Ryan's Kryptonite wound worsens and begins to hamper her ability to protect the people of Gotham, as Sophie approaches her with a threat regarding Angelique and her connection to Ocean and the False Face Society. Meanwhile, as Alice and Ocean struggle to figure out their mutual amnesia and a plan to fight back against Safiyah, Mary and Jacob are taken hostage by a madman with anger management issues.
Influences
The Rebirth Batwoman series (Safiyah plotline), Shadow of the Bat (character of Amygdala) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (the subplot about Alice and Ocean having all memory of their romance erased.)
Bat Trivia
Aaron "Amygdala" Hellzinger first appeared in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #3 and was created by writer Alan Grant and artist Norm Breyfogle. An inmate at Arkham Asylum, Amygdala's name came from the portion of the brain that regulates emotions. A doctor attempted to surgically remove Hellzinger's amygdala in a bid to make the violently angry man more docile. Instead, the surgery made him permanently angry, which was something of a problem as he had enhanced strength, endurance and durability. While Hellzinger's condition could be managed with medication, he was often recruited by as dumb muscle by Arkham's many supervillains.
The Arrowverse version of Amygdala lacks the super-strength of this comic book counterpart. He also has a slightly different origin story, have been a test subject for a secret program at Hamilton Dynamics which involved treating his abnormal amygdala with UV light. The treatment worked for a week, but apparently gave Amygdala brain cancer which aggravated his condition, resulting in frequent random outbursts of rage.
The idea of humans being able to be poisoned by Kryptonite has been explored before in the comics and in other media. In the comics, Lex Luthor wound up developing cancer after wearing a Kryptonite ring for several years to keep Superman away from him. He managed to survive by having his brain transplanted into a younger clone body, which he passed off as his son, just before the Death of Superman storyline. Lex Luthor developing cancer from Kryponite poisoning was also a major subplot of the Justice League animated series. Previously in the Arrowverse, it was suggested that Lex Luthor acquired cancer from his experiments with Kryptonite, but it turned out Lex was faking his illness.
Technobabble
In the opening scene, a doctor at Hamilton Dynamics attempts to transfer the white blood cells of a 10 year old boy who had Stage IV leukemia but managed a full recover after being treated with The Miracle Serum into an 80 year old man with a comparable condition. They did this by replicating the cells and mixing them with a synthetic granulocyte. However, it caused him to begin hemorrhaging and vomiting blood immediately.
The Desert Rose antidote can permanently cure all manner of blood-based ailments, including anemia, malaria and advanced leukemia.
The active agent of the Desert Rose antidote cannot be synthesized and attempting to pass it on second-hand makes it toxic.
The Crows determine the Napier painting they have is a fake, based on the viscera testing positive as pigs blood rather than human remains. However, they do detect a fingerprint which they trace to Ocean.
The Crows make use of an invisible high-frequency generator/receiver app to bug smart phones, turning them into digital microphones. Its use can only be authorized by the Crows Commander. However, it is hardly foolproof and Angelique detects its presence because it also makes static on her regular phone calls and half her apps stopped working.
According to Mary, the Miracle Serum only retains its stability after one generation. Once the cure was extracted from the blood cells of someone treated with the first generation serum, it became toxic and lost all of its curative properties.
After Jacob is stabbed in the stomach, Mary asks if he was hit in the celiac artery.
Mary recognizes that Amygdala has a scar from a craniotomy.
Kryptonite is said to be composed of sodium, lithium, boron and several elements that do not exist on Earth or the standard periodic teable.
In the opening scene, a doctor at Hamilton Dynamics attempts to transfer the white blood cells of a 10 year old boy who had Stage IV leukemia but managed a full recover after being treated with The Miracle Serum into an 80 year old man with a comparable condition. They did this by replicating the cells and mixing them with a synthetic granulocyte. However, it caused him to begin hemorrhaging and vomiting blood immediately.
The Desert Rose antidote can permanently cure all manner of blood-based ailments, including anemia, malaria and advanced leukemia.
The active agent of the Desert Rose antidote cannot be synthesized and attempting to pass it on second-hand makes it toxic.
The Crows determine the Napier painting they have is a fake, based on the viscera testing positive as pigs blood rather than human remains. However, they do detect a fingerprint which they trace to Ocean.
