With Eclipso's plan for domination reaching its final stages, Courtney, Pat, and the JSA band together with some unexpected allies to stop him once and for all.
Tropes:
- Always Need What You Gave Up: As shown by his frustration when he tries to repair the hourglass, Rick clearly regrets having broken it.
- Annoying Arrows: Tigress shoots Eclipso in the chest four times (in addition to Sportsmaster and Artemis pelting him with hockey pucks and a softball ), but it does nothing to him, being a being of darkness. Fortunately for her, he's already weak enough at this point that doing so isn't met with any reprisal.
- An Arm and a Leg: Eclipso painfully twists and breaks Pat's arm, threatening to rip it off and the other one, in order to force Courtney to declare that she hates him. After the fight is over, he has it in a cast and a sling.
- And I Must Scream: Rather than being destroyed, Eclipso is turned into a piece of toast courtesy of Thunderbolt, with the aide of Courtney and Jennie.
- Back from the Dead:
- Eclipso's merger allows the Shade to return to full health, which in turn lets him free Beth's parents from the shadow prison Eclipso placed them in. Subverted as he indicates he was never fully dead to begin with and was only playing up his "death scene" out of a flair for the dramatic.
- In the epilogue, the Shade tells Rick that Grundy can be resurrected if buried at the right place and time.
- Badass Boast: Rick delivers one when he arrives to take on Eclipso sans his hourglass.Rick: I still have super strength. And it lasts more than an hour!(enter Solomon Grundy)
- When an Eclipso-possessed Courtney fights off Yolanda and Cindy attempting to take the Cosmic Staff from her, declaring that only one can control the staff, then is caught off guard by Starman effortlessly grabbing the staff:Starman: Well...maybe two.
- When an Eclipso-possessed Courtney fights off Yolanda and Cindy attempting to take the Cosmic Staff from her, declaring that only one can control the staff, then is caught off guard by Starman effortlessly grabbing the staff:
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Beth wanted to keep her parents together. A near-death experience and learning she's a superhero accomplished that a little too well, and now they're overly involved in her superhero life as opposed to distant.
- Averted with Jakeem wishing on Thunderbolt to make Eclipso toast, which he takes literally, thus ending the demon's threat.
- Big Damn Heroes: All throughout the episode.
- First up, Mike (inside STRIPE) and Jakeem (with Thunderbolt) arrive to save Pat and Courtney after Eclipso overwhelms them, though they don't last too long.
- Rick shows up shortly after, but since he doesn't have his super strength, there is little he can do against Eclipso... except sic Solomon Grundy on him, which doesn't end too well for Grundy.
- The Shade arrives to save Beth's parents, show off for a little bit, then joins in the fight against Eclipso.
- Sylvester Pemberton, aka Starman, arrives in time to help Courtney fight Eclipso's darkness from within just as Eclipso is about to unleash worldwide darkness, giving her the boost she needs to focus on her loved ones and expel the demon from her body.
- Played with via the Crocks. They do show up near the end of the fight to further injure Eclipso, but by then the heroes have gained momentum and their efforts don't contribute too much in the end.
- Big "NO!": Rick when Eclipso kills Solomon Grundy.
- But Now I Must Go:
- Subverted as Rick assumes the Shade is leaving but instead the Shade announces he's staying in Blue Valley as he finds it "intriguing".
- Played straight with Jennie, who continues searching for her brother, and Dr. McNider, who leaves to find his wife and son.
- Also subverted with Cindy and the Crocks. Instead of skipping town or heading back to jail or whatever, Cindy decides to stay and join the JSA, while the Crocks move next door to the Dugans.
- The Cameo: Ted Knight as Wildcat comes back as an illusion to fight Yolanda.
- The Cavalry:
- Thunderbolt (via Jakeem) and S.T.R.I.P.E. (driven by Mike) arrive on the scene to help fight against Eclipso. Unfortunately, he proves to be too much for them.
- Starman arrives to grab the Cosmic Staff before Eclipso can use it, fighting over control with him while convincing Courtney to expel him.
- The Crocks arrive to bolster the ranks and distract Eclipso enough for the rest of the JSA to regroup together.
- Combination Attack: Courtney, Jennie, and Thunderbolt simultaneously fire energy beams at a downed Eclipso, with Thunderbolt's being the finisher thanks to Jakeem's wish for Eclipso to be "toast".
