It’s reunion time at Wayne tower! Mary runs to her sister and wraps her up in the biggest hug, but Kate doesn’t recognize her. Mary hides her disappointment with the understanding that of course Kate’s memory wouldn’t come back to her all at once.
While Kate gets a drink, Ryan fills Mary in on the fact that Alice and Jacob are working together and Mary responds much the way I’ve responded to everything in the last year: “Literally, what is happening?”
And then, because the wardrobe department loves me I guess, Sophie saunters in wearing a cuffed blazer and the face of someone who thought they’d never see the love of their life again. Before Ryan can even fully warn Sophie that Kate might not be the Kate that Sophie remembers, Kate walks right into Sophie’s arms with love and recognition. Remember a few episodes ago when Alice needed to get the one thing Kate couldn’t deny in order to shake her memory? Remember when we were all like LOL I BET SOPHIE IS HER ONE THING? WELP!
“Is it just me or does she look MORE like Alice’s twin now?”
“Shit, now what am I gonna do about this Ryan crush…”
I assume Kate is overwhelmed by Sophie’s beauty, because her head starts to hurt and in her brain, Tiny Kate in a Tie is fighting with Circe Sionis in a White Jacket for control. In the real world, Kate tries to attack Mary but of course Mary keeps a syringe full of benzos in her boot, and uses it to subdue her sister.
Sophie wants to save Alice in order to help Kate and Ryan realizes that the only thing that could possibly get Safiyah to agree would be to trade the Desert Rose for Alice. Mary knows how much that plant means to Ryan and tries to change her mind, but Ryan hopes this will show Luke how badly they need him.
“You’re gonna do WHAT?”
And speaking of Luke, he’s getting one of those patented John Diggle pep talks in the alley. The two bond over losing their fathers suddenly and how the unanswered questions weigh heavily on them. This episode had way more dudes than usual, but I do appreciate giving Luke the opportunity to process what happened with another Black man. Luke is angry and refuses to ignore that feeling, so Diggle tells him that he should do the opposite; use that anger to win the fight he’s been running from his whole life. We find out Diggle is also in town for a neuro appointment at Gotham General, and then the Batsignal starts to flicker in Morse code: “Need Fox help.”
Back to Dana who’s outside GCPD reporting on Jacob’s arrest. Bad Dad uses this opportunity to prove that maybe he’s not such a bad dad after all, and tells everyone watching that Alice isn’t a monster; that she’s a victim and a person with humanity; that she’s his daughter Beth. And look, I still hate Jacob Kane, but if he gets to make sure Alice hears exactly what she’s always needed to hear, while also being locked up?? I’ll take it.
“He looks like my dad… but he sounds like someone who gives a fuck.”
Down in the Batcave, the crew is back together again!! Mary’s fixing up Luke’s cuts while he insists Tavaroff looks a lot worse than he does. Ryan and Mary explain that they need Luke’s help to save Alice which is pretty much the opposite of anything they’ve ever done, so Luke is skeptical. And for the 27th time this episode, someone says “Kate’s still alive.”
Meanwhile, Safiyah and her ever-present glass of wine tell Alice that there’s nothing left of Coryana thanks to Alice’s fiery tantrum. Before they can kiss (hmm? what? who said that?), Batwoman shows up with the Desert Rose front and center as a peace offering. And Safiyah is floored by the idea that someone could commit such a selfless act to save the person who is the very reason Ryan clings to the plant as a memory of Mama Cora. I can’t help but remember the first few episodes of the season when Ryan was convinced she was unworthy of taking up the mantle. How could someone like her live up to the legacy that Kate Kane created? Honestly, I’d argue that Ryan not only lived up to it, but she surpassed it in a way Kate just couldn’t. And that’s not Kate’s fault. Ryan has lived a life that Kate Kane just hasn’t, and she brings all of that lived experience to the cowl. She knows what it’s like to be the person who society looks down on, and that allows her to empathize with the very people she helps. Kate Kane created Batwoman and the symbol that goes along with the mantle; but right here, Ryan proves exactly why she IS Batwoman.
Ryan. is. Batwoman.
Safiyah lets Alice go, but not before reminding her that she doesn’t actually get to have it all. Alice realizes that Tatyana isn’t there and that she’s probably doing something terrible to Ocean.
Back at the loft, Sophie is watching Kate sleep like some kind of Clarke, when Kate jolts awake and then is so quietly remorseful about attacking Mary. She looks in the mirror and has no idea whose face is looking back at her. As Kate and Circe battle it out in her mind, Kate tells Sophie to get her the vodka she keeps in her office.
“Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?”
Alice is preoccupied with Ocean not answering and Ryan could not care less about something because she absolutely didn’t give up her plant for a stupid boy. And for some reason that I still can’t figure out, Alice chooses Ocean over Kate.
The only explanation I can grasp onto is that Kate isn’t the only one engaged in a mental battle right now. Alice has spent most of her life convinced that she’s the problem and the disappointment who doesn’t deserve love. And then for a split second, she thought she had it all. She danced away from Safiyah thinking she’d won, and then Safiyah brought her crashing back down to reality. So the old Alice snuck her way back into New Content Alice’s brain and convinced her that she is the disappointment everyone believes her to be. So she heads to the tunnels, runs into Tatyana and kills her, and then crumbles as she finds Ocean’s dead body. Homeboy has hurt Alice enough times for me to not lose sleep over his death, but I’m sad that Alice is sad.
“He’s just a stupid boy!”
Meanwhile, Snakebite Jake is on the phone with Mary and tells her that he got transferred to Man Pain Metropolis. He finally realizes what his twin daughters went through and also realizes what we’ve all known this whole time: Mary is going to save us all.
Luke and Ryan head back to The Hold Up, but before they go see Kate upstairs, Ryan stops and apologizes to Luke for what happened to him, but not for making sure he lived. “You’re not leaving me,” she says, and I definitely didn’t cry. Nope. Luke gives her the sweetest smirk and wraps her up in a hug. When the two make it upstairs, they’re greeted by a frantic Sophie looking for Kate who is nowhere to be found.
Found family feelings.
And that’s because dear dear CirceKate is back at the Sionis mansion asking who she is and why she has Kate Kane’s memories. Roman attempts to gaslight her by saying she’s having an episode, but she stabs him through the hand before Safiyah steps in and threatens to tell CirceKate exactly what happened.
“Why is my reflection someone I don’t know?”
The preview for next week appears to show Ryan relinquishing the cowl to Kate, and I’ll admit, I was a little worried. But in case I didn’t make it clear enough above, Ryan Wilder IS Batwoman, and I’m choosing to believe that the show is going to stand by that decision.
See y’all next week!
Pages: 1 2See entire article on one page
Upfront comment: this show, S2, is insane . . . in (almost) the best possible ways. *
* I say “almost” because look: we reunited to female “loves of their lives” . . . and STILL no kissing! [And don’t say “COVID”, unless we’re to believe that ONLY La Skarsten and guy-who-plays-dear-departed-(for real this time?)-Ocean (sorry I never learned his name) were the only 2 in the cast vaccinated by this time?]
Oh, one other upfront comment/spec: if Alice made CirceKate’s face (from a photo no less) shouldn’t Alice be more than able to make a KateKate face? [And what excuse will they find for that NOT happening? I did notice that, WD in the Circe mugshots (of course), she didn’t seem to have brown eyes (in WD’s case, brown contacts). Considering that Alice recognized the non-Circe-ness of the burn victim in front of her by the lack of those brown eyes, seems a bit more than trivial oopsie!)
Oh, and yet another upfront re that reunion: wouldn’t have “Crowphie” had some professional awareness of the insane criminal Circe Sionis? But she didn’t bat (!) an eye at that face!
OK, I’m really going back to read the recap now… ;-X
* “I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend.” Is that your photo tag, Nic? Because Holy Golden Oldies (just like me), Bat(woman)! Love that song…
* [Seems to be photo tag day for me] “Safiyah is back and ready to read these Gotham men for filth.” Damn, why does Safiyah have to be so evil? Considering every time she (meaning Shivaani Ghai) opens her mouth, aural sex (suggestive of the homynym!) comes out? Gah, that accent. Talk to me, Shivaani…
* But the best part of kidnapping CirceKate? Alice’s “Yoga pants? It’s worse than I thought!” RS is fab, for sure, but we have to credit the writers for giving Alice all the best lines!
* “Ocean’s face turn happened so fast that I was convinced I missed something between last episode and this one….by the end of this episode, it’s clear why they needed us to be Team Ocean again.”
All of this. Combined w/ the (gotta say it) wooden performance and lack of chemistry, Ocean never seemed more than a running plot device to me. “Alice is straight” (sayeth show runner)?: yeah, still not really seeing the evidence. [More upon another character’s alleged “straightness” in a half a sec.]
* “Mary and Ryan’s Friendship™ has always been very important to me”.
