Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 16 - Rebirth

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

Plot

When a familiar foe descends upon Gotham, Ryan and Mary find they must rely on each other more than ever. Alice has a has a new mission and gets an unexpected ally to join her, as Luke Fox makse a decision with the assistance of John Diggle.


Influences

Batwoman: Rebirth and the new 52 Batwing title.


Performances

David Ramsey has a brief but commanding performance as John Diggle.

Wallis Day has a commanding turn here, as both Circe Sionis and Kate Kane trying to break free of her programming.


Artistry

The nightmare sequences of Kate's mind being trapped in the Cartwright basement with Circe Sionis are truly horrific.


Technobabble

Jacob Kane uses a DNA scanner to confirm Circe Sionis is Kate Kane.

Luke has a tool for unsealing sealed digital court records.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Roman Sionis is watching the news with Safiyah on a monitor in his office.)
Roman Sionis: I expose Kane as the godfather of a fraudulent security racket, and now these cloying half-wits in the fake news are crowning him a hero.
Safiyah: Haven't you done enough, Roman? You imprisoned the man's daughter, then brainwashed her into your own.
Roman Sionis: He murdered my Circe.
Safiyah: So toying with Kane's daughter is your way of... feeling better about him killing yours?
Roman Sionis: I apologize, Your Royal Highness, but when you gave me the details of Kate Kane's flight out of National City, you knew exactly what I had in mind for her.
Safiyah: Speaking of you owing me a favor, I was hoping to employ your daughter's services to settle my affairs in Gotham. I have reason to believe that Circe's unique attributes could benefit us both.
Roman Sionis: Whatever it is, I don't want her involved. She's finally got her life back.
Safiyah: Last I heard, she was running around with a tree stapled to her face.
Roman Sionis: Oh, she's ready to make her grand reentry into Gotham's influencer life. After all, my P.R. team covered up the incident that landed her in Arkham to begin with and her death, yada yada. They've put together a very millennial cover story to explain her disappearance. Three words... Malibu Rehab Retreat. This is the crown jewel.
(Roman clicks a remote control. The monitor switches to a make-up commercial. Circe is the model and the voice over artist.)
Circe: A life lived but once is a life lived not at all. The newest line from Janus Cosmetics has arrived... Rebirth.
Roman Sionis: It wasn't enough that she believed she was my Circe. Between the new face and a strict regimen of Janus restorative burn cream, she now looks like her, too.
Safiyah: I know Enigma gave her Circe's memories, but who gave her Circe's face?
Roman Sionis: If you can believe it, that rambling sewer rat Alice.
Safiyah: You brought Kate Kane and Alice together? When was this?
Roman Sionis: Two days ago. Why?
Safiyah: Alice is Beth Kane, you idiot!

(Jacob's DNA scanner confirms Circe Sionis is Kate Kane.)
Jacob: Heh. My god. It really is you.
Circe: You've got me confused with a dead girl.
Alice: No. You've got you confused with a dead girl.

(Alice and Ocean are walking away after Ocean politely introduced himself to Jacob while dropping off a bang full of Kate's belongings.)
Alice: This "Mr. Kane" thing is definitely weird for me.
Ocean:  I want the guy to like me. Call me old-fashioned.
Alice: If you told me I'd be in the Crows headquarters with my father, my sister, and my... boy toy and I wouldn't be the one in cuffs...
Ocean: No one ever accused you of being predictable.

("Circe" describes being trapped in the same cell Alice was locked in as a child.)
Alice: That's the basement I spent my childhood in. You've been there. Do you remember?
"Circe": It's... it's more of a feeling. I'm... I'm screaming, but I can't get your attention.
Jacob: That... that's not what happened.
Alice: Maybe it's a metaphor. Circe's subconscious is a cell, and Kate needs me to free her.
Jacob:  How can you be sure?
Alice: Because it's all I ever wanted.

Batwoman: Are you Kate Kane?
Kate/Circe: Can I get back to you on that?

Tavaroff: Buddy, Gotham City is our town, and the House always wins.
(Tavaroff reveals his cards. The crowd cheers. It's a good hand.)  
Luke: I mean, people do say that. It's true. The House does win a lot because it cheats. But then sometimes, I mean, the House is just so damn stupid that it can cheat and still manage to lose.
(Luke reveals his cards. The crowd groans. It's a better hand.)
Diggle: Heh. The man made a straight.
Luke: What no applause for that... for that gut-shot straight draw? I mean, and the speech? No style points for that?
(Luke is answered with stony silence from the cops.)
Luke: Okay. Whatever.

Diggle: What you have to remember is that we all end up in the same place eventually, man, and you'll see your father soon enough. What changes with time is what you get to tell him you did while you were on the earth.
Luke: Okay. So... I'm just supposed to ignore the fact that I'm still angry as hell?
Diggle: No, brother. Don't ignore it. Use it. You carry the torch for the great Fox family. You stand for justice. You're gonna need anger to win that fight. 

Jacob: Yes, she's my daughter, and her name is Beth. She's not a monster. She's a victim of evil men and women who stole her childhood and manipulated her mind, of a father who... who didn't come through for her when she needed him. Beth has had the hardest life of anyone I've ever known, and yet... she has this humanity inside of her. I can't imagine ever having that strength, so if Gotham is angry at me, then so be it. I ask only this of them as a father. When you judge Alice for her crimes, remember Beth.

Safiyah: There's nothing left of Coryana. Your scorching was thorough and complete. Nine villagers perished in the blaze, so if you have managed to maintain a list after all these years, do include them in your grand total.
Alice: (defiant) You told me you had my sister. What did you expect?
Safiyah: If I'm honest, that. A tantrum Because at the end of the day, Alice, you're just a spoiled child who believes she deserves more than she's earned. 


Continuity

Batwoman saves a man with a briefcase from being killed by a ninja. The attack occurs at a rooftop lot above Harper's Plaza. The ninja gets away with the man's laptop.

Batwoman has to call 911 herself since Luke isn't manning the comms. Luckily the operator is a Batwoman fangirl.

Luke says he's going to need some more time to recover from his recent trauma before he can help in the Batcave again.

Russell Tavaroff is released on bond, making him a free man until he faces trial on charges of falsifying evidence to justify shooting an unarmed man.

Jacob Kane is being hailed as a hero in the local press for speaking out against the culture of corruption in the local police. This annoys Roman Sionis, who was trying to expose Jacob as the head of a fraudulent security company.

Roman Sionis is confirmed to have been working with Safiyah.

Roman was informed about Kate Kane's flight to National City in the Season 2 premier, thanks to Safiyah. 

Safiyah wants to recruit "Circe" to do a job for her, but Roman says he's trying to get his daughter back into her old life as an influencer and he's making her the face of his new make-up line: Rebirth.

Roman Sionis confirms that it has been two days since the events of 214 and Alice making a flesh mask for "Circe."

Roman had no idea Alice was Beth Kane; a fact that Safiyah informs him of, when he reveals that Alice was responsible for creating the mask that made Kate Kane into Circe Sionis.

Alice and Jacob Kane work together to kidnap "Circe."

Ryan breaks into a government safehouse, with Mary guiding her in place of Luke. She notes with disgust the safehouse has a bidet in the bathroom, yet she couldn't get hand soap built into the new community center.

The man Ryan saved earlier in the episode was a lawyer who worked with judges to place people in Witness Protection and relocate them into new lives. The laptop the ninja stole was full of top-secret information on the relocated witnesses

Sophie helped Mary with a few of the particulars, such as hacking the phone records of the lawyer to determine who he called to warn that their identity was compromised. The safehouse Ryan goes into belonged to the first man on the list.

Ryan determines the first witness on the list was blind.

Ryan finds the first witness dead, with a sword still stuck in him. She also finds the ninja, who she recognizes this time as Tatiana, who tells her to stay out of this as it isn't her fight.. 

Ocean delivers a bag of Kate's personal belongings to Crow's HQ, where Alice and Jacob run a DNA test confirming that she's Kate.

Alice explains that since they don't know the key phrase Enigma set up to deprogram "Circe" they will have to slowly job Kate's memory with familiar objects.

Jacob learns that Enigma transformed Kate into Alice and removed her capacity to love.

Mary and Ryan identify the blind man Tatiana killed as Ezra Castellanos - the man whose eyes were gouged out by Circe Sionis five years earlier - an incident first mentioned in 213.

The case around Ezra and Circe's incident was sealed by the courts, but Mary is able to use a tool Luke has to get around the seal. Circe was a model who claimed self-defense after being assaulted at a party. She was sent to Arkham and Ezra, fearful of retaliation from Roman Sionis, went into Witness Protection. 

