Tear Jerker / Stargirl (2020)

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Episode 1 - Pilot

• The entire opening scene is a massive tearjerker if seen from Pat's point of view: he learns that his crimefighting partner and friend and their superhero comrades are being ambushed on Christmas Eve, and he races as fast as his car can go towards the JSA's headquarters against Starman's wishes for him to stay away. Once he's there, he finds too late that the Justice Society is fighting a losing battle against the Injustice Society of America, and just when it seems the tides are beginning to turn when Starman arrives on the scene, he is mortally wounded by Icicle and carried away by Pat. After crashing in the woods, Starman sadly declares that his time is up and ends his life saying the legacy of the JSA must live on and that Pat was a great friend.
• Little Courtney waiting for her Daddy to come home for Christmas so she can give him her present, only for him to never show up. She still has that present all these years later.

Episode 3 - Icicle

• The needless death of Joey Zarick, killed by Icicle just because he knew it would destroy his father and possibly out of spite towards the heroes for getting the better of him.
• Poor Mrs. Zarick loses both her child and her husband within the same day. If watching her completely fall apart at the realizations of what happened to her son and of what her husband was going to do wasn't bad enough, we then see her the next day sitting alone on the stairs with a tearful Thousand-Yard Stare.
• Pat talking to Courtney about how the Justice Society were like his family. Luke Wilson really makes you feel his sense of loss.

Episode 4 - Wildcat

• The opening that serves as The Reveal of the source of Yolanda's grief: Yolanda sends a nude selfie to Henry Jr, intending it to be for his private viewing. Cindy gets a hold of it and mass texts it to the entire school as retaliation for Yolanda dating Henry and to spite Yolanda beating her in the student election. As seen in the episode, this not only resulted in Yolanda being an outcast at school, but also caused her to be ostracized by her own family.
• Yolanda's family completely turning their back on her when she tries to talk to them, essentially saying that they do not love or want her anymore. Only her cousin seems to have a problem with this.
  • Her cousin Alex is the only one who still cares for her, and gets scolded by their parents for it.
• The fate of Denise Zarick. She lost her husband and son and spent her last day as a nervous wreck. Her despair and paranoia over the event eventually drive her to leave town with her son's things, warning Pat that Blue Valley isn't safe for anyone. Then Pat finds her car in the junk yard, all but confirming the fact.

Episode 5 - Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite

• Despite being a jerk to everyone around him, Rick has not had a pleasant life: his parents were killed in a car crash, the uncle who adopted him abused him constantly, and he is disgusted by his bloodthirsty rage that he feels nonstop. Hopefully, becoming the next Hourman will bring him happiness.
  • Towards the end, Rick is having an emotional breakdown where he calls out how messed up his life is and how he feels like his anger is poisoning him and he's sick of feeling this way; for anyone who's ever had serious depression, its alarmingly close to home how many feel, especially as he sounds like he's on the verge of doing something very foolish.
  • Then there's his reaction to actually seeing the footage of his parents' death, watching helplessly as his parents' car is attacked and sent careening into the tree. Also, Beth's Heel Realization; it physically hurts her to realize that she just forced Rick to witness something that would be her own worst nightmare.

Episode 6 - The Justice Society

• Beth, Rick and Yolanda's adamant refusal to give up their superhero equipment really hammers down how miserable and lonely their lives originally were.
• On their first mission, the entire team is disturbed to see the guards' corpses on the ground and look visibly haunted. This reminds the viewers that they are still kids who are completely unprepared for the harsh realities of being a superhero.
• Jordan and Cameron commemorating the late Mrs Mahkent's birthday, which includes an incident where a waitress at a diner unwittingly forces them to explain this when she delivers a free piece of cake after overhearing them mention birthdays. Fortunately they take it gracefully.
  • Jordan's first scene: he wakes up in his bed and reaches over, as though searching for his wife. It really hits home for any viewer who's lost a loved one.
• Pat confronting Courtney over her stealing and distributing JSA weapons. While he doesn't yell he is clearly angry at Courtney for putting her new teammates in danger and bringing up Joey. Given how close he was to the original JSA, it's completely understandable that he doesn't want their identities, uniforms, and equipment being given out willy-nilly to untrained kids.
  • In a call back/role reversal at breakfast Courtney tries to non-verbally engage with Pat refusing to.

