DC’s Stargirl Recap With Spoilers: Henry Makes a Major Choice in “Brainwave, Jr.”

Last week on DC’s Stargirl, Henry King Jr. discovered the truth about his father as well as his own powers while Courtney’s mother, Barbara, discovered her secret about Stargirl as well. On top of that, Courtney realized that Jordan Mahkent is actually Icicle and now things are more high stakes and urgent than ever in terms of stopping the ISA and their nefarious plans. Henry was also surprised when his father finally woke up from his coma, leaving things at a crossroads for nearly all of the series’ main players. How do all of these discoveries and revelations play out? Read on for our spoiler-filled recap of this week’s episode, “Brainwave, Jr.” below.

Warning: Spoilers for this week’s episode of DC’s Stargirl, “Brainwave, Jr.” below.

The episode opens in Blue Valley two years ago with Pat and Barbara’s meet cute at the diner before cutting back to the present with Barbara discovering Courtney with the Cosmic Staff. Pat tries to explain, but Courtney keeps interrupting with her version of things, prompting Pat to “start at the beginning” but Barbara is a hard sell. She asks Pat to tell her the truth about Courtney’s accident and she throws him out of the house.

At the hospital, Henry visits his father who is missing 10 years of his memories. Henry has to tell his father that his mother died, which is why they moved to Blue Valley and it’s clear that this version of Brainwave — the one he was 10 years ago — is one more in touch with his feelings and he hugs Henry. While hugging Brainwave realizes his son has his powers. Later, while Brainwave is sleeping, Henry hears his father’s thoughts about the day his mother died and decides to go home to find the video diary. When he leaves, Jordan shows up to pay Brainwave a visit.

In the video diary, Henry learns quite a bit about his mother. It turns out she was Merry Pemberton, “the Girl of a Thousand Gimmicks”. Brainwave met her while robbing a bank. Merry caught him, they fell in love and soon Brainwave was questioning Jordan. He also reveals that they killed Merry’s brother, Starman, and that she never would have gone into hiding. Henry takes this to mean that Jordan killed his mother.

At Courtney’s house, the Cosmic Staff tries to get her to come out and she refuses. The Staff goes out on its own, targeting Icicle. It finds him at the hospital with Brainwave and attacks, but Jordan manages to freeze the Staff and takes it — and Brainwave — with him. Henry arrives to see Jordan take both the Staff and his father away. The next day Courtney discovers the Staff is missing. She also finds out that her mother plans to leave Blue Valley immediately.

When the Staff ends up not being with Pat, Pat goes to talk to Barbara and Henry reaches out to Courtney. He shows Courtney his thoughts, including that Starman was his uncle. She hugs him as he’s family and Henry explains that Jordan has both her staff and his dad. They decide to team up and go to the rest of the JSA for help.

At work, Barbara is packing up her desk when she decides to send an email to Courtney’s father, Sam Kurtis, and asks him to contact her. She also starts researching Starman. At school, the rest of the JSA wants nothing to do with Henry — especially Yolanda. They reluctantly decide to help Courtney, though Yolanda declares they are no longer friends. The five of them head into the ISA tunnels.

Pat visits Barbara at work when Jordan and his parents show up. They’ve brought cookies. The elder Mahkent speak to one another in Norwegian and Barbara records it so that she and Pat can translate it. It reveals that “once the machine is turned on everything will change.”

After splitting up, Stargirl, Wildcat, and Henry go off together. Henry tells Wildcat that he wishes he could take back what he did to her. Hourman and Doctor Mid-Nite find Solomon Grundy in his cell and Hourman decides that he wants to go after him instead. Stargirl and the others end up coming upon Dragon King’s lair where he’s working on Brainwave. Cindy sees them and alerts her father to their presence and now the three heroes have to fight Dragon King and his drones. They hold their own against the drones, but things get more complicated when Dragon King takes on Stargirl directly. At the last moment, Wildcat frees the Staff, allowing Stargirl to defeat him — and reveal his true face in the process.

They quickly discover that Brainwave is back to his evil self. Henry rejects his father and they realize they have to flee. The JSA reconvenes and the five of them start to try to escape. They come to a barred exit and Hourman pries the bars open so that they can flee, but only Doctor Mid-Nite and Wildcat get through before Brainwave shows up. Stargirl holds him off while the boys reopen the bars, but instead of Henry escaping, he pulls Stargirl to safety so he can face his father.

Henry appeals to his father to no avail. Brainwave reveals that it was he, not Jordan, who killed Merry Pemberton. Brainwave gives his son an ultimatum and Henry chooses to stand against his father. They fight, but Brainwave is too powerful. He blasts Henry and as the JSA desperately try to save him, Henry apologizes to Yolanda for how he hurt her and tells Courtney, people are good and that this shouldn’t change her mind. Brainwave then murders his own son right before the JSA’s eyes.

DC’s Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7 on The CW. New episodes debut Mondays on DC Universe.