Have we seen the last of Yolanda? Was this truly Wildcat’s swan song?
The teenage superhero effectively quit the JSA, cut off contact with Courtney, and left her job in one fell swoop, but the end of Stargirl Season 2 Episode 7 didn’t offer much insight beyond that.
Yolanda could just as easily pop up in the next episode — albeit giving all her friends the cold shoulder — as go MIA for a handful of episodes or even the rest of the season. The truth is we don’t know.
Following the episode, I searched the internet for post mortem articles, hoping to see if there’s was any confirmation that Yvette Monreal was leaving the series.
It turns out, Monreal may have been just as in the dark as the rest of us, telling TVLine she and Brec Bassinger, who plays Courtney, “had a little moment backstage, where we kind of teared up a bit.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen after that. We were getting episodes as they came, so we didn’t know,” Monreal said.
Monreal knows what happens next by this point in time, but we’ll have to wait until an announcement comes announcing the actress’s exit.
Until then, we should brace ourselves for the possibility but not assume anything, though it certainly doesn’t look great.
Yvette Monreal isn’t credited in the following two episodes, and neither episode synopsis mentions Yolanda. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean Monreal is exiting the show, but it’s not a good indicator of where things stand.
It’s a shame things ended this way, but Yolanda quitting the JSA has been a long time coming.
Since killing Brainwave, she’s been wracked with soul-crushing guilt over her actions, and not being able to talk about this with anyone but Courtney hasn’t helped.
Courtney means well, but what Yolanda needed was professional help. Yes, you could make the argument that Courtney should have been a better friend and checked in on Yolanda more.
And Courtney could have been slightly more attentive to her friend’s struggles, she, like Yolanda, is a teenage girl. Courtney has no better idea how to handle all of this than Yolanda, and it’s a lot to expect her to have the magical cure.
I’m not sure if there’s a therapist equipped to handle this type of thing, but if any adult could have provided Yolanda with the support she needed, it would have been Pat.
However, Yolanda chose to keep her role in Brainwave’s death a secret for almost everyone in her life, and that guilt kept eating her up.
It’s still unclear if Yolanda’s auditory and visual hallucinations resulted from Eclipso, Brainwave’s mind attaching itself to hers, or some form of PTSD, but things got pretty bad for her.
She kept reliving Brainwave and Henry’s deaths, and whatever the cause, which is probably a combination of several things, it’s a lot for someone so young to take.
Compounding the problem was her belief she would be the one to take out Eclipso when the time came. Eclipso is a dangerous and powerful enemy and needs to be stopped, but it’s possible the only way to stop him good is to kill him.
And if that’s the case, it could very well fall to Yolanda, seeing as she wants to spare her friends the burden of taking a life.
So after everything the poor girl has gone through, it’s hard to fault her for walking away. Yes, she’s a vital member of the JSA, but her self-care comes first.
As of now, Courtney doesn’t necessarily understand that what Yolanda needs the most from her friend is space.
Courtney thinks if she can only talk to Yolanda, she can convince her friend to come back or that they can work through this together.
It’s a noble attempt, but Yolanda needs a life free of JSA drama for right now. Walking away from Wildcat was one of the hardest things for Yolanda to do, especially since it gave her this newfound confidence and friendships, but it’s what she needs.
There may come a time when Yolanda feels ready to don that superhero costume once again, but for now, we’ve seen the last of Wildcat for quite a while.
Elsewhere, the JSA continued to look for Eclipso but had no luck. They have no leads on how to find the demonic entity and aren’t even sure if he’s still in Blue Valley, save for the bizarre non-summer weather that seems to indicate Eclipso is.
The JSA is pretty much at a standstill until Eclipso chooses to make his presence known, but who knows how long that could take?
Eclispo, for his part, seems to be in no hurry to unveil his big bad masterplan, relishing in causing chaos among the residents of Blue Valley.
Similarly, the series isn’t in any rush to give us the answers surrounding Eclipso’s evil agenda, instead deciding to prolong any big revelations.
After all, Eclipso has to have something more horrendous in mind than causing complete and utter chaos and terror in Blue Valley, right? Not that evil for evil’s sake isn’t enough of a motivation, but there has to be more to the story.
Eclipso went through a lot of trouble to break free from the Black Diamond to enact his grand scheme, but what his end goal is, we still don’t know.
Could it be as “simple” as getting revenge on the JSA? With Yolanda out of commission, the demonic entity has set his sights on Beth.
It’s possible Eclipso wants to pick the lot off for some grudge he holds against the previous members, but that doesn’t seem big enough for this season’s presumed Big Bad.
There’s more to the story here. I can feel it. We’re just missing something.
Some stray thoughts:
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Mike’s first day of JSA boot camp didn’t go exactly as he anticipated. I get where Pat’s coming from on wanting Mike to walk before he can run, but Mike has already been kidnapped twice. Unless Pat wants that to happen again, he’s going to need to step up this training.
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If the Shade is still alive, what’s he doing hanging around the American Dream building? Is he looking for Barbara, or was he drawn to the old ISA headquarters?
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How great was it to have Christopher James Baker and Jake Austin Walker back? Yes, they screwed with Yolanda’s psyche, but it was still a blast to see them on screen again.
So what did you think, Stargirl Fanatics?
Have we seen the last of Yolanda?
Is it fair for her to blame Courtney for what’s happened?
What is Eclipso’s end goal?
Don’t forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the latest episode, remember you can watch Stargirl online at TV Fanatic.
Jessica Lerner is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.