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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
