Fridge / Stargirl (2020)

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Fridge Brilliance

• The Action Prologue of the show gives a brief glimpse of Jay Garrick's helmet covered in frost, leading viewers to believe that Icicle killed him. Cold has always been a weakness for speedsters, so it makes sense that Icicle would be the one to kill Jay, considering he's basically a Man of Kryptonite to him. Plus, even with ice powers, you generally need to be a Combat Pragmatist to take out a speedster, which Icicle certainly is.
• Icicle killing Joey seems like a case of Misplaced Retribution, given that Brainwave is the one who was causing problems. But it makes more sense when you take two things into account:
  • The first is that Brainwave is an essential part of the Evil Plan. Icicle can't do anything to him if he wants to achieve his goals.
  • The second is that while William wasn't responsible for Brainwave's actions, he knew what was being planned and did nothing, not even warn the others so they could stop him. As a result, the group gets exposed and their plan is now in jeopardy with Henry comatose. In Icicle's eyes, that's Betrayal by Inaction.
• In a way, Joey Zarick's death makes sense from both a meta and narrative standpoint. The other children of the ISA (Cameron, Henry Jr, Cindy, and Artemis) are established characters in the comics who each continue their parents' legacies as supervillains, and it appears that they're destined to follow the same path in the show^note Though whether they become villains or heroes is up to the writers, with Cindy being the first to make the transition. Joey, on the other hand, has no comic book equivalent, and since he isn't destined to become an established villain/hero like the other children, he can be killed off for the sake of the story without invoking Not His Sled.
  • In a strange way, the death of Henry King Jr. also makes sense both meta-wise and narratively. Though not a Canon Foreigner like the above, his character has a very unfortunate path of becoming a hero and Redeeming Replacement, only to succumb to dark impulses and later villainy due to mental illness. This story is quite bleak and potentially upsetting, but it's also the only direction his character really has to go down. As well as that, times change and since then, becoming evil because you're "crazy" is now seen as a very offensive way to portray mental illness, so following that story could potentially lead to the show being hit with complaints of Unfortunate Implications. So instead, having him Go Out with a Smile and under heroic circumstances saving others not only lets his story end on a more positive note than it did in the comics, it avoids having to adapt an upsetting story or coming up with a completely new one.
    • Additionally, there's a reason not just one, but several of his abilities are listed under Story-Breaker Power. If Henry were to survive and grow into his powers, he could probably take out the entire ISA (except maybe his dad) single-handedly from a distance. He could've been a serious threat to Eclipso, and Season Three would've been very different if his mind-reading abilities had been on hand, to say nothing of his telekinesis in fights. In a 'verse where psychics and therefore psychic block defenses are practically unknown, he's unfortunately way too much of a game-breaker. It's probably the same reason they had to kill off the Wizard as well. Even a low-scale Reality Warper is no joke if they're enough of a Combat Pragmatist.
  • Similarly, Brainwave Sr. is defeated due to his overconfidence in the first episode, put into a coma for most of the season, then has his son defy him and hold him off with his own powers long enough for the JSA to escape, and finally is weakened by attempting Project New America before he's killed by Yolanda, meaning that the others never have to face him in a straight fight.
• Pat's anger at Courtney for disobeying his orders and making off with the paraphernalia of the late Justice Society members to recruit for a new JSA after he told her not to do so has multiple levels. It's not just that she's taking untrained, untested teenagers (ones who, let's face it, aren't exactly prime superhero material) and putting them up against the ISA...she's taking the equipment, the identities, of his close friends, almost his family, and giving them out seemingly willy-nilly.
  • His outrage becomes even more justified when you realize that the equipment she took to make a new Wildcat, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Hourman from Yolanda, Beth, and Rick belonged to the same three comrades of his he saw get seriously injured and/or killed that fateful night a decade prior when the JSA and Starman met their end at the hands of the Injustice Society.
  • And on top of that, Season Three reveals that he had an abusive father. He might well have regarded the JSA as the first real family he ever had. Which leads into a hefty dose of Fridge Horror considering how traumatizing it must have been to watch them die and be unable to do anything about it.