The Crows make use of an invisible high-frequency generator/receiver app to bug smart phones, turning them into digital microphones. Its use can only be authorized by the Crows Commander. However, it is hardly foolproof and Angelique detects its presence because it also makes static on her regular phone calls and half her apps stopped working.
According to Mary, the Miracle Serum only retains its stability after one generation. Once the cure was extracted from the blood cells of someone treated with the first generation serum, it became toxic and lost all of its curative properties.
After Jacob is stabbed in the stomach, Mary asks if he was hit in the celiac artery.
Mary recognizes that Amygdala has a scar from a craniotomy.
Kryptonite is said to be composed of sodium, lithium, boron and several elements that do not exist on Earth or the standard periodic teable.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Ryan is getting The Hide Out opened. She hears someone come in through the door.)
Ryan: Not open yet.
Sophie: The door was.
(Ryan glares at Sophie, having realized who it is.)
Sophie: Good to see you staying out of trouble.
Ryan: Good to have your approval that... I don't care about. Still not open.
(Sophie continues to give Ryan a hard time about her loyalty to Angelique.)
Sophie: I know this was hard for you-
Ryan: But you don't, though. Because you don't know what we've been through.
Sophie: I know you're right back in the exact same situation you've already served time for and you're choosing to stay there. Why?
Ryan: You've never been in love, huh?
Sophie: Of course I've been in love.
Ryan: And now you're alone. See, when I care about someone, I fight for them.
(Sophie says nothing. She just turns around and walks out of The Hide Out.)
(Alice is trying to convince Ocean their memories of each other were erased.)
Ocean: She doesn't want anyone knowing the location of the island, so she blitzed my memory so I can never get back.
Alice: She didn't just erase that day. She erased our entire existence from each other! That's not strange to you?
(Ryan is getting The Hide Out opened. She hears someone come in through the door.)
Ryan: Not open yet.
Sophie: The door was.
(Ryan glares at Sophie, having realized who it is.)
Sophie: Good to see you staying out of trouble.
Ryan: Good to have your approval that... I don't care about. Still not open.
(Sophie continues to give Ryan a hard time about her loyalty to Angelique.)
Sophie: I know this was hard for you-
Ryan: But you don't, though. Because you don't know what we've been through.
Sophie: I know you're right back in the exact same situation you've already served time for and you're choosing to stay there. Why?
Ryan: You've never been in love, huh?
Sophie: Of course I've been in love.
Ryan: And now you're alone. See, when I care about someone, I fight for them.
(Sophie says nothing. She just turns around and walks out of The Hide Out.)
(Alice is trying to convince Ocean their memories of each other were erased.)
Ocean: She doesn't want anyone knowing the location of the island, so she blitzed my memory so I can never get back.
Alice: She didn't just erase that day. She erased our entire existence from each other! That's not strange to you?
Ocean: (sarcastically) You're right, Alice. Maybe you were the one busted stealing the Desert Rose and maybe you framed me to save your own ass.
(Alice seems to consider this for a few seconds.)
Alice: I don't think I would have done that.
Ocean: Why? Too honorable? You helped me gut three men yesterday.
Alice: You really don't remember, do you?
Ocean: Remember what?
(Alice takes Ocean's hand and squeezes it.)
(Cut to a flashback of Beth Kane sitting next to Ocean before a campfire, where he takes her hand and squeezes it.)
(Alice seems to consider this for a few seconds.)
Alice: I don't think I would have done that.
Ocean: Why? Too honorable? You helped me gut three men yesterday.
Alice: You really don't remember, do you?
Ocean: Remember what?
(Alice takes Ocean's hand and squeezes it.)
(Cut to a flashback of Beth Kane sitting next to Ocean before a campfire, where he takes her hand and squeezes it.)
(Cut back to Ocean in the present, looking disturbed.)
Alice: You and I had a thing together. From the looks of it, it should have been memorable.
Ocean: ... oh, crap.
Alice: Yeah. My thoughts exactly.
Alice: (To Safiyah) I've never asked this to a woman, but... you didn't happen to roofie me for six months straight, did you? Because I'm hitting a lot of potholes on Memory Lane that need filling.
Alice: You and I had a thing together. From the looks of it, it should have been memorable.
Ocean: ... oh, crap.
Alice: Yeah. My thoughts exactly.
Alice: (To Safiyah) I've never asked this to a woman, but... you didn't happen to roofie me for six months straight, did you? Because I'm hitting a lot of potholes on Memory Lane that need filling.
