Sunday, January 31, 2021

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 3 - Bat Girl Magic!

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
 


Plot

Ryan continues to rise to the challenge of being Batwoman, but it's hard to say which is harder; earning the approval of a skeptical Luke Fox or staying on the good side of her parole officer and making their meetings while saving the city. Meanwhile, as the serial killer Zsasz begins carving a swath through a list of seemingly unconnected victims, Jacob Kane begins searching Kate's recovered phone for clues to her disappearance, as Alice comes face to face with Safiyah Sohail.


Influences

Batwoman: Rebirth (character of Safiyah Sohail) and Batman: The Last Arkham (character of Zsasz)


Goofs

Ryan abandons her fight with a False Face Gang member to go to an appointment with her parole officer, despite the fight appearing to take place at night and the parole officer asking if her almost being late means that she has a day job. (The fight could be taking place in a part of downtown Gotham the sun doesn't reach during the day.) 

How exactly does Ryan alter the Bat-Suit without Luke's help? Surely the strongest ballistic fabric on Earth can't just be altered with a normal sewing machine or needle and thread? (Never underestimate how awesome Lucius Fox was when it came to weaving fabric.)


Performances

Alex Morf does a fantastic job capturing the intellect and dark humor of Zsasz.

The script doesn't give Shivaani Ghai much to do beyond be cryptic, but she manages that quite well, giving Safiyah an aura of mystery appropriate to the character's reputation so far.


Artistry

The opening scene perfectly establishes Zsasz as an educated and witty man, as well as a sadistic maniac through his actions and dialogue. The direction is top notch and the creepy music sells the scene.


Bat Trivia

This episode marks the first appearance of the Arrowverse version of Victor Zsasz, who first appeared in the comics in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 where he was the chief villain of The Last Arkham storyline. A vicious serial killer who was sealed in a coffin-like box inside a cage for 16 hours a day, Zsasz was as brilliant as he was sadistic and proved capable of manipulating Dr. Jerimiah Arkham through simple conversation. Zsasz's background was later fleshed out in the story The First Cut Is The Deepest in The Batman Chronicles #3

A scion of an old-money Gotham City family, Victor Zsasz was well-loved, well-educated and grew into a successful captain of industry. He lost everything, however, when he became addicted to gambling following the death of his parents and bet his family fortune on one high-stakes game of poker against The Penguin. Seeing his reflection afterard, Zsasz realized how empty his life was outside the thrill of risk and nearly committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. He was saved, ironically enough, after a mugger attacked him with a knife. The struggle invigorated Zsasz, who was stunned to see the same deadness in his attacker's eyes that he had seen in his own reflection. This revelation prompted Zsasz to start "freeing" the "zombies" around him from the drudgery of their lives and cutting himself every time he claimed a victim to remind himself that he was as human as them.

Zsasz has been adapted into several live-action productions even before his appearance on Batwoman. He appeared in a minor role in Batman Begins, where he was an Arkham Asylum inmate who had been an enforcer for Carmine Falcone. This background was later applied to the version of Victor Zsasz seen in Gotham. Another version of Victor Zsasz was the right-hand of Black Mask in the Birds of Prey movie.

Curiously, the Arrowverse version of Zsasz is perhaps the most comics accurate yet, owing to two factors; he is shown to be an independent agent rather than another villain's flunky and he seems to have a background as a man of wealth and taste despite being familiar with the wrong side of the tracks in Gotham City.

In the opening scene, Zsasz arranges the bodies of the adulterers he was hired to kill so that they are lying in bed next to each other, seemingly asleep, holding hands. In his early appearances, Zsasz posing his victims before leaving the scene of the crime was as much a part of his MO as carving hashmarks into his flesh to keep a tally of his crimes.

This episode marks the first appearance of Safiyah Sohail on camera, though she has been referred to in earlier episodes. 

In the comics, Safiyah Sohail first appeared in Batwoman: Rebirth #1 in April 2017. The ruler of the pirate nation of Coryana, Safiyah was a one-time lover of Kate Kane, during her journeys around the world.

Little is revealed about Safiyah's history in the Arrowverse beyond the fact that she trained Alice in how to fight, shortly after Alice escaped from Dr. Cartwright. She is still the Queen of Coryana, but she claims to be more interested in protecting her nation from outside exploitation than anything else.

A reference is made to Black Mask being the leader of the Arrowvese False Face Society at the end of the episode, as one of the Crows identifies the gang's leader as a man in a black wooden mask. A full biography will be written here when Black Mask makes his first Arrowverse appearance. 

Jacob says that a painting by Jack Napier is on Kate's phone. Jack Naiper is the name that The Joker had before he became The Joker in some of his origin stories, including the Tim Burton Batman movie.


Technobabble

The Batarangs cost about $1000 each to make.

Snakebite is described as an addictive psychedelic drug that is made from a mix of mushrooms and Scarecrow's fear toxin. 

Luke uses a sniffer hidden in a bag full of money to hack Zsasz's phone.

The Desert Rose antidote is capable of curing Stage 3 cancer.


Dialogue Triumphs

Zasaz: I am not cheap. And there are plenty of reasonably priced hit-persons available to handle a perfidious husband and his sudsy paramour. (showing the label on the champagne bottle to the cowering mistress) This is a Brute Millesime. Now, I could have just as easily picked up a bottle of the cheap stuff, but Mrs. Capalaci insisted on the finer vintage. Because she wanted you to know that she was willing to spend more on you than her husband was.
(The Mistress whimpers as Zsasz swings the bottle at her head and we fade to black.)

Sophie: Safiyah? How do you know her?
Alice: How do YOU know her?
Sophie: She's been surveilling Julia and me for months!
Alice: (wistful) She always did like to watch.
Sophie: And why are YOU here?
Alice: To do us both a favor. It's been a while since I've killed a queen.

