DC's Stargirl: Who Are The Suspects After Episode 2?

DC's Stargirl returned for its third season, subtitled "Frenemies", last week and the season premiere delivered on the promise that the season would be a murder mystery when the episode closed out with just that, a mysterious murder. Steven Sharpe/The Gambler (Eric Goins) ended up dead outside his trailer home with Cindy Burman (Meg DeLacy) standing over the body with the literal smoking gun. But with the season just starting, the mystery of who killed The Gambler isn't going to be that easy to solve and Blue Valley has plenty of suspects for this grim crime. In this week's episode, the JSA is on the case — and we're breaking down exactly who might have had it out for The Gambler, as well as who we can rule out by episode's end.

Warning! Spoilers for this week's episode of DC's Stargirl, "Frenemies – Chapter Two: The Suspects" below.

Straight out of the gate we have our prime suspect for The Gambler's murder thanks to where the first episode left off: Cindy Burman. The JSA arrives at the scene of the crime just moments after the murder and finds their newest member standing over the body, holding The Gambler's gun. She claims she didn't do it and that the gun just went off, but it's a very suspicious situation all around. Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl (Brec Bassinger) is inclined to believe her, but the rest of the team not so much. She ultimately comes to the conclusion that The Gambler's laptop is missing from the scene so whoever has it is probably the killer — and thus far, they haven't been able to find that laptop. Interestingly, Cindy seems to be somewhat cleared of the crime, however, when the autopsy report comes back that The Gambler was not shot. That said, fans are in for a bit of a surprise at the end of the episode when it's revealed that Cindy does, in fact, have the laptop.

Another prime suspect is Richard Swift/The Shade (Jonathan Cake). As viewers saw in the season premiere, The Shade had a tense confrontation with The Gambler, one that revealed that there's a sinister darkness still within The Shade. Sylvester/Starman (Joel McHale) and Pat (Luke Wilson) go to question The Shade, but that exchange also doesn't go especially well. It's only later that Starman, along with Courtney, goes to speak with The Shade that it's revealed that the former villain has an alibi. He was at the diner, working with the waitress to perfect her tea-making skills.

The Crocks also are suspects, though investigating them hasn't really started in earnest just yet. The season premiere saw Crusher (Neil Hopkins) confronting Pat about why he didn't do something about The Gambler and this week's episode opening showed that Crusher went to The Gambler's trailer 12 hours before the murder with intent to do harm, but ultimately thought better of it and left without ever confronting his former teammate. While that would seem like a promising reveal, that doesn't rule Crusher or Paula/Tigress (Joy Osmanski) out yet. The end of the episode revealed that the Crocks are hiding something.

Suggested as a potential suspect, albeit an outside one, in the episode is Solomon Grundy. Yes, Solomon Grundy died in Season 2 and has remained dead as far as anyone knows thus far in Season 4 — that's actually a pretty sore point for Rick Tyler (Cameron Gellman) who has been trying everything to bring him back. However, the damage to The Gambler's trailer had to have been done by a massive, powerful figure, and Grundy certainly fits the bill. Could he indeed be alive?

The final potential suspect is one that the JSA itself hasn't even considered, but one that viewers of the show may already be thinking about and that's Starman himself. Sylvester may be a hero, but he's one that is certainly a bit off his game. He's come back from the dead without any real concrete explanation as to why to a life that is very much changed. He's also been put in a situation where he is having to interact with the very same foes who killed him and all of his friends, except now those foes are being given a chance to break good. On top of that, he has killed before in an effort to stop Eclipso. While Sylvester seems like an unlikely killer, the best murder mysteries always include those unlikely suspects so it's worth keeping Starman on the list.

What do you think? Just two episodes into the season, who do you think killed The Gambler? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!

DC's Stargirl airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.