Ryan asks Mary about Alice asking her if someone named Circe had come after her in 215.

Luke uses a fake GCPD ID to get into a private club for police officers and security personnel

Luke confronts Tavaroff, whom he notes won the Crow's Hold 'Em tournament for two years in a row He says he just came to play some poker.

The altercation between Tavaroff and Luke is witnessed by John Diggle; ARGUS agent, former vigilante and Oliver Queen's brother in arms.. Diggle was last seen in F610.

Kate liked punk rock as a teenager.

Jacob shows "Circe" a bag which he found a joint in. He grounded her for the entire summer, but it turned out to be the best summer of her life.

Alice tells "Circe" about how Kate had a huge crush on a girl named Jenny Goldberg because she was a skateboarder.

Alice gives "Circe" a mug with "MIND READER" spelled out in rainbow letters. It was a gift from when Kate was struggling to cell her sister that she was a lesbian but Beth had already figured it out and made the mug to let Kate know she knew and was okay with it.

"Circe" says that she's having visions of being locked in a basement room that smells of formaldehyde Alice recognizes the description as August Cartwright's basement lab.

.Kate's mind emerges briefly after Alice takes her hand and says she's going to free her.

Ryan calls Luke to ask for his help, but he says he's busy with the poker tournament.

Luke says he wanted to die and that he's too depressed over the state of the world to want to live in a world where he gets shot for no reason and the gunman gets out of jail in a day and is confident the charges will be dropped.

Jacob calls Mary and tells her that Kate is alive and with him at Crow's HQ.

Jacob also tells Mary that Roman Sionis is Black Mask and that he brainwashed Kate into thinking she was his daughter, Circe.

Mary tells Jacob they think Circe is connected to Safiyah somehow, just before Tatiana and the False Face Society storm Crow's HQ. 

Jacob is captured by the False Face gang.

Alice tells Kate/Circe to run. She escapes, but is captured by Tatiana.

Mary calls Ryan while she's enroute to Crow's HQ and tells her that her father matched Kate's DNA to "Circe" and that she's been hypnotized to believe she is Circe Sionis.

Mary makes reference to the skull fragment evidence Julia Pennyworth had that Kate was dead from 209.

Ryan finds Kate and brings her back to Wayne Tower.

John Diggle introduces himself with his real name and says he's from Star City, in town on a contract for ARGUS.

Luke is able to win the final game and clean out Tavaroff by pulling a straight.

Jacob is taken before Roman Sionis. He reveals that he knows he is Black Mask.

Roman Sionis, in turn, reveals that he knows Beth Kane is Alice and that he intends to reveal that to te press.

Roman also reveals that his False Face society includes several GCPD officers, including the two in the room, who arrest Jacob with aiding and abetting Alice's escape from the police

Roman threatens to kill what family Jacob has left after making them suffer greatly if he tries to reveal anything about the Sionis family to the press.

Tavaroff attacks Luke in an alley after the poker game, but is stopped by John Diggle.

Kate/Circe told Ryan about how Jacob and Alice were trying to jog her memory at Crow's HQ before the False Face goons and Tatiana attacked.

Mary greets Kate/Circe in Kate's office, but isn't recognized.

Kate/Circe does recognize Sophie Moore, who arrives shortly after that.

In Kate's mind, Circe Sionis begins to threaten the teenage Kate. 

Mary injects Kate with a syringe full of benzos - something she's taken to carrying on her as it's a handy weapon in Gotham City.

Ryan, Mary and Sophie guess that Tatiana probably captured Alice to take her to Safiyah, so she could get revenge for the destruction of the Desert Rose fields.

Ryan says she will give up the last Desert Rose in the Batcave to save Alice's life, if Alice really is the key to restoring Kate's memories. This still leaves them with the problem of finding Safiyah.

Diggle heard of Lucius Fox's case and put together some hints as to who Luke was during the poker game.

Diggle tells Luke about how his father was a marine who died while deployed overseas when he was a boy.

Diggle tells Luke he understand what it's like to lose a father and be angry about injustice, but you have to do something to make Earth a better place before you can go be with your dad. He advises him to take his anger and use it to help others.

Luke notices that Diggle seems pained. Diggle confirms that he's had some fogginess and dizziness lately. When Luke offers to call in a contact at Gotham General's world-renowned neurology lab, Diggle says he's already got an appointment with them the next morning.

Diggle notices that the Bat Signal is blinking in Morse code. He and Diggle both recognize the message - NEED FOX HELP.

A news report reveals that Jacob Kane was arrested and word has been leaked that Beth Kane is Alice.

Jacob tells the reporter Dana DeWitt that Alice is his daughter and that she's the victim of evil me who manipulated her and that nobody can judge her.

Luke is informed that Kate is still alive.

Luke is able to track down where Safiyah is in Gotham.

Ryan goes to Safiyah as Batwoman and offers her Desert Rose plant for Alice's life. Safiyah agrees to the trade.

Ryan tells Safiya about how the plant is the last connection she has to her adoptive mother. When Safiyah asks why she would trade it for Alice, Ryan says that revenge is short-lived and she owes Kate Kane a debt for the symbol she created and the chance it gave her at a better life.

Safiya has never met Kate Kane before.

As Ryan and Alice leave, Alice gloats that she's gotten away with everything. Safiyah merely says again that Alice believes she deserves more than she earned. It is then that Alice notices Tatiana is not there.

Sophie stays with Kate, as Circe takes over her body again. However, Circe is beginning to realize she's not in her own body

Alice ditches Ryan to go find Ocean.

Alice finds Tatiana and kills her, before finding Ocean's body.

Mary talks to Jacob on the phone. He tells her the judge granted his petition to be transferred to a prison in Metropolis and to change the venue of his trial to Metropolis as well.

Jacob tells Mary not to bother trying to help him win his case as Roman Sionis has the deck stacked too heavily against him. He also tells her to work with Alice so they can maybe get Kate and Beth back.

"Circe" escapes and returns to Roman Sionis, demanding to know why she has Kate Kane's memories, DNA, finger prints and how she knew where she hid the booze in her office.

Safiyah appears and threatens to tell "Circe" the truth, if Roman doesn't.


The Bottom Line

An amazing episode, despite being packed full of exposition and a need to reveal various secrets to various characters and catch them all up on what we, as the audience know. Still, there are a lot of great character moments, some effective horror imagery and, for extra added pleasure, a John Diggle cameo kicking off a new Arrowverse storyline.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 15 - Armed and Dangerous

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

Plot

As Luke's life hangs in the balance, the repercussions of his effort to stop a car thief only to be shot by a trigger-happy Crows Security agent lead to some life-changing decisions among the rest of Gotham City's protectors.


Influences

The entire episode is largely inspired by real-world stories of police corruption and unarmed Black men being presented to the media as criminals after being shot by racist police officers.


Goofs

As Luke is being taken into the ER, Ryan asks how many times "she" was shot. Luke has always identified himself with he/him pronouns.

Ryan makes reference to Agent Tavaroff disrupting her sting operation in 213, saying that it occurred two weeks ago. Based on the events of the episode and the previous episodes (per the scenes of Alice escaping from Black Mask and going after Enigma) it can't have been more than three days.

Why would Tavaroff and his associate flee from Batwoman after hitting her with a car? (Perhaps they arrogantly assumed that would be enough to kill her?)


Performances

It's impossible to single out any member of the ensemble here as they give it their all throughout the episode.


Bat Trivia

This episode confirms that Enigma was the daughter of the Arrowverse version of The Riddler and that he is still alive and active.


Technobabble

According to Mary, Luke was shot twice. The first bullet injured his kidney, spleen and colon. The second tore through a major vein and caused massive blood loss.

According to Sophie, all the bodycam metadata from the Crows' devices is sent to an air-gapped server and cleared every night at 3 AM. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Mary confronts Alice in Bruce Wayne's office.)
Mary: How are you still even here? Didn't False Face deal with you already?
Alice: Actually, that's what brings me. I was wondering if you had any unexpected run-ins with Black Mask's side chick? Goes by Circe.
Mary: Never heard of her.
Alice: Are you sure? She used to run around in a wooden hockey mask. Now she's a supermodel-esque assassin.
Mary: I'm sorry. Why am I supposed to care about this person?
(There's a long pause as Alice considers how much to say.)
Alice: You aren't, and turns out, she doesn't care about you either. Well, helpful as always. Toodles.
Mary: Uh-uh. There's always a reason with you. Who is she?
Alice: Turns out Black Mask is the only person who hates the Kane family more than I do, and as much as I'm unwilling to admit it, that includes you. Watch your back, steppy.
Mary: (disbelief) So you came here to warn me out of the... goodness of your empty chest cavity?
Alice: Enemy of my enemy and all that. Aren't you besties with Batty? Maybe it's worth keeping her within reach if you want to live.
(Alice turns around, and enters the elevator but Mary suddenly speaks.)
Mary: I know you're in love!
(Alice turns to look at Mary, her face betraying no emotion.)
Mary: And maybe if you'd seen it earlier in your life, you might not be the monster that you are today. As much as I hate you, Alice, everyone deserves love
(Alice just stares at Mary as the elevator doors close.)