• Yolanda's Wildcat suit is coloured blue in the show. Though this reflects how the suit was shaded in the comics (intended as black but using blue highlights to reflect her shape), it also makes strange logistical sense; her suit is designed to camouflage well at night, like a ninja, and as noted by anyone who knows the Reality Is Unrealistic facts about ninjas, blue is actually a better choice for that.
• While mopping the floor, Justin tells Beth, "Careful, there are dragons in the water." Which supervillain is currently residing in the sewers? Dragon King. Bonus points because of Cindy's connection to the latter, which it's possible Justin somehow sensed.
• During Sam’s bus trip to Blue Valley, he’s shown looking at a locket bearing his daughter’s picture. This makes sense since he’s about to see her again after so long... but could he also be thinking about the money he’s about to make from selling it alongside Courtney’s locket?
• Rick seems skeptical that Justin is actually Sir Justin, wielder of Excalibur, despite the fact that he himself is the son of a superhero. Possibly because, as far as he knows, there's no magic in the setting—his, Beth's, Pat's, and Yolanda's equipment is all technological (no one is sure how the Cosmic Staff works). The audience knows that the Wizard, Johnny Thunder, and Dr. Fate existed in this universe, but Rick probably isn't aware of that.
• Cameron's mention that he studied French rather than Norwegian is presented as a quick gag. However, given that he's Locked Out of the Loop regarding his dad's plans and identity, it may well be that his family deliberately encouraged him to study French so they could have discussions about their Evil Plan without letting Cameron in on it.
• Even though Dr. Ito is (literally) an inhuman monster, Cindy still keeps a photo of him in her room; specifically, one that was taken when he was still a regular person. Fridge Sadness starts to kick in when you realize she probably kept it to remind herself that her father, despite being a mass-murdering criminal, was still a regular human being at one point, something that she'll never get to see him as.
• The new JSA taking out the old ISA whereas the previous incarnation were almost all murdered seems like an Ass Pull. However, it's worth bearing in mind that Fiddler and the Wizard are dead and Brainwave and Shade are out of action, meaning that four of their most powerful members aren't available, while Grundy has a counter in STRIPE. This left Icicle and three Badass Normals against an experienced Badass Normal (Justin), two Empowered Badass Normals, and a guy with Super-Strength. Put in that light, it's a lot more understandable.
  • It's also implied in "Brainwave Jr" that the original fight was a surprise attack by the ISA, which would have further unbalanced the odds. Here, both sides were expecting it.
  • Icicle was also not using his ice armor during the fight. That left him vulnerable enough to get taken down by hits he could normally just brush off.
  • And on top of that, we learn in Series 2 that the JSA had broken up as a team, meaning their cohesion and fighting spirit were already reduced before the fight even started.
• The tension between Cindy and Courtney makes sense when one realizes that Courtney tried to befriend Cindy, which is something very few, if any, people have ever tried to do—even Jenny mostly seemed to just want to hang out with the Alpha Bitch, while her stepmother is cowed and intimidated by her. It's possible Courtney is the only person to ever show any interest in Cindy as a person, or who treats her as an equal.
• Although the Cosmic Staff comes off as a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins in the first episode, it's worth bearing in mind that it's been stuck inside a box for ten years straight and this is its first outing since Starman died. Pretty understandable that it would overcompensate a little.
• Considering Brainwave's abilities, Yolanda really shouldn't have been able to get the drop on him and slice his throat to kill him like she did. Brainwave should've been able to sense Yolanda's thoughts the moment she realized he was tricking her, avoid making said mistake, know where the rest of the JSA was from her thoughts, brainwash her, and not to mention kill her in a variety of ways. However, Brainwave had just moments ago been trying to brainwash the entire midwest of America. He was probably far too drained from the effort of this to make use of his abilities effectively and the illusion of his own son was the best he could manage at the time.
  • There's also Brainwave's sense of sadism to consider. He draws out the kill when he can instead of just dealing with threats straight away. He couldn't resist screwing with Yolanda and gave himself away, which let her kill him.
