainly an appropriate movie for an immortal from Victorian England to be watching before his death. 

The Shadowlands were appropriately creepy, both the uncanny black and white world and the swirling black hurricane, and it was cool seeing some old characters again. Poor Joey Zarick, like I said above, for a show that started off so light and happy this show has a really large kill count when it comes to supporting characters. Courtney really is a forgiving sort of person, risking getting stuck in the Shadowlands to save Cindy, who is still blaming Courtney for everything that has happened, despite how ridiculous that is. At least Courtney called her out on how this is all her damn fault to begin with and messing with dark forces of the netherworld wasn't the smartest plan. And I do feel bad for everything that happened to her as a child and what her father did to her, we are probably heading towards a Cindy redemption arc, but given this shows track record, I can imagine that she will finally turn good and then die soon after. 

The family is definitely going to need another big group hug after this. This has been a seriously emotionally draining few weeks.  

[rmontro]

15 hours ago, BK1978 said:

I would also like to join the Shade fan club and I hope he is not gone for good. 

Sign me up too.  From the looks of this thread it appears to be unanimous.  

I hope that bit about Courtney ruining her mom's life by being born doesn't turn out to be a real thing, I don't think we need to go down that road.  Amy Smart makes a great mom, how many mothers are going to let their kids risk getting killed by running around playing superhero?

I had to laugh at that opening reveal of the Shadowlands, with Courtney's hair so perfectly laid out on the ground (see post 1).  I wonder how many hair stylists that took?  Probably ate up whatever's left of the budget.  I do miss last season, where there was no sense they were cutting corners.

[Terrafamilia]

Given that Jenny's magic city map showed two sites with shadow smoke representing the Shade, I'm guessing he really isn't fully dead.

[UnknownK]

2 hours ago, Terrafamilia said:

Given that Jenny's magic city map showed two sites with shadow smoke representing the Shade, I'm guessing he really isn't fully dead.

I figured the second one was Eclipso

[Cthulhudrew]

Another vote for keeping the Shade. I've not seen that actor before, but from the moment he appeared on-screen, he just had this incredible charm and he really played the moral ambiguity well. I hope he is still around.

I'm doubtful that this episode will warm little Cindy Lou's heart any, that old Grinch, but I do like that this show nuances the characters somewhat.

I guess among other budget cuts this season, Henry Thomas was also too expensive? 

[thuganomics85]

No, not The Shade!  At least he possibly went out doing something good, but he was by far one of the best things about this season.  A rare case of an actual good "shades of grey" character who has done some questionable stuff to suit his own goals, but did seem to have a legit moral compass and had certain lines he truly wouldn't cross.  Combine all of that with Jonathan Cake's great performance and you had one hell of a fascinating character with a lot of potential.  But, hey, this is a superhero show, so it's not like those who stay dead truly stay dead for long...

The Shadowlands was an interesting place.  Filming all of the scenes in black and white was cool, and I liked them finding ways to bring in other previous characters thought long gone.  Not surprised that Cindy was there and being a menace, but of course Courtney would still go out of her way to save her.  I guess we'll see if she changes in anyway, or this is just going to be another "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation.  OG Dr. Midnite is also out, so hopefully Beth will have herself a new mentor going forward.

At least we finally got a glimpse of a version of Yolanda, but I hope the real version returns soon.

Curious to see if Jenny sticks around long term.

[cardigirl]

How many episodes left this season?  The story is s l o w moving this season. (When is Starman gonna get here?) I'll miss The Shade, he was at least interesting, the rest just seem to go over the same territory with little movement. 

Hopefully things will start moving along now that Cindy is back.  (not holding my breath)

[MissLucas]

On 10/22/2021 at 8:52 PM, cardigirl said:

When is Starman gonna get here?

He's on the slowest road trip ever! As someone who's seen SPN's Impala aka Baby dash through the country as if it were Liechtenstein I find that very confusing!

[rmontro]

On 10/22/2021 at 2:52 PM, cardigirl said:

When is Starman gonna get here?

Maybe he's laying low until the weather clears.

[shapeshifter]

On 10/19/2021 at 11:49 PM, AnimeMania said:

Brilliant idea Courtney, bringing Cindy back, kill her and Eclipso goes back into his diamond

Is that a possibility? I mean: Does Cindy still have the diamond? If so, it would make all the drama about Courtney not forgiving Pat for “being part of” the death of an innocent holder of the Eclipso diamond——positively Chekhovian. Amirite?