(Batwoman saves Jacob Kane from being killed by his own men.)
Jacob: Thanks.
Batwoman: You know what I gave up to save your ass? Clearing Luke Fox's name. Your boys are trying to ruin his life.
Jacob: I... I didn't know it was this bad.
Batwoman: Yeah? Well, you should have. You want to do good, I get it. I bend the rules, too, but at least I have a code. What's yours? I gave you the match and the gas can, Commander. It's up to you to do the rest. Burn it down. Or you're just as bad as them. 

Jacob Kane: I started the Crows because I wanted to protect Gotham from the kind of monsters who would highjack a school bus and run a family off the road like they were nothing, but somewhere along the way, the Crows began cutting corners to get results. While Agent Tavaroff is directly responsible for what happened to Mr. Fox, I am guilty of harboring these types of actions for years. I want to offer a direct apology to the Fox family for all the hurt that we have caused, but these are not isolated moments, and apologies mean nothing without actions. I have therefore come to the conclusion that there is only one way to make amends. As the founder and majority shareholder, I have decided to disband the Crows effective immediately. 


Continuity

The episode opens with the closing scene of 214, showing how Luke Fox was shot by Agent Tavaroff. 

Luke is confirmed to be 27 years old.

As Luke is taken into the ER, he is stable, but he's lost a liter of blood.

Agent Tavaroff's partner is Agent Miller.

Agvent Tavaroff lies at the inquiry into his shooting of Luke Fox, saying that he was carrying a gun and reaching for it when he shot him.

Jacob says that he knew Luke Fox from when he worked for his daughter and said he didn't seem the type to carry a gun. 

While in a coma, Luke sees himself in Bruce Wane's office, with a blinding light coming from the window. He sees a figure looking out the window, whom he recognizes as his father. He is also met by a figure who looks like Bruce Wayne, who says that if Luke talks to his father, it will mean he's given up on living.

Mary says that she was on the phone with Luke before he confronted the car thief and that he identified the thief as Eli; the man he shared a cell with in 214.

Mary intends to give Luke the Desert Rose serum, as his condition is still touch-and-go despite being stable.

Ryan decides to go after Eli and find out the details of how Luke got shot, as it still hasn't been revealed that he was shot by The Crows.

Alice goes through Enigma's records and discovers files for Jacob Kane, Mary Hamilton and Kate Kane, with notes to give them to Roman Sionis. 

Ocean confirms that Enigma is the daughter of The Riddler and suggests that hiding the evidence of her death is a good idea. This confirms that The Riddler is still alive and active.

Eli tells Ryan that The Crows shot Luke and they didn't even chase after him after he ran off once the gunplay started. He also claims to have never handled a gun in his life.

Eli is able to give Ryan the name of the cop who shot Luke: Tavaroff.

The news report on Luke's shooting mentions protests over the Crows using excessive firepower to contain the Snakebite Zombie epidemic in 214.

Ryan has no idea how to access the Internet on the Bat Computer.

Ryan identifies Agent Tavaroff as the Crow who led the massacre at the church in 214 and the one who crashed her effort to bring down a False Face operation in the opening scene of 213.

Alice shows up at Bruce Wayne's office and intentionally sets off an alarm. She tells Mary that Black Mask is gunning for the whole Kane family, including her, so she should be careful.

Mary tells Alice that, as much as she hates her, she is glad she found love with Ocean.

Ryan attacks Tavaroff as Batwoman, but he unrepentantly says Luke was a criminal who had been released from prison just hours before he tried shooting Tavaroff.

Tavaroff escapes after another Crows agent hits Ryan with a truck.

Alice seeks Ocean out in his subway car and confirms that she does want to be with him but she wants it all - him AND her sister back.

Ryan calls Sophie in to learn all she can about Tavaroff and his friends in the Crows.

Mary is unable to get in to give Luke the Desert Rose serum, as he's been guarded by two of Tavaroff's flunkies who are keeping everyone except hospital personnel away from him.

The Crows release altered body-cam footage of Luke which changes his phone into a gun. Their official statement is quick to note that Luke had been released from prisons hour before his confrontation with the Crows.

The gun Luke was allegedly carrying was previously tied to a armed robbery, meaning Luke will be charged with robbery and assault once he wakes up from his coma.

As Sophie and Ryan plan, it is 1:45 AM. This gives them a little over an hour before the original body-cam footage is cleared from the Crows' server at 3 AM.

Ryan makes reference to the two Crows who tried to run over Wolf Spider in 205, whom Sophie got fired.

Luke asks "Bruce" if his being there means that he is dead too, but "Bruce" won't answer him.

Sophie goes to Jacob Kane and tells him that Tavaroff is fixing data on the Luke Fox case.

Sophie mentions the cover-up around Lucius Fox's murder, which was exposed in 117.

After leaving Jacob's office, Sophie plants a hacking device on the back of a monitor in Crow's HQ.

Sophie helps Ryan plot an assault on the Crow's server from the Bat Cave.

Mary goes back to the hospital and distracts the Crows guarding Luke, as Wolf Spider enters Luke's room and injects him with the Desert Rose serum.

After Luke is injected with the serum, he begins to disappear from the spiritual office.

Bruce tells him that his body is healing and that if he doesn't make a choice soon, the choice will be made for him.

Jacob Kane speaks to Tavaroff and questions how an upstanding citizen like Luke Fox, who heads security for a major company, could suddenly be committing petty crimes like GTA and robbery.

Kane also questions Tavaroff's actions during "the Snakebite case"(i.e. 214) which he says happened two days ago.

Tavaroff makes reference to Jacob Kane's boobytrap for Batwoman in 120.

Jacob tries to suspend Tavariff pending an investigation into his recent behavior. Tavaroff responds by knocking Jacob out.

Ryan is able to hack into the Crows' server, but discovers that none of the body cam files are named based on the date and don't seem to be organized by date.

Sophie informs Ryan that Tavaroff and his team had Jacob Kane in his office and he appears to be unconscious

Tavaroff discovers the Snakebite kits in Kane's trash and outs him as an addict to his fellow agents, before suggesting they stage an overdose and give him a lethal dose while he's out.. 

Batwoman saves Jacob, but lets him know how unhappy she is about it because she had to give up a chance to clear Luke Fox's name to do it. She urges him to do something about the corruption in his own company.

Despite Luke's vitals stabilizing, he still hasn't woken up the next morning as Ryan and Mary are waiting with him.

Jacob Kane calls a press conference, confirms that Luke was innocent and that there was a conspiracy within Crows Security to frame him. He notes that Tavaroff and Miller are currently being held by the GCPD on charges of assault with intent to kill. He also announces that he is closing Crows' Security, effective immediately. 

Mary specifically tells Luke that she needs him, hinting that she's romantically interested in him.

Luke decides to stay with his father, but is pulled back into the waking world before he can walk to him.

Sophie meets with Jackob as he's locking up Crows' HQ.  He affirms she was his best agent.

Alice is waiting in Jacob's car when he is leaving Crows' HQ. She tells him that Kate is alive and being held in the thrall of Black Mask.

Untelevised Adventures

Sophie mentions a case from two years ago where evidence suddenly materialized that convicted a serial rapist she had captured.


The Killing Jokes

As Alice points out, the fact that she and the False Face society both had no trouble breaking into the parking garage of Crows' Security on multiple occasions indicates they weren't that good at their jobs.


The Bottom Line

Despite some wonky continuity issues in the dialogue, where the writers forgot that one episode does not equal one week, this is a powerful episode. That power comes more from the ensemble than the writing, however, but it is to the credit of the actors that they can make this work as well as it does.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 14 - And Justice For All

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

Plot

Ryan faces a new challenge, as Gotham City's Snakebite addicts become desperate for more than their next fix. Meanwhile, Mary finds a surprising ally in dealing with the medical consequences of the crisis, as Alice confronts Enigma with her knowledge of what truly happened to her sister.