• In "Summer School: Chapter Eleven," the Shade leaves the portal to the Shadowlands open for a few seconds after Cindy passes back into the real world. In retrospect, this foreshadows that his "death scene" is really just him being a drama queen. Had he really been using up the last of his energy, he'd have shut down the portal the second she came through.
• Yolanda isn't just angry at Cindy for sending the nude text of her around the school. She is also pissed because her actions destroyed her relationship with Henry. She spent months blaming him for it, and he felt so guilty that it was part of the reason for his Heroic Sacrifice against his own father. Yolanda basically blames Cindy for his death!
• There's a quick bit early in Season Three where Sylvester blames the Shade for the death of Jay Garrick, despite the fact that Jay's helmet was seen covered in ice during the opening battle, implying that Jordan killed him. At the time, viewers might have put this down to the Shade being an accomplice or Sylvester simply being confused, but it's actually a brilliant bit of foreshadowing to episode 12, that it's not Sylvester speaking (since the Ultra-Humanite was never at the battle, and would have had no way of knowing what happened—particularly since Dragon King wasn't seen there, either. Whether or not he was a member of the ISA at the time is ambiguous). Meanwhile, the Shade a) was distracted by his powers malfunctioning, b) probably thinks Sylvester is blaming him as an accomplice, and c) doesn't care about Sylvester's opinion of him, so he wouldn't have said anything anyway.
  • Similarly, when talking to Yolanda and Beth about the JSA's kids, "Sylvester" doesn't bring up Ted Grant's son, despite the fact that Sylvester was present when Ted mentioned him during a Season Two flashback. Maybe because Ted already has a successor...or because the Ultra-Humanite doesn't know about him.
• Why did the Ultra-Humanite help Courtney and the others fight Eclipso in the Season 2 finale? He and the other villains have their own plans, and they couldn't enact them with another villain trying to destroy the world.
• When we (supposedly) first encounter the Ultra-Humanite, he's chasing Mike and Jakeem in a raging fury — "I'll kill them all!" — which sounds less like someone identifying potential threats to his plans and more like someone with a personal reason to hate his targets, despite the fact that he has (seemingly) never met them before. At the time you assume that it's just because he's an Ax-Crazy psychopath who enjoys killing... but it makes a lot more sense once you learn that he's actually Dragon King, who does have a personal grudge against the team. Particularly since Mike was responsible for severely delaying their plans while Jordan reconstituted himself.
• The Ultra-Humanite didn't actually need to work hard to destabilize the team. Sooner or later, their issues would have gotten the best of them: The Crocks and the Shade were having a hard time being trusted by everyone else, Rick's anger and need to use the Hourglass would have driven him to do something dangerous, Beth was already growing ambivalent about her parents' new roles in the superhero part of her life, Mike was going his own way to prove himself to everyone else, and Yolanda was never going to forgive Cindy for the sext. All he did in the end was move things along to their logical conclusion, while also putting pressure on everyone to stop them from working it out. While Yolanda would never have forgiven Cindy, it's entirely possible that most of the others could have worked out their issues more peacefully if not for "Sylvester's" actions.
• Why does Jordan lure the Crocks into the sewers, instead of any of the other heroes, particularly a more powerful one like Courtney (who has the Staff) or Jakeem (who has the Thunderbolt)? Well, first of all, there's probably the revenge element for Jordan. Secondly, with the Shade gone, the Crocks are the only ones "Sylvester" doesn't have an excuse to interact with regularly, meaning he can't keep an eye on them and manipulate them as easily.
  • It's also entirely possible that they don't think the others will be much of a threat—Mike and Jakeem have no inherent powers, tech, or training, the Thunderbolt can only do so much in a fast-paced battle or against an ambush (especially when being wielded by an inexperienced kid), Rick is out of action with the malfunctioning hourglass, Cindy's isolated in the woods and not trusted by the others, Pat isn't much danger without S.T.R.I.P.E (and even with it, probably not much good against an agile opponent like Jordan or the Ultra-Humanite in Sylvester's body with the Staff), and the Ultra-Humanite now has control of the Staff, leaving a few unpowered teenagers as the only possible threat to them. Meanwhile, the adult Crocks were good enough to regularly go up against fully-grown heroes like Starman, Wildcat, and Green Lantern. Naturally, it makes sense to take them out.
