“Batwoman” Episode 215 Recap: The Blame Game

Welcome back, fam! I hope you’re all rested and have had time to process what went down in the last episode. As with the last Batwoman recap, there will be some discussions of systemic violence against Black people, so please, take care of yourselves.

Previously on Batwoman, ACAB. Also there were some cannibals, Ocean killed Dr. Rhyme in an attempt to prove his love for Alice by controlling how she handles Kate being alive (??), Sophie officially joined the Bat Team, and the Crows shot Luke because racism. Also ACAB.

I don’t know about y’all, but I haven’t been able to get the previous episode’s final scene out of my head, so it was extra jarring to see it played out again at the beginning of this week’s episode. This time though, we also see the immediate aftermath of the shooting; paramedics come and rush Luke to the hospital and right into surgery. Meanwhile at Crows HQ, a group of white men, including Commander Kane, discuss the circumstances of the shooting. Tavaroff sits there looking as smug as all heck while he explains that he and his partner saw a suspicious man next to a car whose alarm was blaring. He claims that the man pulled a gun, so they shot him before he could fire on them. And the confidence with which that lie, that indictment on Luke, rolled off Tavaroff’s tongue sent chills down my spine. It’s the confidence in a system built to protect the man who shoots an unarmed Black person with almost no questions asked; confidence that doesn’t waver at the mention of a body cam review; confidence that is repeatedly earned.

As Luke is being wheeled into surgery, his subconscious walks into a very well-lit version of Wayne Enterprises. He sees the silhouette of a man standing out on the balcony and realizes he’s finally in the same room with father for the first time since the elder Fox’s murder.

At the real Wayne Enterprises, Mary and Ryan walk — no no, they WALK (there’s so much power walking in this episode y’all, whew! — down to the Batcave while talking through what happened and questioning why Luke didn’t call in the threat. Mary instructs Batwoman to deal with Eli, the guy from their holding cell, while she focuses on saving Luke’s life with the Desert Rose. Look, it’s no secret that Mary is the backbone of the Bat Team, but the way she commands every single interaction in this episode shows exactly why.

Meanwhile, Alice is still at Dr. Rhyme’s office because remember how her kind of boyfriend, Ocean, snapped the doc’s neck just as she was about to give Alice the password to unlock Kate’s memories? Yeah, me and Alice too. Alice is going through Rhyme’s files and notices that for some curious reason, the doc marked all of the Kane family files for Sionis aka Black Mask. Ocean comes back to get rid of Rhyme’s body and Alice reveals that she’s Riddler’s daughter. Real quick — that wasn’t explicitly stated before this, right? The question mark on her cane felt like a heavy clue, but I don’t think anyone ever said it. I know it’s a small thing, but I love the nods and allusions to Batman/DC lore sprinkled throughout the series. Anyway, Alice is still rightfully pissed that Ocean kept her from unlocking Kate’s memories and somehow Ocean doubles down on not actually caring about what Alice wants?! I can’t believe I was rooting for this man at some point. Thankfully, Alice doesn’t wait around for him and heads to take care of things on her own.

Even though all the commercials were hyping up the release of In the Heights, Ryan seems to be more excited about the upcoming Fast 9 movie, because she’s speeding through Gotham, chasing after Eli who’s in a stolen car. Once she catches him (with a DOPE Batmobile grapple), she accuses him of shooting Luke, but he explains it was the Crows who did it. And Ryan does that thing where she questions how Luke is in a hospital bed and Eli is free to roam and thieve all he wants. Because it doesn’t and shouldn’t make sense for an innocent man to be fighting for his life while a guilty one faces no consequences. Every single cast member brought their acting A-game last night and I’ll try not to shout about every time they slay a scene, but Javicia Leslie’s almost innocent questioning conveyed just how unjust the situation is. And then Eli blames Luke. You heard that right — he blames Luke for being stupid enough to grab his phone. For voicing his intent to show video evidence of his innocence and then moving to do so. I don’t think I need to explain how and why this hits so hard, but y’all, Black people just want to live. For once, we’d like the presumption to be “cell phone” instead of “gun.”

Back at Purgatory Enterprises, Luke is trying to get his dad’s attention when Bruce Wayne shows up and tells Luke that he’s been shot and that he has a choice to make about what happens next.