Influences

Zombie horror movies. The idea of a new Snakebite formula turning people into crazed cannibals appears to be based on the real world stories of people acting like zombies after smoking bath salts.


Performances

Nicole Kang nails the monologue where she tells Jacob off for becoming a Snakebite addict.


Artistry

The direction does a great job of capturing the zombie movie aesthetic.

The script is smartly written, with Richard Monaghan being established to offer a more personal view of the Snakebite crisis.


Bat Trivia

The title of this episode changed several times in preproduction, originally titled "...And Justice For All" and also being titled "Within Limitations" and "Within the Limitations" before being titled "And Justice For All" without the ellipses. 

Luke makes mention of a part of Gotham City called Amusement Mile. In the comics, this is a district, usually located by the waterfront, where the city located most of its fun fairs, theme parks and other entertainments in better days. Naturally the abandoned fair-grounds are usually taken up as secret hideouts for The Joker.


Technobabble

Kate Kane went through days of uninterrupted hypnosis after having her psyche shattered to convince her that she was another person. This is a far more involved process than what Enigma did to turn Beth Kane into Alice, which involved simply removing Ocean from her subconscious.

Mary says that Jacob was 10 chest compressions away from flatlining during his last Snakebite binge.

According to Mary, the original Snakebite formula contained psilocybin from the mushrooms and diethylamide from the Fear Toxin.

According to Mary, the new Snakebite formula that is turning people into zombies looks like "a Latin midterm from Hell." It contains mephedrone, which causes panic attacks, mood swings and violent episodes. She also notes that Richard Monaghan's glucose levels are super-high, which would explain why he feels hungry. 

The GCPD put out a 10-33 call for Batwoman. This is the code for a general Emergency.

Mary says the new Snakebite formula causes a mephedrone spike so intense it changes the composition of the users pupils. Since the original Snakebite accessed the hippocampus, which acts as the memory storage archive of the brain, Mary thinks the new formula is making people crave memories, which, thanks to some major synaptic misfirings, leads them to eat brains to try and get other peoples' memories.

According to Mary, a controlled dose of clonazepam will sedate brain activity, which will neutralize the effects of the mephedrone and force the bad Snakebite out of the user's systems. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Ryan is going crazy trying to figure out how she can balance patrolling and dating.)
Ryan: How did Kate date?
Luke: Terribly. Why do you think she was so broody all the time?
Ryan: Okay, but I don't brood, so we're gonna have to figure something out.
Luke: Well, welcome to the glamorous life of double identities. Most people you care about are only gonna get to know one of you. So either step up your lying game, or get your brood on. 

Ryan: Do you know Mary's cell?
Luke: No.
Ryan: What about the clinic?
Luke: No.
Ryan: (to the desk officer watching the holding cells) Who actually knows people's numbers by heart anymore?!
Luke: Do you really think that's helping anything?
Ryan: Excuse me, Mr. "Pardon us, officer. We'll turn the music all the way down".
Luke: Okay. What exactly would you like to say to me right now?
Ryan: We could have used your backup.
Luke: Yeah. I was your backup, but, no, excuse me for trying to defuse the situation peacefully!
Ryan: Peacefully? That's a privilege.
Luke: A priv... A privilege. Okay. (sighs) Ryan, I'm sure that you think that growing up with rich white kids taught me how to play nice, but it taught me how to keep my head down. There is a difference. I don't just run into fights when I know I can't win.
(There's a long pause as Luke paces and Ryan stares at the floor.) 
Luke: Okay. How about we just focus on getting out of here?
Ryan: Yeah.
Luke: (crossing to the phone) Uh, Sophie. I could call the Crows hotline and see if they can connect me.
(Enter Sophie, escorted by a police officer.)
Sophie: Yeah. That's definitely going to voicemail.

(Alice is sitting on a couch, talking to someone. As she rambles, we see that Enigma is strung up behind her)
Alice: These conversations are always so awkward, Dr. Rhyme, but I think it's time that I moved on, you know, found a new therapist, someone who actually had my best interests in mind, someone who would mention in my therapy sessions to erase my sister from my memory that she's actually alive and, uh, not only alive but brainwashed by you into believing that she's some dead girl named Circe Sionis. Needless to say, Dr. Rhyme, you're fired.

Mary: Thank you for this. I don't know what I would have done without you.
Jacob: Don't thank me. None of these people would be alive right now if it weren't for you and this clinic.
(There is a long pause as Jacob looks with Mary with what seems to be respect.)
Mary: You wanted to see Kate and Beth again, didn't you? That's why you kept using. The Snakebite let you redo all of the mistakes you made with them and gave you a do-over.
Jacob: (sighs) Yeah. You're right. I wanted to see Kate and Beth again.
Mary: What do you want me to say, Dad? Do you want me to feel sorry for you? You don't think that I wanted a do-over? I lost all the same people that you did. I feel the same pain that you do every day, every night because I lost everything, too, except I'm not trying to escape it. I'm trying to learn how to live with it because apparently I was dumb enough to think that you would do the same thing for me. You want so badly to live in this fantasy with the two daughters that you lost that you can't see that you are losing the one daughter you have left.

(Alice tries to revive Enigma without success.)
Alice: What did you do?
Ocean: The thing I knew you couldn't.
Alice: So you picked now to get your revenge on her for screwing with our heads?!
Ocean: This has nothing to do with that.
Alice: Then why kill the only person who can help me get Kate back?!
Ocean: Because I don't want you to get Kate back! (pause) I don't expect you to get it.
Alice: Oh, I get it. You're jealous because you think if I get Kate back I won't want you.
Ocean: I... love you.
Alice: (stunned) What?
Ocean: You said it yourself. You sat in a cell for years waiting for your sister to find you. Did she? Am I the only one who finds it ironic that freedom is Kate's emotional touchstone? How nice must that be. Tell me something, Alice. After you escaped and you finally came face to face years later, did she even recognize you? Did Kate recognize you the way you recognized her through the burns, the new voice, the different personality? No. No. And Kate tried, but you were too hard to fix, Alice. And when she had to choose between her city and you, what did she choose, huh?
Alice: (bitterly) You've made your point.
Ocean: She chose a bunch of strangers over her own twin. She locked you in another cell. She gave up on you. That's not love, Alice. That's apathy. Kate is toxic, and you're better off thinking she's dead. 
(Ocean turns around and leaves as Alice begins crying silently.)

Continuity

Alice is able to make Kate Kane into the spitting image of Circe Sionis, facially. The likeness is so good it stuns Black Mask.

Black Mask agrees to let Alice live for what she's done.

Alice tries to stay, saying she should stick around in case the skin doesn't stick to the musculature. Black Mask threatens to cut out her tongue if she says anything about what she's seen.

A new Snakebite formula hits the streets - one that is blue rather than red and yellow.

Ryan encounters a woman eating another person as Batwoman at the Gotham Presbyterian church, apparently having gone feral and turned to cannibalism. 

Ryan holds a fundraiser for the Sheldon Park Community Center at The Hold Up.

Luke tells Ryan that another partly-eaten body was found at Amusement Mile, suggesting there's another "zombie" running around.

Ryan ditched a date with Imani to go out as Batwoman the night before. She told her that she had to help Luke after his mom broke her ankle. Luke finds this out after Imani asks how his mother is.

A group of white GCPD officers show up and try to shut down the fundraiser because of a noise complaint. It is implied, however, that they are racist, based on how they look at the crowd of largely Black and Latina attendees and make reference to "you people" being loud.

When Ryan points out that they are in a bar, the cops say they can't hold a fundraiser in a bar without a permit so the only options are shutting down or paying a fine and getting a black mark on their liquor license.

Luke and Ryan are arrested after Ryan reacts to one of the police officers touching her.

Sophie arrives the Hold Up as the GCPD are winding things down. She is arrested after she questions the officer in charge of the scene regarding the details of the "crime."

Luke and Ryan are unable to use their one phone call because they don't have any of Mary's phone numbers memorized.

The action briefly focuses on a seemingly rich man who went crazy after using the new Snakebite formula. He exhibits signs of super-strength, denting a dumpster with one punch. His name is later revealed to be Richard Monaghan.

Sophie says Ryan shouldn't have touched the cop as it escalated the situation. Ryan counters that the only reason Sophie is in holding with them is because she wasn't wearing a Crows Security uniform.

Alice confronts Enigma and threatens to kill her unless she helps her get Kate Kane back.

Enigma says that they'll need a simple object unique to Kate to rattle a core memory.

