As Pat teaches Courtney, Yolanda, Beth, and Rick the importance of teamwork, the ISA converge to figure out who is trying to take them down.
Tropes:
- Aesop Amnesia: Just one episode after realizing that she needs to listen to Pat and not go off on her own, Courtney ignores Pat's instructions and goes off on her own. This results in her getting ambushed by Cindy.
- Big Damn Heroes: Justin the Janitor, armed with a sword, comes to Courtney's rescue against Shiv.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Courtney unconscious and bleeding after her battle with Shiv.
- Continuity Nod: Mike has taken up that paperboy job Pat said he had to a few episodes ago.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Courtney gets thrown around by Cindy for most of the fight, but she manages a few good hits and even burns Cindy's face off on impulse. Cindy's Healing Factor fixes the latter.
- The Dog Bites Back: Jenny finally tires of Cindy's abusive behavior and calls her a bitch.
- Domestic Abuse: It's implied that Dragon King "conditions" (read: tortures) his wife the same way he does his minions, resulting in her being totally loyal but absolutely terrified of him and Cindy.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Courtney loses her patience during Pat's lesson about the ISA and destroys the dummies he set up, forcing him to explain that it was for the benefit of her teammates who don't have as much experience as her.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Pat states that if the ISA is still controlling Solomon Grundy, then he'll be a huge threat. The audience knows that Grundy is still very much a part of the ISA, albeit kept in a cage.
- Cindy insists that Henry Jr. doesn't have powers to Dragon King when the audience knows the opposite is true. Clearly he should have assigned someone that actually cared to pay attention.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In addition to Evil Parents Want Good Kids (below), Jordan is seen encouraging his son to ask out Courtney and giving him dating advice.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: With the exception of Dragon King, the ISA are deliberately keeping their kids out of their activities, with Bowin in particular deeming her son too sensitive for the ISA's work. Tigress and Sportsmaster, however, think their daughter would do well.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Cindy's birth mother died when she was young (later implied to be the result of something Cindy did, but this isn't elaborated on). While this engenders sympathy from Courtney, Rick points out that it in no way excuses Cindy's behavior.
- Hidden Depths: Cindy is a surprisingly competent chemist, having learned from her father.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Cindy is chafing under the pretense of being a normal teen when she has powers and knows about the ISA, wanting a seat at the table. Dragon King refuses to let her join, since she's not ready.
- Internal Reveal: Cindy learns that Courtney is Stargirl.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After getting blindsided by Justin the Janitor and waking up to hear someone else coming to Courtney's aid, Cindy runs before the new arrival can see her.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Pat tries talking about how deadly Tigress and Sportsman are, Courtney snaps "we know, we saw that last week."
- Leeroy Jenkins: Courtney breaks into the ISA's tunnel network, not only leaving obvious evidence that she did so, but setting off a motion alarm. That she only runs into Cindy is extremely lucky.
- Mr. Exposition: Pat tries to explain to the kids about the members of the ISA, only for Courtney to keep interrupting him.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Jordan claims to have done this to the other man seeking his future wife's affection then laughs it off as a joke, though knowing him it's entirely possible he was being honest.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Courtney is horrified when she realizes that she just scorched Cindy's face with the staff. It turns into an Oh, Crap! when Cindy reveals her Healing Factor.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- After agreeing to hang out with Cindy on the night of the homecoming dance, Courtney backs out when Cameron asks her to the dance. This pushes an already angry Cindy to embrace full-on supervillainy.
- The Cosmic Staff leads Pat to Courtney, who instinctively yells out her real name when looking for her. Cindy overhears this and escapes before he sees her.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Beth's parents are thrown to find that she didn't make them lunch like she usually does. Though, in a reversal of the usual implications, they likely regard this as a positive development, since it means she's growing out of needing to spend time with them all the time.
- Orbital Shot: The camera spins around Courtney and Cindy for almost 20 seconds during their battle in the auditorium.
- The Reveal:
- Cindy is only dating Henry Jr. as part of an assignment from Dragon King, who wants to use Henry for his machine in the event that Brainwave cannot be awakened.
- The ISA has secret passages to their headquarters all over town, including at the school and in Cindy's house.
- Rule of Symbolism: The fight with Shiv leaves a battered Stargirl lying at the center of a large circular platform that resembles a giant bullseye. This seems fitting, since she just became the target of a powerful new enemy.
- Shout-Out: Justin quotes Don Quixote after saving Courtney:Justin: Until death, it is all life.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Courtney feels sorry for Cindy after learning about her mother's death and how it changed her. This motivates her to try and befriend Cindy.
- Telepathy: Henry Jr. is seen taking pills to try to deal with the headaches his burgeoning powers are giving him. We see his telepathy grow stronger than ever at school when taking a test, as he can now clearly hear the thoughts of his classmates; he then seems to finally get some control over his power when he starts listening to only the thoughts of Jenny and a few other students who know the answers in the test, allowing Henry to copy them.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: As Dragon King lectures Cindy about her not being ready to join the ISA, the scene cuts to Courtney having an identical conversation with Pat, who lectures her for recklessly jumping into action on her own.Dragon King: (to Cindy) You're not ready.
Courtney: (to Pat) Not ready? I'm not a novice anymore, Pat! - Wham Episode: Cindy is revealed to have superpowers. She and Courtney fight and Courtney is left bleeding and unconscious.
- Wham Line: Seeing Pat, a surprised Justin asks "Stripesy?", implying that he was once a member of the JSA. As a later episode reveals, he actually knows Pat from well before his work with the JSA.
- Wham Shot:
- In Justin the Janitor's work closet, he keeps a chalice and a sword with a cross on the pommel.
- Courtney burns Cindy's face with the Staff...and it heals right up.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Courtney continuously interrupts Pat's lessons on the ISA members and then destroys all the dummies Pat had set up for training due to her impatience and desire to show off. Pat and the rest of the new JSA call her out on it and walk away.
- You Are Not Ready: During the Two Scenes, One Dialogue scene mentioned above, Pat and Dragon King tell this to Courtney and Cindy respectfully. The two girls take offense to this.
