Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 3 of Stargirl.Season 3 of the CW's Arrowverse-adjacent ensemble supe saga Stargirl has not only expanded the scope of the JSA but also followed through on the long-teased, full-time addition of Sylvester Pemberton, otherwise known as Starman, played by Joel McHale. Though there is initially a mutual warm welcome to the Dugan-Whitmore home, things start to turn sour when Sylvester begins to seek revenge on former members of the ISA. This, coupled with Courtney (Brec Bassinger) and Pat (Luke Wilson)’s immense respect for Sylvester, creates a new set of thematic layers that elevates Stargirl's continually evolving analysis of the definition of “good” and “evil.”
Starman's initial portrayal in Season 1, Episode 1 functions mainly as a Herald to signify Courtney's impending journey to take the mantle of Stargirl. After Sylvester is killed by Icicle (Neil Jackson), he recounts to Pat that someone with "honor and strength" must carry the torch. Someone with "grace and heroism." Someone who, according to Sylvester, is definitely not Pat. Sylvester later returned in Season 1, Episode 13 in a semi-post-credit sequence that revealed him to be alive and looking for Pat. The Season 2 finale followed through on this plotline, with Starman returning to help Courtney exorcise Eclipso from her body.
With the advent of Starman's full-time status in Season 3, a unique dynamic is achieved. His character is so important to both Pat and Courtney's central motivations. He is, for all intents and purposes, their collective superhero raison d'être. Having Starman back gives Courtney and Pat the chance to truly develop past their constructed personas that they have built from him. After being autonomous and essentially the team "Dad," Pat begins to reject the outdated "sidekick" role that Sylvester has implanted upon him. Meanwhile, Courtney starts to see that her intuition and trust in villains to change for the better are at odds with Sylvester’s philosophy.
Season 3, Episode 1, "The Murder," opens with Sylvester cleaning up the kitchen as the family arrives home from their vacation in Yellowstone. A pile of newspapers on the table reveals that Courtney has been donning her Stargirl suit even while on vacation, with headlines recounting a "Mysterious Glow" and "Unexplained Light" during thwarted robberies and successful rescues. Sylvester takes time to comment on Pat's new 'stache while assuring Mike (Trae Romano) that "facial hair is a man's birthright." He then unveils a display case he built for the Cosmic Staff while recounting to Courtney his uncannily simplistic tale of resurrection--that he woke up in his coffin and dug himself out.
On a thematic and structural level, Stargirl is arguably one of the most overtly comic-bookesque superhero television series. Seasons 2 and 3 are not only clearly defined with titles and chapters but also serve as contained narratives, similar to a volume. Season 3, subtitled "Frenemies," doubles down on Courtney's insistence to forgive the former members of the ISA in order to stop the cycle of evil and negativity. She exercises this by leaving the door unlocked, despite the Crocks moving in next door. She even entertains the notion of helping the Gambler (Eric Goins) when he shows up on the family's doorstep asking for help finding his daughter, finding herself genuinely moved by his desire for redemption. Sylvester naturally questions all of this, given his history with the ISA.
After the Episode 1 cliffhanger featuring the murder of The Gambler, Episode 2 opens with a team meeting with Sylvester acting as the de facto team leader. He immediately latches on to the idea that the murderer had to have been one of the former members of the ISA. When Sylvester and Pat confront the Shade about the Gambler’s murder, Sylvester loses control and grabs the Shade across the booth. Later on, under Courtney's wing, Sylvester goes to apologize to the Shade. But he again loses control, attacking the Shade with the staff while accusing him of killing the JSA.
Starting as a character actor and longtime host of E!'s The Soup, McHale has had an eclectic career as both a charismatic personality and an actor. After hosting The Soup for five years, he landed his first major starring role in the cult sitcom Community. McHale’s appearances as of late have largely been relegated to character acting and borderline cameo appearances—key examples include Lassiter’s father (in flashback form) in Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, as well as Carmy’s former psychopathic chef boss in The Bear. His role in Seasons 1 and 2 of Stargirl was similar, though recurring. Thus, it is somewhat surreal to see Starman engaged in the normal day-to-day of a series regular. However, this brand of slow character introduction is not unheard of. One can look to the trajectory of other series that have utilized this method for clues as to how Starman’s story might play out.
Starman's teasing throughout Seasons 1 and 2 was, interestingly, structurally reminiscent of the experimental FOX sitcom The Last Man on Earth's method of introducing characters. Throughout each season, a character would be lightly teased, resulting in a reveal and upgrade to series regular at either the midway point of the season or the end. However, the characters introduced often turned out to be deathly dangerous when their full extent was revealed. Stargirl seems to be following in these footsteps. Two episodes in without an apparent big bad, it seems as though Starman may be temporarily filling the antagonistic void. This twist unabashedly tweaks the series' entire dynamic. Stargirl is uniquely afforded this capability through a fundamental structuring of the series that encourages expansion.
Adding to an already decked-out ensemble cast, the inclusion of Starman ultimately fits with Stargirl's apparent modus operandi of addition rather than subtraction. Even villains are added to the good side, with the Crocks (Neil Hopkins, Joy Osmanski) moving in next door (while hilariously trying to fit into conventional suburban life) and Cindy (Meg Delacy) and Artemis (Stella Smith) becoming members of the JSA. Utilizing a comic book approach to character development, the series avoided a myopic focus on Courtney from the get-go and focused on building a solid team of fully realized characters. Sylvester's addition to the series follows this trend, though his increasing ambiguity and inconsistent personality serve to muddy the picture.
Sylvester was established in Seasons 1 and 2, through flashbacks, as a snarky, somewhat Jeff Winger-adjacent leader of the JSA. Thus, it can be moderately disarming for the viewer to see him in such high spirits as he holds the fort down for the Dugan-Whitmore family. Sylvester's anger outbursts seem to come out of nowhere, though in his mind they are rightly justified. His team was overtaken by the ISA, and he was killed by Icicle. There could certainly be legitimate trauma bubbling up to the surface. However, it stands to reason that there might be something more going on.
Though a conversation with Courtney at the end of Episode 2 indicates that Sylvester is going to take a pause on rekindling his hero persona to find himself, teaser clips from Episode 3 appear to show him getting revenge on the Crocks. A common fan theory is that Sylvester is being controlled by Mister Bones (Keith David), introduced in the final scene of Season 2 at The Helix Institute for Youth Rehabilitation. Though there is no direct evidence for this theory, it has been confirmed that Mr. Bones will make his way to Blue Valley in Season 3.
There has been scant legitimate progress on the central murder mystery of “Frenemies” (aside from a Thunderbolt-assisted revelation that the killer has “many names”), but Season 3 of Stargirl has so far lived up to its name by employing a peerlessly nuanced approach to modern superhero television. By introducing a counterpoint in the form of Starman, Courtney’s admirably utopian view of heroes and villains living together in harmony is challenged. Stargirl has once again proven itself to be a deceptively thought-provoking, multi-layered narrative that questions the practicality of the reductive yet ubiquitous notion of “good” vs. “evil.”
Stargirl Season 3 premieres with new episodes each Wednesday on The CW.