Mary keeps Jacob in her clinic for observation, despite his protests that he feels fine.

Jacob tells Mary about how he was first injected with Snakebite by some False Face gang members in 210.

Mary notes that she found 16 puncture marks on Jacob's body, indicating he sought out Snakebite to use on at least 7 occasions.

Richard Monaghan comes into Mary's clinic and ties himself to a bed using a medical restraint after asking Mary for help.

Alice returns to Ocean's lab, where she stashed a bag with some personal belongings. She finds Ocean is there waiting for her.

Alice tells Ocean that Kate is alive.

Alice shrugs off Ocean's offer to help her, but he says he wouldn't be there if he didn't want to help.

Richard Monaghan knew about Mary's clinic because she helped a friend of his who had overdosed on heroin.

Richard Monaghan reveals that he turned to Snakebite after his wife died in a car crash. He spent his time while high talking with his wife and having the deep conversations they never had the chance to have in real life.

Sophie reveals that she became a cop because she thought it was important for there be Black people patrolling Black neighborhoods, having grown up in a community where all the cops were white.

Ryan says she respects that, but that The Crows don't exist to serve the ideals police are meant to upheld - they're a wall between the rich and reality.

Sophie, in turn, says that Ryan gets to choose when to make a difference, but Sophie chose to he out there all the time with her face exposed to the world.

A white man named Eli is thrown into holding with Luke, Sophie and Ryan. He claims to be oppressed, like them, though he was accused of trying to steal a station wagon.

Eli tells them about how Gotham City is apparently besieged by zombies.

The GCPD put out a call for Batwoman and light the Bat-Signal.

Imani bails out Luke, Sophie and Ryan, having gotten a civil rights lawyer involved in their case.

Imani asks Ryan out that evening, but Ryan says she has a thing she has to do.

Jacob learned how to suture a wound while serving in the military.

Jacob helps Mary out as victims of the zombie attacks are brought in to the clinic.

Sophie tries to take command at Crows HQ, but is given a hard time about this (and her arrest) by Russell Tavaroff.

All of the zombie reports occurred within a four block radius of the old Gotham Presbyterian church.

Tavaroff points out the old Gotham Presbyterian church is outside of the Crows' jurisdiction. Sophie says that doesn't matter when innocent lives from around the city are in danger.

Luke secures several doses of clonazepam to treat the Snakebite zombies. Unfortunately, it has to be injected to be effective, meaning Ryan has to get up close to the zombies to treat them.

Alice and Ocean return to Enigma's office.

Enigma had no idea Ocean was still alive.

The item Alice brought to unlock Kate's memories are the keys to her motorcycle.

According to Alice, she was the first among the twins to walk, talk and wear a training bra.

Kate's motorcycle is a red Triumph.

Alice says that to Kate the motorcycle symbolized freedom.

Enigma reminds Alice that she won't be getting back the sister she dreamed of - she'll be getting back th e woman smart enough to lock her up in Arkham.

Enigma says that in addition to the object trigger, Kate will need a trigger phase to start the process of regaining her memories.

Ocean kills Enigma by snapping her neck before she can tell Alice what Kate's trigger is.

Tavaroff and the men he's leading gun down all the addicts in the church rather than try to subdue them, in defiance of Sophie's orders.

Unbeknownst to Tavaroff, Batwoman was in the church as he was shooting the Snakebite addicts, having taken cover under a pew while fleeing the zombie hordes. 

Jacob tells Mary she saved a lot of people and none of the people they helped that day would be alive without their clinic.

Mary guesses that Jacob was using Snakebite because it let him see Beth and Kate againand reads him the riot act for not appreciating the one daughter he has left to dream about the two he lost.

Richard Monaghan breaks his bonds by chewing off his own fingers and runs out into the streets in a frenzy.

The same police officer who arrested Ryan, Luke and Sophie finds Richard Monaghan and tries to talk him down non-violently. He is attacked, but Batwoman saves him.

The police reports that there were 22 victims in total as a result of the zombies created by the new Snakebite.  The Crows are credited on the news with having kept the death toll down.

Sophie tells Ryan that she is quitting The Crows.

Ocean says that he killed Enigma because Alice is better off not having Kate in her life and she's killing herself trying to recover the relationship they had as girls.

Ryan tells Imani there's a part of her life she can't share and things are complicated, but she can't share that with her despite knowing she deserves better.  Imani accepts this, after jokingly asking if Ryan is in the CIA or something like that. She says it's preferable to being afraid of her sleeping around.

Luke spots Eli as he's breaking into a car. After taking pictures of him in action, he tries to talk him out of stopping.

Agent Tavaroff  happens to drive by at that moment and asks what is going on.

Eli claims that Luke is the car thief and attacked him after he tried stopping him.

Luke reaches for his phone to show Agent Tavaroff the pictures he took. Taravoff responds by drawing his gun and shooting Luke in the chest three times.

The episode ends with Luke on the ground, passing out.

The Bottom Line

A smart, well-written and topical episode that evokes the best spirit of the Denny O'Neil days of Batman, with one hell of a cliffhanger.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 13 - I'll Give You A Clue

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

Plot

When Sophie is forced to face an old enemy from her rookie days with The Crows, Ryan, Mary and Luke are also drawn into the sinister game of the man known as Cluemaster. Meanwhile, the tables are turned on Black Mask after he takes Alice captive, as Jacob grows more addicted to Snakebite.


Influences

The Batman comics of Chuck Dixon (use of Cluemaster and Stephanie Brown)


Goofs

Sophie refuses to call the Crows since Cluemaster would consider that cheating. Yet she thinks nothing about taking help from Ryan, Mary and Stephanie or calling Luke in to assist. 


Performances

Morgan Kohan has a fantastic first turn as Stephanie Brown. Hopefully it will not be her last appearance on the show and she'll be given more to do than act as Luke's love interest.


Bat Trivia

The Cluemaster (aka Arthur Brown) first appeared in Detective Comics #351 in May 1966 and was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. A failed quiz show host, Brown turned to crime and adopted the gimmick of leaving clues to his crimes before he committed them, differentiating himself from the similarly-themed Riddler in that he didn't bother to phrase his clues in the form of riddles.
Despite joining with several other villains to form the Injustice League, Cluemaster was largely forgotten until a  Dark Age of Comics revamp spearheaded by writer Chuck Dixon, which introduced his daughter, Stephanie.

The Arrowverse version of Cluemaster is cut from the same cloth as the original, being a failed game show host named Arthur Brown who turned to crime.  

Stephanie Brown first appeared in Detective Comics #647 (August, 1992) and was created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle. The estranged teenage daughter of Cluemaster, Stephanie adopted the masked identity of The Spoiler and began leaving clues for the police and Batman to warn them of her father's crimes without risking her mother being endangered. Stephanie would later enter into a romantic relationship with the Tim Drake Robin and assumed the mantles of both Robin and Batgirl later in her career. 

The Arrowverse version of Stephanie Brown adopts a similar role, having been responsible for turning in her father and allowing Sophie Brown to take the credit for figuring out his hints to his identity. This version of Stephanie Brown was much closer to her father, who took a hand in training her in ciphers and cryptography as a child and used her as a sounding board for the questions on his quiz show.

One of the clues in Cluemaster's game show makes mention of Lazlo Valentin - the secret identity of Professor Pyg.


Technobabble

The puss caterpillar is the larval form of the Southern Flannel Moth. It is of the genus Megalopyge.

Ceasar and Playfair are two popular ciphers.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Batwoman is interrogating a False Face Society member.)
Batwoman: Where's Black Mask? Let me guess. You're more scared of him than you are of me.
False Face Member: You have a code. He doesn't. Do the math.
Batwoman: I love math. Here's some. There are three bones in your ankle. If I break two, how many are left?

Ryan: So you woke up to discover you were covered in some coded message?
Stephanie: You say that like your dad doesn't write cryptograms on you while you're unconscious. 

Black Mask: Ohh. The once-powerful queenpin of Gotham now protecting the city's hero. It's pathetic. I've had enough of this. Give me Batwoman's name, or end up all over my Malbec.
Alice: What's in a name? Circe, Black Mask... Roman Sionis.
Black Mask: What did you do?
Alice: Circe told me her father rescued her from the Arkham breakout, so I got to thinking how would dear, old dad feel about his precious daughter hanging out with a guy who wears a kinky skullcap? Unless dear, old dad is the guy in the kinky skullcap.
Black Mask: You just gave me three reasons to kill you.
Alice: Relax. This is a good thing. You happened to kidnap Gotham's most illustrious skin seamstress. I... I make faces, human faces. If you want your daughter to stop hiding behind that cheeseboard, then let me help you. I can give you your beautiful daughter back.
Black Mask: Tell me how.
Alice: Oh, I'll do one better. I'll show you.


