‘DC’s Stargirl’: Anjelika Washington Breaks Down Beth’s Heroic Triumph

On this week’s episode of DC’s Stargirl, and spoilers past this point, while everyone else on the Justice Society of America (JSA) is reeling from Eclipso’s attacks, Beth (Anjelika Washington) finally embraces her heroic destiny.

“The first time I read that I got so emotional because it felt so parallel,” Washington told Decider. “Beth’s journey becoming Dr. Mid-Nite, even to Anjelika’s journey and stepping into Dr. Mid-Nite.”

After a disturbing encounter with her parents and some maggot filled sandwiches, she heads to the Dugan/Whitmore house, only to discover Young Eclipso there, taunting her. The villain digs into her family relationship, her lack of powers, the faith of her fellow heroes… But when he goes after her race, he takes it too far, and Beth fights back. Not only that, but thanks to her communications with Dr. Mid-Nite, who is trapped in some strange, shadow dimension, he grants her the title she hasn’t felt comfortable with until now: Beth Chapel is finally the new Dr. Mid-Nite, for real.

To find out more about the episode, how much of Eclipso’s taunts came from real life (turns out, a lot of them), and whether there were really maggots in those sandwiches (there were!), read on.

Decider: I was talking to Cameron Gellman about this a bit, but what’s it like having another shared episode with him in Season 2, even if you’re once again in different storylines?

Anjelika Washington: Oh, it’s so special. I think since Dr. Mid-Nite and Hourman are, I believe they’re married in the comics. I don’t know why I’m saying I believe that. It is true. They’re married in the comics. They have this yin and yang parallel that I think we might continue throughout the seasons. Well, if I stay alive, I don’t know. I mean, Eclipso kills me in the comics. So that’s also a thing too. So I have no idea what’s going on. But it is fun. It is really fun. However, I never worked with him because he is in his own storyline and I’m in my own storyline. So we share this whole episode where it goes back and forth to me and him, but I don’t have a scene with him.

Generally talking about this season, it’s been so dark and disturbing, and particularly in these middle chunk of episodes, so sad for the characters right now, which is very different from Season 1. How has that impacted you on set and as an actor, if at all?

You know what? I feel like at that time we were filming, we were in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and having no idea what was going on in the world. So it wasn’t too difficult to pull into the sadness, just because the world felt sad. It still feels sad. But I think at that time where we really didn’t know anything, literally September, October of last year, we really had no clue what was going on. And so neither did our characters. So it was pretty easy to just fall into that. And actually, it was a creative outlet for me personally, just because the world felt so heavy and so unknown, it was easy for me to dive into Beth’s feelings, those same feelings of the world is so unknown. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m dealing with racism, and also I’m afraid. So that part was easy. It is very different from Season 1 with how dark it is. But I actually like the darkness.

Beth really gets put through it this week. It almost felt like Little Eclipso’s lines to Beth were lifted straight off some of the conversations that toxic fanboys have about superhero castings… Was that your impression as well, or am I off base?

No, you’re not. I don’t think that that was my personal approach to it, but however, you are correct. I definitely get said all those things on Instagram comments, DMs, in person, all the things. So that’s actually a really great, valid perspective. I do think that that is true. However, the words that Milo [Stein] was saying to me were very important to me that they were words that had been said to me before. So they were particularly hand-picked phrases as things that have been said to me. Even that the older JSA in the dream sequence that Beth is going through where the old JSA is really putting her down. Those are things that had been said to me, as well as Beth and also just as Anjelika. So yeah, they were all really, really important. Obviously, mean, evil things, but that they were real.

To that point, I loved that even though everything he’s saying is pretty grim and it’s really digging into Beth’s character, as soon as he gets into racism, she’s like, “Nope, I’m not taking any of that at all.” And just moves on. The line towards the end of the episode, where she hits back at him saying, “I love being Black,” seems to parallel a lot of what you’ve openly talked about the show and your views on being a superhero.

Well, thank you for catching a lot of that. Yeah. It was really important to me that [we capture] Beth’s experience being a Black superhero, and how different that would be from her [team]-mates and what that would look like for her and her life. And also Eclipso preys on their fears, their biggest fears. And I think that being a Black superhero is something that Beth has thought about, but not anything she’s ever said. So as Eclipso dives into these fears, we get to see a world of what really are all of Beth’s biggest fears. Because she’s so positive and she’s so optimistic and so excited to be a part of the JSA. And none of that goes away, but because she’s really going through the wringer, we get to really experience that. And yes, me personally, the “I love being Black” line was totally me. I’ll take full credit just because it is something that I personally feel.

I do love being Black and I love being a Black woman superhero. I love the fullness of who I am and I love the fullness of who Beth is. And I want people to realize that because she is a Black superhero, she is going to be different, and in the best of ways and I want it to be celebrated. And I wanted Beth to celebrate that as well. And I wanted people to see Beth celebrate that. So every little Black, brown, any color kid watching this show can see that and all be proud of who they are and love who they are. Sometimes we can be proud. We might not love it, but I really wanted Beth to love it. And I really wanted people to see that Beth loves who she is. She loves being Black the same way Anjelika does. And I think that’s the same way everyone who loves me, loves me. We love us for all of who we are.

That ties really well into what seems to happen at the end of the episode, where, versus Yolanda going through this experience and giving up Wildcat and Rick going through this experience and at least now giving up being Hourman… This really feels like the episode where Beth truly becomes Dr. Mid-Nite, almost her origin story in a way. What was it like playing those moments where she’s finally accepting this costume and this identity?