Continuity
Alice's bat attack in 202 took place on January 31.
The Desert Rose antidote developed by Hamilton Dynamics is dubbed BP296 officially. Unofficially, it is called The Miracle Serum.
Dr. Ethan Rogers, a doctor with Hamilton Dynamics, sends a violent patient, Aaron Hellzinger, after Mary Hamilton to find the source of the Miracle Serum.
Ryan has a spasm from her wound while chasing two burglars. She calls Angelique to help her.
When Ryan sees a doctor about her wound, he prescribes antibiotics after she says it was a spider bite.
The insurance Ryan gets from The Hide-Out doesn't cover blood tests. When Angelique finds this out, she says she'll pay for whatever Ryan needs out of her own pocket.
Ryan encourages Angelique to get out of drug dealing. Angelique says she likes her job, is good at it, and with the crew she works with and the rich clients she has dirt on, there's no way she can just "quit."
Ocean denies having anything to do with Kate Kane's disappearance or sending a message to Alice about Safiyah being responsible. Ocean further says that he's a simple botanist and that picking a fight with a warlord would be too much work, even if he had a reason to do it.
Ocean admits he did train Safiyah's army, but that he got bored and tried to leave Coryana with one the Desert Rose flowers.
Alice theorizes that she and Ocean tried to flee Coryana together and that Safiyah somehow erased all the memories they had of each other.
Mary and Jacob have a meeting with a lawyer who pressures them to have Kate declared legally dead. It is on the drive back home that they are attacked by Aaron Hellzinger.
Sophie has been building a case against Angelique, claiming that she can prove she's been involved in selling Snakebite and that she has five cases with rich party kids that will turn on their dealer in a heartbeat.
Sophie says she recognized Angelique as the woman who attacked her at Ocean's apartment in 204.
Sophie says Ocean is growing the psychedelic mushrooms used to make Snakebite.
Sophie offers to "lose" the information on Angelique if Ryan helps her install some spyware on Angelique's phone. Ryan reluctantly agrees.
Amygdala takes Mary and Jacob to Mary's clinic. Mary plays dumb as to where they are at first, but eventually confesses that she had been running it for two years.
Mary relates the events of 108 and how she learned of the Desert Rose poison, the antidote and how Alice gave her a sample of her antidote-filled blood to save the people of Gotham to Jacob, along with how she's been running an underground clinic for two years.
Ryan's wound continues to get worse.
It is revealed that Ryan's favorite plant was a gift from Angelique five years earlier.
Ryan pulls strings to get Angelique a job working with her at the Hide Out. Angelique rejects it. It is only after that happens that Ryan bugs her phone.
Ryan gets a call from her doctor saying they need to redo the blood tests since they show she has severe radiation poisoning. He says the only way her tests are accurate based on what she said is if she was snapping selfies in Chernobyl.
Aaron Hellzinger says his doctors started calling him Amygdala because his circuits were mixed up and he reacted the wrong way to things. Cute puppies made him angry. Sad children made him laugh. His doctors tried to treat him by frying the 'bad' parts of his brain with UV light as part of a secret experiment. It cure him for about a week after two dozen treatments, but then he developed brain cancer as a side effect and his condition became worse, with the tumor rubbing against his amygdala and causing him intense pain and leaving him unable to feel anything but anger.
Mary tells Amygdala about Coryana and says she can cure him if she can find a way to get there.
Ocean says that Alice helped him gut three men yesterday, indicating this episode (or their scenes, at least) take place the day after 205.
Ryan researches Kryptonite on the Bat Computer while Luke is out.
Luke tells Ryan about his encounter with Alice and her working with Sophie in 204, the existence of the Coryana map under the original Napier painting
Sophie told Luke that Ocean forged the Napier painting that was on display in 205. This is why they need to find Ocean before Alice does so he can help them find Kate and Coryana. Ryan points out how incredibly stupid it is to think Alice is telling the truth.
Mary calls Luke, makes a point of calling him Lucas and telling him that she needs the map to Coryana, trying to give him the hint that something is wrong, up to and including mentioning her father being in her clinic.
Ryan has a spasm at this point and Luke finally learns about her wound.
Alice tries to call Tatiana but Safiyah answers the phone.
Safiyah admits to altering Alice's memories but says she will tell her what she lost if Alice is really sure that's what she wants.
Alice tries to kill Ocean, but the two have more flashbacks of sparring and apparently making love.
