| This article is about the Season 1 episode. You may be looking for the hero Ted Grant, heroine Yolanda Montez, or the suit. |
"Wildcat"[2] is the fourth episode of the first season of Stargirl, and the fourth episode overall. This episode premiered on June 8, 2020 on DC Universe and aired June 9, 2020 on The CW the day after it premiered on the streaming service.
Synopsis[]
- "THE FIRST RECRUIT — After realizing that she needs the extra help, Courtney sets out to recruit new members to the Justice Society of America – starting with Yolanda Montez. Elsewhere, Pat’s suspicion is piqued after a bizarre conversation with one of the town’s residents."[3]
Summary[]
Three months before the present, Yolanda Montez wakes to a beautiful morning and gets ready, debuting a relaxed look as she greets her loving family and heads to school to greet her boyfriend Henry King Jr., much to the annoyance of her political rival Cindy Burman. At the end of the day, she gets a text message from Henry asking for a sexy photo, to which she complies and sends a topless photo of herself. The next morning on voting day, she and Principal Bowin pass a laughing Henry and his friends viewing his phone, which is taken by Cindy. Later at an assembly where Yolanda is speaking to the student body, Cindy sends the topless photo to the entire school, including Yolanda. The crowd explodes in laughter and jeering as Yolanda tearfully runs off the stage, panning back to a shocked Henry and a smirking Cindy.
In the present, Courtney examines the paraphernalia of the JSA she spread over her bed. She picks up the Thunderbolt pen and nervously clicked it, but it doesn't do anything. She dismisses the danger of it and puts it away. Pat called from downstairs, and she puts away the items in a large duffel bag and hides it in her closet. As she leaves, the pen laughs in her wake. In the kitchen, Mike looks around for a Pop-Tart and asks if his friend Jakim can come over, offending Courtney over how many friends she has. Barbara notes this and assures her she'll make friends. Pat stops Courtney before she leaves, saying he knows what it's like to lose a friend. Courtney corrects him that Joey never had the chance to be that, and that they should be out recruiting new JSA members. Pat begs her that he needs to find other villains in Blue Valley before they find them, and then he'll report them to the authorities. Courtney retorts that they could be the authorities before leaving.
At school, Courtney looks through her yearbook and notices Yolanda before she bumps into Henry King Junior. He says sorry and she remarks "ow" before going to her locker. Cindy witnessed this, and demands to her boyfriend what she said, but he is reluctant to her protests. Cindy takes it upon herself to taunt Yolanda, but Courtney stands up to her. Yolanda sneaks away as a tense standoff between them emerges, with Cindy threatening Courtney. The latter rushes to comfort Yolanda but she angrily tells Courtney to leave her alone.
Seeking to upgrade S.T.R.I.P.E. with an internal heating system to counter Icicle's freezing abilities, Pat scours for and buys an old exhaust pipe from the local junkyard overseen the man in charge there, who was somewhat suspicious and skeptical as to why Pat would even want a discarded and seemingly obsolete piece of a vehicle part bad enough to actually pay good money for it, and goes to his garage, finding Denise Zarick. She explains that she got too lonely in her house and had to go drive, but it stopped unexpectedly. Pat says he'll take a look for her, remarking old trucks need love and affection. He gives her condolences to her, and Denise suddenly says she needs to go take a walk. She thanks Pat and leaves.
In the underground ISA headquarters, Jordan Mahkent encounters Dr. Ito as he self-monologues, remarking how he was the one who believed in the ISA the most. Jordan makes chit chat - Dr. Ito says he's been busy working on his daughter. Jordan says he's accelerating Project: New America and needs him to build his machine. Dr. Ito agrees, relishing that it's finally time and that this generation's ultimate sacrifice will protect the next. He adds that he won't fail him like The Wizard did, saying he was quite vile and asks if he can have his body. Unsettled, Jordan tentatively says yes.
Courtney finds Yolanda angrily punching a beanbag. The latter once more asks her to stop following her. Courtney says she can't and begins to say that something is happening, something in Blue Valley and she needs Yolanda's help to fight it. Yolanda says she wants nothing to do with her or anyone in this school, but Courtney begs for the chance to be heard and invites her to dinner. She asks for her phone number but Yolanda snaps back that her mom took her phone. Insistent, Courtney writes down her address, but Yolanda doesn't promise anything. Arriving home, she quietly greets her cousin, grandmother, and mother. Mrs. Montez curtly tells her daughter to go upstairs and that she'll call her for dinner, but Yolanda asks if she can go to a friend's house for dinner. Mrs. Montez refuses, saying she's grounded. Yolanda protests for how much longer, but until Mrs. Montez says so. The next school day, she finds Courtney waiting for her and angrily tells her to get the hint. Courtney, having discovered her and Henry's past relationship, reveals that she was the one who blew up Henry's car. Yolanda is dubious, but Courtney reveals that she knows what he did to her. Yolanda remarks that everyone does, and sits down as Courtney praises her bravery for coming to school day after day. She tears up, confessing that she knew he could be a jerk but that he was so nice to her. She thought it was getting serious, but realizes he didn't see it likewise. Her parents were devastated and embarrassed, and couldn't bear to be around her. She doesn't want to hate anybody, but loathes Henry. Courtney asks her if she wants to see how she blew up Henry's car, to Yolanda's confirmation.
