DC’s Stargirl: Here’s Everything You Missed in “Summer School: Chapter Eight”

Last week on DC’s Stargirl, the JSA was dealt a major blow when Yolanda (Yvette Monreal) turned in her Wildcat costume and quit the team, overwhelmed with guilt from having killed Brainwave (Christopher James Baker) – and with the revelation that he very well might be still alive inside her mind, trying to take her over. It leaves the team more vulnerable than ever and at the worst possible time with Eclipso (Nick Tarabay) roaming free somewhere in Blue Valley.

This week, Rick (Cameron Gellman) finds himself trying to keep Solomon Grundy safe amidst this chaos which means revealing the secret he’s been keeping from the team while Beth (Anjelika Washington) finds herself the target of Ecilpso’s next attack.

Need to get caught up on the latest plot details of DC’s Stargirl? We’ve got you covered. Read on for our full-spoiler recap of “Summer School: Chapter Eight” below but if you haven’t yet seen the episode and don’t want to know everything just yet, turn back now. There are plenty of big spoilers beyond this point. 

Tired

A woman drives up to Rick’s house. It’s Mrs. Woods, his teacher. She’s come to apologize for accusing him of cheating and give him college information. His uncle comes out and is hostile to her and then tosses the information, telling Rick he’s going to end up in jail before he ends up in college. Later, Rick goes to the woods to take Grundy food and breaks down. He’s tired of giving everything and getting nothing back. As he’s having his breakdown, Solomon Grundy comes out.

Beth

At Courtney’s, she tells her parents she’s going to go see Yolanda to apologize but Pat tells her to give Yolanda time. Mike suggests they help Yolanda by kicking Eclipso’s ass. The doorbell rings and Courtney finds a duffle back on the doorstep. It’s the Wildcat costume. At Beth’s house, Beth is continuing her work on Doctor Mid-Nite’s files when the goggles come to life. She puts them on and starts talking to Charles McNider. Turns out she’s connecting to him because she has his original glasses. He’s able to connect to them through the ones he is wearing. He is able to tell her that he’s in the shadow realm before they get disconnected. As she sits there after, Eclipso appears on her computer screen.

Not what things seem

In the woods, Rick sits with Grundy while he eats and talks to him. He tells Grundy about the dog his uncle got once and was mistreating and how he took the dog and gave it to someone else. That family loved the dog and a year later, the once vicious dog was kind. He tells Grundy maybe it’s the same with him. Grundy offers Rick an apple.

Courtney takes the Wildcat costume back downstairs and checks on the Cosmic Staff as well. She tells the Staff she wishes she could help it because it’s her friend, causing it to light up briefly. At Beth’s, her parents come to talk with her about the divorce. They tell her that when they first met, they fell in love at first sight but after she was born, they decided to focus on her, and over time, they lost sight of each other. They then tell her that she’s the reason they’re getting a divorce. Beth then sees worms in the sandwich her mom gave her, freaks out, and leaves.

Trouble in the woods

Rick gets back to his car and hears a news report of another bear attack and that the hunting club is going out into the woods to kill the bear. This doesn’t sit well with Rick so he runs back into the woods, headed for Grundy. At the shop, Courtney comes to see Pat. She’s named the Staff “Cosmo” and says they need to do something because they can’t just sit around and wait.Rick then calls Pat to tell him that Grundy needs their help. Courtney and Pat head to the woods.

Eclipso

Beth goes to Courtney’s house, but no one is home. Instead, she encounters the little boy – Eclipso. He says his name is Bruce. He tells her she’s a liar and a thief and he has her goggles. He tells her to come and get them. She follows him upstairs and into Courtney’s room. Beth figures out Bruce is Eclipso and he taunts her, telling her that no one chose her for the JSA. He makes a racist comment, she calls him out on it, and he blows her back into the closet. Beth gets out of the closet, but where she emerges is not Courtney’s room. It’s the old JSA headquarters where she’s confronted by Starman and the original Hourman and Wildcat. Eclipso tells her she’s the wrong age, gender, and color and runs off laughing. She chases him.

Hallucinations

In the woods, Rick encounters a hunter who has been injured by something – presumably Grundy – and they claim that he’s hurt a 10-year-old girl, too. Pat and Courtney continue looking but have not encountered Rick, Grundy, or hunters, though they do hear Rick calling for Grundy after some gunshots. Rick finds Grundy at the creek and the body of the girl is lying in the creek. Rick asks Grundy if he killed her and it seems that he did. Grundy flees and Rick goes after him, enraged. Pat and Courtney arrive, taking the girl out of the water, but she’s not dead. She’s not even real. It’s Rebecca McNider and she opens her eyes and vanishes. Courtney then realizes this is all Eclipso. Courtney blasts Rick with the Staff to stop him from hurting Grundy but as it turns out, it’s not Grundy at all. He’s been beating up his uncle the whole time. Horrified, Rick rips off his hourglass, throwing it to the ground and shattering it.

Rick chases Grundy back to the farm and confronts him, fighting the beast as 4th of July fireworks go off. Courtney and Pat run up as Rick is beating Grundy and scream at him to stop.

Friend

Beth finds herself back in Courtney’s house with Eclipso still taunting her. He tells her she’s been hiding behind her smile her whole life and that she’s really just a scared little girl. Beth calls him out, asking him what he’s afraid of and Eclipso -as himself – climbs out from the shadows. He tells her she’s destined to be nothing. She grabs for the goggles and he catches her hand. Eclipso tries to get Beth to admit her fear and anger but she resists. She realizes that he needs her to give in to her worst fear and she refuses to. She tells him that she chooses herself and that she loves being black. She gets the goggles on just as Eclipso moves to attack and then, Eclipso is gone.

Rick gets arrested for assaulting his uncle. The real Grundy peers out from behind a silo and says quietly “friend”. 

The New Doctor Mid-Nite

Beth is back in her home and Dr. McNider tells her not to take off the goggles as they will let her see through Eclipso’s manipulations. Beth accepts that she’s the new Doctor Mid-Nite and the goggles update the JSA database accordingly. Her parents come to see her and confirm that everything that happened earlier was, in fact, a hallucination by Eclipso. She tells them that sometimes she feels like she’s trying to be something she’s not supposed to be. Her mom tells her about dealing with being the town’s first black doctor and that she can be anything she wants to be.

Barbara and Mike talk about how Rick thought he saw hunters and a dead child, how his uncle is in critical condition and Rick is in jail. Pat and Courtney went to try to see if they can help Rick in jail. Mike hugs Barbara while outside things start to get ominously icy.