Plot
As the city waits with baited breath for Batman to make another appearance, Alice continues to taunt Kate but also sets her sights on Jacob and Catherine. Meanwhile, Sophie is assigned to act as Mary's personal bodyguard, as the whole Kane-Hamilton family is invited to the penthouse of Tommy Elliot, who is celebrating his new building and being able to look down on his old friend Bruce Wayne in every sense of the word. And a new villain tries to lure Batman out and may be responsible for stealing the only weapon capable of killing Batman from Wayne Enterprises.
Influences
Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams and Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee.
Goofs
Why doesn't anyone else in Gotham City (like the police, for instance), respond to the Bat-Signal being lit and used to make shadow puppets on the Wayne Enterprises building?
It's a little hard to believe that any version of Batman would ever commission a special gun to be the only weapon capable of destroying his armor, in case it ever fell into the wrong hands.
Kate reasons that Alice can't have been the one to steal the rail gun, because the person who did that would have to know Bruce Wayne is Batman and have a reason to need that specific gun. Given that Alice knows that Kate is Batwoman and that she's been hanging around Wayne Enterprises a lot lately, it wouldn't take much for Alice to figure that out.
The idea that The Riddler knows Batman's secret identity in this reality and hasn't broadcast that information to the world also flies in the face of everything we know about the character.
Where did a real estate guy like Tommy Elliot learn to fight as good as Kate Kane?
Performances
Rachel Skarsten continues to be a delight as Alice, getting some wonderful moments of silent acting in this episode as she wanders around the Kane-Hamilton penthouse.
Artistry
The script is a smartly written affair, which credits it main hero and villain with being brilliant. Kate is shown to be no mean detective and Alice manipulates Jacob and Catherine expertly.
Bat Trivia
This episode introduces the Arrowverse version of Tommy Elliot - a real estate mogul who is obsessed with becoming richer than Bruce Wayne and building a bigger building than the Wayne Enterprises tower so he can finally look down on Bruce Wayne. Once a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, he became obsessed with Batman after he saved Tommy's mother from dying in the same car crash that killed Tommy's father. Nobody suspected that Tommy had planned to kill his parents to inherit their fortune. He later learned Batman's secret identity and plotted to lure Batman out of hiding so he could kill Bruce for forcing him to take care of his invalid mother for 13 years.
In the original comics, Tommy Elliot was a medical doctor rather than a real estate mogul and his obsession with destroying Bruce Wayne came after Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne, saved the life of Tommy Elliot's mother in surgery after Tommy failed to kill both his parents in a car crash. He became jealous of Bruce inheriting his family's fortune after his parents tragic deaths and became obsessed with avenging himself on Bruce because he got everything that Tommy wanted. This led Tommy to try and hire the Riddler (who had just deduced Batman's secret identity) to kill Bruce Wayne, but Riddler instead mentored Tommy in the art of being a supervillain and helped him adopt the alias of Hush.
Tommy Elliot quotes a line by Aristole; "What is a friend? A single sole dwelling in two bodies." This line was also quoted in the original Batman: Hush storyline.
In a nod to the original Hush story, Tommy Elliot says he learned who Batman is by paying a man to "riddle me the answer." This is a clear nod to Edward Nygma, aka The Riddler, who did tell Tommy Elliot that Bruce Wayne was Batman in the comics.
The playing cards Alice leaves on Catherine Kane-Hamilton's make-up table are the 2 of Hearts, 8 of Clubs and 3 of Diamonds. In cartography, the 2 of Hearts can signify either marriage, deep love between two people (like twins) or bad news. The 8 of Clubs can signify either success in business after hardship or a woman who is working against your interests. The 3 of Diamonds represents financial success or that you will soon be working with a family member on a new project.
Technobabble
One of the items in Wayne Enterprises' Advanced Weaponry Vault which gets Kate's attention is a two-way grappling hook.
