With the Injustice Society’s plan in motion, and every adult in Blue Valley under their spell, Courtney and the Justice Society must dig deep to win the day.

There’s one thing I’ll say straight off the bat and that’s that this episode really doesn’t feel like it’s been made on a TV budget. Stargirl has been a show that punched considerably above its weight in the visuals department from day one, but even by its own lofty standards, this is a pretty episode to look at. It’s filled to the brim with action too, as any good superhero finale should be, with everyone getting a turn at some bad guy ass-kicking along the way – and I do mean everyone.

It also manages to throw in a few surprises along the way, even if much of its core is fairly predictable. Rick gets the confrontation he’s been itching for since he first discovered the truth about his powers and his parents. Yolanda gets an opportunity for a little revenge of her own. Beth and Chuck form an integral part of the JSA’s strategy, even if only from a distance, and Courtney gets to be front and centre as the glue that unites both her adopted family of superheroes and the real family she has as well.

It also does its best to navigate the somewhat hackneyed conventions of the genre – there is, of course, a ticking clock, a thing which needs to be blown up and so on. Where it gets away with this is by focusing its attention mostly elsewhere, relying on the strength of its characters and their interactions to be the things we care about. Whether it’s Cindy’s resentment at her father and his comrades which is roughly equal with her hatred for the JSA, or Justin’s genuine affection for Barbara and whether that might prove a weakness in his armour, everyone has something going on which needs to be resolved. The giant machine that needs to be destroyed before an arbitrary period of time elapses and the bad guys ‘win’ is really incidental.

It’s genuinely hard to fault as a finale to what’s been a mostly excellent maiden run. I’m not sure we needed some of the messages hammered home quite as hard as they were. There’s at least one villain character decision which doesn’t make a great deal of sense and there’s a character death which not only comes out of nowhere but seems to run directly counter to a conversation the killer had with someone else not five minutes previously. But for the most part, it lines everything up well and executes it beautifully.

Those concerned (as I was) about how exactly there would be another season if either side won out will be reasonably satisfied with the conclusion, I imagine, and there is a nice wink-to-camera cameo at the end which promises some interesting developments to come.

Verdict: A strong finale for one of the better superhero genre series I’ve seen in a while. Here’s hoping the momentum continues into the next season. 9/10

Greg D. Smith