 

On 10/20/2021 at 5:51 PM, rmontro said:

I had to laugh at that opening reveal of the Shadowlands, with Courtney's hair so perfectly laid out on the ground….I  wonder how many hair stylists that took?

Heh. Probably not too many hair stylists. Brec Bassinger has “good” hair.

But I was fascinated by her hair in that opening scene. As in: “Does she? Or doesn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure” (1960s Clairol commercials). 🙃

Barbara’s perfect ringlets always distract me too. The stylist does deserve some recognition. I guess. It’s probably not a good thing when the hairdo is the most obvious thing on screen. 

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Is that a possibility? I mean: Does Cindy still have the diamond? If so, it would make all the drama about Courtney not forgiving Pat for “being part of” the death of an innocent holder of the Eclipso diamond——positively Chekhovian. Amirite?

Cindy doesn't have the diamond, but I wonder if they gave it back to her that would make her the host again?  I can't remember if they managed to fix the diamond or not (I think the Green Lantern girl tried but failed?), but that doesn't mean they couldn't fix it in the future.  Cindy isn't exactly "innocent", but that would still present quite the moral dilemma, wouldn't it? 

I'm not sure where the little boy form Eclipso has came from.  If they killed him, would that get rid of Eclipso? 

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, rmontro said:

I'm not sure where the little boy form Eclipso has came from.  If they killed him, would that get rid of Eclipso?

It seems to me that the little boy is Eclipso——but I don’t know if that means Cindy’s father wasn’t always Eclipso. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The [very creepy] little boy was in the opening scene of the season——which looked to be around the 1940s, IIRC, and he didn’t act like a real little boy then either. So he is like Dorian Gray, who sold his soul in exchange for eternal youth?

—which would be why The Picture of Dorian Gray movie was playing in the Shadow Lands theater Shade was watching?

But isn’t Shade a kind of ageless Dorian Gray too——without the whole Completely Evil vibe?

Edited October 25, 2021 by shapeshifter

[MissLucas]

17 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It seems to me that the little boy is Eclipso——but I don’t know if that means Cindy’s father wasn’t always Eclipso. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The [very creepy] little boy was in the opening scene of the season——which looked to be around the 1940s, IIRC, and he didn’t act like a real little boy then either. So he is like Dorian Gray, who sold his soul in exchange for eternal youth?

—which would be why The Picture of Dorian Gray movie was playing in the Shadow Lands theater Shade was watching?

But isn’t Shade a kind of ageless Dorian Gray too——without the whole Completely Evil vibe?

I thought the girl the boy had killed by luring her to the dark side was Dr McNider's daughter? But that does not fit in with Pat's timeline. Damn this show and its weird period settings.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

17 hours ago, MissLucas said:

I thought the girl the boy had killed by luring her to the dark side was Dr McNider's daughter? But that does not fit in with Pat's timeline. Damn this show and its weird period settings.

Yes, she was. Rebecca McNider. How does it not fit? And as far as we know, the boy is just Eclipso.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Yes, she was. Rebecca McNider. How does it not fit? And as far as we know, the boy is just Eclipso.

If the boy just is Eclipso, what is that other form he has with the pointed ears?

[MissLucas]

5 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Yes, she was. Rebecca McNider. How does it not fit? And as far as we know, the boy is just Eclipso.

Because the scene with the girl and boy Eclipso had a 60s feel to it, her mother (we only realized lather that it had been Mrs McNicer) had pearls and a beehive as if she had jumped right out of the Mad Men set. So I had assumed these events had been way further in the past. Yet Pat claims he hadn't been in his garage for 10 years and that must have been shortly after Rebecca's death. The show plays fast and lose with sets and costumes and if you're not already well versed with its universe it's easy to get confused.

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by MissLucas

[Noneofyourbusiness]

2 hours ago, rmontro said:

If the boy just is Eclipso, what is that other form he has with the pointed ears?

Also just Eclipso. He's a shapeshifter. What I mean is that it's not a host. He used the boy form both before and after Bruce Gordon was killed.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[shapeshifter]

13 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Also just Eclipso. He's a shapeshifter. What I mean is that it's not a host. He used the boy form both before and after Bruce Gordon was killed.

Thanks for the clarification. 😉😆

[Noneofyourbusiness]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Thanks for the clarification. 😉😆

Why the emoticons?

Also, what did you mean about Cindy's father always being Eclipso?