(Mary and Luke are arguing about Ryan's continuing to be Batwoman because she knows the killer they are hunting by sight when Ryan's phone vibrates.)
Ryan: My PO's at the Hold-Up looking for me. I've got to go! 
Luke: What about Zsasz?
Ryan: I'll deal with him when you find his address. (turns back, looking thoughtful) His scars are works of art. He ships in some high-end French skin care lotion. Name translates "Like A Baby's Butt" or something-
Mary: (suddenly excited) Oh! Les Fesses De Bébé!
(There is a pause as both Luke and Ryan stare at Mary.)
Mary: (quietly) What? It's really good stuff.
Ryan: (awkwardly) You two go -
Luke: (nonplussed) - track The Baby's Butt. Yeah, I got it.

(Zsasz nonchalantly makes himself a drink as Ryan tries to get her bo staff to extend.)
Zsasz: (conversationally) So I take it you're the replacement. What happened to the old one? Did she get killed? Or are you like Sammy Hagar to her David Lee Roth?
Ryan: You're looking at me and wondering which old white guy I am?
Zsasz: (scoffs) Kids today. No sense of history.
Ryan: Yeah. Not gonna sweat some freak who uses his skin as a knife sharpener.
Zsasz: (snorts) Well at least it's my skin. Because, and I'm only being honest, you don't seem very comfortable in yours. It's like... trying to pass for somebody else.
Ryan: I didn't design the damn suit.
Zsasz: (chuckles) I can tell. Because I don't see the Batwoman in you.(thoughtful) And maybe that's because I don't see the you in Batwoman.
Ryan: You want to know what I see?
Zsasz: (innocently) Is it... a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile?
(Zsasz pulls out the mentioned weapon and puts it on one shoulder.)
Ryan: Oh, hell no!
(Ryan runs for the balcony and throws herself over it just before the missile explodes over her head.)

Mary: You're Victor Zsasz.
Zsasz: I'm actually here to clean up a little mess. It seems you and I have ruffled some of the same feathers. And now I have to tie up the loose ends.
Mary: Would those feathers belong to Safiyah?
Zsasz: I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. 
(Zsasz smiles suddenly.)
Zsasz: So I'll just tell you. Yes.

(Ryan tells Luke that she's altered The Bat-Suit)
Luke: But the suit is perfect!
Ryan: Have you seen the damn wig?!

(Zsasz retrieves his knife from the door and sees his reflection, noting that Mary hitting him with a surgical tray has left a hash mark on the side of his head above his eyebrow. He sighs and calls after her.)
Zsasz: Now let's not get ahead of ourselves! First I make you bleed, THEN I make me bleed!

(Ryan drops between Mary and Zsasz. She's wearing the new Bat-Suit. This time she sticks the superhero landing.)
Batwoman: (To Zsasz) Do you see me now?

Sophie: Why am I still alive?
Alice: Yeah. That's probably not a good thing.
Sophie: Why is that not a good thing?!
Alice: Because Safiyah spared you. Which means she has a crush on you. Which is all very well and good... until it's not.
Sophie: Why are YOU still alive?
Alice: Cy and I need each other. (pats Sophie) Toodle-oo!
(Alice gets up and gets ready to leave.)
Sophie: Hey! You're still one of Gotham's most wanted criminals!
Alice: But if you arrest me, then I can't complete the job that your new... girlfriend has tasked me with. And then she might never tell me where... Kate is.

(Mary is standing before the shrine to Kate Kane in The Hold-Up. Luke comes up behind her.)
Luke: (reading Mary's card) "May your memory be a blessing."
Mary: It's a traditional Jewish honor for the dead.
Luke: I'm not ready to say it yet.
Mary: I know I shouldn't have kept how I feel from you, but that doesn't change the fact that it is how I feel.
Luke: And that doesn't change how I feel. 
(The two regard each other a moment before Luke nods and walks away as Mary returns to looking at the shrine.)


Continuity

In the opening scene, Zsasz kills a businessman and his mistress in a ritzy hotel room, beating them both to death with an expensive bottle of champagne at the request of the man's wife, who hired Zsasz to kill them both.

Ryan disrupts a False Face Gang member's drug deal involving a street drug called Snakebite.

Luke is still skeptical of Ryan's ability to act as a substitute Batwoman.

Ryan does not have the same shoe size as Kate Kane and complains that the boots of the Bat-Suit don't fit her properly. (It's unclear if they're too big or too small.)

Ryan takes five tries to hit the False Face Ganger with a Batarang, suggesting she's not skilled with ranged weaponry. 

Ryan still does not have a day job.

According to the latest Vesper Fairchild broadcast, a blurry photo of Ryan has revealed the existence of a new, black Batwoman to Gotham City.

Mary has a regular patient named Roxanne Adams who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Ryan asks for Mary to lie when her parole officer has called and say that she's now working as a bartender at The Hold-Up; Kate's bar. Mary agrees to do so but then hires Ryan in earnest. 

The Snakebite drug is sold exclusively through the False Face Society. Nobody knows who their leader is.

Jacob Kane makes The Crows' current first priority being to determine the chain of command within the False Face Society. 

Kate Kane's phone is recovered and turned over to Jacob Kane.

Sophie and Alice wake up on a beach in Coryana. Alice is taken to see Safiyah Sohail while Sophie is guarded by Tatiana.

Alice and Sophie are both surprised to learn the other knows of Safiyah's existence.

Zsasz kills two men in a Hamilton Dynamics research lab; one by strangulation, another by shooting the man with his own gun. He did this in broad daylight and made off with something on one of the computers.

Mary sold her shares in Hamilton Dynamics after her mother's death and is not close to anyone on the company's board of directors.

Ryan is paid $12.50 an hour as a bartender/day manager at the Hold-Up.

Ryan recognizes Victor Zsasz by sight and says he's a hitman who logs his kills with hashmarks carved into his body. 

Ryan knows that Zsasz reportedly uses some high-end French skincare lotion to treat his scars. She forgets the name beyond it translating to "the baby's butt" in English. Mary recognizes it instantly.

Safiyah claims that she did not start the conflict between her and Alice and makes reference to Alice stabbing her in the back by exposing the most precious resource of her island to every opportunist in Gotham City.

Safiyah says Alice was her best student.

Safiyah says she has not thought about Alice or Kate since Alice left her island five years earlier.

Safiyah further claims that she had nothing to do with blowing up Kate's plane and that someone is framing her for the crime.

