The ambushed Sylvester is left to recover while the JSA investigate the scene and try to determine exactly who or what attacked him. Courtney reaches out to Cameron. Mike and Jakeem haven’t finished trying to make a name for themselves.

As if the episode titles hadn’t been clue enough, it’s clear that the theme and feel of this season of Stargirl is that of a murder mystery, and to its credit, it really is keeping its audience guessing every bit as much as its protagonists.

Sylvester is alive, though badly hurt, and was unable to get a good look at who or whatever it was that jumped him at the scene of the Gambler’s murder. Having got him to hospital, the gang go to the scene themselves and look for evidence. What they find drives them towards a conclusion with the assistance of an old friend, and that puts yet another name on the board for them to try to eliminate.

Courtney also tries to reach out to Cameron again, with some unexpected results. This is yet another element to the show where the writers are really keeping me guessing. It’s becoming increasingly clear that whereas Cameron’s grandparents are telling him the truth about his abilities, they’re still keeping him in the dark about certain other elements. When he confesses to Courtney that he knows more about the death of his father than the story told to the world at large, it’s a very tense moment, but the way it plays out leaves things even more mysterious than before.

Mike and Jakeem are still determined to try to make everyone take them seriously, and alight on a new question for Thunderbolt in light of the new theory of who was behind the murder, and honestly you’d think they would have learned by now, but they really haven’t.

Barbara also gets a nice surprise at work after Paula’s intervention, though she gets a slightly less appealing surprise afterward, as well-meant as it might be.

Most of the surprises though, continue to come from Sylvester himself. For all that the guy often comes across as an arrogant entitled idiot – and there’s another instance of that here – he’s also got depth and nuance going on there. His existential crisis continues and it really does feel as if he is on the verge of making some serious personal growth, though not without still getting in his own way.

Overall, it’s promising to be a very interesting season indeed, with a final pre-credits reveal that serves to complicate potential matters further.

Verdict: Bubbling along nicely and keeping its audience on its toes. 8/10

Greg D. Smith