At the end of episode eight where Beth has that moment and she picks up the photo of herself and Dr. McNider says, “It’s you.” And she says, “I’m Dr. Mid-Nite.” The first time I read that I got so emotional because it felt so parallel. Beth’s journey becoming Dr. Mid-Nite, even to Anjelika’s journey and stepping into Dr. Mid-Nite. Because I do read the comments that people write on Instagram sometimes. I try not to, but I do read them. And sometimes the DMs I get, I do read. And oftentimes they’re very mean, and they’re not validating that make me feel like I deserve to be a superhero, that I deserve to even play Dr. Mid-Nite because I don’t fight or I don’t fly or I don’t have super strength or I’m not super fast.

So it was that moment for her and for myself that was really owning who we are and being like, “It’s me.” And also [Charles McNider] giving me the validation that it’s me, that I am the new Dr. Mid-Nite is very special. I feel emotional just talking about it just because it’s so deserved and so well earned. And also, I think people can take with them into that moment where they realize, “Oh, okay, I am worthy of this. I am deserving of this.” Whether it’s being a superhero, whether it’s me being an actor getting to play a superhero, whether it’s you feeling like you are finally deserving and worthy of getting a raise at your job, or buying the car that you want or moving into that new apartment, or health. Treating yourself to that coffee on Friday that you really wanted, or your favorite lunch, or getting a massage. Whatever it is, it’s just reminding ourselves that we are worthy and deserving of our wildest dreams.

And I feel like that was the moment for Beth. When we filmed that I cried. I think I cried three times when we were filming that scene, just because I felt so emotional doing it. Just being like, “Wow.” It almost felt like the first time I got the call when I found out I booked the job. And then it felt like, “Oh, I’m actually filming it now. This is it. I’m actually Dr. Mid-Nite.” So yeah, it’s really special.

On the flip side of things, this is the first time I think again, from a viewer’s perspective, we get to see Beth’s parents be nice to her over the course of the show, towards the end. What’s it been like playing opposite them because honestly there’s a point in the sandwich scene when they say “we got divorced because of Beth” where I almost believed it, because they’ve been so rough on her in the past season and a half?

[Laughs] Yeah. It was scary. When I first read the script and I read that exact line, I also believed it. I was like, “What’s going on here? Hold on. They’re not going to just tell her that.” But working with them has been so, so great. Gilbert [Glenn Brown] and Kron [Moore] are so much fun and they are such great actors. I only hope to work with them again. But Beth’s parents, her relationship with her parents has been very brutal. It has not been like… Most parents I think would be so excited for their kids to want to hang out with them. And my parents just are not. So it has been a wild ride playing Beth with her parents. And I also love that we get to explore that biggest fear for Beth. Because she does love her parents so much. She’s an only child, so all she has really are her parents. You know what I mean?

Her parents are her everything. And for them to say that the biggest disappointment in her life, I think what she’s going through is her parents being divorced and experiencing that or going through a divorce, which is very valid for Beth to feel upset about and scared. And kids already feel like it’s their fault. So for her parents to validate that in that moment and say, “It is your fault. We are getting a divorce because of you,” I think is every child or even just every human’s worst fear. Because no one ever wants to feel like it is actually their fault. Even though you know or you think it is, but you don’t ever want it to actually be that.

But yeah. So we get to see at the end of Episode 8, that was all just a dream. It was just an evil thing that Eclipso was doing to her and it wasn’t real. And thank God, because I don’t know how I would be able to… I mean, I would do it, but it would be really hard to be playing Beth with my parents knowing that actually, I was the reason. It would be a really sad, sad scene we would be shooting. So I’m glad that that isn’t how it ended.

Did you have to deal with those disgusting maggot sandwiches at all? Or was that all in close up so you never had to see them?

No, I did. They were on my plate and I was holding them. And thank you for bringing that up. I almost somehow forgot about out those dang maggots because I just put them so far in the back of my mind so I never had to remember it again. Yeah. I hated it. I don’t like maggots. I don’t like bugs. And funny, because I actually thought they were going to be CGI or something. And then I got to set and they were like, “Okay, Anjelika. So here’s your sandwich. Here is the animal wrangler.” I think is what her job is. I’m not sure. And I remember literally looking [showrunner] Geoff Johns in the face and saying, “The maggots are real?” And he said, “Yes, of course they’re real. Why would they be fake?” And I’m like, “I don’t know. But why are you guys giving me real maggots? I did not think they were going to be real. I thought they were going to be fake or something.”

But they were not fake. They were 100% real. They were on my plate. They were on me. They were falling on me because they move. It was gross. I’m not a fan of them. I’ve begged to do stunts all the time because I never get to do stunts. And they were like, “No stunts for you, but here’s some maggots.” And I’m like, “Cool, not exactly what I asked for, but better than nothing. I’ll take something.” Gross. So yeah, maggots were real, not a fan. Don’t love them. Don’t want them ever. But was fun for an hour. And then I took a shower. I took a really nice, long, hot shower after that.

I’m totally grossed out right now, but thank you, I appreciate the information. Since Beth has figured out, at least in part, how to fight back against Eclipso, how crucial is she going to be to ultimately presumably beating him at the end of the season?

Very valuable. I think people will really get to see how valuable Beth really is to the JSA because of that. Because she does have a mental and emotional toughness that her teammates lack and that they actually fell short to when it came to Eclipso trying to overtake them. And Eclipso actually was able to overtake her teammates, but he wasn’t able to overtake Beth. So I think there will be a new definition to what strength is because people often call Beth Chapel very weak. They say she’s the weakest member of the JSA. But I think that’s all based on opinion. I don’t think strength is always how fast you run and how strong you are and how hard you can punch. Sometimes I think your strength really does come from how mentally strong can you be when you’re put up against your biggest fears.

And I think Beth really shows in Episode 8, how strong she is. And her mental toughness is so valuable to the team that we get to really see that particularly in the finale, how she gets to help her team when they are up against the biggest battle that they’ll probably ever have.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

DC’s Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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