Episode 7 - Shiv Part One

• The episode ends with Pat cradling Courtney, who was severely injured from her battle with Cindy, and calling her name tearfully. Just like with Starman, Pat has to watch his partner get hurt in the line of duty and cannot do anything about it. This time it’s his stepdaughter.
• Mike confronting Courtney about how much time Pat's been spending with her, worried that he's being neglected.
• Cindy telling her father that, despite her popularity, she feels truly alone in school. All Ito can do is tell her shrug it off and distract herself if she feels unhappy with her life.
  Cindy: He^note Henry Jr. doesn't even know who his dad is. None of them do.
  Dragon King: That's for the best.
  Cindy: It's boring! And if they knew who their parents were, at least I'd have someone to talk to! I'm all alone up there.
  Dragon King: If you're unhappy, buy some clothes, or throw another party. I don't care which.
  • In general, this episode is quite a Cry for the Devil episode for Cindy. It's made clear that she genuinely doesn't know how to connect to other people because of her sociopathy, getting confused and uncomfortable when Henry tries to reach out for comfort, and that her "popularity" isn't so much as that as social dominance; people obey her, but they don't like her. She abuses others, but it's painfully clear that Dragon King hasn't shown her any degree of humanity so she genuinely doesn't know how to do anything else. When Courtney genuinely tries reaching out to her, Cindy's a little confused and very quick to jump at it because its probably the first time anyone has ever shown her genuine kindness, not out of fear like Jenny and her step-mom. It's not an excuse for how she acts, but it certainly explains it.
  • The scene where Cindy and Courtney talk about hanging out during homecoming hits especially hard; they finally get the opportunity to become genuine friends, but one thing leads to another and they end up becoming archenemies by the end of the episode.

Episode 8 - Shiv Part Two

• When Courtney wakes up in the hospital, Pat informs her of what he did to cover her injuries, but makes it clear he can't keep lying to Barbara and plans to tell her. Courtney tearfully begs him not to as, since she just got severely injured, if Barbara found out now she'd refuse to let Courtney continue being Stargirl. Doing this however has became incredibly important to Courtney and she can't bare losing it. Pat relents, but it's made clear in his next scene with Barbara that he's very torn up about it.
• Pat tries to tell the Cosmic Staff to take better care of Courtney. The scene ends somewhat comically, but as Pat notes, Courtney is not equipped for danger the way Sylvester was, lacking his training and experience, and he can't bear the thought of her dying the same way he did. He knows that the staff doesn't respect him, but he just wants it to respect Courtney enough to not put her in danger. It doesn't respond, but when Courtney tries to use it, it 'argues' because apparently, it too regrets putting her in harms way.
  • The fact the staff refuses to go out with Courtney at first actually ends up adding some sadder context; it evidently does respect Pat enough to listen to what he said, but because Sylvester was always so dismissive of Pat, the staff can't talk, and Pat's not its chosen one, they've not had any degree of relationship so Pat merely assumes the staff doesn't like or respect him.
  • The staff's refusal to go out with Courtney also indicates that it agreed with everything Pat was saying. The reason it didn't respond when Pat was talking to it wasn't because it was being petulant or dismissive. It was ashamed of itself for leading Courtney into danger.

