Pat has to think fast to cover up the reason for Courtney’s injuries. The rest of the gang are keen to find out exactly who Cindy is related to. Courtney has an unexpected visitor. Henry’s powers begin to manifest in earnest.

Starting with a scene that confused me an awful lot until the context was explained post-opening credits, this is an episode of Stargirl that really does play around with a lot of ideas, and introduces some intriguing new details as well.

Courtney is pretty badly beaten up after her confrontation with Cindy, and Pat comes up with a novel and fairly self-sacrificial way of explaining them away for the benefit of both the hospital and Barbara. The strain of their double lives is beginning to really tell on poor old Stripesy, and it feels like it might only be a matter of time before the secret slips out to some other significant people.

Meanwhile, Yolanda, Beth and Rick decide they urgently need to get to the bottom of exactly who Cindy – and her father – are. This involves a fairly zany caper with Pat being dragged in too that leads to a lot of comedy cutting across the tension of the thing. But while they’re all engaged on this mission, Courtney gets a surprising visitor.

It’s fair to say that the best scene in the episode is Courtney and Cindy sharing a box of chocolates, chatting away like regular schoolgirls, all the while Courtney visibly struggling to cope. It’s made even better by the sheer unpredictable menace that Meg DeLacy brings to the role of Cindy Burman – even when she’s being nice, you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Brec Bassinger deserves plaudits too, for a performance where you can practically feel the tension as she tries to put a brave face with her attacker being right there in the room with her.

Honourable mentions also go to Mike and Cindy’s further conversation on the subject of their new family, and a particularly entertaining scene in which Luke Wilson literally has to have a conversation with an inanimate object and manages to maintain a straight face throughout.

The mystery of Cindy’s father’s identity gets solved – at least for the viewer – but in fairness, between that and Icicle’s encounter this time out with someone from his past who is on his hit list, I am more confused than ever as to exactly what it could be that the Injustice Society of America have planned and why. But at least I’m having fun along the way.

Verdict: Some genuinely tense scenes mixed with plenty of laughs and a dash of ongoing confusion. Still very much has my attention. 8/10

Greg D. Smith