[CAUTION: This Post Contains Spoilers For Stargirl S02E07 – Summer School Chapter Seven]
Grief makes you do weird things, but when you’ve killed someone to avenge another, the guilt corrupts you until you can’t handle it. This week’s Stargirl puts Yolanda at the forefront of her struggles that started during the Season 1 finale after she murdered the man responsible for Henry King Junior’s death; his father, Brainwave.
As her emotions run amok, Yolanda continues to spiral and in the worst possible way. She begins seeing Brainwave and Henry, much to the concern of Courtney has been doing her best to support her. She goes to the confessional several times and eventually confesses to killing someone. What’s more, is her mother shows up and begins to berate her but is put in her place by Father Thomas, who tells her that they should be forgiving Yolanda, not making her feel worse.
Yolanda also feels that it’s best to tell her friends what happened. While Courtney is already aware of what occurred, Beth and Rick are in the dark.
Rick sympathises with Yolanda and says she had to do what was best in the situation. Beth, meanwhile, isn’t sure what to do. Yolanda hangs up the cowl at the end. She ultimately turns on Courtney. She proceeds to blame her for encouraging her to become Wildcat. Furthermore, this isn’t Yolanda talking. It is grief taking over.
When Grief Eats Away At You
Yolanda’s struggles over the grief she feels for her actions have been building for a while. We get a glimpse of this in the premiere when Courtney is conflicted over whether to talk to Cameron after what happened with Jordan. Then, episode three had her speaking to Mike about him running over Icicle and discovering that her situation and his are different. His situation was a freak accident. Hers was not.
While she attempts to protect Courtney from the same fate she suffered, Yolanda doesn’t realise that her best friend needs to make her own mistakes. Yes, Cameron is Icicle’s son, but he doesn’t seem like the type of person who would follow in his dad’s footsteps if the truth got out. Currently, we don’t know what will happen when everything comes out about Jordan. But we imagine it won’t be good.
Courtney mightn’t have been responsible for Icicle’s demise, but she knew about it. However, we’ll see Mike’s grief over what he did flow to the surface over the next couple of episodes.
Mike Begins His JSA Training
This episode also sees the beginning of Mike’s JSA training. However, it’s not what he expected. He thought he’d be doing what his sister does. Instead, Pat has him assist in fixing S.T.R.I.P.E.
While Pat is out of the room, Mike finds the shards of Eclipso’s diamond wrapped in a piece of cloth. Picking a piece up, he feels the pull of its power. His dad reenters and explains that the last time the JSA went up against the Prince of Darkness, the only weakness he had was his prison.
Towards the end of the episode, Mike starts to question whether Icicle’s death was an accident. While his family reassures him it was, he’s going to continue feeling the after-effects as time goes on.
Pat will begin to feel the effects of the past while Mike grapples with what happened with Jordan. Meanwhile, Courtney is going to struggle to hold on to any form of hope. Finally, Barbara will come face-to-face with someone from her past. We have a feeling it might be her ex and Courtney’s biological father, Sam Kurtis again, but we don’t know yet. This intel comes from our friends at Stargirl Wiki on their Summer School: Chapter Nine page.
Could Mike earn his first enemy in Cameron? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Courtney Keeps Her Promise To Cameron
We were promised more Cameron this season, and we’ve gotten our wish. We’ve also seen how Courtney keeps (unintentionally) ditching him at the last second. Well, we got a reversal of that in this episode.
Courtney bumps into Cameron after a phone call with Beth, and he asks if she wants to help him with the Fourth of July setup. He explains that it was something he used to do with his dad. She says “yes”, but suddenly becomes distracted. He tells her that if she has to go, she can.
Not wanting to disappoint him again, she says she’s in the place she needs to be, helping him. Now, could this be considered a date? We’d say hell to the YEAH, and it is about time too.
What’s great about this is we’re seeing Cameron put aside the grief he feels for his dad and honours him in a way that feels right to him. Look at the mural as an example. He painted it because his father helped to revive Blue Valley. How he reacts to the actual truth is yet to be seen.
The shining moment is how much more confident he is around Courtney. Deisinger inspired him to open up to her, and this proves it. Also, a little later in the episode, we see Courtney texting Cameron while she’s in Summer School, and this shows how happy they make each other.
Going over to Yolanda, you can see her getting frustrated that Courtney hasn’t listened to her and stayed away from him. Her main concern is that she’s going to say something about Jordan’s death.
Courtney The Bad Influence?
After Yolanda leaves the JSA and her friends, Courtney tries to call her multiple times but to no effect. On her final attempt, Yolanda’s mother picks up and demands that Courtney stop calling.
Maria, Yolanda’s mother isn’t a forgiving person and refused to do so with her own daughter after the nude photo scandal. It shouldn’t matter if she’s religious. There’s more to life than just status. Yolanda made one mistake and she’s being forced to suffer for it. Courtney shouldn’t be thrown under the bus for trying to be a good friend.
If anything, Maria should be thankful for how much of an impact Courtney has had on Yolanda. She bought her back from a dark place and accepted her when no one else would. However, in Mrs Montez’s mind, her daughter should rot in hell for one mistake. As far as she is concerned, there is no way back for Yolanda. It doesn’t matter if she attends church and confesses her sins. She’s not her “perfect” child anymore and is forever tainted.