Episode 9 - Brainwave

• This episode is a long, sad story for Henry Jr. Although progressing in mastering his powers, he's still the troubled teen with no one to turn to, and learning A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read is only breaking him further. If he keeps refusing the help he desperately needs, we will have a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds on our hands.
  • After accidentally killing Mr. Green for stealing from his father, Henry Jr. is clearly horrified and remorseful as he looked at his first victim's contorted corpse.
• Henry Jr. reads Yolanda's deeper thoughts when she confronts him at the hospital:
  Yolanda: You betrayed me. I trusted you. I loved you.
• Despite being a remorseless murderer, Brainwave's descent into villainy is surprisingly tragic: After spending an unhappy childhood under an abusive father, which cause him to be plagued with fear and anxiety, his powers made him hear the ugly thoughts of others, which ultimately corrupted and warped him into the monster he is today.
• After failing to kill Stargirl and disobeying him once again, Dragon King has Cindy locked in a small cell and seems almost happy when he fills the room with knockout gas and reminisces how he did to her as a baby. While she might deserve it for being a unrepentant villain, it doesn't make it any less tragic.

Episode 10 - Brainwave Jr.

• Everything about Henry's death. Despite everything Henry did to Yolanda and how he acted for much of his appearances, this episode demonstrates he's not a bad person and felt awful about his previous actions, and in his last moments, he reassures Courtney that she was right about people and apologizes to Yolanda. The worst part is, all he wanted to do is save his dad, and instead he discovers the Awful Truth about his mom's death, right before being killed by Brainwave for refusing to join him.
  • Yolanda breaking down after the tunnel collapses on Henry is heartbreaking. In fact, the looks of the entire JSA — regardless of their initial opinions of Henry, all of them are clearly devastated by his death.
  • Before that, Yolanda's burning hatred of Henry means she takes it very personally when Courtney lets him help the JSA; as she sees it, Courtney has just become a Category Traitor and they are not friends anymore. Considering that Courtney was the one who brought her out of her self-loathing, you can tell this hurts, but Courtney too clearly feels awful about hurting her. Fortunately, when push comes to shove, she goes out of her way to protect Courtney, showing that she still clearly cares about her, despite being hurt.
  • In retrospect, a lot of Henry's scenes prior to this episode sting even more now. He spent all of his time at his father's bedside, dedicating hours of his life watching over him with the hopes that he would wake up one day. After all that time, he discovers that the man he loved was more of a monster than anyone else, and is tragically killed by that same man for his troubles.
• Pat and Barbara's relationship is devastated by her finding out about Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E., and for good reason. Barbara's entire reality has been upended and she now believes that Pat has lied to her from the very beginning, and possibly only married her in the first place because he thought Courtney was Starman's daughter, that he only moved them to Blue Valley to chase after the ISA, and that Courtney's previous injuries were not really from a car accident like they claimed. As at least the last two are true, he's unable to completely deny it, and now they're on the verge of separating. Worst part is that Pat is so concerned for her safety above all else, he's willing to let her leave if it means keeping her safe.
  • Mike. Now that Barbara knows about Pat and Courtney's superhero lives, she's livid and ready to leave Pat; Pat, who wants her to be safe, is willing to let her, and Courtney clearly feels this is all her fault. Mike, however, doesn't know what's going on besides Barbara and Pat fighting, and because Courtney won't tell him, he thinks Courtney has done something to conspire them into breaking apart. He was just starting to see Courtney as his sister and Barbara as his new mom, but this all just reaffirmed his past insecurities about them not being his 'real' family.
  • "You guys gonna... get a... divorce?" The way that Mike's voice gets quieter when he says "divorce" is so subtle, yet so heartbreaking. It really hits you that he's just a kid who doesn't want to see the complete family he just got split up.

