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Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite

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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the couple, Hournite.


Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite[2] is the fifth episode of the first season of Stargirl, and the fifth episode overall. This episode premiered on June 15, 2020 on DC Universe and aired June 16, 2020 on The CW the day after it premiered on the streaming service.

Synopsis[]

"HALLOWEEN IN BLUE VALLEY — As Courtney sets her sights on recruiting more members to the Justice Society of America, Pat finds himself one step closer to learning which ISA members may be in Blue Valley. Meanwhile, a search for Rick leads Courtney, Yolanda, and Beth to Cindy Burman’s Halloween party."[3]

Summary[]

Nine years ago in Blue Valley, Rex Tyler feverishly finishes a JSA report to send to Pat Dugan. Running outside with his wife Wendi and son Rick, Mrs. Tyler tells her son that his Uncle Matt will watch him as they go on a small trip, and Rex hands his son a model of his favorite car, a Mustang. Matt comes, suspicious of the pair and wanting answers. Rex explains that the house is in his name now, and paperwork done now states Rick is legally his son. Matt is confused, but Wendi begs him that he's the only one they trust, with Rex adding that there's $50,000 inside. She says they'll be back soon, but Matt protests he can't raise a kid. They tearfully bid goodbye to their son, and drive off. Wendi says she's scared, but Rex comforts her "they" don't know about Rick. They hold signs in strength, but then Solomon Grundy jumps out ahead and plows the car off the road.

In the present day at the now-Harris household, a grown Rick is fixing an old Mustang when Matt comes out. Finding a carburetor missing, he confronts his uncle and Matt says he sold it. Rick complains that he can't sell what's his, only for Matt to retort that he doesn't know how much Rick costs him. The teenager snarks back that he would be a millionaire instead of a dirtbag. Matt taunts him, egging him to strike but he doesn't, much to his satisfaction. He drives off, leaving Rick to walk to school. He stops by the trunk where his parents died, and angrily punches it.

At the Dugan-Whitmore household, Mike scares Courtney awake, saying it's Halloween. She tries to push Max the dog out of her bed as Barbara comes in to chastise her for not being ready. She picks up her clothes on the ground and puts them in the closet, not noticing her Stargirl suit. Nervous, Courtney jumps out the bed and grabs the next pile of clothes form her home. With her back to the closet, Barbara doesn't see Max grab the Stargirl suit, but her daughter does. Barbara notices she's late for a meeting and bids her a Happy Halloween. When she's gone, Courtney grabs the large duffel bag of JSA memorabilia on her way out, accidentally leaving Dr. Mid-Nite's goggles. At the front door, Pat catches her and jokes that she's running away, but she lies that she has gym. Pat tells her he believes William Zarick was the Wizard, and his family was killed by the ISA. Courtney is dubious that another villain could kill another, but Pat says they're not the most stable group. He thinks they really may all be in Blue Valley. Remembering last night, she asks if one of them played the violin, to which Pat answers the Fiddler. She produces her yearbook and points to Principal Bowen. Pat disagrees, as the Fiddler was a man and Irish. He asks her why, and Courtney confesses her time at the hospital, but omitting the part about giving Yolanda the Wildcat suit. Pat is outraged, but orders her not to do anything else about digging up ISA members.

At school, Courtney and Yolanda none too discreetly squish the bag into her locker, unaware they're being followed and eavesdropped by Beth Chapel. Courtney tells Yolanda they need new members, and Yolanda points out Artemis Crock, saying she's the best athlete in the school. Courtney says she thought about there but she's too competitive as she tackles a jock to the floor. She says they need someone with heroic traits too, since they can't have anyone less than deserving to carry on the Justice Society's legacy. Yolanda asks if they can think of anyone outside of Blue Valley High School, but Courtney says adults cannot be trusted. Beth slips on the wet ground and is warned by the janitor. She smiles widely at him and walks away.

At the theater, Steve Sharpe watches a black-and-white feature when he's approached by a delivery man. He hands him a blueprint of a satellite and informs him of its delivery. Steve thanks him, but the man asks for his money. He complies, and comments it should help with he pesky alimony checks. He tosses him. chocolate coin as a tip, and chuckles as the man leaves.

Stuck on the side of the road, Pat tells Courtney to start the car on his word as he pops open the hood. Rick strolls up, commenting it could be the alternator. Pat comments that he knows car, and Rick says he's working on a car - a yellow '66 Mustang that belonged to his father. Pat seems thoughtful, and inside Courtney notices Hourman's Hourglass shining brightly. Pat asks Rick if he can help him push the car, but Rick declines. Suspecting the person hiding behind the hood, Courtney stares after Rick's retreating figure and sees the hourglass dimming down. Pat asks if she knows anything about that kid, but she doesn't. She says she'll walk and takes out the large duffel bag, and proceeds to follow Rick through town.

Rick stops by the tree from earlier, and asks the girl behind him why she's following him. Courtney says she needs to talk and show him something, whipping out the hourglass. Rick is unimpressed by a normal-looking object, and a confused Courtney tries to make the hourglass glow in his present. He tells her to get on her meds and leaves.