- Curse Cut Short: Courtney exclaims "What the..." when Pat opens the door to a visit from their new next-door neighbors, the Crocks. The scene closes out to the Season 3 title card just as she's about to utter the last part of the phrase, cutting it off at the "F-".
- Darkest Hour: Eclipso has wiped the floor with the entire JSA (sans the Mid-Nites), Cindy, S.T.R.I.P.E., Solomon Grundy, and Thunderbolt and has fulfilled his prophecy of possessing Courtney's body and gaining control of the Cosmic Staff in order to finalize the merger between Earth and the Shadowlands. It seems that all is lost...and then, out of nowhere, Starman appears.
- Deus ex Machina:
- The Shade, who was presumed dead, reappears fully restored and cancels out the illusion Beth's parents are being held in, allowing Beth and Dr. Mid-Nite I to do the same for their comrades.
- Sylvester Pembleton arrives at the precise place and time in Blue Valley to retake control of the Cosmic Staff from an Eclipso-possessed Courtney and help her purge Eclipso from herself, turning the tide in the heroes' favor.
- Deus Exit Machina: Thunderbolt is still working through his round trip to China for the first part of the episode, leaving him unavailable for Mike and Jakeem to use. When he finally gets back, his powers allow them to get STRIPE operational and join the battle.
- Due to the Dead: Rick is in the process of giving the fallen Solomon Grundy a decent burial in the woods when the Shade happens along and informs him that, if buried in the right place and at the right time, Grundy can come Back from the Dead.
- Enemy Mine: Courtney notes her amazement at how not only Cindy, but also Solomon Grundy, the Shade, and the Crocks all willingly fought alongside her and the JSA to stop Eclipso from taking over.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- Courtney notes that for all his obsession with the evil in humanity, Eclipso's weakness was that he never realized that humans have good in them too. She says that he only made her faith in people stronger.
- Cindy realises this about herself, noting that her belief you needed darkness to fight darkness wasn't just wrong but the exact opposite of the truth (light fights darkness, darkness just feeds it). This prompts her Heel–Face Turn.
- Forced Transformation: Eclipso is turned into a piece of burnt toast by Thunderbolt. Beth notes that this helpfully gets around the idea of having to kill him, as he is still alive in a sense.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Set up in the previous episode. Cindy called Artemis and had her break Tigress and Sportsmaster out of prison. They show up to help fight Eclipso... after he's already on the ropes, but their arrival does distract him long enough for the others to regroup and Combination Attack him into submission.
- Heel–Face Turn: Cindy decides that she wants to join the JSA and asks Yolanda to vouch for her to Courtney.
- Hell on Earth: Eclipso's plan would merge the Shadowlands with the real world, allowing him to feed on everyone's souls at once.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Solomon Grundy comes to Rick's aid and while he puts up a decent fight at first, he ultimately gets a hole blasted through him for his efforts.
- Hourglass Plot: At the start of the series, Beth's parents were distant and she desperately prolonged any time she could spend with them. Now, Beth is the one wishing she had space while her parents are excited to meddle into her superhero career.
- Humiliation Conga: Getting violently rejected from Courtney's body, pelted with arrows, team-blasted, and ultimately reduced to a burned piece of toast by a big pink genie granting a kid's wish certainly qualifies. Eclipso probably wishes that the heroes had killed him.
- I Choose to Stay:
- Yolanda decides to make her return to the JSA permanent instead of ditching it as soon as Eclipso and Cindy were no longer a threat.
- Likewise, Cindy requests to join the JSA in lieu of leaving Blue Valley, which she had stated her intention to do in the previous episode.
- The Shade also decides to stick around, somewhat to Rick's chagrin.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: This is done with Courtney so she'll expel Eclipso, convincing her to focus on the good instead of allowing Eclipso to use the bad against her.
- Internal Reveal:
- Beth tells her parents about being a superhero.
- Pat and Courtney finally learn about Sylvester Pembleton aka Starman being alive and well.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Lampshaded by none other than the Shade himself when he suggests that "those who wield the light" quickly do so against Eclipso while he's weakened.
- Kill the Host Body: Naturally, this is Cindy's solution once she sees that Eclipso has taken over Courtney's body. Yolanda quickly shoots her down and suggests just taking away the staff.
