Beth: Beth easily gets the most character development in this season out of the JSA characters. Arguably, she gets the most character development, period. I mentioned in my season 1 review how not all powers were created equal, that Beth was the weak link in the team since her ability is simply based around wearing goggles and doing tech stuff. Season 2 doesn't change that, but it does address the issue, as she goes through everything from the prospect of her parents divorcing, to her meeting the original Dr. Mid-Nite, to discoverying her own self-worth, etc. It's not really anything new in fiction, but what it does, it does well. And since Beth is the one person that can navigate Eclipso's hallucinations without issue due to the goggles, it does boost her overall worth to the team.
So those are the original JSA members, more or less. Let's look at some of the other newbies:
Jennie: Poor Jennie. I get the sense that the writers either didn't know what to do with her, or they did know, but couldn't due to budget limitations (I have a sneaking suspicion that budget limitations might explain a lot of this season, but more on that later). Thing is, Jennie doesn't really do much, which is ironic, since the entire point of having a Green Lantern ring is that you can will pretty much anything into existence. Instead, she shows up at the start, shows up at the end, and doesn't really do, or change much in either example. But she still gets more compared to:
Jakeem: Jakeem is barely a character. He appears mid-season when the Thunderbolt pen ends up in his possession, then appears at the end, and is told by Mikey (offscreen) about the whole JSA stuff. Then he helps them in the final fight, boom, the end. It's really kind of astounding how little attention is given to him. Maybe the writers just forgot about him, maybe they just ran out of time, but meh, moving onto the ISA characters.
Cindy: This season tries to make me feel sorry for Cindy and...nah, sorry, she's still a *****. I think she's a ***** that has character potential, but she's a ***** all the same. The thing is, like a fair bit in this season, it can't seem to actually commit to fleshing her out. Yes, there's glimpses and flashbacks to her past, of her father turning her into Shiv and all that, but none of it is really fleshed out. But she does get more than:
Isaac: Isaac is emo and dies. Next!
Artemis and the Krocks: Christ, this is stupid. First, her parents. We're expected to forgive them by the season's end for briefly helping in the big bad fight, and despite having escaped from jail twice, at the end, they move nextdoor to Courtney. First, how do they expect to stay under the radar from the police, and second, do I have to remind you that Artemis's parents have killed at least four innocent people by this timeframe, not to mention that they were taking part in a plan that would have killed 25 million people? Hello? Anyone?
Also, Artemis doesn't fare much better, as she goes back and forth between being pissed that her parents are in jail from season 1, then grieved that her parents were actually shits, then...pissed that her parents were in jail, despite now knowing that they're shits? And why's she dressed like Casey Jones? I get that kids will want to look up to their parents, but Artemis is just all over the place. Doesn't help (or maybe it does) that she disappears after the mid-season fight, then reappears only in the very last scene.
Concerning other characters...well, what else is there? There's the Shade, who's pretty neat. Turns out that even in 2020s Americana that's stuck in the 1960s, British people still drink tea and like being evil (or something). Still, his motivations are kind of all over the place, but then, we have Eclipso. And...okay, I'll just say it, Eclipso's a lacklustre villain. He's a lacklustre villain that's portrayed really well when he's using his kid hallucination form (see above for when I covered this), but the fact that he looks like Ivan Ooze from Power Rangers aside, Eclipso is...okay, here's the thing. The Injustice Society of America characters always had ham to them (with a name like that, of course they would), but there motivations were at least understandable. Eclipso is...he's just evil. He's an evil guy who does evil things for evil reasons, talking evilly whenever he gets the chance. The result is that you get some extremely hackneyed dialogue, about light, and dark, and blah blah blah...gah. Yes, this kind of dialogue can work in fiction, but Stargirl, you ain't Star Wars. Not even Cindy is immune to this, who declares "I had to find my darkness [Eclipso] to counter your [Cindy] light." Oh, honey, no.
Oh, and Starman's back, who gives the same 'inner light' bullshit. Gah.
Point is, Eclipso is a drag. Also doesn't help that in the final fight (one of only three in the season) is the weakest of said three (remember what I said about budget?) Which is a shame, because the mid-season fight in the cafeteria is absolutely excellent. Probably the best in the entire series so far. But compared to season 1, season 2 has a lot less action, and one stellar fight scene in the middle can't make up for a dearth of it elsewhere.
Also, other random thoughts:
-So, plot twist, the risque photo that Henry leaked of Yolanda in season 1 was revealed to have been done by Cindy. Okay, fair enough, Cindy's a *****. What I don't get is why the Hell, in three plus months, did Henry never, EVER, say "hey, i didn't leak the photo?" Hello? Anyone?
-The Shadowlands concept is pretty neat, but anyone else getting flashbacks to Underworld!Storybrooke in Once Upon a Time? Replace the Shadowlands with the Underworld, replace Eclipso with Hades, replace Blue Valley with Storybrooke, and, well, y'kow...
Overall, this was a letdown. There was some good stuff, but the lacklustre far outweighs the good. I could enjoy the horror aspects on their own, but I'm evaluating a whole season, and in that regard...yeah. Massive step down.