Continuity

5 years ago, Sophie Brown was responsible for busting a would-be supervillain who called himself the Cluemaster on her first day with Crow's Security. This case went on to make her career. 

The Cluemaster, aka Arthur Brown, was sentenced to 13 life sentences for his crimes. 

The Cluemaster escaped on the 5th anniversary of the day of his arrest.

The Crows are still more interested in capturing Batwoman than Black Mask.

Jacob goes to the park which was Beth and Kate's favorite place and hallucinates them on the swings, after taking a dose of Snakebite.

Black Mask threatens to cut off Alice's fingers, one at a time, until she tells him who the new Batwoman is.

Ryan returns home to find Sophie hanging out with Mary.

Sophie was given a bottle of tequila for her five year anniversary with Crows' Security.

Sophie affirms that she's a lesbian rather than biexual.

Sophie, Ryan and Mary wind up playing Never Have I Ever - a drinking game where a person drinks a shot for every outrageous thing they've done.

Mary once had sex on an airplane but she is quick to note it was a private plane.

Ryan is revealed to have accidentally sexted Mary while messaging someone named Imani. This is the woman Ryan met at the community center fundraiser in 210.

Ryan makes Sophie do a shot by saying "Never have I ever compromised my values to support a white supremacist organization."

Sophie does a shot for "has kissed Batwoman."

All three women do a shot for "has been saved by Batwoman."

Kate saving Ryan as Batwoman occurred in the flashback of 202.

Mary discovers an insect in the tequila bottle that at first she thinks is the traditional worm.

The worm is identified as a puss caterpillar, which is the most venomous caterpillar in North America and one of the deadliest in the world. However, a single one is not deadly to adult humans. 

After this, Ryan reads the card that came with the bottle and finds out that it came from Cluemaster rather than Sophie's coworkers.

The note from Cluemaster reads ""A girl's been poisoned. (Not you. That's no fun.) Can you save her before midnight? I'll give you a clue, hot shot: Probably not. Love... Cluemaster".

Arthur Brown was the host of Quiz Bowl - a game show local to Gotham that was a rip-off of Jeopardy. After being fired, he went on a killing spree, leaving clues to his crimes for the police to find.

Sophie says they can't call the other Crows or the police, as Cluemaster will see that as cheating.

Based on the words "hot shot," Ryan heats the bottle, revealing a strange symbol. Sophie recognizes it as the logo for a shooting range she frequented as a cadet.

Alice rips out one of her own finger nails to escape Black Mask's trap and frees her hand.

Alice tries calling Jacob Kane to beg for help. Unfortunately, he's stoned and, confused as to why Beth is calling him when he sees her in front of him, tells Alice she has the wrong number.

Cluemaster was finally caught after he sent a letter to the newspaper regarding his plans to bomb a party celebrating the top-winners of Quiz Bowl. Someone else solved the puzzle and called in the tip that Arthur Brown was the Cluemaster to the Crow's Tip Line while Sophie was answering the phones.

Mary finds a bottle of antihistamin and a note reading "Just a nip should do the trick" before a woman in a glass box is revealed.

The woman is Stephanie Brown, Cluemaster's daughter.

The puzzle to free Stephanie involves four colored targets and four boxes - each a different color, with a different animal on it. The boxes were chained together, which Ryan determines is a reference to the food chain. The targets have to be shot from the top down: bobcat, bird, spider, fly

Sophie's training as a sharpshooter was first revealed in 107.

Stephanie Brown, once freed of the glass box, is revealed to have a cryptogram written on her upper torso that is apparently the next clue.

While threatening Alice, the fake Circe Sionis tells Alice that the last person who tried to one-up her had their eyes gouged out.

Alice recalls meeting Circe Sionis while in Arkham and how she was committed after poking out the eyes of some corporate bigwig. This leads to her figuring out that Black Mask must be her father, Roman Sionis. 

Alice asks Circe about being trampled to death during a riot at Arkham, but she denies dying.

Sophie reveals that Stephanie Brown was the one who solved the Cluemaster's puzzles and called in to the Crow's Tip Line, asking her to take credit for it.

Stephanie says her father used her as a barometer for his puzzles, so she's an expert at cryptograms and ciphers.

Stephanie taunts Luke with a puzzle based around her name, naming clues involving strong women - "I'm smarter than my king, my technology protects Wakanda.... You think it'd be as easy as kissing a frog. I woke a monster by reading from The Book of The Dead... I helped lay an iron giant to rest.  As smart as I am mighty, the chosen one still gets all the credit." These are references to Shuri from Black Panther, Tiana from The Princess and The Frog, Evie from The Mummy, Pepper Potts from Iron Man and Hermione Granger from Harry Potter - S-T-E-P-H.

Luke sees the phrase "You're Stumped" written on Stephanie's back. They decide this must be the basis of a substitution cipher based around the catchphrase from Quiz Bowl.

Sophie, Ryan and Mary decide to check out the old Quiz Bowl set while Luke and Stephanie work on the code, since Cluemaster said he wanted to "finish what he started."

Ryan and Mary are caught in a deathtrap as a recording of Cluemaster offers them more time if they answer some trivia questions about Gotham's criminals.

The first question involves "a poor man's version of Cluemaster." The answer is The Riddler.

Stephanie graduated from MIT in the class of 2016, having skipped several grades.

Luke makes reference to having been accepted to MIT, but never going, due to the trauma of his father's death.

Stephanie knocks Luke out after figuring out the cipher.

Ryan figures out that a question about a "frosty foe" who gave The Dark Knight "a run for his money" is about The Penguin rather than Mr. Freeze.:

Angelique used to work in the backroom casino at The Iceberg Lounge.

The final question is about the new Batwoman fighting a certain tally-taking hitman.

Ryan's fight with Zsasz as Batwoman occurred in 203.

Sophie suggests calling Batwoman for help, but Ryan tries to dismiss the idea.

Mary tries calling Luke for help, but he's still unconcious.

Alice offers to make Circe Sionis a flesh mask to hide her burn scars. 

Sophie finally says that she knows Ryan is Batwoman.

Ryan tells Sophie how to enter the Batcave and what tool to bring her.

Ryan thinks Sophie only went to Mary hoping to liquor her up and get her to confirm that Ryan was Batwoman.

Mary points out that Sophie hasn't acted on the information that Ryan is Batwoman or turned her in.

Mary tells Ryan about what Sophie told her about Jacob using Snakebite and how she's starting tot hink that might explain his odd behavior.

Sophie brings the baton that lets Ryan and Mary get off the pressure plate safely.

The clue in the cipher pointed to Stephanie Brown's childhood home.

Cluemaster asks Stephanie to join him. She declines and tells him that she was the one who turned him in five years ago after solving his puzzle.

Cluemater seals himself and Stephanie in his car and releases a toxic gas.

Luke shows up in time to save Stephanie, having solved the cipher on his own after waking up.

Stephanie kisses Luke and tells him to call her but doesn't given him her number, guessing he can find it on his own.

Cluemaster is taken to the hospital and then back to jail.

A few homeless men bring a strung out man into Mary's clinic. It is revealed to be Jacob, who still has a Snakebite injector jammed in his leg.

Sophie tells Ryan how she figured out she was Batwoman by finding the tech in Mary's car in 211.

Sophie also tells Ryan about how she erased her record with the crows to keep them from identifying her based on a blood sample she left behind as Batwoman in 212.

Circe Sionis is confirmed to have died in the fire at Arkham Asylum in 119. Alice recalls stepping over her body as she made her escape.

As she is fitting "Circe" for her mask, Alice recognizes her as Kate Kane, as she has their father's eyes.

Location

Gotham City - 2015


The Fridge Factor

Sophie Moore is revealed to have built her entire career on a lie and taking credit for what a teenage prodigy did. Then again, given that she's also portrayed as being stupid enough to drink strange liquor without reading the card saying who it is from, this isn't exactly a huge shock.