Sophie finds Alice and Ocean and demands the real Napier painting. Ocean gives it to her.
Sophie calls Luke to tell him she has the painting and he tells her about Jacob and Mary being held hostage at Mary's clinic.
Despite her pain, Mary suits up as Batwoman to save Mary and Jacob as well.
Luke tells her he can give her an adrenaline shot through the suit if she needs it.
Neither Mary or Jacob can say for certain that Catherine Hamilton didn't sign off on the tests that resulted in Amygdala being created.
Sophie is knocked out by Amygdala. Thankfully, Ryan is able to stop him, after getting revived remotely by Luke.
A group of masked mercenaries show up, take Sophie hostage, and agree to exchange her to Batwoman for the Napier painting. She accepts the deal.
Jacob thinks someone at Hamilton Dynamics was involved with tipping off the mercenaries.
Jacob closes down Mary's clinic.
Angelique figures out Ryan had a hand in slipping spyware onto her phone and dumps her. Sophie overhears the whole conversation.
Alice gives another man Ocean's face and kills him, in a bid to fool Safiyah.
Alice's bat attack in 202 took place on January 31.
The Desert Rose antidote developed by Hamilton Dynamics is dubbed BP296 officially. Unofficially, it is called The Miracle Serum.
Dr. Ethan Rogers, a doctor with Hamilton Dynamics, sends a violent patient, Aaron Hellzinger, after Mary Hamilton to find the source of the Miracle Serum.
Ryan has a spasm from her wound while chasing two burglars. She calls Angelique to help her.
When Ryan sees a doctor about her wound, he prescribes antibiotics after she says it was a spider bite.
The insurance Ryan gets from The Hide-Out doesn't cover blood tests. When Angelique finds this out, she says she'll pay for whatever Ryan needs out of her own pocket.
Ryan encourages Angelique to get out of drug dealing. Angelique says she likes her job, is good at it, and with the crew she works with and the rich clients she has dirt on, there's no way she can just "quit."
Ocean denies having anything to do with Kate Kane's disappearance or sending a message to Alice about Safiyah being responsible. Ocean further says that he's a simple botanist and that picking a fight with a warlord would be too much work, even if he had a reason to do it.
Ocean admits he did train Safiyah's army, but that he got bored and tried to leave Coryana with one the Desert Rose flowers.
Alice theorizes that she and Ocean tried to flee Coryana together and that Safiyah somehow erased all the memories they had of each other.
Mary and Jacob have a meeting with a lawyer who pressures them to have Kate declared legally dead. It is on the drive back home that they are attacked by Aaron Hellzinger.
Sophie has been building a case against Angelique, claiming that she can prove she's been involved in selling Snakebite and that she has five cases with rich party kids that will turn on their dealer in a heartbeat.
Sophie says she recognized Angelique as the woman who attacked her at Ocean's apartment in 204.
Sophie says Ocean is growing the psychedelic mushrooms used to make Snakebite.
Sophie offers to "lose" the information on Angelique if Ryan helps her install some spyware on Angelique's phone. Ryan reluctantly agrees.
Amygdala takes Mary and Jacob to Mary's clinic. Mary plays dumb as to where they are at first, but eventually confesses that she had been running it for two years.
Mary relates the events of 108 and how she learned of the Desert Rose poison, the antidote and how Alice gave her a sample of her antidote-filled blood to save the people of Gotham to Jacob, along with how she's been running an underground clinic for two years.
Ryan's wound continues to get worse.
It is revealed that Ryan's favorite plant was a gift from Angelique five years earlier.
Ryan pulls strings to get Angelique a job working with her at the Hide Out. Angelique rejects it. It is only after that happens that Ryan bugs her phone.
Ryan gets a call from her doctor saying they need to redo the blood tests since they show she has severe radiation poisoning. He says the only way her tests are accurate based on what she said is if she was snapping selfies in Chernobyl.
Aaron Hellzinger says his doctors started calling him Amygdala because his circuits were mixed up and he reacted the wrong way to things. Cute puppies made him angry. Sad children made him laugh. His doctors tried to treat him by frying the 'bad' parts of his brain with UV light as part of a secret experiment. It cure him for about a week after two dozen treatments, but then he developed brain cancer as a side effect and his condition became worse, with the tumor rubbing against his amygdala and causing him intense pain and leaving him unable to feel anything but anger.
