Generation Justice: Stargirl, Episode 103, "Icicle"

STARGIRL continues to scintillate for the DC television universe, aka the Arrowverse, and this third episode shows the series has no intention on dimming any time soon.

Having confronted Brainwave and leaving him in a coma, Courtney (Brec Bassinger) is eager to confront the rest of the Injustice Society of America. Now, I'm sure you may be thinking that the "Injustice Society of America" is a bit on-the-nose for a gang of criminals. But in this episode we are made privy to the notion that the group was formed to confront perceived injustice, not create it. In this instance, it's the Icicle, Jordan Mahkent (Neil Jackson) who wants to fight the injustices that gave his wife cancer and took her from him and his son.

But for now, Icicle will settle for finding the weilder of the Cosmic Staff who took down his comrade. Mahkent learns from another ISA member, William Zarick (Joe Knezevich) that the person who attacked Brainwave was a girl, so Icicle starts to set bait for this "Stargirl" to take. We also see just how brutal and ruthless Icicle can be, when he accuses Zarick -- aka The Wizard -- of being indecisive and weak. This ends in tragedy when Zarick's son, Joey (Wil Duesner) befriends Courtney at her school -- and then dies during a confrontation between Icicle and Stargirl, a death that is no accident but dealt with the intent of delivering a message.

This episode also educates Stargirl on the legacy she has inherited, as Pat (Luke Wilson) flies her out to the abandoned headquarters of the Justice Society of America, where all the tools and costumes of the fallen heroes still reside -- including a lantern and a pink ballpoint pen! If you're any fan of the JSA at all, those two props should have you commited to this series until the final season! Pat reminds Courtney that all these brave men were experienced -- and all dead at the hands of the Icicle and his Injustice Society of America, and he asks her that there be no more "Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E." until he says otherwise.

You can guess how much Courtney is going to listen to that. She's determined to take down the Icicle, and she knows just what she needs: recruited allies!

What is going to be a particularly interesting development introduced here are the relationship triangles. In his identity of Mahkent, the Icicle seems to have taken a shine to Courtney's mother, Barbara (Amy Smart). Meanwhile, at Blue Valley High School, we see a friendship blossom between Courtney and Cameron Mahkent (Hunter Sansone) -- Icicle's son, who comes across as the "golden hearted bad boy" of the show. It's a Romeo & Juliet trope that has been done a million times, but in the environs of the STARGIRL series, it works, and we anticipate it will either end in tragedy for father and son, or boy and girl, depending on which way the writers want to take it.

STARGIRL airs Monday's on the DC Universe streaming service, and is rebroadcast the following night on your local CW afilliate.