Has Gotham’s Only Reporter Dana gotten a raise yet? I swear, that woman works harder than any White House Press Sec ever has (except Jen Psaki. She’s an angel.) Anyway, Mary’s watching Dana’s coverage of an anti-Crows protest while she distills the Desert Rose down to a form that can be injected into Luke. Ryan hilariously can’t figure out the Bat computer at first, but then uses it to look up Tavaroff and his laundry list of offenses. Mary decides to call Sophie while Bulletproof Ryan heads to take on the trigger happy douchecanoe.

I know I said I wouldn’t keep yelling about this cast’s performances this week but well, I lied. Because Rachel Fucking Skarsten. The way Alice saunters into Wayne tower, purposely triggers the intruder alarm, and waves into the security camera while Mary makes her way upstairs with a taser??? *chef’s kiss* Alice is there to ask about Circe, but Mary has never heard of the supermodel-esque assassin. The two banter for a bit and Alice even gives Mary, the step-Kane, a new nickname: “Steppy.” Mary admits that even though she hates Alice, she also knows that she’s in love and that’s something everyone deserves.

Meanwhile, Tavaroff is skulking around an alley when Batwoman swoops in and attacks. Y’all, I will truly never tire of foes getting so frustrated by this Black woman being bulletproof; it’s wonderful. I know Black Lightning is over, but if we can get Diggle next week, then I don’t see why Anissa can’t hop over to The Hold Up to laugh with Ryan over people’s faces when they realize they can’t shoot them. Tavaroff doesn’t understand why Batwoman even cares about what happened to Luke. Aside from not knowing the connection between the two, what Tavaroff fails to grasp is that this fight belongs to Batwoman the same way George Floyd’s fight belongs to me. As Black people, we often don’t have the luxury of choosing our battles (aside from much-deserved mental health breaks, of course) because non-Black people sure as hell don’t choose which of us to attack. We’re not a monolith, but we do and will fight as one. That’s what Ryan conveys when she tells him that this fight is in her DNA. She doesn’t get to say much else because before long, Tavaroff’s goons show up and run her under with an SUV.

Down in their subway car, Alice meets up with Ocean and she can’t figure out why he’s stuck around despite everything she’s done to push him away. She asks if he’s a masochist or if he just hates himself, but take it from me, sweetie, two things can be true. Much like the USPS, not attempted murder, nor actual murder, nor betrayal will stop Ocean from delivering on his promise to keep Alice from what she truly wants while calling it love. Alice is no stranger to gaslighting or imprisonment though; it’s all she’s known until now when freedom is at her fingertips. She questions why she should have to choose when she could have it all, and if Ocean actually loved her, he would want that for her too. He doesn’t answer though. He kisses her and we’re left to wonder if it means that he agrees or that he is once again manipulating Alice’s feelings.

Sophie arrives at the Batcave to help (I love that she can just come and go as she pleases now) Ryan who is recovering from the Crows attack. Meanwhile, Mary is STRUTTING down the hospital hallway on a mission to charm her way into Luke’s room. She’s thwarted by some Crows on order from Commander Kane though, rendering her “do you know who I am” attempts useless.

Back in the Batcave, Sophie and Ryan watch the newly released body cam footage that has been doctored to show Luke pulling a gun from his jacket rather than the cell phone that was actually in his hand. The gun they photoshopped was one used in a recent string of robberies, ensuring Luke would be booked as soon as he wakes up. Ryan is distraught by this knowledge coupled with the fact that Mary wasn’t able to inject the Desert Rose. Sophie explains that they still have a shot to save Luke because the original footage won’t be wiped from Crows servers until 3am. Ryan turns her anger toward Sophie and lights her up over waiting so long to quit the Crows. Soph knows that Ryan doesn’t actually think this is the former Crow’s fault and calls her on it. And the way Javicia Leslie’s voice breaks when Ryan tells Sophie that she believes it’s her fault Luke got shot?? It broke every part of my heart. Ryan blames herself because she called Luke a privileged bystander and she thinks that’s why he didn’t call in the robbery. I understand the impulse, but the sad truth is that this could have happened to Luke whether or not he made the call.

And speaking of Luke, he finally realizes that he’s in his subconscious and Bruce tells him that a machine is keeping him alive. He has two choices: attempt to stay alive or stay here, talk to his dad, and die.