Me too . . . except in my headcanon, it’s “Mary and Ryan’s ‘Friendship'” (can I get a separate ™?). Yeah, so in that “OutFest” panel last week, Javicia expressed surprise that some fans {raises hand} were shipping Ryan w/ Mary [Moderator of the panel let out a “Yes!” at that]. La Leslie: “But Mary is straight!” Ahem—evidence unseen, girlfriend.
Yeah, yeah, yeah: I’ll be the dyke re whom The Straights say “you think every female is NOT straight.” To that I plead . . . NOT Guilty! [Nia Nal on Supergirl? Adorbz to the moon & back—but straight. Brainia is Endgame.]
But I see what I see, y’know? What’s there in front of me. And I simply don’t see Straight Mary. [While I do see Mary&Ryan CHEMISTRY, galore! Galore, as in p***y. As in, I’m hungry, aren’t you two, too?] Moving on!
* “Meanwhile, a street clothes-laden Luke Fox”: so cute in his lil’ cap.
* “they have a literal evil twin”: from what I understand, Mistress Eye-Gouge, I’m not sure you have standing to talk.
* “bringing Kate’s memory back with a mug and a heart-wrenching story about Kate’s crush on a sk8er girl. Kate was so excited because the girl liked her back, but she was afraid to come out; even to her twin, the most important person in the world to her. Beth wanted Kate to know that she knew and she loved her, all of her, so she made her a mug with “Mind Reader” painted on it in rainbow colors.”
This scene. Someone’s cutting onions. [Sigh, never have I more wished I’d had an understanding twin at that age. Then maybe my life… nevermind.]
* “Kate, who now has a shocking amount of emotional range” {insert Latrice Royale “The Shade of It All!” GIF ;-/ }
* “Mary is understandably freaked out considering the number of times someone has claimed her sister is still alive. (PS — say “parietal bone” again, Mary.”
And say “Julia” again. Will SHE ever be taken out of her Dear-Departed-Enigma haze (We don’t have to guess, we saw it. Aided by an injection from her Riddler cane), or is she being memory-holed? (so to speak)
* “so Ryan offers her a ride, as you do”
I know we’re building to the Ryan is a Big Fucking Hero (and NO ONE Ever Motherfucking Doubt It!) ending, but I just wanted to give shout-out #1 here
* ” Luke wins with a straight; something rarely seen on this show.” LOL, but in the (alleged!) case of Mary and Alice, Still! Too! Often! ;-D
[This comment is growing…well, to about the size of my Batwoman obsession. So posting now, more later]
* Mary responds much the way I’ve responded to everything in the last year: “Literally, what is happening?”
100%
* “Sophie saunters in wearing a cuffed blazer and the face of someone who thought they’d never see the love of their life again.”
And no triggering at seeing the love of their life wearing the face of Circe Sionis. Which, admittedly, might not be at the level of Gabrielle seeing Xena wearing Callisto’s face, but still. O_o
* “Is it just me or does she look MORE like Alice’s twin now?”
LOL, a couple of shout-outs to my favorite Batwoman reaction podcaster, Anna. [Find her on YT here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcCPPUf7fNt1ZxtToM0IIdg ] 1) She called for Wallis Day to be recast as Kate Kane within about a week or so of RR’s announcement she was leaving (saying that WD “looks a lot like Rachel Skarsten”), and 2) in her most recent pod (last week) calling for, between/among Sophie/Kate/Ryan, “the lesbian love triangle I deserve”. LOL, So Say We All!
* “And speaking of Luke, he’s getting one of those patented John Diggle pep talks in the alley.”
If you say so (re patented). As someone who only knows Diggle from Supergirl & Batwoman crossovers, I’m a little fuzzy on who he is (from The Flash? Green Arrow? Both?). I did do a double take, when he talked about Luke seeing his father. He knew that (Luke told him off camera), or just guessed? [Helluva guess!]. He certainly seemed to be who Luke needed, at that moment.
* “look, I still hate Jacob Kane, but if he gets to make sure Alice hears exactly what she’s always needed to hear, while also being locked up?? I’ll take it.”
Same. [Though admittedly, I didn’t really NEED Jacob locked up, just gone. But locked up is cool.]
* “Before they can kiss (hmm? what? who said that?)” LOL. Chemistry-wise, would have dug Alice kissing Sophie. But I defy ANY woman to stay “straight”, when Safiyah is in front of them, and talking!
* “Honestly, I’d argue that Ryan not only lived up to it, but she surpassed it in a way Kate just couldn’t. And that’s not Kate’s fault. Ryan has lived a life that Kate Kane just hasn’t, and she brings all of that lived experience to the cowl. She knows what it’s like to be the person who society looks down on, and that allows her to empathize with the very people she helps. Kate Kane created Batwoman and the symbol that goes along with the mantle; but right here, Ryan proves exactly why she IS Batwoman.”
