Courtney and her friends struggle to adapt after the defeat of the ISA, but trouble lurks on the horizon.
Tropes:
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with scenes involving Eclipso.
- Chekhov's News: There is mention of a break-in at a fast food restaurant on the local news, which Rick later figures out was Solomon Grundy looking for food.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome:
- Courtney insists on going on patrol, even though the ISA has been dismantled, Grundy has run off, and Cindy, their only likely adversary, is assumed to have been crushed by the dish collapse last season. She goes through Pat's JSA files hoping for at least one villain to still be around. Pat tries to convince her that her personal life also needs attention. It is deconstructed by the fact that she is now failing two classes and has to go to summer school, as well as her attacking Artemis at school.
- Mike likewise wants to learn to fly S.T.R.I.P.E., but Pat shuts that down pretty quickly.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Rick is annoyed when his teacher assumes he cheated on a test, complaining that he saved the entire town. She naturally doesn't know what he's talking about, so he just tells her to fail him and walks off.
- Dumb Blonde: Artemis calls Courtney a "blonde pinhead".
- Flashback: The episode opens on a flashback to Melody Hills, Indiana, "decades ago". A little girl named Rebecca is lured across the street to Susie's party by a strange boy named Bruce. Bruce convinces her to steal one of Susie's gifts. Once she does, the boy's face turns purple and he uses the Eclipso gem on her. Her mother finds the body, and the camera pans back to her family's mailbox to show her last name, "McNider".
- Frame-Up: With her parents Sportsmaster and Tigress in prison, Artemis believes that they were wrongly arrested and that somebody set them up. Unfortunately, she looks in Courtney's direction while saying this, making Courtney think that Artemis was accusing her.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We're not shown what Eclipso did to Rebecca, but her mother's reaction suggests it wasn't pretty.
- Heroes Unlimited: Inverted with Cindy trying to form "Injustice Unlimited", consisting of Artemis, Isaac and Cameron. She's also targeting Mike for some reason, which may have something to do with Eclipso given how she ominously hangs the gem over his photo.
- Heroic BSoD: Yolanda is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after killing Brainwave.
- Idiot Ball: Pat's always been depicted as the wise, experienced guy who's been in the superhero life long enough to know how things work. The audience could see what Zeke was going to do from the second he asked what was behind the door... so why couldn't Pat?
- Ironic Echo: "Let's do some recruiting".
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Beth succeeds in rebooting Chuck, but he doesn't remember her.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Courtney and Yolanda still haven't told Rick and Beth how Brainwave really died.
- Yolanda insists that Cameron would be better off if Courtney didn't approach him, lest he realize what happened to his father wasn't an accident, since Henry knowing the truth about his father didn't end well for him. His grandparents likewise decide against telling him the truth, even though they know Courtney is Stargirl, because he's happy around her and they don't want to ruin that.
- Mythology Gag:
- Going over the JSA files, Courtney brings up several classic foes like Per Degaton, Blackbriar Thorn, Baron Blitzkrieg and Gentleman Ghost, and is later shown looking at a mugshot of the Thinker.
- There's a reference to Taco Whiz, which in the comics was where Wonder Woman worked for a while, when she decided she needed a job in Man's World.
- The Mythology Running Gag of the movie theater marquee is now advertising a film called Mark Merlin, after a House of Secrets character who occasionally fought Eclipso.
- Not What It Looks Like: Just after she seemingly accuses Courtney of her parents being arrested, Artemis swings a hockey stick in her direction. Thinking Artemis was attacking her, Courtney instinctively fought back. Turns out that Artemis was just giving the stick to a boy behind Courtney.
- Properly Paranoid: Even though the ISA is finished, Courtney feels that there's still trouble in Blue Valley. This causes her to be too tense and she ends up getting into unnecessary skirmishes with Artemis and Jade (though that latter one is more understandable, as Jade did break into her house). Despite this, she's actually right as Cindy is planning to start a Generation Xerox team, not to mention Shade's cameo last season.
- Sadistic Teacher: Rick's teacher is quick to assume the worst of Blue Valley High's ex-delinquent. She believes he cheated on his finals and insists he take a previous year's test to prove himself, followed by spitefully failing him when he refuses.
- Scream Discretion Shot: The camera pans over to the McNiders' mailbox just as Rebecca's mother discovers her body and reacts to whatever Eclipso did to her.
- Shout-Out: Pat wants to ride a jet ski, but doesn't end up being able to. Just like his brother.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- It turns out concentrating so much on battling the ISA in the first season and then being obsessed with finding more dangers later meant Courtney neglected her studies and so is failing two classes and has to attend summer school.
- Even though Yolanda avenged Henry by killing Brainwave, she now is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder from killing someone in cold blood for the first time.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Upon discovering where Solomon Grundy was hiding, Rick brings him some food to keep him from raiding the local stores at night, even though Grundy killed his parents.
- Villain Song: Cindy's return to Blue Valley is soundtracked by CharliXCX's "Break the Rules".
- Wham Line: We catch up with Sylvester as he stops by a diner during his quest to find Pat. When he's greeted by his waitress Maggie, we get this exchange:Sylvester: I'm looking for your ex-husband.
Maggie: ... Which one?
Sylvester: The one who likes stripes. - Wham Shot:
- Before heading to school, Beth notices her parents acting much quieter and more distant than usual. Then she accidentally drops some papers and promptly picks them up, but is shocked when she realizes what they are: documents for divorce.
- The episode ends with Cindy laying out photos of every person she's eyeing for her new Injustice Unlimited team: Cameron Mahkent, Artemis Crock, Isaac Bowin... and Mike Dugan.