At Crows HQ, Sophie tries to convince Kane to look deeper into Tavaroff and of course, the Commander attempts to turn the convo back on Sophie, her recent resignation, and his disappointment that she wouldn’t come to him first. Well tough noogies, bro.

Soph reminds him of a time airtight evidence appeared when they tracked down a rapist they knew was guilty. If it happened then, who’s to say that’s not what happened here? She leaves him to consider how many more people could die if he doesn’t get his head out of his ass. Or something like that. On her way out of the building, she hacks into their security feed to set the team’s plan in motion.

And in motion it is! Wolf Spider is back and they’re swinging into Luke’s room while Mary expertly distracts the guards again. Wolf Spider successfully injects Luke with the Desert Rose and meets Mary back inside as Evan, ready to flirt with Luke as soon as he wakes up.

But Luke is still in the in-between trying to get a hold of his dad. He can’t touch Bruce anymore though because the Desert Rose has started to do its healing thang.

Back at HQ, Commander Kane questions Tavaroff about how it’s possible the Luke went from someone with nary a parking ticket to his name, to full on GTA and possessing an illegal firearm. He then suspends Tavaroff who pistol whips Kane because white bois gonna white boi, I suppose.

As Batwoman heads to delete the bodycam footage, Sophie updates her on Luke’s condition. Of course the bodycam files aren’t saved by date and before the two can figure out a plan, Sophie sees Tavaroff dragging the Commander away and asks Ryan to switch gears to save him. I really wished Ryan had continued to attempt to save Luke, but it looks like they’re heading toward a redemption arc for Kane and I, for one, am not here for it.

Tavaroff has Kane tied up, about to inject him with a lethal dose of Snakebite, when Batwoman swings in and takes down the entire murder of crows. She unties Kane and makes sures he knows what it cost her to save his life. He admits, much like many people in my DMs last summer, that he didn’t realize it was this bad; that the corruption and systemic racism ran so deep. Batwoman demands that he take this chance to burn it all down, lest he be complicit in whatever happens next.

Ryan and Mary are at Luke’s bedside unsure what’s taking so long for him to wake up. While they wait, they see Bad Dad Kane giving a press conference where admits that the bodycam footage was doctored, takes full responsibility, apologizes to the Fox family and shuts down the Crows. And OF COURSE, we overhear that the first question he receives after making that announcement is about Gotham’s security. Y’ALL STILL GOT REGULAR COPS OMG. I’m sorry, this has been a long time coming and I cannot even feign caring about the dismantling of this organization.

More importantly, Javicia Leslie and Nicole Kang prove yet again why this cast it top notch. Ryan and Mary beg Luke to wake up because they need him. They need him with every fiber of their beings and Mary, specifically, needs him more than I think even she and her one single tear realized.

Luke’s not quite ready yet though. Bruce tells him that of course nothing about this situation is fair. Look at all the Good that Luke has done and yet because he’s Black, he’s fighting for his life after a brutal police attack. Luke is tired, y’all.

He’s tired of living in a world where even when you do whatever “they” think is “right” or “good”, this could still happen. He asks Bruce, “What’s the point?” and the way I felt that question deep in my soul. I think almost every Black person has felt that soul-crushing exhaustion that comes from simply existing in a country that does its best to convince us we are less-than. Waking up tired of being afraid to wear a hoodie or a backpack; doing emotional labor for our non-Black friends who we know mean well; showing up and showing out at work when on the inside we are screaming. It is exhausting. And just like that, Luke is a kid again. A kid who just wants the safety of his dad’s embrace. But as soon as he makes the decision to leave and his father begins to turn toward him, Luke wakes up in the real world and sees the faces of his friends looking down at him.

I’ve done a lot of yelling about the women in this episode, and I almost never give a man credit for anything, but Camrus Johnson put his all into the few scenes he was in, and I’m going to be thinking about his delivery of “What’s the point?” for a very long time.

Back at Crows HQ, Jacob packs up his things and is met by Sophie who tells him he made the right decision. Down in the parking garage, Alice has managed to break in, quip about the weak Crows security, and update her father on Kate being alive. Again. Look, I hope that Alice gets what she needs from Jacob but all I’m going to say about any possible redemption for him is…I don’t want it.

But next week, Diggle!!

What did y’all think of the follow up to the previous episode? Sound off in the comments, and I’ll see ya next week!