Stargirl, on DCUniverse and the CW, is about teen Courtney Whitmore (played Brec Bassinger) who finds out her new stepfather Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson) used to be the sidekick to superhero Starman (Joel McHale). She ends up becoming the new owner of the hero's Cosmic Staff. The show really fluctuates from pretty darn good to painfully frustrating.
I'll go with the pros first. Stargirl is an homage to silver age comics, often evoking a sort of modern retro feel. The writers are willing to go a little more high concept out there than other superhero fare. The show is jampacked with Justice Society and Injustice Society members providing a wide range of distinct characters. Heck, they even include the Gambler (Eric Goins), probably one of the least used ISA villains in comics and media these days.
The cast is all good. Bassinger does a convincing job with the character's optimism and earnestness. Though the best one in this is Wilson. His Pat is completely believable as someone who would've been a 40's-style sidekick with an "awe-shucks" kindness and desire to do the right thing.
The budget isn't shabby, featuring some pretty good fights and CGI creations. (Though it seems to go only so far, and there is a fair amount of talking in the middle.) The Americana-style town this takes place in looks pretty good.
Now for the problems. The superhero stuff is really good, but the teen drama parts are sooooo cookie-cutter and basic. I mean really, really basic; one of the most uninspiring I've ever seen. The teen dialogue sounds very "TV" and not natural at all. Including the worse "mean girl" dialogue I've ever heard. Also, this mines parent-issue tropes way, way too much. It's depressing and frequently too obvious. I mean why are bad parents all the rage these days. I mean if you had lousy ones, I understand it is nice knowing your not alone in the world, but there is just so much of this these days. It feels like a crutch now. The tone in general can be pretty bipolar.
Although I liked Stargirl in this, there are several moments, where she can be maddeningly thickheaded, especially one dogged assumption she makes based on very little evidence. I mean she's a teen, and teens do dumb things, but as mentioned the dialogue doesn't feel natural in the slightest. The villains also do some stuff that cross the line between practical evil and forced evil-for-the-sake-of-evil.
The worse stuff happens in the middle. the beginning and end are pretty darn good.
This is hard decide to recommend or not. I rotated between loving and hating Stargirl. I will still be watching, because I hope to see more of the good stuff and there's the hope for improvement.
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