By Matt Webb Mitovich / October 19 2022, 6:00 PM PDT

This week on DC’s Stargirl, while the JSA schemed to “unplug” whomever has been spying on Blue Valley, Courtney was unexpectedly whisked away to help Jennie find her brother Todd once and for all (…and for better, or worse).

The episode “Chapter Seven: Infinity Inc. Part One” — a nod to DC comics’ superhero team comprised of mainly JSA members’ kids — opened with a replay of a sequence from Season 2, Episode 2, in which Jennie Hayden was ushered out of the Ordway Home for Children, having turned 18. This time around, though, as Jennie surveyed the contents of the box that had been left for her by her dad, the late Green Lantern Alan Scott, we saw that her twin brother Todd, over in Civic City, was being gifted by beau Danny with a plane ticket to find Jennie. But as Jennie touched Todd’s toy car and her dad’s GL ring in Milwaukee, Todd began seizing in Civic City, his eyes glowing green. He eventually fell to the floor and began emitting dark, inky tendrils of smoke.

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As Danny ran to get help, two cops showed up to find Todd and bring him to Nurse Louise Love at the ominous Helix Institute. Nurse Love noted that Todd’s father, as a Green Lantern, was a “wielder of great power.” Mister Bones then emerged from the shadows to tell a curious Todd that the mysterious Helix Institute For Youth Rehabilitation represents “hope.”

“You see, I understand what it is to be different…,” the sinister skeleton explained. “But different can be good.”

The action then leaped forward six months to present day Blue Valley, where Courtney, Pat, Barbara and “Michael” (lol) were putting on a horribly dull show for whomever is spying on them, with Sylvester in their ear playing director. Rick, Jakeem and Zeek did same over at the Pit Stop, while Yolanda worked a humdrum shift at the diner. Once Beth finagled her way past the power company’s firewall, she triggered a town-wide blackout, at which instant the JSA and friends went to work finding/removing all of the hidden cameras. Along the way, Beth witnessed Rick show off his unlimited strength a bit too aggressively, punching walls (that poor, poor school cafeteria!) and lobbing desks across classrooms… an attempt to put Thunderbolt to use filled the Pit Stop with cameras of all kinds… and Yolanda was confronted by her mother about her past “night shift” lies. (By episode’s end, Yolanda’s smothering mother delivered an ultimatum — give me your phone, or get out. Yolanda showed up at the Whitmore-Dugans’ doorstep, luggage in hand, and was welcomed in by Barbara with a nurturing hug.)

Courtney and Pat were ridding their cellar of cameras when The Shade unexpectedly materialized, declaring an urgent need for Courtney’s services. Just as The Shade teleported Courtney away, Pat tagged along, and they all “landed” in the Helix Institute’s boiler room area, where Court reunited with Jennie. It was explained in some detail that at the end of Season 2’s big cafeteria fight, when it appeared as if Jennie had zapped away a dab of dark goo, said goo had in fact “infected” her ring — and ever since then, her and The Shade’s powers have been entwined/mutually hampered. The Shade is hot to have his full power restored, so he beseeched Courtney to give Jennie a “pep talk” that will exorcise the darkness within the ring. Courtney, though, suspects that Jennie finding/saving her brother Todd, who is being held upstairs, is the cure for what ails her.

The foursome head upstairs into the institute, luckily don’t bump into a single guard/employee, and find Todd strapped to the table where Mister Bones and Nurse Love had been running experiments on the lad. Todd realizes who Jennie is, and as their hands touch, both are awash with memories. But when Jennie and Courtney go to free Todd, he strongly advises them not to remove him from that room, lest he “destroy the world.” Jennie, though, grabs his arm anyway, triggering the twins’ eyes to glow green… after which Todd’s turn inky black. He then lets loose a pulse of dark energy which knocks everyone off their feet. And it is not Todd who then rises from the table, but a caped, hooded, silhouette of a being, with glowing white eyes and ensconced in inky swirls. Jennie and Court stand before Obsidian in shock, while Pat and The Shade lurch forward to protect the girls. But when they do, Obsidian teleports the men to some black-and-white version of Blue Valley, populated by people in contemporary garb but on whose streets classic cars motor by.

What did you think of “Infinity Inc. Part One,” and where Pat/Shade got sent to?

Want scoop on DC’s Stargirl , or for any other show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

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