Episode 11 - Shining Knight

• Everything in this episode is pretty much this, considering how highly emotional it is, but big pointers go towards Courtney's slow realisation that she is not Starman's daughter, meaning that for the last few weeks she's been living a delusion that she was special, and as a result she now believes everything bad that's happened is all her fault. Brec Bassinger really nails Courtney's distress during this episode.
• When Pat snaps at him not to bother him and Courtney while they're talking, Mike tearfully asks what he's done wrong. Pat has to try to reassure that he hasn't done anything wrong, but it's heartbreaking to see, especially given how close they usually are. It's a reminder that Mike is dealing with as much as any of the others, but he doesn't even understand why his family's breaking apart.
• The porch scene, which is a shot-for-shot remake of an identical scene in the comics, right down to the leaf and the ending with Courtney's Stepford Smiler goodbye, and calling her father "Sam" as a subtle but pointed way of making it clear he is not welcome. Considering it was a major Tear Jerker then, props to the director and cast for managing to make it just as heart-wrenching.
• Justin's whole ordeal. This is a man who was hand-picked by King Arthur himself to take Excalibur, came to the present, and lead one of the first superhero teams; as Pat calls him, one of the bravest and strongest men he's ever known. Now, Dragon King has reduced him to a quivering wreck abused by the town because they just think he's a mentally fragile janitor. Worse yet, while he's got Identity Amnesia, he remembers enough to be aware of what's happened to him and how he's fallen, which just makes his ordeal all the sadder.
  Justin: (sobbing) I need your help. I'm not well. They've destroyed everything that I was!

Episode 12 - Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One

• Pat and Larry's buddy-buddy relationship gets thrown out the window when the latter is assigned to kill him and his family. What really makes this sting is that Larry doesn't even show any remorse or hesitation; the moment he's tasked to kill Pat, he jumps on it with wicked glee and completely forgoes his friendship with the guy, all for the thrill of fighting someone to the death. It's a harsh reminder that, no matter how nice he was in the past, he'll always be a sadistic criminal.
  • Note that when Larry confronts Pat, he doesn’t even bother wearing his Sportmaster getup to hide his identity. He wanted to kill his friend personally.
• At the cabin, Beth notices Yolanda eating her dinner in silence, clearly still grieving for Henry.
  Beth: Yolanda, are you okay? Are you... thinking about Henry?
  Yolanda: (Beat) No. Because there's nothing I could do about it.
  (The words "LIE DETECTED" appear through Beth's goggles.)
• Isaac tearfully coming to his mother's office to tell her about the bully who called him a "tuba turd" and tripped him down the stairs. Even worse, this is one of the last moments he'll ever have with her, as she's killed by Tigress later in the evening. If being bullied wasn't bad enough, now the poor kid is an orphan.

Episode 13 - Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two

• Yolanda tries to talk Rick out of killing Grundy for revenge, but when the opportunity comes up with Brainwave, she not only takes the opportunity, but clearly takes satisfaction from watching him die. Though she tries to hide it, it's clear she's deeply conflicted about this.
• After spending the entire season longing to avenge his parents, Rick finally gets the chance when he goes toe-to-toe with Solomon Grundy. When he gets the upper hand, he gives the monster a brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown until he bleeds swampy black blood. But just as he prepares to kill him once and for all... Grundy stops fighting back and cowers like an injured animal, gazing up at Rick with an almost humane look of distraught. Realizing that he’s about to become more of a monster than Grundy himself, Rick chooses to spare the zombie, allowing him to escape into the sewers.
  • Seeing his cower like a scared child, Rick screams at him to fight back, like he really wants to see Grundy as a monster that deserves to be put down.
• Icicle killing Chuck by freezing and destroying the goggles. All Chuck can do is let out a panicked “Please help me!” before letting out a gutwrenching scream and shutting down. You can practically feel the sorrow in Beth’s face and voice, as she had just lost what may have been her first and only best friend.

