Stargirl: Joy Osmanski on the Softer Side of Tigress in "Summer School: Chapter Four"

At the end of Season 1 of DC's Stargirl, the new Justice Society of America as led by [...]

At the end of Season 1 of DC's Stargirl, the new Justice Society of America as led by Stargirl/Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) defeated the Injustice Society of America and for Tigress/Paula Brooks (Joy Osmanski) and Sportsmaster/Crusher Crock (Neil Hopkins) that meant going to prison for their crimes. However, in this week's "Summer School: Chapter Four", the villains make an unexpected return to Blue Valley in a show of support for their daughter, Artemis (Stella Smith). It ends up revealing a different side of Paula.

"You know, it's something that since the beginning, I think, that the writers were so smart to make such a fundamental part of Tigress and Crushers' love, that their true love is for their daughter and their willingness to sacrifice for her," Osmanski told ComicBook.com. To me, that made the character so much more interesting than just a typical two-dimensional villain. So playing those things, it's easy. Rooting for Stella's character, Artemis, is so simple. It's such a primitive thing to do. I love whenever we get a chance to do it and we're always wildly inappropriate and way too loud. All of the parents are turning around in the bleachers yelling, 'calm down'. But to do that is fun."

While the episode highlights the couple's love and support for their daughter, it also shows how Paula has also perhaps evolved a bit as well. While at the Dugan/Whitmore house, Paula has a tense encounter with Barbara (Amy Smart) but the two start to unexpectedly find a common ground as mothers -- and Paula even has a cup of coffee with Barbara. For Osmanski, it's both a side of Paula we haven't seen as well as maybe just a bit of growth.

"I think both are true. I mean, as focused as she is as a person, I think she also never wanted to think of herself as unable to evolve, even if her idea of evolution is probably, you know, jumping higher," Osmanski said. "I feel like it's a scientific experiment for her. She has an opportunity to go into a family's home, where they live, and it's fascinating and somewhat repulsive and it's an opportunity for her to try to up her game in terms of her public persona. I think it's kind of a fun chance for her to dip into the masses."

And with Osmanski and Hopkins recently being promoted to series regulars for DC's Stargirl's third season, she hopes that there will be more of an opportunity to explore more of who the characters are as people going forward.

"It just seems like an opportunity to really explore them as people more and just see more of their dimensionality," Osmanski said. "And I think that's always something that has been possible. And I hope that's where we're going to go. I think it can be a really rich world to explore and funny and very, very human actually, in a surprising way. So, I hope for that."

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

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