SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Summer School: Chapter Four," the latest episode of Stargirl.


The Crocks take everything to the extreme, including their love for their daughter. In "Summer School: Chapter Four," the latest episode of Stargirl, the former Injustice Society members broke out of prison with one goal and one goal only: to watch their daughter get scouted to a college football team. Of course, they also managed to terrorize Pat Dugan and Barbara Whitmore a little by crashing their pad during their (brief) time on the lam, but did exactly as they promised and promptly returned to jail after Artemis' tryout was said and done.

Speaking to CBR, Stargirl star Joy Osmanski broke down Tigress' jailbreak. She explained just what makes Paula Brooks and her husband Larry "Crusher" Crock, aka Sportsmaster, so comedic and how The CW series will subvert viewers' idea of what makes a villain. She teased that the end of Season 2 will offer a clear sense of Season 3's direction, while promising it will be "a lot of fun." She also shared Tigress' "mixed feelings" about Cindy's ISA offer to Artemis, revealed which character she wants to play against, why Tigress' proactiveness inspires her and more.

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CBR: Welcome back! At what point did you find out you'd return for Season 2, and how was this episode in particular pitched to you?

Joy Osmanski: Let's see. Of course, it feels [like] time has warped and bent in such a way that it feels like about 10 years ago that we did this. So I think I always knew that we were going to be in Season 2, because I think at some point, Hopkins -- that's what we call Neil because when Neil Jackson was there, we had to differentiate -- he was like, to Geoff [Johns], he was like, "Do we die?" [laughs] Because I was always too afraid to ask! I was like, "You know what? They'll tell us when they need to tell us, but if you want to ask, go ahead." And Geoff was like, "Oh, no, no, no, you're gonna be in Season 2!" And we were both like, "Oh, okay, great!"

And then, how it was pitched, I just remember Geoff -- you know, he's so wonderful, he gets so excited about these storylines -- and he was like, "This is gonna be so much fun. We're gonna have you and Neil really trying to interact as a couple with Pat and Barbara." And I was instantly like, "Yes, I love it. Whatever is going to happen here, this is going to be very funny." Every time that I've got, that we could try to be more domestic, we haven't had a chance to really fully explore that, so I was game for whatever he had in mind.

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I've always really enjoyed Paula and Larry as characters, just in the way they're so very serious about what they do, even when they're dropping puns and fighting child superheroes. How do you balance that self-seriousness with her inherent silliness?

Yeah, no, I agree. I think by keeping it very, very straight, you know what I mean? She doesn't have -- there's no self-deprecation with her. There's no self-awareness or self-humor in that regard, and that's where, for me, a lot of the funny comes from, is that, like you said, she takes everything dead seriously.

People who do that are either completely sociopath, which arguably they are, and/or they can be very, very comical, because they don't have any sense of what's light. So when you put them in a situation that's, by all accounts, very mundane and they still take it very, very seriously, that's -- you know, any character who's funny is that way, if you think about it, so it's really easy and fun to explore.

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This episode, in particular, is rife with that comedy once they bulldoze their way into Pat and Barbara's life for a day. How challenging was it for you to bring Paula into this almost slapstick kind of territory?

Yeah, I remember when we were shooting that scene, and Lea [Thompson] had us in the living room while Pat and Barbara are kind of looking on askance, with Barbara being like, "What are they doing here?!" It felt very much like looking at animals in the zoo, or like if you've taken the tiger and put it in the camel pen or something. It's like you take one animal and just put it in completely the wrong enclosure.

That's how we felt, and Neil and I had such a good time walking around that space, picking up their stuff, looking at it like we've never seen it before, being like, "What are all these props? What are all these props that everyone else feels the need to put into their homes? All these tchotchkes! What is this nonsense?" [laughs] That was fun to do, because a lot of it is silliness that we put inside of our homes, but to them, it doesn't mean anything, and that was really fun to play.

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What was it like to work so closely with Luke Wilson and Amy Smart for this episode?

Oh, it's always great. The times that I get to work with Amy, in particular, I think, just because we have so much in common and so we always have stuff to talk about, whether it's about our families or our small children or what it's like just being a working mom in this industry and that could provide us conversation for days.

Luke, I always have fun just asking him questions and getting his opinion on things. I'm always just kind of curious to see what he thinks about stuff. We've all been doing it for so long now that there's a real sense of, I feel, mutual respect and understanding. I was just really fortunate to work with both of them.

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The other thing that stands out to me about these two is their genuine care for their daughter. It's hilarious that they break out of prison to just see her try out, but at the same time, it's devastatingly sweet. How has -- or hasn't -- this stunt changed your understanding of her character?