Season 2

Episode 1 - Summer School Chapter One

• The opening scene shows a flashback to decades ago, where a young girl named Rebecca is murdered by Eclipso - who has assumed the form of a child her age - and her body found by her grief-stricken mother in their front yard. Then the camera pans to their mailbox which reads “McNider”, and the horror takes a new level as a hero’s family was attacked at home when he wasn’t there to stop it…
• Beth finally gets Chuck's AI functioning again, only for Chuck to bluntly state that he doesn't recognize her and shut down. Blunted a little bit later because it’s the original Dr. Charles McNider she’s speaking to, but this doesn’t dismiss her real feelings nor the implication that the A.I. Chuck who befriended her possibly really is Killed Off for Real.
• Shortly after her mom blows her off to go to work, Beth learns that her parents are filing for divorce.

Episode 2 - Summer School Chapter Two

• Courtney spends the episode jealous of Jennie as the daughter of a true hero. She finally apologizes on it as she was just upset that Jennie "has everything"...and a tearful Jennie replies that she's been jealous of Courtney for having a loving family and friends while she grew up in foster homes with no idea where her brother is.
• Bobbie Burman’s fate: after having been taken from her old life by Dragon King, abused by him and her stepdaughter, Eclipso preys on her rightful fury at them to bring out her worst aspects; after she’s succumbed to her personal darkness (culminating in attempting to kill Cindy), he kills her by devouring her soul. Even Cindy, with her twisted and broken personality and resentment of Bobbie, is saddened by her awful death.

Episode 3 - Summer School Chapter Three

• The Thunderbolt is sad talking about Johnny Thunder's death. When Pat asks why he chose Mike, the Thunderbolt replies he can only work with "someone like me...someone who feels completely and utterly alone." Pat is jarred that's how Mike sees himself.

Episode 4 - Summer School Chapter Four

• Artemis' life after her parents' arrest sucks. Her foster mother doesn't respect or care about her at all, the guards at the prison constantly cut off her visits to her parents for no reason, and she doesn't realize that her parents are supervillains, and thus believes that they were wrongfully imprisoned. And just when her parents manage to show up for her tryouts and she thinks everything's going to work out for her, Cindy intervenes to cruelly rip it all away, using the Black Diamond to drive Artemis into a paranoid fury in front of the recruiters, costing her a chance at a football scholarship, all so Cindy can have a new recruit.
  • To top it off, her parents reveal they really are guilty, giving Artemis yet another push toward darkness.

Episode 5 - Summer School Chapter Five

• The opening flashback shows an eight-year-old Cindy and her mother unsuccessfully trying to run away from Dragon King, with a frightened Cindy saying she doesn't want her father to make her into someone like him. Their escape is doomed to fail and makes Cindy's transformation into such a monster later on (and her offscreen Accidental Murder of her mother) tragic.
• Cameron's sad reaction when Courtney breaks their date. It's a small moment in the big scope of things, but his actor really sells it.
• Mr. Deisinger's delusional babbling about losing his muse.

Episode 6 - Summer School Chapter Six

• Pat ends up in the hospital after Artemis and Isaac ambush him at the Pit Shop. Courtney blames herself for not being there when she had the chance to accompany him, and cries in her mother's arms once the guilt kicks in.
• Isaac's horrible demise at the hands of Eclipso. This is a guy who had suffered through so much in his young life, from the bullying at school to the eventual murder of his mother. To say that he didn't deserve such an agonizing death would be a massive Understatement.
• Cindy's demise, which is played entirely for tragedy. As Eclipso's black ooze drags her into the ground, she pleas helplessly to Courtney as the latter tries to pull her out, but is swallowed up within seconds. In the end, she doesn't go out as a menacing supervillain, but as a scared, helpless teenager.

