Courtney finds herself in the nightmare world of the Shadowlands, and must face her darkest fears if she is to survive. Meanwhile back in the real world, her friends and family fight to save her.

No spoilers here as I’m sure it was reasonably obvious to everyone at the end of the previous episode that the show hadn’t killed off its central character, but this time out we see Courtney trapped in the Shadowlands. Whatever we might have expected that to look like, it’s fair to say we were likely wrong – all I’ll say is don’t adjust your set, it really is supposed to look that way.

Aesthetically the show makes simple but interesting decisions to bring this other dimension to life, but that can’t really hide the fairly formulaic narrative construction of what Courtney’s new prison is. When another character refers to it as a type of ‘purgatory’ in a very literal fashion it feels as if the show is talking down to the very slowest on the uptake members of its audience. Confronted by various visions in the Shadowlands designed to play on her own fears and insecurities, Courtney finds unlikely company and unexpected assistance as she tries to fight back against the evil forces trapping her.

Back in the real world, Beth, Jennie, Barbara, Mikey and Pat are all in mourning at the apparent death of Courtney, until a message from Doctor Macnider provides them with new hope not only that she is alive, but that she might be able to be saved. This is where the show gets a little greetings card in its sentimentality – we’ve known all along that The Shade was a complex character (we didn’t actually need it pointed out explicitly in dialogue here but oh well), but his actions here are narratively satisfying, if not exactly tonally coherent. It is of interest that the show continues to play around with the ideas of good and bad, dark and light and the various shades (no pun intended) between. The Shade has perhaps been one of the better expressions of that, aided partly by Jonathan Cake’s superlative performance, which has at times surpassed a slightly clunky script, as it does here again. Between this, the temporary alliance with Artemis’ parents and a surprise decision this time out, I look forward to seeing what the show does to develop this theme going forward.

But even if the ideas are a little hackneyed in places, who cares when you have a cast this good? Bassinger really sells the inherent optimism of her character in a way that’s absolutely necessary for various beats to land and never more so than here, when the character makes a choice which risks her own safety and the waste of so much effort and sacrifice by others in order to do something nobody would have judged her for a second for not doing. Heroes are heroes all the time, and Stargirl proves week after week why she absolutely deserves the mantle.

Verdict: Doesn’t blaze many new trails with its ideas but the cast sell the hell out of it all to make up for it. 9/10

Greg D. Smith