I've complained about how slow this season's taking things in the past. It feels a lot like Black Lightning season 2 in that way, and I do wish they'd speed things along. However, if we get more episodes like we did this week, I think there's a chance that this season might just be able to match season 1's level of quality. That might be a stretch since season 1 was a masterpiece of storytelling, but the writers have once again proved that they know how to properly write characters. Granted, I'm still upset with them for wasting the potential of Isaac Bowin's character (read my previous Stargirl review if you wanna know what I think they should've done), and this episode didn't work to remedy that situation, but chose to instead focus on the subplot they've been building up with Yolanda all season long.
We finally get the nightmare sequence that I thought we were gonna get back in episode 5! And all the imagery this week was completely on point! I haven't been super invested in the idea that this season is supposed to be a "darker side" of the story so far, mostly because of the slow pacing, but this episode has some balls on it in terms of the hallucination sequences on display here! It rivals "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Pt. 1" in terms of having jarring imagery, and that's a good thing! I'm genuinely surprised they were able to get back Jake Austin Walker for this episode, but I was thrilled with what they did with him. He had a noticeable cut across his throat all episode, and that was so messed up, but in the absolute right way! I mean, when Yolanda killed Brainwave, he was disguised as Henry, and Yolanda still slashed him across the throat, so the fact that she imagines him with that slash across his throat shows how her mind constantly torments her, and it's great! I LOVE small details like that!
The creepy imagery doesn't stop there though. Yolanda goes for Brainwave's throat AGAIN in this episode, but this time we get to see that effect in the season 1 finale in reverse! It starts out as Brainwave, then transforms into Henry, and that is incredible. And Yolanda was even wearing the Wildcat suit at that point too. I'm astounded at how much the CW let them get away with in this episode, because there's no way stuff like this would've escaped the writers room a year or two ago! This is the kind of stuff I see as fitting of the season's "darker motif" that they were going for! And while I think there's still some pacing issues with the season, and things are still happening *way* too slowly, stuff like this is a sign of things picking up in the back half of the season.
Yolanda's also able to really introspect a lot in this episode about why she made the choice she did. She did it to protect her friends, sure, but she also did it because she *wanted* to, hence her telling everyone else that she *watched* Brainwave die. She took on that darkness by *choice*, and now she's stuck with it. She doesn't see anybody else as being able to do what she did, which is actually kinda funny when you take into consideration that she's the weakest field agent currently in the JSA, even if you include Jenny and Jakeem. Sure, some of the accusations she makes of the rest of the team are unfair, but it's coming from a place of guilt and self-loathing, so you don't see her as unbearable.
What makes Yolanda's speech here even more effective though is how important her religion is to her. Yolanda is an outward Christian, and while this might come off as "preachy" or "self-righteous" on other shows like Batwoman or Supergirl, Stargirl uses Yolanda's Christianity as a weapon against *her*! She sees herself killing Brainwave, a supervillain, as making her unworthy in the eyes of the lord, and that's something I genuinely didn't expect them to do. There have been times where Yolanda has mentioned how her parents won't take her to church, or how she went to Church to pray for Henry, but I *clearly* underestimated how big of a role it played in her life. It actually makes her character even deeper though than other, for lack of a better word, "outwardly inclusive" characteristics normally would. Here, Yolanda confesses to murdering someone in Church confessional, but doesn't ask for forgiveness because she doesn't see herself as *worthy* of forgiveness. She outwardly admits to the rest of the JSA that she's gonna have to be the one that kills Eclipso, which means she'll never get to the point of asking for forgiveness from God. It's honestly really powerful!
So why isn't this episode a 10 then? Well, I do have a few gripes.
1. This episode could've focused a little more on the main plot as opposed to just being about Yolanda. I'm glad that we got the episode we got, and I thoroughly enjoyed almost every minute of what happened this week, but maybe substitute the scenes with Mike and Pat to a scene where Jakeem and Mike meet up to hang out and Jakeem tells Mike about how he got the Thunderbolt. That could kickstart the back half of the season's plot as well as introducing Jakeem and reintroducing the Thunderbolt to the core JSA members. Or maybe if you don't wanna go that far, just have Mike and Jakeem talk about what the Thunderbolt means to each of them or something like that and save the introduction to Courtney and co. For next episode.
And 2. And this is the bigger one, I've always been under the impression that Yolanda's been going through PTSD. Post traumatic stress disorder can result from dozens of things, and isn't dependent on war or a traditional traumatic event. Clearly, Yolanda's murder of Brainwave was traumatic for her, so that means that she must be going through PTSD. She's hearing voices, seeing things, having flashbacks, and can't move on from what she's done. All textbook symptoms of PTSD. So what's the problem? The problem is that by the end of the episode, I'm not sure if the writers ever intended it to be PTSD, or if it was just a convoluted way to bring Brainwave back from the dead.
I'm really sick and tired of the CW bringing dead characters back from the dead. Arrow did it with Malcolm Merlyn at least twice, Legends did it recently with Constantine, Flash has done it with Thawne more times than I can count on one hand, and now we see Stargirl possibly falling victim to the trope that nobody on the CW is truly dead. If you wanna use a character in a flashback or a hallucination, yes, go right ahead, that's not technically "bringing them back from the dead", but that doesn't seem to be the direction that the writers are going in here. Yolanda's hallucination of Brainwave tells her that he transferred his consciousness into her mind and is now fighting for control, feeding on her darkness in a sense, and that eventually he's going to be able to control her body and live again. And that is... So disappointing.
Yolanda's PTSD was supposed to be something that made her feel powerless and alone, and also be something that controls her outside of Eclipso making her see things and hear things. The truth about PTSD is that it's incredibly common, but also incredibly unique, as no person has the same reaction to PTSD as someone else. The symptoms like flashbacks and visions can be the same, but they all stem from different reasons. So just making this Brainwave's way of returning from the dead seems... Weak. Granted, they leave it ambiguous enough by the end of the episode so that we don't get to hear whether or not it's actually Brainwave's consciousness in there or if that's just another one of Yolanda's fears that her PTSD is telling her, but I don't like the direction they're taking this if it really is going to be about Yolanda and Brainwave fighting for control.
Despite the implications of Brainwave's possible resurrection and the ever-present pacing issues with the season, this was probably my favorite episode by a large margin! Definitely the one I'm most interested in rewatching, and a lot of that has to do with all the bone-chilling imagery and brilliant character work I can sink my teeth into and dissect. I do wish the season would kick the plot into high gear, but this episode was freaking great! Episodes like this are why I love this show!
9 / 10.
4 out of 13 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