Episode 7 - Summer School Chapter Seven

• Really, the entire episode, start to finish. If you ever wondered what Yvette Monreal looks like when she's crying, this is the one to watch.
• In short order, Yolanda's still wrestling with the guilt she feels over killing Brainwave and twice tries to confess to her church's priest, who contacts her less-than-loving mother out of concern for her mental well-being when one of her confessions devolves into her wondering aloud if it's okay for good people to violently deal with bad ones.
• She does come clean to Beth and Rick about killing Brainwave and points out that if it comes down to killing Eclipso, she'll have to be the one to do so to spare everyone else's conscience, but Beth is aghast at her actions and Rick can't defend her without coming off like a hypocrite since he spared Solomon Grundy's life. Plus, she's being "haunted" by visions of both Brainwave and Henry Jr, something she says she's been experiencing since before Eclipso came along.
  • It's even more of a tearjerker given that Rick actually had a good reason for not killing Grundy—that Grundy was a mindless beast, not a willing monster.
• The final straw is Brainwave's apparition explaining that he transferred his consciousness into Yolanda's mind in his final moments, although it's unclear if this is true or if it's Eclipso pulling a Mind Screw on her. Needless to say, Yolanda is left absolutely broken by the end of this episode, such that she says she can't be Wildcat or part of the JSA anymore.
• Monreal admits that she and co-star Brec Bassinger shed tears with each other when they learned how this episode was going to end, since they only receive and tape episodes one at a time and had no idea at the time if Yolanda would ever be back.

Episode 10 - Summer School Chapter Ten

• Sylvester talking about a Forgotten Birthday experience with his parents and then apologizing to Pat for making him an accessory to the Shoot the Dog fate of Bruce Gordon is both a tear-jerker and a heartwarming moment.
• Barb sobbing hysterically when Pat comes home without Courtney at the end.

Episode 11 - Summer School Chapter Eleven

• Courtney's encounter with the ghosts or illusions of the Zarick family in the Shadowlands. Seeing them so happy together (at least initially) as Courtney remembers their fate is just painful.
• Barb's horror when Courtney risks her window of opportunity to escape form the Shadowlands in a Chronic Hero Syndrome moment.
• Cindy being forced to watch a hallucination of her younger self killing her mother and then apologizing as her mother says she still loves Cindy. When Courtney reminds her that it's only an illusion, Cindy bristles at the reminder.
• The Shade's death scene where he says goodbye to the others after exerting himself too much while keeping the portal open. Lessened later on with the reveal that he was faking it just to be a Drama Queen.

Season 3

Episode 1 - Frenemies Chapter One: The Murder

• Sylvester admitting that he doesn't have a life outside of being Starman, and thus doesn't know what to do with himself now that the Staff has moved on to Courtney.
• The Gambler wanting to turn over a new leaf in order to find and connect with his long-lost daughter, only for him to die before ever meeting her.
• When the others demand to know why Courtney is giving the Gambler a chance, it turns out to come back to her own issues — his efforts to have a relationship with his daughter shows that he's a better father than Courtney's ever was.

Episode 4 - Frenemies Chapter Four: The Evidence

• Yolanda's mom returns, and this time she accuses her daughter of gossiping about Mr. Montez getting laid off. This woman really will take any chance to put down Yolanda.

Episode 5 - Frenemies Chapter Five: The Thief

• When Cindy learns about Courtney's situation with Cameron, she advises against telling him the truth about his villainous father. Both Courtney and Cindy know what it's like to have an awful parent, and she doesn't want Cameron to feel their pain.
• Beth telling her parents that they need to stay out of her superhero business. She doesn't want to lose her folks like how Sylvester lost his sister, so she has no choice but to crush their enthusiasm in order to keep them safe. Her parents don't take it well either; they're clearly disappointed that they can't support their daughter, and this leaves Beth feeling utterly heartbroken.
• Courtney gets frustrated when her friends don't support her and Cameron's relationship, on the grounds that his dad was a villain and therefore can't be trusted.
  Courtney: Listen, I finally found someone I like. Can't you just be happy for me?
  Yolanda: Truthfully? No. Not when it's him. I'm sorry Courtney, but Cameron's dad-
  Courtney: Cameron's not his dad any more than I'm mine, Yolanda. That's not fair to him, or me. (she storms off)

Episode 6 - Frenemies Chapter Six: The Betrayal

• The fallout of Courtney and Cindy's dark secrets coming out. To wit:
  • Yolanda and Rick see Courtney not telling them about Cameron's powers, and even helping the boy master them, as her creating another Icicle when all Courtney wanted was to avoid that. They refuse to trust her anymore and basically pressure her into stepping down as leader.
  • The JSA have zero sympathy for Cindy's situation. This is a scared girl slowly turning into the same creature her evil father was, but all the "heroes" see is a liar and a monster.
• Father Thomas tries to tell Yolanda not to follow her parents' example in unfairly judging others, but she doesn't want to hear it. It's clearer than ever that Yolanda is becoming just like her abusive parents.

