Season 3 of DC’s Stargirl kicked off last week with the new installment of The CW series taking its young heroes into new territory: a murder mystery. After dealing with the threat of Eclipso in a horror-themed Season 2, the third season kicked off with a shocking murder, but it won’t be the only surprising element as the season progresses. There are some unexpected friendships as well, including the one seemingly growing between Stargirl’s mother Barbara Whitmore and former Injustice Society villain Paula Brooks/Tigress (Joy Osmanski). Groundwork for this odd pairing was set up in Season 2 and photos from this week’s episode, “Frenemies – Chapter Two: The Suspects” show the two women seemingly trying to bake together, though the circumstances as to why are a bit unclear. Ahead of the episode, Amy Smart sat down with us to talk about the new season of the series as well as that surprising friendship and said that Season 3 has a bit of a Knives Out feel to it, comparing it to Rian Johnson’s wildly popular film.
“Season two, the cat was out of the bag, and she realized what was happening because she was sort of naive in season one,” Smart said about Barbara’s place heading into Season 3. “Then coming into season three, a lot has gone on. She’s witnessed a ton. She understands the weight and the power that her daughter has. I think she looks at Pat in a whole new light with S.T.R.I.P.E. being his flying robot. Just the dynamic of the family and how important for her the family dynamic is, to just keep that intact, even though there are super powers involved.”
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She continued, “What I liked is that they’re coming back from a family vacation, and I think she feels empowered. She’s in the know. She’s part of the team. What I really like about the tone of the season, it has a Knives Out feeling, this murder mystery whodunnit. The subtitled is Frenemies, which is a super funny dynamic that sets up from the beginning with the Crocks moving next door.”
The Crocks moving next door brings Paula much closer to Barbara and certainly allows for more opportunities for their budding friendship to grow and Smart said that friendship is interesting, in part because both Paula and Barbara have a genuineness in that they don’t really have any other friends and they can learn from one another.
“It’s definitely so unlikely because you think Barbara was scared to death of her, and now Paula’s coming to her for help. There seems to be an awkward genuineness about Paula that is endearing for Barbara,” Smart said. “Barbara kind of doesn’t really have any other friends and needs friends. She invites her into her life, this friendship starts to grow throughout the season. It’s really fun. I think for Barbara, it’s kind of great because Paula is such a badass and can teach her how to be more of a badass. Barbara offers sort of this family community quality that Paula lacks and doesn’t understand the dynamic of. They both are sort of opposites attract.”
You can check out the synopsis for this week’s episode below.
A MURDER MYSTERY IN BLUE VALLEY — After stumbling upon a suspicious murder in Blue Valley, the JSA begin looking at potential suspects. A tense run-in with The Shade (guest star Jonathan Cake) makes Courtney (Brec Bassinger) and Pat (Luke Wilson) realize that Sylvester’s (Joel McHale) old ways could land them in hot water. Finally, Barbara (Amy Smart) steps in to help Paula (Joy Osmanski), whose attempt at fitting in has not gone so well. Yvette Monreal, Cameron Gellman, Anjelika Washington, Trae Romano, Meg DeLacy, Hunter Sansone, Neil Hopkins and Alkoya Brunson also star. Andi Armaganian directed the episode written by Robbie Hyne.
DC’s Stargirl airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