At Pat's garage, Denise comes to bid him farewell as she's leaving for good. She thanks him for being so understanding, and gives him a last warning to not trust this town. She knows her husband din't die of a heart attack, as he was healthy and recently been to the doctor. Pat acts confused, but Denise begins to ramble about her son and how much he wanted to be like his father, staring at his magician's hat in the box. She fears she said too much and gets in the car, driving away as Pat pleads for her to stop.
Courtney takes Yolanda to her basement and shows off (and berates) the Cosmic Staff, whose brightness is blinding Yolanda. She sets it down, and an unimpressed but curious Yolanda asks about it. Courtney proudly says that it belonged to her father, Starman. Yolanda apparently does not know who that is, so in lamest terms Courtney says her father was a superhero and she is one now. She brings her upstairs, where she puts on the Wildcat suit. Courtney, dressed as Stargirl, eagerly asks her to come out but Yolanda doesn't due to the ill-fit of the suit. Reluctantly, she does and glumly compares her suit to Courtney's. She begs her to put on the Wildcat headset, and as she does, the suit suddenly molds to her body on a sweeping blue nanotechnical wave. The girls are wowed, and Yolanda asks what Wildcat did. They check Wikipedia, finding that the original Wildcat had claws that could cut metal. She whips out her long claws to their amazement, and head downstairs to test her ability on the toaster. Finding success, they go outside to assess Yolanda's physicality. The suit enables her to jump onto a picket fence with catlike ability and walk on top of it by sending blue pulses through her, and she's able to land on her feet. Flying to The American Dream clock tower, they see if she can jump off the building. Yolanda's nervous, but Courtney backtracks and says she doesn't have to. However, Yolanda says this is the first time in months she listened to herself, and prepares to jump but stops. Courtney says they can take the stairs. She fills Yolanda in about the ISA and their history, and duck as Henry Jr. drives by. She adds that his father is another supervillain, Brainwave. Yolanda is not at all that surprised and guesses that the other villains in Blue valley must also want to visit him in the hospital; though probably not in their supervillain alter-egos but rather as their assumed civilian identities to avoid suspicion, to Courtney's excited agreement for Yolanda was proving to be a natural at this.
They head for the hospital, where Stargirl presents the plan - she'll create a distraction while Yolanda as Wildcat steals the visitor's log in Brainwave's room, up on the seventh floor. Through the radio communication in their masks, she encourages her and hears Wildcat's praying before finally building up the nerve to whip out her claws and jump. She manages to get a grip on the side of the building, and begins to clean up, but near the top some bricks give way and she loses her grip. Wildcat falls and desperately rake her claws against the building as she finally stops. Below, a medical orderly looks at the bricks on the ground, but a conversation with Beth Chapel prevents him for looking up. Wildcat climbs back up again and through the open window, she enters Henry King Sr.'s room much to her relief. Hearing footsteps, she braces herself behind the door as a nurse comes to check in on their patient, and doesn't notice her. Through their intercoms, Stargirl says she's going to turn off the electricity but is stopped as the Staff prevents her from getting close. Wildcat urges her not to do so as some people are on life support, including the guy laying in front of her. Stargirl embarrassingly smiles at the Staff, and Wildcat confronts her on how long has she been a teen superhero masquerading as a high school student, to which Courtney awkwardly confesses that it has not been for longer than a week. Yolanda then inquires as to how long had Stargirl been under her father’s tutelage as a young heroine-in-training, with a guiltier Courtney again confessing that no father-daughter training ever happened as she is mostly self-taught — much to Wildcat's chagrin at now knowing that she is in fact working and partnered together with a complete novice in the costumed hero business, much like herself, and a struggle of control ensues as the Staff causes a mess in storage room she's in. A nurse hears the commotion and finds the empty room a mess, as Wildcat falls onto the receptionist area and finds the visitors log. The nurse comes back and blames the janitor, as Wildcat is able to sneak away. She finds herself back in King's hospital room, with Henry Jr. sitting next to his father's bed. In a fit of rage, she whips out her claws and raises her hand, ready to strike but is stopped when Junior tearfully tells his father he misses him. Anger gone, she backs away but bumps into a table. Henry hears the noise and looks behind him but finds no one - Wildcat is clinging to the ceiling. He gets up and leaves. She disentangles herself and calls out to Stargirl, whose mid-air on the Staff. They hear someone else coming in and hide, as Principal Anaya Bowin briskly comes in with a suitcase. She opens it and holds up a violin, proceeding to play a dramatic tune. Henry Sr.'s hearbeat monitor increases, but elsewhere nothing changes. She packs up and leaves, much to the shock of the girls, who wonder if she's also a villain. Stargirl calls out Yolanda's name as she leaves out the window, and the two are witnessed by Beth Chapel, who heard Stargirl.