Ryan recovers the flash drive that Zsasz stole and barely escapes from his apartment before he shoots a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile at her.

Luke determines that Zsasz stole a list of names from Hamilton Dynamics. 

Ryan suggests approaching Zsasz as a prospective client with money borrowed from Mary to see if she can figure out who hired him to steal the list.

Ryan used to date a woman named Angelique Martin, whom Zsasz knows. He says that Ryan broke Angelique's heart. Ryan says that Angelique was no good for her.

Ryan says she wants to hire Zsasz to go after Alice. He says he can't because while his current job has gone sideways, he's still committed to finish it.

Zsasz says he does not kill and tell when Ryan asks whose price she has to beat.

Luke is able to hack Zsasz's phone through a sniffer Ryan got close to him and is able to go through his contacts to find his most recent client is a woman named Safiyah. 

Alice makes reference to the events of 107 and her bargain with The Rifle to give him a gun that could kill Batwoman in exchange for a vial of Desert Rose toxin.

Alice accuses Safiyah of killing the Wonderland Gang in 116. Again, Safiyah denies this, saying she didn't know Alice had a gang and that killing lackeys to settle a score is so tedious.

Tatiana says Alice was taken in by Safiyah, trained as a soldier and promised protectione. Alice went on to break the cardinal rule of Coryana; she tried to leave and tried to take a Desert Rose flower with her.

Safiyah claims to have forgiven Alice for her past crimes but cannot forgive her exposing the secret of the Desert Rose to the world. 

Alice says that technically she gave the antidote to one person and it was that person, Mary Hamilton, who revealed the Desert Rose's existence to the world.

Mary has never heard of Safiyah. 

According to Luke, Safiyah is not Safiyah's real name and it one of several aliases she uses. The Bat-Computer has six different European passports with her photo in them. Her other aliases include Nasar, Sohail and Patel.

Mary tells Luke that she doesn't think Kate is coming back and they need to accept that and support Ryan as the new Batwoman.

Luke is still holding out for a miracle, being unable to accept that Kate is dead.

Mary discovers that Roxanne Adams' latest test results show her cancer has vanished completely. This leads Mary to figure out the common link between all the people on Zsasz's list - they were all people who had been treated for Desert Rose poisoning. 

Mary's lab assistant is killed by Zsasz.

Ryan alters the Bat-Suit to fit her better and to have a more natural wig.

Tatiana attacks Sophie after she says that she plans to imprison Alice at the first opportunity. Sophie is able to defend herself despite her hands being bound.

Zsasz has faced Batman and says compares Ryan's kicks to his complementary. 

Ryan is able to knock Zsasz with her bo-staff.

Safiyah makes reference to finding Alice hiding on a yacht when they met. She claims to have taught Alice how to turn her rage into power. 

Alice admits that she became focused on revenge on Kate because the sister she thought loved her like herself betrayed her.

Alice attempts to kill Safiyah, not believing that she had nothing to do with killing Kate.

Safiyah reveals that she has Kate's necklace - the one that matches Alice's. Safiyah asks how she could have that if Kate died in the plane explosion.

Safiyah says she is holding Kate somewhere else and that she will not be brought to Coryana until Alice is gone. She says that she will return Kate to Alice after Alice accomplishes a task for her. What that task is is not revealed on camera.

Vesper Fairchild does a story on Batwoman's new costume and her defeat of Zsasz. 

Mary's parole officer is a Batwoman fangirl. 

Mary's parole officer threatens to write her up if she doesn't have a home address by next week.

Sophie and Alice wake up next to each other in an alley in Gotham City.

Alice speculates that Safiyah has a crush on Sophie.

Alice tells Sophie that Safiyah has tasked her with a task in exchange for bringing back Kate.

Luke makes Ryan a new Batarang and presents it to her in a gift box as an apology gift. He says he has a few more made as well.

One of the Crows identifies the leader of the False Face Society is a man in a mask made of black wood.

Jacob finds a photo on Kate's phone that is written over with the name Safiyah, which was texted to a mystery number. He identifies the photo as a painting by Jack Napier.

Sophie reports in to Jacob and says she thinks Kate is alive.


Location

The island nation of Coryana.


Untelevised Adventures

It is revealed that Alice was a student of Safiyah Sohail and that she came to stay in Coryana shortly after her escape from Dr. Cartwright's home.


The Bottom Line

A solid hour that cements Ryan's place in the Arrowverse and makes far better use of the Gotham City setting than any episode to date. The shoe's take on Zsasz is perfect, Safiyah is set up as the perfect mystery foil and then the show drops the bombs that Kate is either alive or we're about to get one heck of a mind-screw right before we hear The Joker's name dropped in relation to a painting. What all this means is anyone's guess right now but it's relishing to have an honest to goodness mystery around this show again.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 46

In which we fight more albino orcs to acquire the shards of the axe of Dwalin One-Eye; a most sacred Dwarven artifact of great honor. We then steal the damn thing and go back on our deal to fence it so that we can use the blessed weapon. Because it's a really good axe!

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 45

In which we join our epic battle against the albino orcs, already in progress, before taking on a side quest to help the local blacksmith retrieve the shards of a weapon of legend you just know we're going to steal before this playthrough is over.

 

Monday, January 25, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 44

A double-size episode, in which we sell our services to the Chaos Dwarf king and immediately find ourselves sent to the front lines of their war with the albino orcs of the Underdark. Hope you like long, lengthy combat scenes. That's pretty much all this video is. 


Sunday, January 24, 2021

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 2 - Prior Criminal History

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.


Plot

After Julia rejects Alice's proposal of an alliance to take on Safiyah Sohail together, Alice enacts her own devious plan to get back at the woman who killed Kate Kane. This drags Ryan back into the Bat-Suit and her first confrontation with  her mother's killer, but can she place her need for revenge over the needs of the city when the heat is on?


Influences

Batman: Year One (Alice's bat-summoning gadget is exactly the same as one Batman used in this story, the general theme of a new vigilante just starting out.) and Batwoman (Ryan being saved by Batwoman mirrors Kate's origin story in the comics, where Batman came to save her from some muggers only to find her in the middle of fighting her attackers.)


