After months of suffering in silence, Yolanda Montez/Wildcat’s guilt got the better of her this week on DC’s Stargirl. The young hero finally admitted to the rest of the Justice Society of America that she killed Brainwave (Christopher James Baker) during the team’s showdown with the Injustice Society only to realize that she’s the only member of the team who is truly capable of killing. But the challenges didn’t stop there for Yolanda, who soon discovered that Brainwave might not be as “gone” as she thought he was. By the end of the episode, Yolanda decides to walk away from the JSA and it’s a moment that Monreal says is “heartbreaking” for the character.
“I think that Yolanda is very well aware that she executes. She goes all the way and she saw Rick struggling with killing Grundy. She asks, ‘are you better than me? Is that why you didn’t do it?'” Monreal told ComicBook.com. “She feels all of this guilt with the sin she’s committed. She feels like Wildcat, yes, it was a rebirth of her own self. It gave her this confidence, while being Wildcat did all these things for, her faith does play into the whole arc of the season. So, I think that she feels like she’s going to have to keep killing and that’s something she’s not okay with and that’s what makes her give up her power. She’s like, ‘I cannot keep doing this if this is the way it’s going to be.’ If this is the path that she’s going to continue on, it’s just not okay with her morally. So, it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t ‘I’m good on my own now.’ No. The JSA is her family now. Wildcat means everything to her. This is a huge, heartbreaking moment for her. It’s a big sacrifice.”
Yolanda’s sacrifice comes at a very complicated time, however. Eclipso is out in Blue Valley and with everything Yolanda is going through, in theory, it makes her more vulnerable personally, but without Wildcat, the JSA is at an even great disadvantage. Monreal said that in terms of what’s next for Yolanda, however, is just a focus on the light.
“I think right now, she just wants to focus on herself, she wants to focus on the light. She wants to, I think, I honestly think for a moment, she kind of just wants to turn her head a little bit and just focus on getting herself better,” Monreal said. “She knows everything’s out there. She knows they’re doing all this, but in her mind, she’s someone else is going to have to be the one to execute because I can’t do this anymore. Her mental health is so shot down that it’s just something that she can’t worry about right now.”
DC’s Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.