The Bat-Suit is made up of military-grade kevlar woven with enriched carbon nano-tubes. The fabric was designed by Lucius Fox. It can absorb the impact of a Desert Eagle Mark IX, though Kate notes it still stings the wearer.
The weapon stolen from Wayne R&D is a rail gun with a parallel conductor that generates a pulsed force of electromagnetism, accelerating the velocity of the projectile. It's the most lethal weapon that Bruce Wayne ever had commissioned, designed specifically to be capable of penetrating the Bat-Suit if it was ever stolen.
Mary determines that one of the elevator victims is suffering from a subdural or an epidural hemorrhage.
The Bat-Suit contains a disruptor in the gauntlet that can be used to disrupt energy weapons like the rail gun. It needs to be charged ahead of time, however, and requires 30 seconds to charge once expended.
Dialogue Triumphs
Kate (V/O): Alice figured me out, Bruce. I put on your suit to terrify her, but it can't protect me if she knows who I am. I lost my advantage. And in the process, I gave Gotham their hero back. I didn't sign up for this part. I never meant to give the city so much hope. I can't do this. I'm not you.
(Kate walks towards Alice, who is making shadow bunnies on the wall of the Wayne Enterprises building with the Bat-Signal.)
Kate: Subtle.
Alice: Hmm. I guess it's broken. It's supposed to call Batman.
Kate: What do you want?
Alice: What happened it your Batsuit knockoff, Kate? Too tight, no give, or did you just realize that you accidentally blew a dog whistle that you can't unblow?
Kate: I wore it to protect myself from you and your goons.
Alice: And in the process, you made everyone horny for Batman. All these poor souls gazing up at the Bat-light, thinking, "My life is about to change. "
(Alice looks around melodramatically.)
Alice: No. Still sucks.
Mary (To Sophie): You want to know why Kate's not a Crow? It's because you're a Crow. It's because 5 years of training was easier to walk away from than going to work with the girl who broke her heart.
(Jacob answers his phone. Cello music can be heard in the background.)
Jacob: Who is this?
(Cut to Alice, who is playing the cello.)
Alice: You taught me, remember, or did you give up on music like you gave up on me?
Jacob: What are you trying to do, Alice? You're not getting in my head.
Alice: You'd be surprised where I can get into, Commander.
Jacob: Where are you?
Alice: Well, I could tell you, but that would ruin the surprise. Let's talk until you're finished tracing my call.
(Alice stops playing and idly strokes a piano's keys as she moves to the window.)
Alice: I never understood why you stopped looking for me. I always thought a father would do anything to find his daughter Swim oceans, move mountains, but now I get it. You're on top of the mountain. Heh. If I had this view, I'd stop looking for me, too. More time to enjoy your new life.
Jacob: How'd you get in my house?
Alice: Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh. You should be ashamed, Commander. King of the Crows, can't even protect your own nest.
Jacob: I'm coming for you.
Alice: Maybe if you'd uttered those words 15 years ago, we wouldn't be here now. I won't let you forget me, Commander. Not again.
Tommy: Nothing could be average with Bruce. Even had to have more dead parents than me.
Kate: Because he saved your mom's life.
Tommy: Oh, yeah. No. I am aware. Thanks to him, instead of collecting my inheritance, I was left wiping the spittle of a jabbering madwoman's lips for 13 years.
Kate: If you wanted him dead, why wait until he's in a bulletproof suit?
Tommy: Because Bruce didn't ruin my life. Batman did. Do you know what it's like to have the villain of your story be the hero of your city? He is a monster, who left me anchored to a repulsive, gold-digging bitch, and now he's gonna die!
Kate: This place is crawling with Crows. You shouldn't be here.
Alice: Well, I came to crash the party. Turns out our host beat me to it. (looking at Kate's costume) I didn't know that it was a costume party. Let me guess... Red. The color of our birthstone.
Kate: To remind us where we came from.
