Mother(figure)s of Stargirl

screenshots credit: @StargirlWiki on Twitter; gif credit: @stripseysheaven on Tumblr

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 alway 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.

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.