It’s all come down to this. After a season of discovering the Cosmic Staff and putting together her superhero team, Courtney Whitmore and her new Justice Society of America heads into their final showdown with the Injustice Society of America. It’s a race against time for the heroes to shut down the ISA’s machine allowing Brainwave to brainwash millions into following their Project New America and the stakes are higher than ever. Not only are millions going to die if the machine isn’t stopped, but Barbara, Pat, and Justin are all now ensnared as well. Will the JSA prevail? Read on to find out in our recap of DC’s Stargirl‘s Season 1 finale, “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part 2.”
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Warning: spoilers for DC’s Stargirl‘s “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part 2” below.
Three minutes ago, Blue Valley High School. Isaac Bowin hits a bully with his tuba. A teacher, Mr. Levine, begins to haul Isaac off to his mother when suddenly the football field begins to pull back, the ground opening up as giant satellite dish structure emerges and begins sending out a pulse. All of the adults become transfixed. In downtown Blue Valley, life has come to a literal standstill as all of the adults have become locked into place. A little girl pleas with her father to respond and Jordan offers her comfort, telling her that when this is over her father will be a “good person”, though the little girl says her father already is one.
In the ISA tunnels, Pat — in S.T.R.I.P.E. — attacks Courtney while the Gambler taunts Beth that Barbara will soon permanently be under Brainwave’s spell, unless she dies in the process. At the school, Mr. Levine drops dead. Courtney tries to reach Pat despite Brainwave’s manipulations, telling Pat that she’s his daughter and opens up about how he’s always been there for her. Pat resists Brainwave. Elsewhere, Justin is also under Brainwave’s spell and Beth realizes the ISA has turned off their signal dampeners in the tunnels on purpose. Beth and Chuck distract Gambler by draining all of his bank accounts and giving all the money to charity. And turn the dampeners back on, freeing Pat and Justin.
Stargirl and the rest of the JSA (except for Beth) make their way to the ISA lair. The ISA shows up and the fight begins and while Icicle, Sportsmaster, Tigress, and Dragon King battle it out with S.T.R.I.P.E., Stargirl, Justin, Hourman, and Wildcat, Gambler releases Solomon Grundy. Shiv is released from her cell and promptly kills her father Dragon King for locking her up. Stargirl takes down Sportsmaster and knocks Icicle down as well, but Pat. is briefly taken out by Grundy, giving Hourman his opportunity to fight the beast who killed his parents. Pat tells Stargirl and Wildcat to go for the machine though Stargirl is stopped briefly by Shiv.
As Wildcat heads towards the machine, she encounters Henry Jr. He tells her that he didn’t die and has been hiding out as one of Dragon King’s drones and wants to help stop his dad. However, “Henry” makes a mistake. He asks where “her” friends are and Wildcat realizes it’s Brainwave pretending to be his own son. She slashes him with her claws and watches him die.
With Brainwave dead and Shiv knocked out, Stargirl and Wildcat make their way to the machine. Stargirl destroys the machine with the Staff ending the ISA’s Project New America. The adults begin coming out of their transfixed states. Icicle attacks Beth and Barbara, destroying Beth’s goggles and dragging Barbara off to the roof of the building. He tries to convince Barbara of his mission and get her to be with him. She refuses and Jordan prepares to throw her to the ground, but Pat shows up. He distracts Jordan long enough for Stargirl to attack.
Rick gets his moment to kill Grundy but doesn’t, instead telling the beast to leave and never come back. Stargirl and Icicle are both blasted from the roof in their fight, but Wildcat catches Stargirl before she hits the ground and Pat saves Barbara from falling. Icicle prepares to attack again but is hit by a truck driven by Mike and shattered into a million pieces. The JSA has won. After, Justin leaves Blue Valley to search for his horse as well as the other Seven Soldiers of Victory. Courtney reassures Beth that they’ll fix Chuck and the goggles. The news reports that what happened in Blue Valley was an earthquake that also caused a malfunction in a weather satellite.
In the JSA lair, The Shade arrives while in some sort of storage, Cindy rummages around until she finds a small box containing a green diamond-shaped object that contains Eclipso. Six weeks later, it’s Christmas at the Whitmore/Dugan house and the JSA comes over to celebrate. Courtney ends up giving Pat the present she’d held onto all these years for her dad — a World’s Greatest Father mug. Later, the Staff and Courtney fly off high over Blue Valley to observe the town from atop the water tower. Pat, in S.T.R.I.P.E., joins her.
And then, in North Hollywood, California, a man gets out of a car and walks up to an apartment manager’s office. He’s looking for Pat Dugan. The manager tells him that he’s moved and asked who’s looking for him — it’s Sylvester Pemberton looking very much alive and well.