Episode 7 - Frenemies Chapter Seven: Infinity Inc. Part One

• Yolanda and her mother finally have the fight that ends with Yolanda being kicked out of the house. This may have been coming for a long time, but it still hurts to see exactly how little her own daughter means to Mrs. Montez.

Episode 8 - Frenemies Chapter Eight: Infinity Inc. Part Two

• Pat's interactions with his own abusive father, ending in, "I still miss you, Pop."

Episode 10 - Frenemies Chapter Ten: The Killer

• After the Crocks convince Lily to forgive the JSA for Jordan's death, she finally lets go of all her hatred and cries into Sofus's arms, tearfully saying that she misses their son very much. She had clearly been hiding her pain behind anger and revenge, so it's heartbreaking to see her inner sorrow come to light.
• The deaths of Paula and Crusher. Just as they're about to celebrate their daughter's college acceptance, they're lured into the sewers and frozen to death by Icicle. They have just enough life within them to share one last "I love you" with each other, before Icicle vaporizes their bodies.
  • Their deaths sting especially hard considering that these last two seasons have been their redemption arc. We watched them grow from crazy supervillains to lovable anti-heroes, and followed them on their journey to become a normal, happy family who tried to be friends with their former enemies. If anything, at least they died together, and as heroes.

Episode 11 - Frenemies Chapter Eleven: The Haunting

• A scene that we all dreaded after the end of the last episode: Artemis' reaction to her parents' deaths. The girls stumble upon their frozen, shattered remains in Icicle's lair; once Artemis finds her father's broken hockey mask among the ice, she completely falls apart. Her pained sobbing is heartbreaking enough, but her screams of agony hit especially hard. Artemis had always been so wildly energetic and tough as nails until now, so it's very upsetting to see her crumble into such a vulnerable state.
  • We later find Artemis trying to keep it together in her room. Still boiling with rage, she slams a weight into the wall - destroying her own picture in the process - before letting out another bloodcurdling scream. Barbara, being the Mama Bear that she is, steps in to comfort Artemis as if she were her own daughter.
    Barbara: Artemis? Come back over. You can't be alone here.
    (They embrace as Artemis cries into Barbara's arms.)
  • Artemis lost her mother while Barbara lost a friend. Barb isn't just there to comfort her, she's mourning Paula alongside her.
• Pat and Barbara's reactions are sad in a very different way. While Artemis explodes with anguish, Pat and Barb go silent with shock. Even without words, their faces are enough to show you their grief over losing their beloved friends.
• After avoiding her mother's calls, Yolanda finally musters up the strength to call her back. Despite everything that they had gone through, she still loves her mama dearly, and it’s implied that witnessing Artemis’ grief over her parents is what made Yolanda appreciate her own mother even more.
  Yolanda: (in tears) Yo es quiero mucho, Mamá. (I love you very much, Mama.)

Episode 12 - Frenemies Chapter 12: The Last Will and Testament of Sylvester Pemperton

• Pat's reaction when Sylvester gives him a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech, saying Pat was nothing but a joke to the rest of the JSA and even blaming him for his death. Courtney overhears it all for a Broken Pedestal moment that's added to when Starman takes back her staff.
• The revelation Sylvester has been Dead All Along and it's been the Ultra-Humanite using his body, mocking Pat who has to see this monster wearing the face of his best friend.