Cindy’s Back! Shiv Lives!

SPOILERS It killed me when Eclipso sank Cindy Burman/Shiv in a pool of what looked like tar sludge. You can’t kill Shiv, she of the cyborg swords! Then Meg DeLacy’s name in the opening credits vanished🥲

But the Hot Bitch is back. She was “only” sent to the Shadowlands, where Dr. Midnight has been stuck for many years. Then Courtney/Stargirl wound up there, too, and Our Gang had to find a way to rescue them, which they did.

I’ll leave the details of the how and why to your viewing pleasure. I think this may be the best ep yet, which I think is saying something. Shooting all the Shadowlands scenes in greyscale (black and white) was a GREAT call. We’ve been getting glimpses of the Shadowlands from time to time when Beth talks to Dr. Midnight, but now we see the whole 9 yards. I relish seeing Beth meeting Dr. Midnight in the flesh. I’ll be curious if they become a team, or any other way the show decides to integrate this 50s superhero into its narrative.

We finally see how Cindy accidentally killed her mother, a narrative piece that has needed to be showed. The timing was perfect. We also see Cindy’s dying mother telling her, “I’ve always loved you.” Then she adds, very significantly, “I love you still.” Most of the visions in the Shadowlands are Eclipso-created illusions, designed to cause fear, pain, anger. This unequivocal statement of love and forgiveness from her mother may just send Shiv down a new path.

Then there is Eclipso. The young actor playing the part is great; not quite Joffrey Targaryen great, but much, much better than what you’d expect to find on a CW superhero show. You hate the fucking evil little kid, who gloats to Courtney over torturing and forever changing everyone whom she loves. The final line of the episode is spoken by Shiv: “Who wants to KILL Eclipso?!”

I’m not done. Others have noted that a very impressive aspect of Stargirl is that it does not reflexively paint antagonists as irredeemable. The mechanism that allows Courtney et al. to get back home is the power of The Shade, who is badly injured. He dies just after the rescue, utterly spent, and he asks Stripesy to “Tell people that I died doing something good.” Then he is gone in a cloud of black smoke.

I’ve no idea how popular Stargirl is in the world of print media, but I know for darn sure there is NO CW superhero show that is more fully fleshed-out or more multi-layered than this one. Superman and Lois may tie with it, but it’s not better.