Goofs

The caption and set design for the flashback where Kate saves Ryan suggest it is Halloween (Ryan is in a cat costume, a jack-o-lantern is seen on the street  as a decoration) but the caption at the start of the scene says it took place 2 months ago. That would place this episode sometime in January 2020, which is just barely possible if all the events of the second half of Batwoman Season 1 are crammed into the better part of a month.(Most of the episodes take place over a span of days, so this is possible, but it didn't seem to be that short a span stretched out over several weeks.)

About 10 seconds pass between the pharmacy robbers fleeing the scene and a Crows agent showing up to arrest Ryan as she goes to check on the injured clerk. Granting that the GCPD/Crows are one step above the Keystone Cops, how could the cop fail to notice two masked me (one of them limping) leaving the scene of a robbery? 


Performances

Again, it has to be said that Rachel Skarsten is the best thing about this show. What's damnable is that despite having become even more unhinged in the face of Kate's death, she's still one of the most sympathetic characters on the shows and it's a wonderful defiance of the usual comic book clichés that our chief villain is the one who proposes working together against a common enemy. Creepy as her sing-song nursey rhymes are, she's engaging and Skarsten is clearly having the time of her life with this role.

Two episodes in, Javicia Leslie is making this her show. She gets more material and more chance to interact with the cast this time around, showing us who Ryan Wilder is rather than telling us. When Ryan tells Alice she is going to kill her, you believe it and believe she's capable of it.


Artistry

The fight scene in the pharmacy is incredibly intense for its brevity.

The scene where the bat emerges from Mouse's corpse is an effective gross-out and a fantastic jump-scare.

It's amazing they were able to simulate a bat attack on a televiison budget and do it as well as the similar sequence from Batman Begins.


Bat Trivia

The cat costume Ryan Wilder wears for Halloween seems to be a nod to Eartha Kitt's Catwoman suit from the 1966 Batman show.

Batwoman showing up to save Ryan seems to be a nod to Kate Kane's origin story in the comics, where she was inspired by a show of respect Batman made when he came to save her from muggers only to find she was holding her own in a fight.

The device which Alice uses to lure her poisoned bats to the Batwoman rally seems to be based on a similar device used by Batman in the comics. The device first appeared in Batman: Year One and was used to create a distraction when Batman was cornered by a SWAT team made up of crooked SCPD officers.

At one point, Luke tries to guide Ryan to the Schwartz Bypass as she is driving around. This is likely a nod to Julius Schwartz - a long-time editor at DC Comics.

The assassin who comes for Alice in the final scene of the episode is said to be named Tatiana. Advanced press notices for the show identified this character as an assassin called The Whisper. This may be an adaptation of the League of Assassins member called Whisper A"Daire; a shape-shifter and immortal with some snake-themed powers including an acidic venom she can spit like a cobra and a hypnotic gaze. The Whisper displays no such powers in this episode.


Technobabble

Gotham City is 330 square miles.

The Desert Rose toxin (at least, the variant Alice uses) is not lethal to bats. They can become carriers of the toxin and infect people with their bites.

Alice uses some kind of sub-sonic device to lure the bats to the site of the Batwoman rally.

Ryan is able to use the Bat-Suit's echo-location abilities to find the transmitter for Alice's bat lure.

Julia was able to track down Alice's hideout by analyzing the dirt Alice left on her floormats. The dirt contained traces of tri-ethyl benzene - a biproduct of tire manufacturing. Her best guess is Alice is hiding out in the abandoned Dresner Motor Plant.


Dialogue Triumphs

Alice: (singing softly, as bats swarm around her)

Twinkle twinkle little bat.
How I wonder where you're at.
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle twinkle little bat.
Up until your plane went splat.

Sophie: (accusingly) How could you not know?! You two spent nearly every day together. You were her associate.
Luke: Assistant, actually. And it looks like she was good at keeping secrets from both of us.

(Sophie apparently asked Luke about Kate's plain being sabotaged.)
Luke: I thought you said it was an accident?
Sophie: We're not ruling anything out. Just looking into any possible enemies.
Luke: (dryly) You mean other than every agent in this building? Right? Or maybe just the ones who lured her into a trap? Tried to gun her down on he 50 yard line? You know, it's too bad she didn't  have someone who loved her watching her back.
(If looks could kill, Luke would be dead from the glare Sophie gives him.)

(Alice has suggested teaming up with Julia.)
Julia:
Why would I ever work with a psychopath?
Alice: Because there's another psychopath hunting you who is even scarier than me?

Alice: Retribution is coming for both of us, Pennyloafter. We can work together and get to that sister-killing psycho-bitch before she gets to us. (cheerful) You know? Have each other's backs.
Julia: (laughs) Ha! Yeah. Until you stick a knife in mine.
Alice: Well, we could do a couple of trust falls first. Hmm? Work up to the idea? How does that sound?
Julia: Sounds like you're desperate. Kate was the only person who had any sympathy left for you. (chuckling) Now that she's gone, you don't have anyone.
Alice: (thoughtful) Hmm. You know what else I don't have? A knife sticking out of me.
(Alice stabs Julia in the side.)
Alice: At least it wasn't in your back.
(Alice exits the car and skips away, waving at Julia as she writhes in pain.)

Alice: What exactly are you doing in my sister's hand-me-downs?
Ryan: The one thing she wouldn't do. I'm going to kill you.

(Alice pulls two pistols and unloads in Ryan's direction. She throws up the cape and the bullets fall harmlessly to the ground.)
Alice: (sighing) Well! The suit's for real. (drops her guns) What about the girl inside?
Ryan: Let's find out.
(The two charge at each other and begin sparring.)

(Alice tosses a bag of blood onto Mary's desk.)
Mary: You're giving me your blood?
Alice: (looks confused for a second) Oh! No. Actually, that's your blood. I swiped it from you when Nocturna tried to drain you. (winces) So... technically it's a regift.


Continuity


The opening flashback scene of Mouse telling Alice that bats eat rats comes from 120.

Ryan was saved from muggers by Kate Kane on Halloween Night 2019. In the middle of the fight, Ryan picked up a discarded Batarang and used it on a mugger who had recovered his gun.

