Over the course of its first season, DC’s Stargirl hasn’t shied away from shocking deaths and this week’s penultimate episode “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One” is no exception. As the Justice Society of America and the Injustice Society of America headed towards a final showdown, the series saw another character fall at the hands of the ISA — and once again it’s one of the villains’ own.
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Spoilers for this week’s episode of DC’s Stargirl, “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One,” below.
Early in the episode, Icicle (Neil Jackson) sends Tigress (Joy Osmanski) and Sportsmaster (Neil Hopkins) to take out Courtney (Brec Bassinger) and her whole family, but it doesn’t exactly go so well. Courtney and Barbara (Amy Smart) are able to take down Tigress and flee while Mike (Trae Romano) and Pat (Luke Wilson) are able to do the same with Sportsmaster. Having failed their mission, Icicle decides to send in another ISA member to ensure success — Anaya Bowin (Hina Khan), aka The Fiddler.
When Anaya locates Tigress and Sportsmaster at the Whitmore/Dugan house, she informs them that she is going to go with them on their next attempt to kill Courtney and her family so that she can use her powers to hold them into place so the pair can’t fail again. Anaya isn’t thrilled with the couple while she’s telling them how she is going to clean up their mess, she also takes it a step further. Anaya calls them out for their love of violence and then insults not only their daughter Artemis, but then tells them that they are unfit parents.
Insulting the pair’s parenting may just have been a step too far. Tigress wordlessly fires her crossbow and shoots Anaya right in the heart, killing the Blue Valley High School principal. Tigress and Sportsmaster then simply leave with The Fiddler’s body abandoned on the floor.
This isn’t the first time that the ISA has turned on one of their own. Earlier this season, Icicle killed William Zarick/Wizard (Joe Knezevich) after the Blue Valley city councilman was revealed to be more invested in his own family than the goals of the ISA. Icicle also killed Zarick’s son, Joey, making it clear that when it comes to the ISA no one is truly safe. That said, Anaya’s death is one that may cause more problems — she was the high school principal after all — but more than that, is just another example of Tigress of Sportsmaster going a bit rogue. They were reprimanded by Icicle for the murder of the football coach earlier in the season — the third coach they’d killed.
It’s also an example of just how intense a character Tigress in particular really is. Osmanski described Tigress’ parenting style as “drone parent” in a previous interview with ComicBook.com, teasing at that time that Tigress would take out anyone who got in the way of her daughter.
“Now, I would never go to the lengths that Paula goes to, but yeah, clicking into that desire to protect your child and to help them exceed expectations, that was really simple to do, which I don’t know what that says about me,” Osmanski said. “But, being able to play a role that … I mean, what’s beyond a helicopter parent. She’s like a drone parent. She is like personal drone, right there, hovering over Artemis’s shoulder, ready to literally take out anyone who gets in the way. That is super unhealthy. I wouldn’t encourage that behavior in anyone, but in terms of accessing that impulse as an actor, that was very simple to do.”
DC’s Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7 on The CW. New episodes debut Mondays on DC Universe.