Mary tells Amygdala about Coryana and says she can cure him if she can find a way to get there.
Ocean says that Alice helped him gut three men yesterday, indicating this episode (or their scenes, at least) take place the day after 205.
Ryan researches Kryptonite on the Bat Computer while Luke is out.
Luke tells Ryan about his encounter with Alice and her working with Sophie in 204, the existence of the Coryana map under the original Napier painting
Sophie told Luke that Ocean forged the Napier painting that was on display in 205. This is why they need to find Ocean before Alice does so he can help them find Kate and Coryana. Ryan points out how incredibly stupid it is to think Alice is telling the truth.
Mary calls Luke, makes a point of calling him Lucas and telling him that she needs the map to Coryana, trying to give him the hint that something is wrong, up to and including mentioning her father being in her clinic.
Ryan has a spasm at this point and Luke finally learns about her wound.
Alice tries to call Tatiana but Safiyah answers the phone.
Safiyah admits to altering Alice's memories but says she will tell her what she lost if Alice is really sure that's what she wants.
Alice tries to kill Ocean, but the two have more flashbacks of sparring and apparently making love.
Sophie finds Alice and Ocean and demands the real Napier painting. Ocean gives it to her.
Sophie calls Luke to tell him she has the painting and he tells her about Jacob and Mary being held hostage at Mary's clinic.
Despite her pain, Mary suits up as Batwoman to save Mary and Jacob as well.
Luke tells her he can give her an adrenaline shot through the suit if she needs it.
Neither Mary or Jacob can say for certain that Catherine Hamilton didn't sign off on the tests that resulted in Amygdala being created.
Sophie is knocked out by Amygdala. Thankfully, Ryan is able to stop him, after getting revived remotely by Luke.
A group of masked mercenaries show up, take Sophie hostage, and agree to exchange her to Batwoman for the Napier painting. She accepts the deal.
Jacob thinks someone at Hamilton Dynamics was involved with tipping off the mercenaries.
Jacob closes down Mary's clinic.
Angelique figures out Ryan had a hand in slipping spyware onto her phone and dumps her. Sophie overhears the whole conversation.
Alice gives another man Ocean's face and kills him, in a bid to fool Safiyah.
Untelevised Adventures
We see more flashbacks of Ocean training Beth Kane to fight and the two making out.
The Killing Jokes
The entire episode is based around the inability of various characters to deal with one another honestly. This starts with Dr. Rogers deciding it's easier to manipulate a violent patient than try simply ask Mary Hamilton where she got her blood sample from, assuming it's too valuable for him to just ask. It continues through Sophie manipulating Ryan, Ryan deciding to work with Sophie against Angelique rather than trying to find a way to fight together against Sophie and Ryan keeping secrets from Luke when he's the only person who might have a clue how to treat Kryptonite poisoning. The grand irony in all of this is that it's the allegedly irredeemable psychotic Alice who attempts to talk openly and honestly with Ocean and Safiyah, despite having far less reason to trust them.
The entire episode is based around the inability of various characters to deal with one another honestly. This starts with Dr. Rogers deciding it's easier to manipulate a violent patient than try simply ask Mary Hamilton where she got her blood sample from, assuming it's too valuable for him to just ask. It continues through Sophie manipulating Ryan, Ryan deciding to work with Sophie against Angelique rather than trying to find a way to fight together against Sophie and Ryan keeping secrets from Luke when he's the only person who might have a clue how to treat Kryptonite poisoning. The grand irony in all of this is that it's the allegedly irredeemable psychotic Alice who attempts to talk openly and honestly with Ocean and Safiyah, despite having far less reason to trust them.
The Bottom Line
A decent episode that makes use of another obscure Batman villain in a way that's more accurate to the idea of the character than the actual execution in most comics. (Even the Batman wiki notes that the doctors who worked on Amygdala seemed to confused the amygdala with the hypothalamus). The best part about this is that all the stupid lies that had been pushing the drama so far are out in the open now, so hopefully the show will work past some of the problems that came about during the first season.
A decent episode that makes use of another obscure Batman villain in a way that's more accurate to the idea of the character than the actual execution in most comics. (Even the Batman wiki notes that the doctors who worked on Amygdala seemed to confused the amygdala with the hypothalamus). The best part about this is that all the stupid lies that had been pushing the drama so far are out in the open now, so hopefully the show will work past some of the problems that came about during the first season.
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