Ryan has been trained in half-a-dozen forms of martial arts.

Ryan spent 18 months in Blackgate Penitentiary as part of a plea-bargain deal in exchange for a guilty plea. Ryan figured it was a better alternative than fighting false charges with a free lawyer and getting 15 years instead of 18 months.

Ryan applies for a job as a security guard, but they refuse to hire her because of her criminal record as an ex-drug dealer.

Video of The Crows betraying Batwoman and ambushing her in 120 is leaked to the press. This spurs someone to organize a rally in support of Batwoman.

Jacob interviews Mary over whether she had any idea Kate was Batwoman. Mary denies everything, asking if Jacob seriously thinks Kate would trust her with anything after rejecting all her efforts to reach out to her and try to be a sister.

Sophie interviews Luke about his connections to Batwoman. Again, Luke denies knowing anything, but he is much more pointed about The Crows trying to kill Batwoman and Sophie treating Kate terribly.

Sophie figures out that Julia must have known that Kate Kane was Batwoman, reasoning there is no way she'd be trusted with the location and combination of  her secret safe and not her secret identity.

Ryan is still suffering from the wound she acquired after being shot with Kryptonite in 201.

Sophie and Ryan know each other. Apparently Sophie was one of the Crows agents who framed Ryan for drug-dealing and she has picked Ryan up on suspicion of other crimes since Ryan's release from prison.

Ryan is able to deduce that Alice is Beth Kane, based on a slip of the tongue Sophie makes after Ryan says she knows why the Crows haven't just shot Alice dead by now. While she's implying that the Crows are racist and go out of their way to take the white serial killer alive, Sophie thinks Ryan somehow knows about Alice being Jacob Kane's daughter.

Ryan goes to Mary's underground clinic and tells her she knows Alice is Beth. She asks if the entire family keep secrets. 

Mary gets angry when Ryan accuses her of trying to protect Alice, saying that she would love to see Alice die because she killed her mother in 108.

Ryan tells Mary about how Alice killed her mother as well.

Mouse's body is found by some of the homeless people who come to Mary. They bring his body to her.

Alice ambushes Julia in her car at Crow's HQ, telling her she's planning something big and public. She proposes an alliance against Safiyah Sohail, whom she tells Julia is taking credit for the plane accident. Julia refuses and Alice stabs her.

Mary's toxicology study of Mouse's body determines he was killed by the same toxin from the Desert Rose plant that killed Catherine Hamilton.

Ironically, Ryan has a feat of bats.

Ryan guesses that Alice is probably going to try and attack the Batwoman rally.

Ryan offers to wear the Bat-Suit and try to end the rally before Alice can enact her plan. Mary is on-board with the idea. Luke is reluctant but agrees because he can't think of a better plan and Julia is too injured to play at being Batwoman.

Jacob is able to identify Ryan as an imposter through a pair of binoculars.

Ryan is able to hold her own against Alice in a one-on-one martial arts fight.

Alice gives Mary a bag full of blood which she took from Mary after the fight with Nocturna in 113. She says this can be used to create a cure for the toxin.

Ryan takes the Batmobile and drives it to lure the bats away from downtown Gotham. 

Gotham City General Hospital reports 250 victims of the bat bites.

Mary tells Sophie about the blood she was given from Alice and decides to take it to Hamilton Dynamics to see if they can synthesize an antidote from it.

Ryan deals with the bats by trapping them inside a Crow's prison bus and blowing the bus up.

To Mary's annoyance, she isn't credited for donating the blood sample that Hamilton Dynamics used to create a cure for the Dessert Rose toxin.

Sophie and Mary agree Alice has a reason for poisoning the city and then offering up the cure for free. It is later revealed that Alice did this to make Safiyah Sohail's trademark poison completely useless by making a mass-produced antidote possible.

Julia does not know who the new Batwoman is. 

Julia and Sophie's romance is officially confirmed to be dead; both because Sophie no longer trusts Julia but also because she isn't Kate.

Julia is able to give Sophie a lead on where Alice is hiding out. Sophie goes after her alone and tells Julia not to tell anyone what she's doing.

Julia guesses that Kate told Sophie that she loved her in the letter she left for Sophie.

Jacob apologies for grilling Mary over Kate being Batwoman and asks for her help in searching for Kate, who he believes is still alive somewhere. She agrees.

Luke agrees to let Ryan continue working as Batwoman until Kate comes back, on the grounds that the city needs a hero. Ryan agrees not to kill as Batwoman in accordance with Kate's code.

According to Vesper Fairdhild, some people reported a new Batwoman protecting the city during the Bat swarm. This means that some people have noticed Ryan's presence on the streets.

Ryan reads Kate's journals and discovers that Kate wrote about her encounter with Ryan on Halloween. She says that Ryan reminded her of herself: scared yet fearless and determined not to let the darkness of Gotham get the best of her. She also said that "People like her are the hope this city needs."

Ryan starts a journal of her own, writing letters to Kate as Kate was writing letters to Bruce. This means, logically, that Ryan probably knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman now. (As if getting into the Bat Cave through his office weren't clue enough.)

Sophie ambushes Alice in her new hideout, only to be knocked out by an assassin named Tatiana. Alice is also knocked out by Tatiana. 


Location

The flashback in which Ryan is mugged and is saved by Kate takes place on Halloween Night 2019.

This episode takes place one week after the events of 120, according to a news report that Batwoman was last seen publicly when she was ambushed by The Crows.


Untelevised Adventures

Reference is made to Alice and Julia Pennyworth both having a past with Safiyah Sohail.


The Bottom Line

Another great episode with a clever script that elegantly explains away some issues you think would have come up, such as why nobody has connected Kate Kane's disappearance with Batwoman vanishing. The only real sour note in the whole episode is the writers thinking we should give a damn about Sophie, despite her literally being the worst. 

Friday, January 22, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 43

In which we cure Barney The Terrible of his alcoholism, skipping over all of the years of hard work that would normally go into confronting an addiction. This leads us to a new mission in a new location; the realm of the Chaos Dwarves!