From the outset, I feel like it was made pretty clear that these two parents will do anything for their child, and that's what has always kept them grounded in a small amount of humanity for me. Even though when people say, "Oh, I would love to have them as my parents," Neil and I are always like, "Really? Okay!" But no, I think breaking out of prison, what could be more a demonstration of love than that? Albeit not legal! But again, they don't care. All they care about is that their daughter feels supported and that she is pursuing her goals and they want to be there for that.

So yeah, again, it's another example of their extreme method of showing their love and affection. It's like that's all they know how to do, you know what I mean? They're not cuddling up with her and reading her bedtime stories; they're breaking out of prison to see her get scouted. [laughs] I think it's all about the message they're trying to give her.

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How do you think Paula would feel about Artemis joining Cindy's new ISA?

I think mixed feelings. I mean, I have yet to know exactly what her response is going to be, but from my understanding of Paula and her relationship with her daughter and the ISA, I don't think she's going to be thrilled. I certainly don't think she's going to be thrilled that some other teenager is trying to distract Artemis away from the ultimate goal, which is probably to get her the hell out of Blue Valley. So I think it's going to be complicated and not necessarily a positive thing.

What are the odds we'll see Paula return this season?

So I think I can safely say just stay tuned in Season 2, and that's all I can say about Season 2. But yeah, Season 3 is going to be a lot of fun. My understanding of what happens in Season 3, I'm really looking forward to shooting it. We're gonna have a good time.

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What can you tease about your role in Season 3?

Well, I think you'll get a sense of what that might be at the end of Season 2. I think that will be the tease. It's so great that we're made to wait for it. Yeah, I think that'll give you a sense of where we're going next.

This season really delves into the difference between bad and evil. How would you define those terms?

Yeah, I love that you brought that up, actually, because the fact that the show gets to go into the gray areas a bit, says a lot about it, actually, you know, because it could just remain safely in the realm of good and evil, but it doesn't. It starts to draw some lines, and everything's relative, right?

So Sportsmaster and Tigress seem pretty evil and bad in Season 1, but actually, compared to Eclipso in Season 2, they're like Girl Scouts. [laughs] So I think it's really cool to see how your expectation of who someone is changes depending on what the context is, and that you can't always just trust your initial reaction to someone or something and that, the more you get to understand them and the more you hear about their story and where they're coming from, it can alter your perception of who that person really is, and what you might have thought was bad isn't maybe at all, and then what you may not have previously identified as evil, because on the face of it, it might look like something else completely, is truly evil. So I always love, in storytelling, the subversion of that idea. So I'm glad to see it happen in Season 2. It's exciting.

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Which aspect of the character do you relate to the most, and why?

Okay, well, there's two parts of her that I would say resonate with me very keenly. One is being a parent, which I am. So that is just as natural to me as breathing. Whether what she's doing is inappropriate or not, the reason for it, to me, is super easy to click into.

The other part of that is -- and I'm trying think of a way to say this without sounding like a psychotic person myself -- but her desire to take action, to do something, is something that I really relate to. My methods, I'm proud to say, are nothing like Paula's, but that deep desire to be active and proactive is something that I really relate to, and something that I do try to do in my own life. I don't want to hurt anybody, but if something's wrong, then I try to take the steps that I can to right it.

I'm not always successful, of course, but I love how proactive she is. She doesn't wait! She doesn't wait around to be told what to do. Again, let me be clear, what she does is not the right decision, but I respect that commitment to who she is and I find that actually kind of inspiring.

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Which character would you most like to see Paula interact with and why?

I'm dying for Paula to interact more with Cindy. I just feel like they could have a really fun, funny dynamic, because I don't think they would get along at all, in much of the way that, when there's two mean girls, they're rarely on the same team, you know what I mean? When they have such strong opinions, they actually don't get along. You would think, "Oh, they're both mean! They're going to be on the same side," but that's rarely the case.

And also the generational difference, I think, could be really fun to play. I have no idea if that's ever gonna happen, but in my fantasy world, Paula and Cindy would have some throwdowns and that would be fun.

Maybe Paula should adopt poor Cindy. She needs a strong mother figure in her life.

I know! Poor Cindy!

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What would be your dream story arc for Tigress?

Oh my God. I mean, I think she's really yearning to find her place in the world. Blue Valley was not -- it's not like she was like, "You know where I want to go? Blue Valley." That was just the place that was decided on by the ISA, and so that's where they all were -- I feel like, anyway -- forced to relocate to, but that's not her dream place. That's not her kingdom.

So where would that be? How would she establish her rule somewhere? I think that could be really fun to explore, is just how she finds her world where she is queen -- and possibly king! I think that would be a fun thing to explore.


Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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