At Courtney's home, the girls are disheartened to see only Henry Jr.'s name on the visitor log, but remarked that Principal Bowin didn't sign hers. Yolanda confesses to Courtney she's isn't her Wildcat - she needs to retrieve her old life first before she can put on a costume. She hands Courtney the suit and leaves to go home. Yolanda's parents are angry to see her come in from the outside, but she needs to make an announcements. She says she made a mistake and trusted someone she shouldn't have. She knows she brought shame to the family and asks for their forgiveness, to be who she was months ago. They stay silent, until Yolanda's mom tells her she'll never be the girl form before as she disgraced her family and herself. Her father tells her to go to her room. Yolanda tearfully cries on her bed, but notices the open window behind her. She finds the Wildcat suit and a note from Courtney says she can't do it alone. Resolved in finding a new way to move forward, she suits up as Wildcat and heads to Courtney's whose delighted to see her.
The next day, Pat is back at the car junkyard and strikes up a conversation with the owner, Zeke. He's curious of what Pat's building since the latter's visits to buy parts from his yard were becoming more frequent as of late, but he says he's just building a vintage mower. Picking his words and moving along, he finds a black cat and goes to pet it, before seeing Denise's beat-up car in the lot, magician's hat still in it.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore
- Yvette Monreal as Yolanda Montez
- Anjelika Washington as Beth Chapel
- Trae Romano as Mike Dugan
- Jake Austin Walker as Henry King Jr.
- Meg DeLacy as Cindy Burman
- Neil Jackson as Jordan Mahkent
- Christopher James Baker as Dr. Henry King Sr.
- Amy Smart as Barbara Whitmore
- Luke Wilson as Pat Dugan
Guest Starring[]
- Nelson Lee as Dr. Ito
- Hina Khan as Principal Anaya Bowin
- Cynthia Evans as Denise Zarick
Co-Starring[]
- Wil Deusner as Joey Zarick
- Kron Moore as Dr. Bridget Chapel
- Ashley Winfrey as Jenny Williams
- Jasun Jabbar as Brian Tanner Balloid
- Sam Brooks as Travis Thomas
- Shaun Lynch as Barry
- Stella Smith as Artemis Crock
- Christian Adam as Josh Hamman
- King Orba as Zeek
- Bonita Elery as Night Nurse
- Jonathan Blanco as Alex Montez
- Kikey Castillo as Maria Montez
- Wilmer Calderon as Juan Montez
- Norma Alvarez as Yolanda's Grandmother
Trivia[]
- "Wildcat" is the superhero alias originally used by heavyweight champion and golden-age JSA member, Ted Grant.
- "Wildcat" is also the mantle in which a new JSA member assumes.
- "Wildcat" serves as the origin for Yolanda Montez.
- "Wildcat" is the first appearance of Nelson Lee as Dragon King.
- Joey Zarick and William Zarick are mentioned. They were last seen in "Icicle" when they both tragically died.
- It is revealed that The Shade had betrayed the Injustice Society of America at some point.
- Principal Bowin is seen playing her violin to Henry King Sr. in the hospital, marking this as the first implication that she's The Fiddler or at least a version of the character.
- Mike mentions a friend named Jakeem, a reference to Jakeem Thunder who in the comics wields the Thunderbolt pen.
- Yolanda Montez mentions Miss America in reference to the Stargirl uniform, which could be an easter egg for the superheroine alter ego of Joan Dale-Trevor, post-crisis mother of Lyta Trevor (daughter of Wonder Woman).
- Denise's car is found with a large dent in the side along with mud and plants on the front of the car, suggesting Solomon Grundy might have been sent to silence her.
- For a deep-dive podcast with lots of behind the scenes info and easter eggs that you won’t find anywhere else, including a special interview with Yvette Monreal (Yolanda/Wildcat) click here.
Gallery[]
Promotional[]
Screenshots[]
- Most screenshots are courtesy of Screencapped.net. For a complete image set, see their gallery.
Behind the Scenes[]
Soundtrack[]
| Title | Artist | Scene Description |
|---|---|---|
| Love Myself | Hailee Steinfeld | Yolanda wakes up and greets her family. She greets Henry at school while Cindy bitterly hangs a "Vote for Cindy" poster over Yolanda's. |
| I Could Get Used To This | Danger Twins | Yolanda and Courtney test out Yolanda's new Wildcat abilities. |
[]
| Season 1 Episodes |
|---|
| "Stargirl" • "S.T.R.I.P.E." • "Icicle" • "Wildcat" • "Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite" • "The Justice Society" • "Shiv Part One" • "Shiv Part Two" • "Brainwave" • "Brainwave Jr." • "Shining Knight" • "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One" • "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two" |