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 42

In which our quest to get into the dungeons requires us to retrieve the personal brew of a depressed torturer. This requires we beat up his henchmen, who are forcing sobriety on their boss. The fiends!

 

Monday, January 18, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 41

In which we get to the sixth floor and discover it's home to both the torture chambers and the workshops. Here's hoping we can find that magical anvil with a minimum of pain.
 

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 1 - What Happened To Kate Kane?

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Kate Kane is missing after her plane experienced a technical failure while landing. As Kate's friends and family begin searching for her, Alice and Hush have a falling out over their respective plans. Meanwhile, the Batsuit finds its way into the hands of an unlikely hero; a woman named Ryan Wilder, who may become the hero Gotham City needs in its time of need.


Influences

Joker (the scene with Ryan meeting her parole officer resembles Arthur meeting his social worker.) Also, while not directly based on any particular comic, there are a number of stories based around the idea of an unlikely pupil taking over Batman's role. These include Batman: Prodigal, Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin, Batman: Knightfall and the series Batman Beyond


Goofs

Why would Kate Kane fly out to visit Kara Danvers? Couldn't she just call her? If not, wouldn't it be faster for Kara to fly to her? (Kate's the sort of person to do business face-to-face and it's far easier for her to get away from her day job unnoticed than Kara.)

Wayne Manor seems remarkably well kept for having been abandoned for four years. (Perhaps Luke has been paying for maid service since Alfred left?)


Performances

Javica Leslie doesn't get much time to introduce Ryan Wilder in this episode, but she makes the most of what little time she has and the fact that she's having to play against herself for most of the episode. Still, she immediately manages to establish Ryan as a much different person than Kate, both in and out of costume. 

Rachel Skarsten is entertaining as always, but she outdoes herself with the scene where a drunken Alice shows up at Wayne Manor in mourning clothes and starts reading Hush the riot act for not following her plan, even while acknowledging how utterly pointless it is with Kate Kane now dead.

Dougray Scott gets a great moment of silent acting in the final moments of the episode, as he turns on the Bat Signal and starts to cry silently, his face still stoic but his eyes showing his pain.


Artistry

The opening sequence in which the plane crashes over Gotham is thrilling and the pacing is a fantastic display of Ryan's skills, showing us who she is without having to tell us that she's brave enough to go into a dangerous situation and kind enough to try and help others, though still not use to tense situations. 

The closing montage of all the cast reacting to the news that Kate is likely dead is a powerful moment, well-shot and well-acted.


Bat Trivia

The gang members Ryan questions for information in her first outing as Batwoman are members of the False Face Society. This is a gang with a rather notable history in the comics, though it is unaffiliated with the Golden Age Batman villain False Face, who was a master of disguise. 

The first False Face Society was formed by the Joker as part of a tournament to determine the greatest criminal in Gotham City, with each of the participants committing their crimes while masked. Batman thwarted the plot and revealed the Joker's plot to steal all the tournament winnings before the winner could be declared. This False Face Society continued to operate without the Joker and without much success.

The second False Face Society was founded by the crimeboss Roman "Black Mask" Sionis.. His gang was alternatively known as both the False Face Society and the False Facers. In the most recent wave of Batman comics, the False Face Society was founded by Richard "The Mask" Sionis and eventually broke into three factions; the loyalists led by The Mask, the rebels led by Roman "Black Mask" Sionis, and a splinter group led by David "White Mask" Franco. Black Mask eventually won the battle.

At one point, Hush sings the "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" parody that has existed for many years in the real world.


Technobabble

Luke says that The Crows have unplugged the Bat-Signal so there's no way to turn it on remotely. 

Luke says that the nanotech of the cape of the Bat-Suit is more advanced than a NASA parachute and Kate could easily have survived a 10,000 foot freefall while wearing it. 

The Crows determined that Kate's plane was flying with a recalled engine part.

The Bat-Suit ha a GPS which only Luke Fox can track. He uses this to locate Ryan Wilder while she's in the costume.

The Batmobile has missiles.

Luke is capable of hacking the Batombile and shutting down its systems remotely. 


Dialogue Triumphs

Social Worker: You have the power to turn this around.
Ryan: You want to know why I haven't paid my fines? Because I can't find a job. Because I don't have a home. Because no landlord wants to rent to an ex-con on post-release. You see how this works? (frustrated) No one cares that the dope wasn't mine or that The Crows were dirty or that I'm a actually decent human! I am a file in your cabinet. That is not having power. That is the very definition of powerless. 

Hush:(holding up the Kryptonite) Only thing stronger than the Bat-Suit. Which Mini-Fix is in the process of retrieveing. And very soon the world will call me Batman.
Alice: (sarcastically impressed) Ooooh! Do you want a parade? Because I'm pretty sure my sister is in the large intestine of a Great White! 
Hush: Oh, is that what this is? (gestures to Alice's black garb) Are you mourning? You wanted her dead! 
Alice: I wanted to kill her myself!
Hush: (shushing Alice, trying to keep his own voice down) Not to say I told you so to a... belligerent psychopath. You could have shot her months ago, when she was out of the suit! 
Alice:(slowly, as if speaking to a child or an idiot) When did I say I was going to shoot her? I said I wanted her dead! (gritting her teeth, clearly trying to remain calm)  You, "cousin Bruce", procured the Kryptonite. I was going to ensure Commander Kane found it. The scene would bring them together. Batty would get caught in his crosshairs. Then BANG! As she went down, he would pull off her cowl to discover, in sinking horror, that he had killed his own daughter!
(Hush regards her calmly, clearly thinking that Alice is completely nuts, as if he could throw stones.)
Alice: (sighing) Alas... mechanical failure. 
(One of Hush's conquests from the night comes halfway down the stairs.)
Model Hey Bruce? There's no steam coming out of the steam shower.
(Clearly annoyed, Alice throws a knife into the model's throat, killing her instantly.)
Hush: What the hell did you do that for?!
Alice: (bored) No reason at all. Reason doesn't matter.
Hush: She has a friend upstairs!. Do you want her to call the cops?!
Alice: (ignoring him) I tried being reasonable once. I was tethered to reason. I was calculated. Precise. Planned. (giggles madly) And look where that got me?! Sharing a room with Bruce Lame! 
Hush: On what planet do I agree to live with a woman who just told me her plan to have her father kill her twin, like some kind of April Fool's Day joke?
Alice: On my planet. Because on my planet, you are still Tommy Elliot! And if I so much as breathe a word, "Bruce Wayne' goes from being the meat in a Top Model sandwich to the guy with a stick for a face! 