Alice: About that. They say if you want to quit you have to really want to, and, well, I didn't want to. You see, 24 hours is a really long time. Guess you're gonna have to let my sweet Dodgson die. Like I said Beth is gone.
Kate: Then why save me?
Alice: Because I have plans for you, Kate. That, and it's no fun torturing a corpse. Believe me, I've tried.
Continuity
Alice is shown to suffer from reoccurring nightmares, much like Kate.
Alice's nightmares involving her wandering through what appears to be a hunting lodge, downstairs into a basement where she discovers what appears to be a pealed human face floating in some kind of container of liquid.
Alice uses the Bat-Signal to get Kate's attention.
Kate makes a bargain with Alice; go 24 hours without killing someone and she'll consider letting Dodgson go.
Alice smashes the Bat-Signal.
Elliot Estates is a high-price gated community, featuring on-site Crows security and a panic room in each house. It is the brainchild of Tommy Elliot.
Sophie asks Jacob to assign her to work as Mary's personal bodyguard, as part of a "special assignment."
It's been 10 days since the last Batman sighting, according to Vesper Fairchild.
Tommy Elliot just bought a building five stories higher than Wayne Tower and moved into the penthouse.
Batman saved Tommy Elliot's mothers life 13 years ago.
Someone broke into Wayne Enterprises' Advanced Weaponry Vault. Luke Fox later determines that the thieves stole a rail gun which Bruce Wayne specifically had designed to be capable of penetrating the Bat-Suit.
Someone leaves a bloody effigy of Batman on the steps of the Gotham Gazette.
Kate reasons that Tommy Elliot must have stolen the railgun because he dropped an invitation to his party off for Bruce, expecting him to be in town. This is not a leap that would have been taken by anyone who didn't know Bruce Wayne was Batman.
Kate meets a bartender named Reagan at Tommy's party, who is incredibly good at reading people. At the end of the episode, they agree to go out on a date together.
Tommy Elliot has 10 contracts with The Crows to protect various holdings.
Sophie told her husband nothing about her former relationship with Kate.
Jacob Kane taught Beth Kane to play the cello. There is a certain piece by Bach that they considered their song. Alice Kane plays this song as she is talking to Jacob on the phone.
Kate tells Tommy Elliot that the stolen rail gun has a GPS tracker inside it.
Alice is revealed to be calling Jacob from the Kane-Hamilton Penthouse. She killed the Crow who was stationed to protect the place while the family was at Tommy Elliot's party.
Alice goes through a box of Kate's belongings and finds a box with Beth's name on it, which containing the map of locations where Kate searched for her sister as a child.
Tommy figured out who Batman is after paying a man to "riddle him the answer." This would seem to indicate that The Riddler in this world knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
Tommy takes the people in the elevators of his building hostage and drops one. He then threatens to drop the next in an hour if Batman doesn't meet him on the roof.
Sophie, Tyler and Mary are able to escape from their elevator.
Mary starts treating the people injured from the first elevator car fall, proving she's a more than capable medical professional.
Kate saves the elevator car holding Jacob and Catherine using the double-grappling hook.
Alice knocks out Tommy Elliot as he's about to stomp on Kate's fingers as she's left hanging on the hole in the elevator shaft.
Tommy is sent to Arkham Asylum.
Catherine discoveries three playing cards on her make-up table. She hides this from Jacob and reaffirms that they have to kill Alice rather than just catching her.
According to Vesper Fairchild, Gotham City is aware there is a new Bat protecting them and that she's a woman.
The Fridge Factor
Tommy Elliot is as good as fighting as Kate, for no other reason other that it drags out their fight in the episode's climax.
The Bottom Line
Perhaps the best episode of Batwoman yet, with even its most annoying element (i.e. Tommy Elliot) not being so bad as he gives us a chance to see how awesome Kate is... right up until hes's somehow as capable a fighter as her despite being a weasel rather than a fighter. Still, most of the subplots are well-developed and it's a treat to watch Alice further mess with the minds of our heroes.
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