Stargirl Second Season Now on Blu-ray

Keeping with the 13 episode format of the previous season, I'm still left wanting more Stargirl. But perhaps the leaner season prevents any of those unnecessary padding episodes; there are almost no lulls when you have a half-season to deal with the big bad.

The new JSA -- Courtney / Stargirl (Brec Bassinger), Beth / Doctor Mid-Nite (Anjelika Washington), Yolanda / Wildcat (Yvette Monreal) and Rick / Hourman (Cameron Gellman) find themselves taking classes in summer school together since their grades slipped due to the time spent saving Blue Valley and the rest of the country from the threat of the Injustice Society -- a battle that left emotional scars on some of the team members.

While Yolanda struggles to cope with the death of Brainwave Jr. (Jake Austin Walker), Beth tries to get the Doctor Mid-Nite goggles working again -- only to accidentally intercept a message from the original Doctor Mid-Nite, Charles McNider (Alex Collins), who has been presumed dead the past ten years.

Rick spends his spare time scouring the woods around Blue Valley seeking the missing Solomon Grundy. But having learned that Grundy was responsible for his parents' deaths, Rick's motivations are in constant conflict as to what he will do when he finds the lost, mindless beast.

While each JSA member deals with their own personal crisis, a larger threat lurks in Blue Valley. Having been released from the Black Diamond, the embodiment of evil itself, Eclipso (Nick E. Taraby), seeks to infect people with the darker versions of themselves. When masquerading as a young boy (Milo Stein), Eclipso is by far the creepiest and most frightening villain of the series so far.

Fortunately, the JSA have an ally of sorts in the battle against Eclipso -- another former Injustice Society villain, The Shade, portrayed by Jonathan Cake as if he were born for the role.

This second season also finds the progeny of the Injustice Society looking to emerge as the new face of villainy, as Cindy Burman (Meg DeLacy) recruits Artemis Crock (Stella Smith) and Isaac Bowin (Max Frantz). And Courtney's stepbrother, Mike (Trae Romano) thinks he may have found a way to join the JSA when he comes into the control of Johnny Thunder's magical Thunderbolt (voiced by Jim Gaffigan).

Honestly, for a half-sized season, the showrunners packed in a lot of story -- more than I've even been able to cover here. But what you really want to know is this: Of all the CW shows, Stargirl is the one that captures the optimism of the silver age of comics. The costumes are comic book accurate, the flashbacks to the original Justice Society adventures are fantastic, and the easter eggs just help make the show fun overall. We happily recommend this series to all fans of live action superhero shows.