(Jacob Kane enters his office to find Bruce Wayne there, drink in hand. He does not bother to hide his disgust.)
Jacob Kane: Oh. Bruce Wayne. I take it they're out of cocaine in Belize?
Hush: Missed you too, Uncle Jake.

Ryan: (looking at a picture of her mother) You're right, Mama. What am I doing wearing the suit of a hero when I couldn't even save you?

Alice: (angry) Kate Kane is Batwoman!
(Jacob is stunned for a moment. Doubt creeps over his face for a moment but he steels himself and smiles mockingly.)
Jacob: And I'm The Joker. Arkham's waiting.
Alice: (sarcastic) Use your brain, Commander. A lesbian superhero who could have killed me a dozen times but didn't? Hmm. - wonder who that could be?
Jacob: (doubt seeping into his voice and face) That's preposterous. Kate would have told me!
Alice: You rejected her. Over and over. To the world. To her face? (giggles) You wanted her dead!
Jacob: You're wrong.
Alice: Am I? Or did you spend your last precious moments together firing a gun at her? (mockingly sweet) You got your wish, Daddy.(harsher) Batwoman is dead! And she died knowing that her father hated her.
(Alice takes Jacob's gun from him. He doesn't resist. She walks away, leaving Jacob stunned.).
Alice: If you don't believe me, turn on the Bat-Signal. See if she comes.


Dialogue Disasters

((Ryan having put on the Bat-Suit for the first time, looking at herself in the mirror.)
Ryan: Time to be powerful.

Ryan: Trust me. I know I'm not a symbol. Or a name. Or a legacy.
Mary: Exactly! So why do you think you're worthy of wearing it?
Ryan: Because I'm a number. I'm the 327th baby of a black woman who died in childbirth that year. I'm a $20 a day check to a group home. I'm Inmate 40757. 18 months for a crime I didn't commit. But I can work with all those numbers, because the mom who adopted me? I was her Number One. But it turns out she's just one of a quarter million murders in this country who have not seen justice. And that is a number I can't live with. So you can have this damn suit back when her killer is dead.


Continuity

Ryan Wilder is introduced as a homeless woman living out of a van on a pier in Gotham City. She appears to be recently homeless, as her van contains some furniture and houseplants.

In a dream flashback, we learn that Ryan was going to share an apartment with her mother and that she is a lesbian.

As the episode opens, Luke notes that he hasn't heard from Kate since her plane landed in National City the day before.

Ryan is brave enough to run into a crash site to look for survivors.

Ryan is trained in CPR, using it to save a homeless man who was hit by falling debris while on the riverside beach. 

Ryan also seems to suffer from PTSD, having flashbacks to the violent deaths of her mother and landlord when she sees he injured homeless man lying on the ground.

The stress of saving the homeless man leads Ryan to vomit, showing that for all her training she is not used to high-pressure situations. 

Ryan Wilder finds the Bat-Suit among the wreckage on the beach, apparently having fallen out of Kate Kane's luggage.

Luke notes that it has been four years since he's seen Bruce Wayne when Hush shows up at Wayne Enterprises pretending to be Bruce.

Hush bluffs his way past not knowing where the trigger to open the Batcave is by telling Luke he's been the man of the house for so long the honor should be his.

Ryan Wilder is an ex-convict who reports to a parole officer. She still owes money on her court fees.

Ryan taught martial arts for several years, but can't find any dojo willing to hire her due to her criminal record. She also can't find housing, because nobody wants to rent to an unemployed ex-con.

Ryan was framed on drug possession with intent to sell  by The Crows. She served 18 months but insisted that the drugs did not belong to her.

Sophie suggests to Julia that Safiyah, who revealed that she was spying on them, might have gone after Kate to get to Julia.

After the head of the plane's pilot is found washed up on shore, the search for Kate Kane officially goes from a rescue mission to a recovery mission and she is presumed dead after being missing for less than a day.

Hush takes the one piece of Kryptonite from Luke.

The weather the night Kate's plane went down was clear and the pilot had a clean record. There's no clear reason why the plane went down and no evidence yet of a bomb disabling the plane. 

Alice's grand plan was to get the Kryptonite to her father and trick him into killing Batwoman with it, finding out as he unmasked her that he had just killed his own daughter. 

Before leaving Gotham City, Kate told Julia Pennyworth to take care of the documents in her safe if anything happened to her. She also asked her to keep the location of her safe a secret.

When Luke and Mary confront Ryan, she unmasks and gives them her real name.

Ryan's birth mother died in childbirth. She was later adopted by a single mother. 

Ryan says she'll return the Bat-Suit to them after she uses it to take care of some personal business.

Hush goes to Crows HQ, posing as Bruce Wayne, and tells Jacob Kane that Alice is hiding out in Wayne Manor. 

Hush runs into Julia Pennyworth on the way out of Jacob Kane's office. He met her, as Hush, in 119.

Julia becomes suspicious when Hush doesn't respond when she asked if he had thought to "ring the Eagle" since his return. It is later revealed this was the codename Bruce gave Alfred Pennyworth when he was running comms for him.

It is revealed that Alfred is alive and well, living in a flat in London. Julia tests Hush by saying that the Eagle is still living in Glasgow in a cottage in the woods. 

Julia first became suspicious when she smelled alcohol on Hush's breath when she hugged him. The real Bruce Wayne does not drink booze.

Ryan is tech-savvy enough t disable the GPS on the Bat-Suit.

The Kane family home is in a 56th floor penthouse.

Ryan's father died before she was born.

Ryan ran away from home as a teenager and spent her youth moving in and out of group homes.

Ryan was a high-school dropout, but eventually earned her GED after reconciling with her adopted mother.

Ryan's mother and her landlord were killed by squatters who had been living in what was meant to be their new apartment. They also nearly beat Ryan to death.