- Literal Metaphor: For the final attack, Jakeem wishes Eclipso were "toast." Naturally, a literal piece of toast is what Thunderbolt turns Eclipso into.
- Merged Reality: Eclipso's master plan is to merge the Shadowlands with Earth, allowing him to become a god and feed on the entire planet at once.
- Mirror Match: Eclipso pits Yolanda against the first Wildcat, Pat against himself as Stripsey, and Cindy against her younger self. The illusions are broken when Beth helps Courtney shoot the real Eclipso, breaking his concentration.
- My Beloved Smother: Both of Beth's parents become this after learning that their daughter is a superhero.
- Mythology Gag: Beth's mother suggests she should have a yellow and black costume. Those were her costume colours in Infinity, Inc..
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Eclipso's merger between the realms restores the Shade to full health. The Shade then sets about freeing Mr. and Mrs. Chapel from Eclipso's illusion, which in turn allows Beth and Dr. McNider to go to the aid of Courtney, Pat, Cindy, and Yolanda.
- Oh, Crap!: The look on Beth's face once her parents decide to get more involved in her life.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
- However Artemis managed to break Crusher and Paula out of jail. In a lighter version, how they managed to get rid of their fugitive status and buy a house next to the Dugans.
- However Rick managed to get Grundy's body to the spot where he buries it. One may assume he finally got the hourglass working again.
- Passing the Torch:
- Starman insists that he doesn't intend to become Starman again, but plans to teach Courtney everything he knows about the staff.
- Dr. McNider leaves to find his wife and son, but assures Beth that if the world needs Dr. Mid-Nite, she has that covered.
- The Power of Hate: Once Courtney declares that she hates Eclipso, it's all he needs to pull a Grand Theft Me on her and invoke the merger between the Shadowlands and the real world. He then attempts to stifle her internal resistance to him by making her focus on how her biological father abandoned her.
- The Power of Love: Contrasting the above, Courtney forces Eclipso out of her by remembering all of the people she loves, with external encouragement from Pat and Sylvester.
- Resurrective Immortality: The Shade informs Rick that Grundy can be revived, as long as he's buried at the right time and place.
- Season Finale: This is Season 2’s.
- Sequel Hook:
- Cameron is told of his heritage by his grandparents.
- Mr. Bones intends to drop by Blue Valley to experiment with all the heroes and villains there.
- The Crocks have moved next door to the Dugans and the audience is shown the subtitle for the next season: Frenemies.
- The question of how exactly Starman is alive is still open, but he assures Pat and Courtney that he'd explain later.
- Shout-Out:
- After Mike (piloting S.T.R.I.P.E.) blasts Eclipso, he says "Kiss my giant metal ass", seemingly a take on Bender's catchphrase "Bite my shiny metal ass".
- A big, pink, genie-like being defeats an enemy by turning him into food. Where have we seen that before?
- Spanner in the Works:
- Eclipso had not counted on Starman's intervention, since by all rights, he should have been long dead. His timely arrival is what helps Courtney expel Eclipso from her body.
- The Shade is also this, not only freeing Cindy, Courtney, and Dr. Mid-Nite a few episodes ago, but here freeing Beth's parents so both Mid-Nites can join the battle.
- Special Edition Title: The silver of the Stargirl logo is replaced with Eclipso’s glowing purple.
- The Stinger: Nurse Love of the Helix Institute talks with Mister Bones, who is voiced by Keith David.
- Torso with a View: Eclipso blasts a hole through Grundy's midsection, causing him to drop dead on the spot.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Just like when he was first released from the Black Diamond, the Final Battle with Eclipso takes place during an eclipse.
- Villainous Breakdown: Eclipso clearly starts to lose it when Sylvester arrives on the scene and starts to help purge him from Courtney, causing him to scream that the people around her hate her as he starts to lose control. Once he is ejected out of Courtney and is at the mercy of the heroes and their allies, he lividly insists that he won't be defeated and can only scream in pain and fury as the combined efforts of Courtney, Sylvester, Jennie, and Thunderbolt reduce him to a burnt piece of toast.Eclipso: I am forever. I am not finished!
- Wham Line: During the Darkest Hour.Eclipso: Only one may wield the staff! Only one!Sylvester: Well, maybe two.
- The Worf Effect: Thunderbolt, S.T.R.I.P.E., and Solomon Grundy all prove to be no match against Eclipso.
