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Stargirl: Issues
Sep. 27th, 2020 11:25 amI finally--FINALLY--watched my way through the first season of STARGIRL.
I have issues.
Okay, so the show is more light-hearted than its predecessors (most notably TITANS), which I like. But . . .
--The show is built around denial. Check this, please: Courtney wants to be a super-hero. The star staff (we'll get there in a minute) has chosen her, and no one else. We have a set of super-villains killing in and destroying the city, and no one seems able to stop them. We NEED Courtney out there. But her step-father Mike (a whiny simp who, it must be said, has no balls) spends all his time stopping her. In every. Single. EPISODE, Mike tells Courtney some version of, "This is too dangerous. You can't do this. No. Stop." When Courtney tries to re-form the Justice Society, Mike tries to stop her. When she tries to learn more about her powers and her history, Mike tries to stop her. It makes sense, initially--Courtney's young, and Mike has seen death in super-hero battles. He doesn't want Courtney to get hurt. But after a while, the denial becomes annoying, even outrageous. If Courtney doesn't become a hero, the show will end, so let her do her job, please. You protest too much. Later, when Mike wants to tell Courtney's mother what's really going on, Courtney stops him, or other events stop him. Again--makes sense at first, becomes stupid writing later. When the teenaged Justice Society FINALLY gets together to train and learn how to use their gadgetry (and I was thinking, "Yay! We can see some super-hero cutting loose"), Mike sets up ridiculous combat dummies made of paper plates with childish drawings of their enemies on them. When Courtney cuts through them in half a second (as she should), Mike gets mad and storms off in a childish pique. No training. Denied again. This goes on and on and on through the season. The way it's presented makes me thing, "This isn't a theme. It's the writers being unable to think of anything else to do."
--The 1950s nostalgia. My gods, folks. I know the show is based on characters from a 1950s comic book, but when you make the entire town--every house, every car, every shop, every bit of music--look like we've stepped back to the 50s, we feel hit over the head. It's overwrought and overdone. Please stop it.
--The gadgets. This is a big problem on the show. All our teenaged protagonists but one get their powers from a gadget. Stargirl has a staff that can do anything the writers want it to do. Dr. Mid-Nite, the most useless of all the characters, talks to an AI that conveniently tells her anything the plot needs her to know. Hourman gets his strength from a talisman. Wildcat gets hers from a costume. Even Mike, the no-nut wonder, gets his powers from an Iron Man style suit. All these characters get their powers from an outside source. None of them get their power from within. The only exception is Brainwave Junior. And he dies. The trouble here is that the characters are dependent on their gadgets. Without them, they're ordinary kids (except maybe Wildcat, who can box a little). This also means their powers can do literally anything. The staff shows new powers, or shuts down unexpectedly, on a writerly whim. Wildcat's costume sprouts claws and unexpectedly gives her fantastic gymnastic powers. Dr. Mid-Nite's AI, of course, is the standard Hollywood magic computer that can tell you anything at any time, and "hack" any computer system. It's comical (in a bad way) to watch the characters strain and cry out with effort when it's clear that they aren't actually straining. Mike's suit does all the lifting, for example, so why is he grunting and groaning? Courtney's staff zaps bad guys with a power blast (a power that everyone seems to forget about when having it would make the fight end too quickly), but she screams through gritted teeth. Why? All she's basically doing is firing a machine a gun. The gadgets take away the characters' power to dig deep, to expand their strength and learn something about themselves in the process. In-born powers give a character a chance to overcome limitations with willpower and heart. That's what a super-hero show is about. A gadget has no heart, and can't exceed its limits. Dull.
--"I can't tell her my real identity. It'll put her in danger!" We get this phrase a lot in super-hero shows, and STARGIRL gives it to us quite a lot. What, exactly, is the danger, please? Yeah, the characters sometimes make noises about, "If she knew about my super-hero identity, she'd be a target for my enemies!" And how will that work? You pull your mask off to your sweetie and say, "I'm a super-hero," and halfway across the city, the villain's head comes up. "Ah ha! Now I have my next target"? How will the villains know that this person should be their target? Yeah, no. They don't. If you trust X with your secret ID, you can also trust them to keep their mouth shut, especially if you say, "If the bad guys learn you know, they'll come for you, so keep this to yourself." It's just bad writing. And Stargirl does this over and over as well.
SERIOUS SPOILERS
--The episode with Courtney's dad. It was a supposed to be a tear-jerker when we learn Courtney's birth father isn't Starman after all, but is a low-grade member of a super gang. To me, the episode falls flat. First, we KNEW from the very first episode that Courtney's father isn't Starman. The writers telegraph this big "secret" so badly that we all know about it the moment it first comes up. And when Daddy finally does show up and turns out to be a manipulative dick, we can see it coming. But throughout the episode, Courtney keeps asking Daddy, "Why did you leave?" And Daddy loudly and deliberately avoids answering the question. (See "denial" above.) When he dodges, Courtney never says, "You didn't answer me. Why did you leave?" And even when the truth is coming out, Courtney's mother never once straight-out says, "Your father isn't Starman. He's this other guy." Courtney never demands that Mom tell her who Daddy is, either, in defiance of all reality. Everyone who has ever adopted a kid knows the day will come when kid says, "Who are my mom and dad?" Courtney clearly wants to know, but the writers never have her ask. It's unbelievable nonsense.