• When Eclipso possesses Stargirl, he bellows that "only one" can control the Cosmic Staff. Then we see (as we thought at the time) Starman grab the Staff and say, "Well, maybe two." At the time, it just seemed like he was being snarky with the "maybe". However, the Ultra Humanite had no way to be sure that the Staff would respond to him, so that "maybe" was honest. And as we later learn, Courtney is the only one who can control the Staff; it only worked for "Sylvester" because she thought it should.

Fridge Horror

• In “Icicle,” there’s no indication that Mrs. Zarick knew anything about her husband's past or current villainy. It’s very possible that from her perspective, her son randomly died one day, her husband grabbed an ornate stick out of a safe she never knew about, and then stormed off, only to wind up dead. Evidently she knew about the magic angle, but beyond that, all she’d know is that her son and husband were murdered in the same day, and she doesn’t know why or if she’s next. It’d be enough to drive someone mad with paranoia and grief.
• In "Shiv Part One", when Pat finds Courtney bruised and beaten and cradles her in his arms, it must've felt like watching Starman die all over again, except this time it's his own stepdaughter.
  • Then again, in "Summer School Chapter Ten," pretty much the same thing happens.
• When Dragon King gets fed up with Cindy, he warns her, "Do not make me remove my hood", which not only silences her instantly, it makes her noticeably uncomfortable, or scared. It's implied that he pulled this card on her before, but has he been doing it since she was a child? Would he reveal his terrifying lizard face to his young daughter just to scare her into behaving? That face she makes wasn't just out of fear, it was out of childhood trauma. Given that he also used sleeping gas on a baby, one wonders what else he might have done to her.
  • Or, for more tragedy, what if a young Cindy asked to see daddy's face? — Classified
  • More of a Fridge Tearjerker, but considering how twisted and clearly abusive Dragon King is, it's really hard to imagine Cindy ending up any way other than she is. She's been put down, caged, abused, and likely experimented on. It's highly likely she's never been shown a single moment of genuine affection or love since she murdered her own mother by accident as a child (which of course would leave her with lots of scars), while her only other actual parental figure she could model herself after is a sadistic supervillain. She never really had a chance of being a good person.
• Chuck is remarkably sentient for an AI, a given since he's pretty much an artificial copy of Charles McNider's consciousness. But as shown in the season one finale, he's so sentient that he can apparently feel physical pain, so when Icicle freezes Beth's goggles, Chuck doesn't just shut down like a computer, he suffers a painful, agonizing death, and even lets out a bloodcurdling (and disturbingly human) scream!
• Great as it is that the ISA has been defeated, what's not so great is that most of them were Villains With Good Publicity who have been slain or have vanished to parts unknown, so the general populace of Blue Valley is likely in for a nasty shock when they discover the most respected members of their community are dead.
  • With Icicle and Gambler (the CEO and CFO of the American Dream) respectively dead and out on the lam, many, if not all of the people working under them in their civilian guises are likely to lose their jobs unless somebody decides to step up to take their places.
    • At least some of this is nullified by Season Two—we see Barbara still working at the American Dream and in at least one board meeting. However, it's entirely possible there were economic consequences offscreen to minor characters.
• When the Justice Society were all murdered, that meant that every supervillain, crime lord, etc across the US (if not throughout the world) basically had free rein, with no one to stop them. How much evil did the ISA alone get up to for a decade?
  • Given that we have two named superhero teams in the JSA and the Seven Soldiers of Victory, I think we can assume they're not the only heroes out there.
• During the fight in the grocery store, both Sportsmaster and Tigress mention that they were getting bored already and show an eagerness to fight. Later on, Crusher picks up a bat and says "Hello, old friend," and then is encouraged by Paula to use it on Sylvester. Between that and Cindy's betrayal of Courtney's trust in the same episode, the actions and behaviors of Sylvester and everyone else (to a lesser extent) could be causing the villains to start regressing.

  • This in turn leads to some Fridge Brilliance following 3x12, because no doubt that was part of the Ultra-Humanite's plan to help destabilize his potential enemies and ensure that they couldn't team up against him.