The Bottom Line

The biggest problem with this episode is that it left me wanting a show focused on this version of Stephanie Brown. I'd love to see  a show based around a super-genius vigilante rebelling against the legacy of her criminal family rather than the continued adventures of Sophie Moore: Bad Detective. Thankfully, everything else is engaging, even if the main plotline is a bit unsatisfying and serves no purpose beyond dragging most of the characters secrets into the open. Maybe I stand alone in being more interested in Alice messing with Black Mask or Stephanie Brown being brilliant than the main characters... but I doubt it.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 12 - Initiate Self-Destruct

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

Plot

Ryan is faced with a difficult decision that could expose her as Batwoman, creating a rift in the Bat Team. This leads to an unlikely alliance with Alice, who has her own score to settle with Black Mask. Meanwhile, Black Mask's plans for Kate Kane begin to unfold, as Sophie tries to decide where her loyalties truly lie.


Influences

Every Batman story where Batman forms a reluctant alliance with a villain in the name of the greater good, particularly the Halrequinade episode of Batman: The Animated Series. (Alice and Ryan have a similar scene where Alice starts playing with buttons in the Batmobile.)


Performances

Javica Leslie and Rachel Skarsten have great chemistry and the best parts of the episode center around them bantering with one another.


Artistry

The script is witty, with some great dialogues.


Bat Trivia

Black Mask makes reference to a Sionis family tradition of every family member having a replica mask made to decorate their casket. This is a nod to the comics, where Black Mask made his mask from the black wood of his father's coffin.

Mary's clinic is revealed to be located on Park Row in Gotham City. This is the same street where Thomas and Martha Wayne dies. In the comics, the once nice Park Row neighborhood deteriorated afterward and became known as Crime Alley by the time Bruce Wayne was an adult.

While using her night vision, Batwoman's coordinates were shown as being 42° 5' 23" N, -75° 6' 13" E, placing Gotham in the real-world location of Delaware County, New York, on the north of the Pepacton Reservoir. This is, it should be noted, far and away from where Cisco Ramon's map of Post-Crisis Earth showed Gotham City to be located (i.e. near Chicago, Illinois.)


Technobabble

Enigma tells Black Mask that while she has repressed Kate Kane to turn her into Circe Sionis, psychologically and behaviorally, she could do nothing to alter her voice. This was due to larynx damage during her kidnapping and subsequent torture.

Luke determines that Black Mask kept tabs on his drug labs with video feeds. This allows him to track the IP address of the cameras to get the location of the lab where Angelique was being held.

Luke has Mary deliver a targeted kill drive to Sophie - a device that, when introduced to the Crows' computer system, will scramble the data of the Batwoman blood test results.


Dialogue Triumphs

Black Mask: Masks have taken on various meanings over time. Deceit. Disguise. Cheap entertainment. But as Jung once said, we all wear masks, both to create an impression upon others but also to hide our own true natures.

Sophie: I thought you should know the Crows are in the process of extracting your DNA profile from blood spatter found at the Snakebite facility. Once they have that, they're gonna upload it to the national DNA registry. Of course, they'll need something to match it against, so you should be good unless of course you've ever been in the system. Anything you want to tell me?
Batwoman: Other than you need to destroy that sample?
Sophie: It's already being processed. They'll have the profile in a few hours. Arrest warrant won't be long after that.
Batwoman: I better use what time I have left to save the one person who had the guts to testify against Black Mask. Remember her? The one the Crows were supposed to protect?

(Batwoman enters the False Face drug lab. She finds several dead men, burned, and Alice in the middle of torturing another one.)
Batwoman: What the hell is this, barbeque for one?
Alice: Batty, what brings you here? Oh. Was it the odor? Honestly, I've been at this so long I can hardly smell it.
Batwoman: Why are you here?
Alice: The False Face kidnapped a friend, so I've been popping by their known hideouts, seeing if someone would be willing to spill his possible location.
Batwoman: I'm looking for someone they kidnapped, too.
Alice: Really? Her name wouldn't happen to be... pbb... I don't know... Angelique by chance?
Batwoman: How do you know that?
Alice: Well, according to Mr. Extra Crispy over here, when Angelique couldn't conjure up the special sauce that gives Snakebite its bite, Black Mask took her phone and used it to track down the actual chef, who does know all herbs and spices.
Batwoman: You're talking about Ocean.
Alice: Mm-hmm.
Batwoman: I thought you killed him.
Alice: Heh. Well, that's completely besides the point.
Batwoman: Which is?
Alice: Angelique and Ocean are apparently being held at a place that is more fortified than this one, and quite frankly, I need backup, by which I mean someone to stand behind so that the bullets don't hit my visage.
Batwoman: Damn. You're crazier than everyone already thinks.
Alice: Well, enemy of my enemy, doesn't that mean...
Batwoman: That you're still the bitch who murdered my mom.
Alice: Touché. But I'm also the bitch who knows where our beloved cooks are. 

(Batwoman and Alice are sitting in the Batmobile, observing a distant watchman.)
Batwoman: Okay. You draw him out, I'll take him out. Think you can handle that?
Alice: Sure.
(Alice reaches over and starts honking the horn of the Batmobile.)
Batwoman: What the hell are you doing?
Alice:What you asked.

Alice: If they were harmed in any way, I swear to you on my headless mother's grave...

(Alice has just finished knocking out a guard.)
Batwoman: Oh, my God. You love him.
Alice: I just kicked him for no reason.
Batwoman: Not him. Ocean.
Alice: Ocean? What? N-No.
Batwoman: Is that your boyfriend?
Alice: I drove a knife through his heart.
Batwoman: Well, for you, that's not a no.
Alice: Oh. That's true. 

Alice: Just a little piece of advice from an antihero to a hero. You can't save everyone. Not without losing who you are.

(Alice is being strangled by the masked Kate Kane.)
Alice: Help me!
Batwoman: Good luck with that.
(Batwoman turns around to leave.)
Alice: (desperately) I remember your mom. Cora. I remember her. Short hair, purple sweater. I lied about forgetting her. Now help me... please.
Batwoman: Like you said, can't save everyone. 
(Batwoman turns around again and leaves Alice for dead.)


Continuity

With the aid of Enigma, Black Mask hypnotizes Kate Kane to believe that she is his daughter, Circe Sionis.

Black Mask gives Kate a mask based on his daughter's face, which had been buried with her.

Black Mask tells Kate that she was badly burned after escaping from a fire in Arkham Asylum. This seems to be a nod to the events of 119 and would explain why Black Mask blamed Batwoman for his daughter's death, as The Crows blamed Batwoman for a riot at Arkham Asylum and the fire that followed.

Circe Sionis was apparently an inmate at Arkham Asylum.

Alice wakes up in bed with Ocean and tries to sneak out before he wake up.

As Alice is making her escape, she runs into three members of the False Face Society. They taser her and she blacks out as they are beating up Ocean.

Sophie learns about the sample of Batwoman's blood which Agent Tavaroff found in 211. She also learns that he's been authorized, by Commander Kane himself, to run a full analysis comparing it to the national DNA registry.

Sophie tries to talk to Jacob about focusing so many of the Crows' resources on Batwoman, but he refuses to talk to her, being high on Snakebite.

Luke is able to determine the location of the False Face drug lab where Angelique was being held.

Sophie lights the Bat-signal to warn Batwoman that the Crows have her blood.

Sophie does not tell Batwoman that she knows who she is now.

Ryan is not scared and says she'll use what time she has left to catch Black Mask.

Sophie says she will do what she can to destroy the sample.

Luke is in favor of dropping Angelique's rescue to focus on recovering the blood sample. Ryan tells him to help Sophie if he thinks it's that important.

Ryan discovers Alive in the middle of torturing the False Face gang members in the lab when she gets there.

Alice tells Ryan about Ocean's kidnapping and guesses that she's there looking for Angelique.

Alice suggests they team up since Angelique was apparently taken to the same place as Ocean. Ryan reluctantly agrees.

Sophie tries to sneak into the lab with the Batwoman blood sample, but finds another agent is sitting with it and watching it as it finishes compiling.

The False Face Society members holding Ocean and Angelique start recording them making a batch of Snakebite.

Mary delivers a targeted kill drive to Sophie that she can use to destroy the blood test results. She also offers to act as a distraction, so that Sophie can gain access to Jacob Kane's computer to use it.

Sophie figures out that Mary works with Batwoman as well.

Ryan handcuffs Alice outside the drug lab once they take care of all the guards on the outside.

Sophie finds out they are uploading multiple investigations to the DNA database at the same time as the Batwoman sample. This leaves her unable to use the kill drive, as it will also destroy all those records.

Mary's clinic is revealed to be located at 8845 Park Row.

Mary has changed her mind about making her clinic legitimate and shows Jacob what she has done to bring it up to code. This includes proper storage, certified nurses and doctors and Mary limiting her aid to doing the paperwork.

Mary notices that Jacob is sweating and seems anxious to leave.