So next season, I'll probably watch something else.
I have issues.
Okay, so the show is more light-hearted than its predecessors (most notably TITANS), which I like. But . . .
--The show is built around denial. Check this, please: Courtney wants to be a super-hero. The star staff (we'll get there in a minute) has chosen her, and no one else. We have a set of super-villains killing in and destroying the city, and no one seems able to stop them. We NEED Courtney out there. But her step-father Mike (a whiny simp who, it must be said, has no balls) spends all his time stopping her. In every. Single. EPISODE, Mike tells Courtney some version of, "This is too dangerous. You can't do this. No. Stop." When Courtney tries to re-form the Justice Society, Mike tries to stop her. When she tries to learn more about her powers and her history, Mike tries to stop her. It makes sense, initially--Courtney's young, and Mike has seen death in super-hero battles. He doesn't want Courtney to get hurt. But after a while, the denial becomes annoying, even outrageous. If Courtney doesn't become a hero, the show will end, so let her do her job, please. You protest too much. Later, when Mike wants to tell Courtney's mother what's really going on, Courtney stops him, or other events stop him. Again--makes sense at first, becomes stupid writing later. When the teenaged Justice Society FINALLY gets together to train and learn how to use their gadgetry (and I was thinking, "Yay! We can see some super-hero cutting loose"), Mike sets up ridiculous combat dummies made of paper plates with childish drawings of their enemies on them. When Courtney cuts through them in half a second (as she should), Mike gets mad and storms off in a childish pique. No training. Denied again. This goes on and on and on through the season. The way it's presented makes me thing, "This isn't a theme. It's the writers being unable to think of anything else to do."
--The 1950s nostalgia. My gods, folks. I know the show is based on characters from a 1950s comic book, but when you make the entire town--every house, every car, every shop, every bit of music--look like we've stepped back to the 50s, we feel hit over the head. It's overwrought and overdone. Please stop it.
--The gadgets. This is a big problem on the show. All our teenaged protagonists but one get their powers from a gadget. Stargirl has a staff that can do anything the writers want it to do. Dr. Mid-Nite, the most useless of all the characters, talks to an AI that conveniently tells her anything the plot needs her to know. Hourman gets his strength from a talisman. Wildcat gets hers from a costume. Even Mike, the no-nut wonder, gets his powers from an Iron Man style suit. All these characters get their powers from an outside source. None of them get their power from within. The only exception is Brainwave Junior. And he dies. The trouble here is that the characters are dependent on their gadgets. Without them, they're ordinary kids (except maybe Wildcat, who can box a little). This also means their powers can do literally anything. The staff shows new powers, or shuts down unexpectedly, on a writerly whim. Wildcat's costume sprouts claws and unexpectedly gives her fantastic gymnastic powers. Dr. Mid-Nite's AI, of course, is the standard Hollywood magic computer that can tell you anything at any time, and "hack" any computer system. It's comical (in a bad way) to watch the characters strain and cry out with effort when it's clear that they aren't actually straining. Mike's suit does all the lifting, for example, so why is he grunting and groaning? Courtney's staff zaps bad guys with a power blast (a power that everyone seems to forget about when having it would make the fight end too quickly), but she screams through gritted teeth. Why? All she's basically doing is firing a machine a gun. The gadgets take away the characters' power to dig deep, to expand their strength and learn something about themselves in the process. In-born powers give a character a chance to overcome limitations with willpower and heart. That's what a super-hero show is about. A gadget has no heart, and can't exceed its limits. Dull.
--"I can't tell her my real identity. It'll put her in danger!" We get this phrase a lot in super-hero shows, and STARGIRL gives it to us quite a lot. What, exactly, is the danger, please? Yeah, the characters sometimes make noises about, "If she knew about my super-hero identity, she'd be a target for my enemies!" And how will that work? You pull your mask off to your sweetie and say, "I'm a super-hero," and halfway across the city, the villain's head comes up. "Ah ha! Now I have my next target"? How will the villains know that this person should be their target? Yeah, no. They don't. If you trust X with your secret ID, you can also trust them to keep their mouth shut, especially if you say, "If the bad guys learn you know, they'll come for you, so keep this to yourself." It's just bad writing. And Stargirl does this over and over as well.
SERIOUS SPOILERS
--The episode with Courtney's dad. It was a supposed to be a tear-jerker when we learn Courtney's birth father isn't Starman after all, but is a low-grade member of a super gang. To me, the episode falls flat. First, we KNEW from the very first episode that Courtney's father isn't Starman. The writers telegraph this big "secret" so badly that we all know about it the moment it first comes up. And when Daddy finally does show up and turns out to be a manipulative dick, we can see it coming. But throughout the episode, Courtney keeps asking Daddy, "Why did you leave?" And Daddy loudly and deliberately avoids answering the question. (See "denial" above.) When he dodges, Courtney never says, "You didn't answer me. Why did you leave?" And even when the truth is coming out, Courtney's mother never once straight-out says, "Your father isn't Starman. He's this other guy." Courtney never demands that Mom tell her who Daddy is, either, in defiance of all reality. Everyone who has ever adopted a kid knows the day will come when kid says, "Who are my mom and dad?" Courtney clearly wants to know, but the writers never have her ask. It's unbelievable nonsense.
So next season, I'll probably watch something else.