Applause, applause!
* “Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?” Sing out, Xtina!
* “Ryan could not care less about something because she absolutely didn’t give up her plant for a stupid boy.” Yup. “And for some reason that I still can’t figure out, Alice chooses Ocean over Kate.”
OK, I _get_ the Tatiana-May-Be/Definitely-Is-Killing-Ocean panic (Hell, even if I don’t ship them, I generally do not favor murder). But this is a guy that Kate never even knew about (what w/ Alice being under a Enigma-Mind-Wipe about him all S1). Oy vey, drama.
* “then Safiyah brought her crashing back down to reality. So the old Alice snuck her way back into New Content Alice’s brain and convinced her that she is the disappointment everyone believes her to be. So she heads to the tunnels, runs into Tatyana and kills her, and then crumbles as she finds Ocean’s dead body. Homeboy has hurt Alice enough times for me to not lose sleep over his death, but I’m sad that Alice is sad.”
Get out of my head, Nic! Seriously, really well-said.
* “He finally realizes what his twin daughters went through and also realizes what we’ve all known this whole time: Mary is going to save us all.”
OK, Yes. But damn, the way he phrased it? “I never worried about you before, and I’m not about to start now.” Jacob-Kane-is-The-Worst! [Alright, maybe I did need him locked up.]
* “Found family feelings.” LOL, in that scene/shot, I admit I (once again!) found my “Family” feelings for Ryan. (Dat Ass!) ;-)
* “Safiyah steps in and threatens to tell CirceKate exactly what happened”
But will she? Really? Safiyah’s track record re “every woman should get to choose who they want to be” is, like, ZERO. [Go Ask Alice!]
* “The preview for next week appears to show Ryan relinquishing the cowl to Kate, and I’ll admit, I was a little worried. But in case I didn’t make it clear enough above, Ryan Wilder IS Batwoman, and I’m choosing to believe that the show is going to stand by that decision.”
I’m worried, too . . . but not for the reason you are. I don’t have any doubts at all that Ryan is Staying (Dafuq) Batwoman. But I fear further shoes are going to drop re Kate. How dangerous would a (confirmed Circe-)Kate be, running around in the cowl, w/ Batwoman’s (Batwomen’s!) toys? And Bat Team support (Until. It’s. Too. Late)?
Whose life would be at risk (beginning w/ Kate herself. Did the “Kate won’t die” promise only hold for the plane crash, and thereabouts)? PROBABLY all the regulars are safe (“safe”, as in physically). But if anyone even slightly peripheral shows up (I can think of one in particular), I’m going to fear they’re wearing the proverbial Red Shirt. [I have a terrible track record on predicting things, when I combine “Ryan Staying Batwoman (singular)” w/ “(Circe?)Kate in the Batcave, being given cowl&toys”, I just have a Really Bad Feeling about this.] Whatever shit goes down, maybe this is a job for…
…Batwing?
MediMary calling the paw-rye-et-ul bone of the skull the pear-ee-etal bone made no sense..at first. Then I remembered a professor of mine who called the skeleton the skee-late-tonne so my love/crush of Mary remains in tact! Whew, dodged that kryptonite bullet.
Love your articles Nic and that’s no poor attempt at humor!
I hope Ocean stays dead this time. (No offense to any Ocean fans out there, but the character is just plain flat to me at this point)
Similarly, I hope Bad Dad stays off our screens for a dang minute. I can tell they’re going to bring him back eventually, but I sure wish they would not. Leave us be to enjoy our amazing queer women characters in peace, goddamnit!!! Ideally with storylines in which there is plenty of kissing and no one is traumatized further. (Maybe I will need to turn to fanfic to fulfill this wish, anyone got some good recs?)
Poor Luke. This character arc is reminiscent of Buffy Season 6, except less fantastical and (as you say Nic) much more grounded in the reality of Black experience in this country.
“And for some reason that I still can’t figure out, Alice chooses Ocean over Kate.”
Hum, I’m sorry, if I had to pick between going to rescue my boy/girl friend who is as we are speaking very likely being killed, or going to help my sister who has forgotten who she is and needs me to remember but is currently (to my knowledge) safe with her sister and her love-of-her-life AND about to be joined by Batwoman… I mean it’s more a case of an emergency vs an ASAP than an Ocean vs Kate IMO. I have full confidence Kate was her next step. Now of course with Ocean dead, who knows where that girl will be at…