The squatters were members of the Wonderland Gang.

Ryan reads about the sort of person Kate was in a newspaper article profiling her. She concludes that Kate was a hero, in and out of costume, based on her funding several housing programs, including (apparently) the one that should have given her and her mother a new home.

Ryan reactivates the GPS after realizing Kate wasn't just some bored billionaire playing at being a hero.

Luke says he blames himself for Kate's apparent death, since it was his insistence on destroying the Kryptonite that led to her flying to National City. 

Julia reveals that she ran the fingerprints on the glass Hush left behind in Jacob's office and matched them to Tommy Elliot.

Hush's birthday is given as May 14, 1972.

Hush is able to find the hidden Batombile bay iinside the Batcave using the sticky bombs in the Bat-Arsenal. He takes it to go find the Bat-Suit.

Alice tells Jacob Kane that Kate Kane was Batwoman.

Hush shoots Ryan in the shoulder with the kryptonite shard. It is revealed at the end of the episode that Ryan has a wound that will not heal as a result.

Ryan beats Hush in the face so badly that it damages his Bruce Wayne flesh mask, revealing his real face.

At the end of the episode, the divers searching the river still have not found any trace of Kate Kane.

Mary and Luke were barely able to hide the Batmobile before The Crows found it.

Hush is back in Arkham. 

Ryan returns the Bat-Suit to Luke and Mary along with the Kryptonite shard.

Julia gives Sophie a letter that Kate left for her in her safe. In it, Kate says that she never stopped loving Sophie, reveals that she is Batwoman and says that lying to her about being Batwoman was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she did it to protect her.

As Alice is returning to her lair in the sewer, a paper airplane made from a newspaper page lands in her path. It is the latest issue of the Gotham Gazette and their front page profile of Kate Kane. On the other side of the page, written in red ink or blood, are the words CONSIDER US EVEN - SAFIYAH. This seems to confirm that Kate's disappearance is connected to Safiyah Sohail.

This news overjoys Alice, who now has a new purpose: revenge on Safiyah Sohail.

Alice is revealed to still have Mouse's corpse in her hideout and she falls aslseep next to him, looking up through a sewer grate at the Bat-Signal.


Untelevised Adventures

Kate Kane flew to National City to speak to Supergirl directly about destroying the last piece of Kyrptonite that she had, sometime after the events of 120.


The Killing Jokes

The usually paranoid Luke Fox is dumbed down a bit so that Hush can successfully con him into believing that he's Bruce Wayne. (The episode explains this somewhat by revealing that Luke is distracted by his guilt over being the one to suggest Kate go to National City in the first place and not thinking clearly.)


The Bottom Line

A bit disjointed, but pretty good considering all it has to accomplish with removing Kate, introducing Ryan and allowing the ensemble a chance to respond to Kate's apparent death and Ryan's taking over the Bat-Suit. Of these three tasks, Ryan gets the least amount of screen time, but Javicia Leslie does a decent job with the material she's given. It just feels like she should have been given more or someone to talk to besides a plant.

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 50

Our 50th Episode Extravaganza! In which, my plans to kill Caesar thwarted by the simple fact that I killed everyone who could ferry me to his camp, we instead go hunting for Deathclaws in a hidden area that isn't so much an Easter egg as it is a death trap.

(I'm putting this Let's Play on hold for a while, as we'll soon be back to doing regular Arrowverse Episode Guide updates soon. Don't worry, though. We'll be back to the adventures of The Doctor soon enough.)

Friday, January 15, 2021

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 49

A busy chapter this, in which we search for a traitor among the command staff of Camp McCarran, prevent a terrorist bombing on the NCR train to New Vegas and finally get Boone to open up to us before taking a trip to the site of one of the NCR's greatest atrocities to help him work through his grief... by killing a fookton of Legionnaires.

 

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 48

In which we switch out Veronica for Boone and head back to Camp McCarran to see what work the base commander might have for us. This leads to an exciting side gig in the Information Retrieval Corps. (i.e. torturing Legionnaires.) Of course we're far too clever to resort to just punching the Legion... aren't we? 


Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 39

In which we find the Codex Turdbay, er Turbare and return to the dungeon, to begin exploring the Sixth Floor in search of a magic anvil. 

Alas, this chapter is light on action, but if you enjoy watching me level up the party and browse magic rings in a new shop, this episode will be your biscuit! 


Monday, January 11, 2021

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 47

In which we finally find that one map location we couldn't climb to before by fighting our way through a radioactive flooded cave.... to a radioactive flooded plateau. We also pick up Veronica in a bid to finally unlock her personal quests... only for it to not quite work and lead to us getting more side quests to help save the Brotherhood of Steel. 


Friday, January 8, 2021

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 46

In which Boone starts to open up to us and reveal the details of his troubling past. But don't worry. There's still plenty of action as we continue exploring the area around Cottonwood Cove and kill more Legionaires! 


Thursday, January 7, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 37

The answers we seek lie in the hands of a book being used by some grumpy cultists in a private library room. Naturally they won't let us borrow it without a fight... 
 

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 45

In which, in a bid to get Boone to open up, we start exploring the southeastern sector of the world map, have an unexpected death fighting the Creature from the Black Lagoon and his cousins (i.e. Lakelurks) and round it off by taking on a Legion camp and freeing some slaves.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 36

Knowledge hurts in this chapter, as we fight our way through the library in search of the Index.

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 44

In which, after investing in some self-improvement and undergoing a little surgery, we start investigating the mystery of who is making a mockery of the NCR's intelligence forces. Apart from the obvious.

 

Monday, January 4, 2021

Starman Plays The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk : The Amulet Of Chaos - Part 35

In which, after demonstrating a few functions that make looting and inventory management easier, we finally get down to doing some serious research into our cursed amulet problem. We also take on a new side-quest in the name of true love. Creepy, dusty, undead true love, but true love nonetheless!

Fallout: New Vegas - I Am The Doctor - Part 43

In which we start delivering the new radio codes to all the other NCR Ranger Stations and fight even more Cazadores and Legion Assassins. But hey, we also make Level 20!