Mother(figure)s of Stargirl
screenshots credit: @StargirlWiki on Twitter; gif credit: @stripesysheaven
Barbara certainly lives up to the phrase on her mug. Not just for the kids who live with her, either. It's so sweet the way she takes care of their friends as well.
While Bridget started out the series among the ranks of moms who don't deserve their titles, she certainly gets her redemption arc as the story goes on. My favorite moment of her supporting Beth comes from Summer School: Chapter 8, but I also love that she becomes a sidekick.
Speaking of redemption arcs, watching Paula turn her life around was one of the most pleasant surprises from Stargirl. She always loved Artemis, but seeing her become a hero cemented that. How her story ended hits even harder today. I'll explain more at the end of the post.
Wouldn't dare go this whole post without mentioning Maria, and no I don't mean Montez. Maria Carmen Saravia was a better mom to Yolanda than her biological mother will ever be.
Now for some mothers I wish we could've seen more of. Denise is up first because, like Joey, I was invested in her character very quickly. They were like my Henry before Henry, because he took time to earn my respect. I dunno, there was just something about her.
Anaya's main trait was coddling Isaac. There had to be more to her story. I'm assuming she wasn't always so smothering, and that developed after the death of her husband. I really would've liked to see who she was beyond her affiliations. And that power set was worth exploring.
My jaw hit the floor when I heard Christine's dying wish. Nice subversion. Evil as she and Jordan might've been, they clearly loved their kid (the latter up to a certain point, anyway). If nothing else, I'm thankful she gave Cameron his talent.
I couldn't find or make a decent screenshot of Wendi. Her only scene goes by so fast. You can feel the panic as Rick's parents left him behind. There's no way she knew JUST how bad her brother was. I wouldn't name a legacy OC after her otherwise.
Neither Suzanne nor Bobbie ever got to be happy, and I blame Dragon King for that. He made Cindy into the monster she thought she was, which is probably why Eclipso was able to manipulate her. I'm sorry they suffered.
Merry's early JSA affiliated days would've been so cool to see. It's a shame her only appearance is in a single picture.
And lastly, two mother figures I was glad to be wrong about. Nurse Love was revealed to be just trying to help for decades. She just had the wrong idea about how. And once Miss Woods got put in check, she really came through reminding Rick of his worth.
An honorable mention, Maggie. What she did in her past put her on top of the list of mothers who don't deserve to be called such. But the last thing we see her do is try to be better. I really wanted to see her earn her happy ending.
To close, I wanna talk a little about my mom. She shared qualities showcased by some of these characters: Sweet, hardheaded, creative, caring, smart, beautiful, funny. She passed away in 2005. I miss her always, but today more than usual. She's my greatest inspiration.
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“Still super jealous as hell by the way,” Eddie says; Steve laughs, elbows him in the chest—disguising a want to touch by shoving him away.
There’s a brief flash of warmth against his skin before Eddie teeters back.
He stays close though, dances in and out of Steve’s space as they walk, almost close enough to…
“D’you know what’s adding an extra layer of, uh…” Eddie clicks his fingers then says with relish, “Of batshit insanity to everything?”
“No,” Steve says, and he feels a smile growing; he couldn’t fight it even if he tried. He doesn’t want to. “But I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”
“My, uh. One of my favourite games as a kid was… uh well, it didn’t really have a name, it was more—”
“No jump rope for you?” Steve asks in mock surprise.
Eddie snorts. “Nah, nothing as normal as that, Harrington, honestly. Kid me was a visionary.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Steve says.
The words hover in the space between teasing and genuine; he means both, of course.
“At, um. When I was at my dad’s.”
Eddie’s smile flickers, and Steve tries to fill in the gaps: has vague memories of middle school halfway through one year, of murmured interest, you seen the new kid? He just moved here.
“Our place backed onto some woods, and I’d just… kinda wander.”
Eddie scoffs—his foot makes an aborted motion as he walks, like he’d gone to absentmindedly kick a twig and thought better of it.
Better safe than sorry, Steve thinks. Hive mind and all that.
“So your favourite game was wandering?” he prompts when Eddie goes quiet.
A tease again. Softer. Really means you can tell me. I want to know.
