As Barbara deals with the truth about Pat and Courtney, Henry Jr teams up with the JSA to rescue Brainwave from the clutches of Dragon King.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Brainwave takes it to another level in this episode, outright murdering his own son for refusing to join him.
- Bait the Dog: While much of the previous episode and the beginning of this one seem to present Henry Sr. / Brainwave as a Tragic Villain with a few redeeming qualities, the climax of this episode demonstrates the exact opposite.
- Bank Robbery: Brainwave explains how he met Merry when she caught him robbing a bank, then lampshades how cliche a crime it is.
- Batman Gambit: Icicle tipped off the JSA to Brainwave's location, knowing that they would attack. His goal was to kill Starman because he knew that this would create a rift between Brainwave and Merry, ending their relationship and bringing Brainwave back into the fold.
- Bilingual Backfire: Variation. Since Pat and Barbara do not understand Norwegian, Jordan's parents discuss the machine in front of them. Barbara records the conversation and uses an app to translate what they said.
- Brought Down to Badass: Even without the Staff, Courtney is able to kick the asses of Dragon King's minions using a decorative spear she grabs off the wall.
- Call-Back: The final battle between the original JSA and the ISA from the Pilot is given new context in this episode. Jordan arranged it as part of his Batman Gambit to put an end to Brainwave's Conflicting Loyalty.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Dragon King's mooks are too dumb to try and fight the heroes all at once. This is justified in that they're mass-produced sub-human creations.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Henry Sr. was the one who killed his wife, not Icicle, and when his son refuses to join him after this revelation, he murders him too.
- Dating Catwoman: Starman's sister Merry a.k.a. the superheroine Gimmick Girl not only dated but married Brainwave, after catching him robbing a bank.
- A Death in the Limelight: The titular character of the episode, and its focus, ultimately dies at the end of the episode.
- Didn't Think This Through: Rick tries to pry off Grundy's cell door with his Super-Strength, failing to consider that the cell would need to be pretty strong to restrain the equally powerful Grundy. Rick manages to bend part of the metal slightly, but nowhere near enough to actually get the door open.
- Dramatic Unmask: We get to see Dragon King's face, which is reptilian as expected. Courtney and Yolanda are appropriately freaked out.
- Easy Amnesia: Brainwave has lost the last ten years of his memory. Dragon King helps restore it.
- Flashback: Set two years ago, Pat's first meeting with Barbara in Blue Valley is shown. Pat was trying to decipher Rex's journal, while Barbara was there to sell her deceased mother's house.
- Evil Is Petty: Despite being locked up by her own father, Cindy wastes no time in alerting Ito to the Justice Society's appearance in the lair, presumably to do something, anything, to get her father's approval. She then promptly begs him to let her out so she can finish the fight that Justin interrupted and personally kill Courtney.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Henry Jr. stays behind to hold Brainwave off while the rest of the new JSA escapes, costing him his life.
- Hope Spot: Just when it looks like the JSA is going to get out of the tunnels alive, Brainwave shows up.
- I Shall Return: When the JSA had to escape, Rick tells Solomon Grundy he'll come back to finish him.
- Internal Reveal:
- Pat and Courtney tell Barbara everything about their superhero activities.
- Brainwave learns about his son inheriting his powers.
- The JSA learns about Cindy's predicament when she rats them out to Dragon King while they're sneaking around.
- It's Personal: Due to its grudge against him for killing Starman, the Cosmic Staff goes after Icicle, intent on revenge. This unfortunately results in it getting captured.
- Killed Off for Real: Brainwave collapses a ceiling on top of Henry Jr. when the latter refuses to join him in the ISA.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Brainwave suffers from retrograde amnesia that keeps him from remembering the last 10 years, thereby conveniently keeping Courtney's Secret Identity safe.
- Leeroy Jenkins:
- The Cosmic Staff rushes off alone to confront Icicle, but Brainwave is able to restrain it with a barrier, allowing Icicle to neutralize it by freezing it.
- Rick nearly picks a fight with Solomon Grundy to get revenge for his parents. The fact that Grundy is in a cell strong enough to contain him stifles Rick's attempt, and Dragon King's mooks arrive not long after to force him to abandon the attempt.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Mike is the only member of the family who doesn't know about Stargirl, and Courtney isn't willing to tell him out of concern for his safety. However, he doesn't take her keeping secrets from him well.
- Mood Whiplash: The sweet flashback of Pat and Barbara's first meeting immediately jumps to the final scene of the last episode where Barbara freaks out upon seeing the Cosmic Staff.
- Mythology Gag:
- The theater in the opening Establishing Shot has posters for movies based on Prez Rickard, The Unknown Soldier, and G.I. Robot, all characters who have appeared in DC comics, while the marquee is advertising the film Strange Adventures, named after the long time DC comic title.
- Courtney mistakenly calls Dragon King "Snapdragon"; the comic counterpart to Project New America was called Project Snapdragon.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The CW promo for this episode ends with Stargirl and Wildcat screaming at the sight of the imprisoned Grundy. In the episode itself, they never even come across Grundy, and their terrified reactions are from seeing Dragon King's face.
- Not Helping Your Case: Courtney really doesn't help smooth things over with Barbara when she immediately breaks into being Starman's daughter and how Jordan is Icicle. Pat tries to get her to start off slow but his plea falls on deaf ears.
- Offing the Offspring: Brainwave kills Henry Jr. when he won't turn against the heroes.
- Redemption Equals Death: Henry Jr. apologizes to Yolanda for his part in the nude selfie incident right before Brainwave kills him. He also tells Courtney she was right about people being good and implores her not to let what's about to happen change her mind.
- They Were Holding You Back: Seeing the effect that Merry was having on Brainwave, Icicle leaked his location to the JSA, thus sparking the final conflict between the JSA and ISA that ended with the former being wiped out. Merry couldn't allow Icicle killing her brother to pass, so Brainwave killed her.
- Villainous Crush: Jordan's parents mention that he obviously has a thing for Barbara while discussing how the machine will soon be activated.
- Was It All a Lie?: Barbara asks this of Pat after sending Courtney to her room. He insists what they have is real.
- We Can Rule Together: Brainwave attempts this with his son, who turns him down, so he kills him instead.
- Wham Line:
- Brainwave revealing on his last tape that Starman was his wife's brother, and thus Henry Jr.'s uncle. Which also, as Courtney realizes, makes her and Henry Jr. cousins if Starman was her father, though the fact that Sam Kurtis replies to Barbara's email makes this dubious.
- Brainwave's response to Henry Jr.'s attempted "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:Brainwave: Jordan didn't kill your mother, son. I did.
- Wham Shot: Barbara is seen composing a message to Courtney's father, whose email address she's tracked down. This means he isn't Starman, which is confirmed when Sam emails her back.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Courtney and Yolanda have no problem attacking Dragon King's mooks in ways that are harmful if not fatal, even though they have no reason to believe they aren't people.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Suffice to say, Barbara is not pleased with Pat upon learning he got Courtney involved in JSA business.
- You Are Too Late: Henry tries to rescue his father before they restore his memories and make him cold once more, but is too late to stop Dragon King from treating him.
- Zerg Rush: Dragon King sends a small army of his drones against Courtney, Yolanda, and Henry Jr.
