Warning: SPOILERS for Stargirl season 1, episode 4, "Wildcat".
DC Universe's Stargirl season 1, episode 4, "Wildcat" created a new background for its take on Wildcat, which was steeped in the ideals of the #MeToo movement. In doing this, the series has established itself as far deeper than the standard superhero show, showing a willingness to tackle topical issues and controversial current events.
The second hero to use the code name Wildcat, Yolanda Montez was originally introduced into the DC Comics universe in Infinity Inc. #12 in March 1985. Yolanda was the goddaughter of the original Wildcat, Ted Grant, and a superhuman whose metagene was triggered through the experiments a mad doctor conducted on her mother. This gave Yolanda enhanced agility and cat-like reflexes, as well as retractable claws. She took up the Wildcat mantle with Ted Grant's blessing and served with distinction until she was killed by the villain Eclipso.
Stargirl season 1, episode 4, "Wildcat" was largely devoted to the background of Earth-2's Yolanda Montez, who didn't have a relationship with Ted Grant in this reality. Episode 4's opening had a montage set three months before Courtney Whitmore and her family moved to Blue Valley, Nebraska, which showed how Yolanda was once a happy, popular girl who was dating star football player Henry King Jr. and running for Class President. That all changed when Henry asked her to send him a nude selfie, and she complied. The photo wound up in the clutches of Yolanda's rival, Cindy Burman, who forwarded the picture to all of their classmates during an assembly while Yolanda was addressing the entire school. Dumped by Henry (who began dating Cindy) and disgraced in the eyes of her family and classmates, Yolanda withdrew from high school life apart from the one outlet she had left - boxing.
It was her talent for fighting that inspired Courtney to approach Yolanda about becoming the new Wildcat and be part of the new Justice Society of America that she was trying to build. At first Yolanda wasn't interested, until Courtney revealed that she had been responsible for destroying Henry King Jr.'s car while he was bullying other kids at the local drive-in. Courtney also empathized with Yolanda's being slut-shamed, saying that she couldn't believe everyone was treating her like a criminal when it was Henry who betrayed her trust. Yolanda reluctantly agreed to help Courtney with a mission to infiltrate the local hospital and she donned the Wildcat costume which, in this reality, was the source of her retractable claws and superhuman dexterity. The adventure awakened something in Yolanda, who thanked Courtney for the opportunity but said she needed to become comfortable being Yolanda Montez again before she could begin to think about taking on another identity.
Inspired, Yolonda went before her family and humbled herself, begging for their forgiveness but boldly asserting that she felt she had been punished enough and that she wanted things to go back to the way they were before, when her family looked at her with pride on their faces instead of disgust. Sadly, it was in this moment that Stargirl established that it was not going to be a schmaltzy family drama where all the problems are resolved in an hour with one heart-felt speech. Her mother rejected the apology, saying that Yolanda could never return to being the person she had been and that she would always be a disgrace to their family. This goaded Yolanda into becoming the new Wildcat in earnest, deciding that if she couldn't go back to being who she was then she would, much like Oliver Queen in Arrow, become someone else.
The drama based around Yolanda's choices and the neglect she suffers because of her family is far darker than one usually expects from superhero shows or high school drama, which Stargirl superficially resembles. It bodes well for the future of the series that the writers are willing to tackle issues such as revenge-porn in a mature fashion that avoids easy answers or feel-good endings. Hopefully the high-quality writing in "Wildcat" is just a sample of what's in store for the rest of Stargirl season 1.