At the Dugan-Whitmore house, Barbara mistakes Beth for an early trick-or-treater but is happy to learn she's Courtney's friend. In her kitchen, Beth excitedly shares her knowledge of ants and love of her parents when a bored Barbara announces she needs to get ready for the trick-or-treaters, and tells her she can wait in the living room. Noticing Max the dog chewing on a pair of goggles, she runs up the stairs to get it and sneaks into Courtney's room, disappointed an ordinary bedroom is that of a superhero. Hearing a buzzing from the goggles, she curiously tries them on and is shocked when green grid patterns appear and a male voice welcomes her. Beth nervously introduces herself as the voice states facts about Beth. The girl questions how it knows, and the voice responds that he only knows what's on the Justice Society databanks. It introduces itself as the A.I. of Dr. Charles McNider. Courtney arrives home, disturbed but Mike's graphic pumpkins but is informed of her friend upstairs. She confronts Beth as the girl tells the goggles to analyze Courtney. She lies that the goggles are an invention from her stepdad, but is corrected by Beth who shares the history of Charles McNider and the JSA. Courtney brings Beth to her window and tells her all this information is top secret, to which she can't share with her parents. The goggles inform Beth that Courtney was in West Field, and Beth notes that Rick Harries is the only kid who lives that far. The goggles reveal Rick's real last name and his real father, and Courtney connects that dots that Rick's father was Hourman.

Pat races to Rick's house, finding the old Mustang under a roof. Matt comes out, drink in hand and asks who Pat is and what Rick's done. He introduces himself as Rick's father, calling the car an old piece of junk. Pat gives him a carbonator he had lying around, and leaves. Elsewhere, Rick delivers a barrel of liquor to two teenagers, and forces them to pay him three hundred as they leave.

Nightime rolls around as trick-or-treaters run astray, Yolanda is incredulous that Courtney let Beth be the new Captain Midnight. She's corrected by Courtney remarking that she got the goggles working, and hasn't stopped talking ever since. Yolanda snaps back that talking is her superpower, something Beth agrees as she informs them the goggles tracked Rick to Cindy Burman's house. Yolanda is sacred to go inside, noticing Henry King Jr. in the window. Courtney says she'll go in, accompanied by Beth. Inside, Bet notes that this is a party and remarks how loud it is, when Courtney tells her to split up. In her room, Cindy finishes getting ready and heads downstairs, chastising her friend Jenny for copying her and finds Henry in a not so good a mood as, to himself, the party's ongoing music seem to be louder than it actually is. He complains it's too loud, and she accuses him of being a drag lately. He retorts that his father is in the hospital, and Cindy snaps that he should visit him then. Henry angrily leaves, much to her disappointment. Outside, Henry hears Yolanda call him a jerk from a distance, even though she actually didn't say anything when Henry calls her out for that.

Disguised in a mask, Courtney finds Rick and tells him she knows his real name and his father's. Bringing Yolanda and Beth in, she fills him in on the JSA history and their new identities, minus Beth as she's "borrowing them for the night". Handing him the hourglass, Beth informs him that it turns on when he switches the hourglass over. Doing so, the sand inside glows gold once more, beginning the drip to the bottom as a gold wave envelopes him. Testing his strength, he easily lifts up and crushes a metal barrel like a soda can. Courtney advises him not to use his superpower like that in public, and Beth informs him the need of secret identities and that he might need a costume. Rick rejects the idea, saying he's doing his own thing. Courtney protests that he can't take the hourglass, but Rick reminds her it was his father and now his before leaving. Yolanda sarcastically congratulates Courtney for making the biggest delinquent in school a super-strong beast, but Courtney's determined to get through to him. Yolanda says he won't listen, but Courtney tells her he won't when they're dressed like this. Beth excitedly tells the three to suit up, but Courtney turns her down and gestures to Yolanda to come.

Downtown, Rick slowly walks down a mainstream and notices his drunken uncle harass a waitress inside a diner. Angered, he walks away and notices his reflection on a pickup truck's vent glass window. He knocks it off the car, and in a scream he punches the side of the truck, bending it in the process. He gives a satisfied smile.

Sitting in the street, "Chuck" asks Beth if she needs directions home, but Beth says no one's home and woefully states her parents want to get on with their lives without their daughter's clinginess. She says she wouldn't know what to do if her parents got in an accident like Rick's, to which Chuck repeats the word accident in a question — aware that it was anything but accidental. He replays the night of their deaths for Beth, to her shock.