He wonders if Eddie can hear it.
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds shit. And it was more, like, active up in…��� Eddie taps his temple. “I’d just… uh. Pretend the woods were haunted, stuff like that.”
“Oh,” Steve says, amusement growing. “So all this,” he gestures to the vines and trees, to the fog creeping along the forest floor, “is real immersive for you, then. Got it.”
“Um, no,” Eddie says, and his voice is going up into that wobbly tone that only comes from suppressing genuine, ugly laughter. “The stuff in my head was gothic, Harrington. It had class.”
“God, man, I’m sorry. Is the alternate dimension not living up to your expectations?”
“I’m gonna make a complaint.”
“Yeah, do it in writing. Make it professional.”
“To whom it may concern,” Eddie starts, all comically snooty.
Steve laughs.
And Eddie’s up close again, grinning, and Steve presses the side of his forearm up against his chest; the moment lingers, until Eddie moves back, until Steve drops his arm a fraction too late.
“I’ve found the experience provided—”
Steve snorts. “Experience?”
“—thoroughly lacking in both atmosphere and charm. I expect appropriate compensation as soon as possible.”
“Tell you what,” Steve says, “show me a picture of your haunted woods when we’re outta here. I wanna see how they compare.”
“Um,” Eddie says through the tail end of a chuckle. He sounds embarrassed. “I don’t have… My dad, uh, he wasn’t exactly the kinda guy to take a lot of pictures, y’know?”
And Steve doesn’t know—or at least, he thinks he doesn’t.
What he does know is that in the back of a cabinet there’s an old baby book: he can tell exactly when his grandma first began to get sick—and when everything else went to shit—because the milestone entries stop a third of the way through.
He doesn’t mention it. He can’t find the words, not here, not now—even if he could, he’s worried it’d sound a clumsy, weak comparison at best, self-centred at worst.
So he waits. Feels when the abrupt silence becomes less heavy.
“Did you, like, do speeches to yourself in the game, too?”
Eddie gives him a sideways, bemused look. “Maybe.”
Steve pretends to mull it over. Nods. “Yeah, figures.”
A pause.
“Uh, hold on,” Eddie says, chuckling again, like he’s been surprised into it. “You can’t just leave it there, man, you—”
“Nah, it’s just.” Steve smothers a grin. “Just fits you, that’s all. Like, you would’ve dramatically narrated your own birth if you could, I know it.”
Eddie laughs hard; he nearly drops his flashlight.
“You’re funny,” he says eventually, still smiling.
“Oh, sorry,” Steve quips back, “was I not supposed to be? Ruined your doctrine again?”
“No, just—” Eddie laughs again. Sighs. “Just timing, man. Wish I was finding out in a more, uh, low stakes kinda way. Like…”
His eyes go a little far-off, and for a second Steve can see that kid in him, the one who kept himself company in his own imagination.
“Like we’re just walking past the lockers, or something.”
“Yeah,” Steve says, with probably more feeling than it strictly calls for. “Anything beats these goddamn vines.”
He could add that there is no ideal timing, really: that if there’s one thing he’s learned throughout all this, it’s that there’s hardly ever time to dwell on things. It’s more do or die.
Besides, he thinks, you could wait all your life for a perfect moment, and it still passes you—
The earth trembles.
Eddie sways; Steve lunges to the side so Eddie falls backwards, away from a nearby vine. He tries to plant his feet, realises he’s inevitably going down, too, and course corrects.
Falls.
Feels the rise and fall of Eddie’s chest against his hand.
“M’definitely filing that complaint,” Eddie says breathlessly.
He turns so he’s facing Steve. Stays close.
They’ve both dropped their flashlights. The effect is dazzling—Eddie’s face is illuminated, eyes bright.
No atmosphere, my ass, Steve thinks.
“You okay?” he murmurs.
“Y-yeah,” Eddie says—gasps, really. Steve feels how his breathing shakes.
There’s barely a disguise now; they’re both leaning in.
And for a moment, they’re not here at all; they’re just at school, hiding by the lockers.
Then again…
Maybe it could only happen here.
Maybe wandering—maybe everything—has been leading up to this: the moment before a chance taken.
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