Back at the tree, Stargirl tells Rick they just wants to talk. Rick exclaims that he isn't playing games with them. Stargirl says she understands but Rick yells that she doesn't, she doesn't know what it's like to be filled with such anger that he feels poisoned. He thinks about hitting something all the time, and asks her if he likes that. He hates feeling this way. Stargirl tells him of her father Starman, and how she gets to keep his legacy alive. Stargirl encourages Rick that he can continue his father's legacy as a superhero, and that it can be his choice. Enraged, he punches the tree, causing it to fall and block the road. He says he never had the choice and approaches the pair. Stargirl points the Staff at him, telling him she can't let him keep the hourglass with Rick harboring that kind of angsty mindset since he can do great damage, to both himself and to others, if left to his own devices and simply allowed with the power that the artifact gives. He dares her to take it when Beth runs up, announcing that it wasn't an accident. She says Dr. McNider can show them, and in a holographic projection stemming from the goggles, the group is shown the series of events that led to Mr. and Mrs. Tyler's deaths as Beth narrates. As the holographic car hits Rex, he witnesses the last faces his parents make and his mother's dying scream. Beth puts her hands on her knees, shaken by the sight. Stargirl tells Rick that the people who killed his parents are most likely the same ones who killed her dad, which is why she assembled this team — for justice. Rick tearfully says he'll do it, but for revenge as the Cosmic Staff warbles.

Elsewhere, outside of Blue Valley, an Empire Enterprises truck is making its way across the road but is stopped but a bus blocking the road. The two truckers stop and head out to investigate, and are meant by a woman playing the violin. In his basement, Pat reads Rex's journal and finds a picture of the car, and is informed by Barbara of an accident. In his garage, he's met with the sight of the damaged pickup trick caused by Rick. In a motel room, the body of the delivery man from earlier is revealed, a bitten chocolate coin on the table. Back with the truckers, the woman reveals herself as Principal Bowen, who enchants one of the men with her violin. His partner asks what he's doing at the music goes up several pitches. Steve Sharpe appears, telling him his will is stronger than his friend. He remarks it's too bad as he shoots him dead. In Courtney's room, Pat notices her open window and the spark of the Green Lantern catches his attention. Finding the JSA equipment in the duffel bag, he disapprovingly mutters Courtney's name.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special Guest Star[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Trivia[]

  • This episode confirms the date of this episode to be October 31, 2020.
  • "Hourman" is the superhero alias used by chemist and golden-age JSA member, Rex Tyler. This mantle is picked up by his son, Rick Tyler
  • "Dr. Mid-Nite" is the superhero alias used by the doctor and golden-age JSA member, Charles McNider. This mantle is picked up by Beth Chapel.
  • This is the first episode to thoroughly introduce Rick Tyler, serving as an origin story for the character.
  • "Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite" is the first episode not to introduce a super-suit, however, it instead introduces two new objects - Hourman's hourglass and Dr. Mid-Nite's goggles.
  • Solomon Grundy is revealed to be the ISA member who murdered Rex and Wendi Tyler.
  • Rick Raleigh, known as the Red Bee, is mentioned in this episode as a vigilante operating in the 1950s. In the comics, the character largely shares the same backstory, though he was murdered by Baron Blitzkrieg. The character is an obscenely minor character who appeared in one issue that he shared with Starman.
  • Geoff Johns explained why he introduced two polar opposites in the same episode by saying, "Hourman stumbles into his power and the addictive histories with that character is interesting. On the opposite side, you have Dr. Mid-Nite, who is cerebral, intellectual. I always found that pairing interesting in the comics, but it was never explored. It was always on the surface."[4]
  • The song that plays while Cindy Burman gets ready for the party, is the same song used to advertise the 2019 DC "Birds of Prey" film.
  • For a deep-dive podcast with lots of behind the scenes info and easter eggs that you won’t find anywhere else, including special interviews with Cameron Gellman (Rick/Hourman) and Anjelika Washington (Beth/Dr. Mid-Nite) click here.
  • For a complete gallery of all the Easter eggs you might have missed this episode, please click here.
    • Every detail included in the "Mid-Nite vision" was intentionally placed by the request of Geoff Johns. Charles McNider being 96-years-old at the time of his death in 2010 was not a continuity error, but rather, an intentional note.

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
Wonderful Eveclear In the present day, Rick Tyler works on his car and then confronts his uncle.
People Are Stranger Echo & the Bunnymen Beth, Courtney, and Yolanda walk through Blue Valley during Halloween. Yolanda is concerned over Beth being the new Dr. Mid-Nite.
Heads Will Roll Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cindy Burman prepares for the Halloween party while Courtney borrows a Mogwai mask from a passed out party goer.
Juice Lizzo Beth and Courtney enter the party and decide to split up.
Fever Rush (Electric House Remix) Cameron James Cindy and Henry argue at the Halloween party. Henry telepathically hears Yolanda call him a jerk. Courtney finds Rick at the pool.
“Summer” Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Ending montage.

References[]

  1. ↑ https://newslagoon.com/en/entertainment/dcs-stargirl-season-one-ratings/178296/
  2. ↑ "Stargirl - Episode 1.01 - 1.05 - Titles Revealed" - SpoilerTV
  3. ↑ http://www.ksitetv.com/stargirl/dcs-stargirl-spoilers-cw-descriptions-for-the-first-five-episodes/201212/
  4. ↑ https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/stargirl-hourman-episode-6-season-2-interview
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"
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