Jacob notices that Mary's fax machine, the official means of notifying the police of suspicious patients (such as anyone with a bullet wound) is unplugged. He shrugs this off, however, saying that he can live with the compromise if it means Mary is talking to him again.

Sophie is able to destroy the record with Batwoman's identity before Agent Tavaroff can open it.

While covering her tracks in Jacob's office, Sophie finds his Snakebite kit.

Once Ocean and Angelique are done making the Snakebite, the False Face member filming them gets ready to kill them. He shoots Ocean before Batwoman steps in to save them.

Batwoman tells Angelique that Ryan sent her.

Ocean had apparently been talking non-stop about Alice ever since being captured.

Angelique helps Ocean to escape as Batwoman goes back for Alice.

Batwoman runs into "Circe" and the two fight.

Alice joins the fight, having freed herself, but is overpowered by "Circe".

Ryan abandons Alice, leaving her to the mercy of "Circe".

"Circe" seems to freeze up while looking at Alice, seeming to remember her somehow.

Sophie stops by Mary's clinic and asks if she's noticed Jacob acting strangely.

Mary talks about Jacob signing off on her compromise, which Sophie says seems out of character.

Sophie shows the Snakebite kit to Mary and says she thinks Jacob is using the drug.

Mary refuses to believe Jacob is an addict.

Angelique goes to Ryan and thanks her for all she did to save her.

Angelique says she's worked out a deal with the Feds and is going into Witness Protection. She wants Ryan to come with her.

Ryan refuses, saying she's not ready to give up on making Gotham a better place so kids don't suffer like they did.

Kate took Alice alive and took her to the Sionis home. Black Mask is ready to kill her, but suddenly changes his mind, saying there is one way she might be helpful.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode which establishes the depths of Black Mask's evil while giving us some great moments with Alice and Ryan playing off of each other.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 11 - Arrive Alive

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

Plot

With Angelique in Black Mask's clutches, both Batwoman and the Crows are anxious to rescue her and tripping over each other in the process.This leads to an uneasy alliance between Ryan and Sophie, as the two attempt to infiltrate the False Face Society's courier network on their own, after Sophie is taken off the case. Meanwhile, Alice confronts Enigma, hoping the woman who created may also erase her memories of her twin sister.


Influences

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Alice's dreams under hypnosis) ,The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift and urban racing movies in general.


Performances

Laura Mennell has an interesting performance here as Enigma. It would be easier for her to disable Alice while she's under, and yet she does not. This suggests that, on some level, she truly is trying to be a healer to someone she wronged, in much the same way that she honestly seemed to be trying to help Jacob Kane work through his grief even as she was setting him up in the last episode.


Artistry

The episode is full of great action sequences, from the car chases to the final fight between Batwoman and Black Mask.


Bat Trivia

This episode introduces a Crows' agent named Russell Tavaroff who has a reputation for using excessive violence. In the comics, Russell Tavaroff was the name of a supervillain called Menace, who appeared in the Batwing comic as an enemy of Luke Fox. Curiously, he was also addicted to a drug called Snakebite, but that drug was a Venom derivative quite different from the drug in the Arrowverse.

One of the delivery vans used by the False Face Society is for a florist called Mr. Bloom. This was also the name of two different characters in the modern Batman comics. The first, Daryl Gutierrez, was a scientist who developed seeds that gave random superpowers to those who consumed them. The second Mister Bloom was an unknown man, who stole the technology of the first and became the arch-enemy of Jim Gordon's Batman, when he assumed the Batman name while wearing a mechanized suit.


Technobabble

Sophie makes reference to street racing terms such as red-lining, backpedaling and asks if Ryan knows how to measure a car's camber and airflow.

The Batmobile has an artificial intelligence that can drive the car on its own and subtly assist a human driving without them knowing it. (Ryan is annoyed to discover this, as she thought she was getting better at handling the Batmobile.)

Luke has also created a portable version of the Batmobile AI that can be plugged into any car.


Dialogue Triumphs

Black Mask: (To Angelique, while pushing her face toward a broken flash full of acid.) Well, the final ingredient will be delivered soon. And if I've gone through all this trouble just to find out you can't cook after all, well... At least I have what I need to dissolve your body.

Enigma: You were working with Julia Pennyworth.
Alice: And I appreciate you sending her on a long vacation because I need some alone time with you.
Enigma: Safiyah hired me to erase your memories of Ocean. You're obviously here to get them back. I assume that's what this is all about. From what I recall, you were in love, I made you forget your feelings and consequently helped turn you into... you.
Alice: Keep them. I don't need the hassle.
Enigma: (confused) Then why did you track me down?
Alice: I have someone else I need to forget. My sister. Kate. 

(Enigma hypnotizes Alice.)
Enigma: Focus on what your senses are telling you, what you hear... what you feel.
(Alice goes under and is suddenly on top of Ocean, making out with him on the floor of his subway lab. Alice quickly breaks the kiss.)
Alice: Whoa. That happened fast.
Ocean: It's almost like you'd rather be here with me.
Alice: (shouting to sky) Are we sure we're in my subconscious? (muttering) What am I doing in Ocean's sex dream?
Ocean: I'm guessing you brought me here to apologize.
(Ocean tries to pull Alice back into his warms but she pushes him away.)
Alice: Ugh!
Ocean: Why'd you kill me?
Alice: Wouldn't you like to know? 
Ocean:(angrily)You killed me for nothing.
Alice: You would have done the same to me.
Ocean: No. No chance in hell. There's screwed up, and then there's you.
(Alice suddenly wakes up in the real world, as the real Ocean enters the office with a gun drawn. Alice draws a knife but Ocean knocks her to the ground.)
Alice: (confused) Is this real? This feels real.
Enigma: You tell me. I thought you said you killed him!
Ocean: I'm alive. And very pissed off.

Black Mask (looking at a Batarang): Now that is some terrific branding. But you should really consider bringing a gun to a gun fight.


Continuity

The False Face Society has been pulling a number of high-speed heists on various chemical plants, getting the materials they need to make Snakebite.

Angelique is under heavy guard, being the only person apart from Ocean who knows what is needed to make Snakebite.

The Snakebite formula is toxic unles cooked using Ocean's secret method.

The Crows think Angelique is alive based on the fact that they didn't find her body among the dead after she was abducted.

Ryan offers to help Sophie with finding Angelique using her contracts, but Sophie shuts her down.

Luke traces the eye-witness descriptions of the cars that ambushed the Crows' SUV carrying Angelique to a heist later that same day at Gotham Pharmaceutical. 

Luke determines that the one thing the False Face Society lacks to make more Snakebite is Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, which is a much rarer commodity. 

Luke flags the cars so they will get an alert as soon as any traffic cam detects them.

Ryan refuses to let Sophie know what they are doing, given how The Crows let Angelique get captured.

Alice briefly pretends to be Dr. Evelyn Rhyme after a new patient - a recently divorced man named Jackson - enters her office while Alice is there.

Alice kills Jackson after Dr. Rhyme gets there.

Alice reveals that she knows Dr. Rhyme is Enigma.

Enigma wrongly assumes Alice has come to have her memories restored. Instead, Alice asks her to remove her memories of Kate.

The False Face Society uses new recruits to act as couriers, delivering stolen chemicals between drop points using street racing cars, with directions being texted to them en route. Anyone who fails to keep up the required speed or makes a wrong turn is "burned" and locked out of any further False Face contact.

Sophie went undercover to try and infiltrates the False Face Society as a courier, but is burned after Batwoman stops her car.

Alice tells Enigma about her hallucinations of a teenage Kate in 209.

Enigma theorizes that Kate is a manifestation of Alice's moral compass.

Enigma says that Alice is a monster but a rational one and that in order to safely remove her memories of Kate she must first confront the part of her that is making her hallucinate Kate.

The False Face Society has killed three separate Crows' agents in the past week.

Jacob takes Sophie off of the False Face Society operation and places it under the command of a Crows' agent named Tavaroff.

Tavaroff is described as being the sort of agent who will scorch the earth to get to the False Face Society and won't care much about getting Angelique back alive.

Jacob seems to be more bloodthirsty and angry than usual - presumably a side-effect of the Snakebite use.

When Sophie tells Ryan what happened, Ryan volunteers to try and infiltrate the False Face Society in her place.

Alice is placed under hypnosis. She sees the teen Kate again as they were riding in the back of their mother's car when they were 13. Ocean is revealed to be driving the car, when Alice finds she can't get rid of Kate or just wish her away.

Mary agrees to loan Sophie and Ryan her car.

Sophie reaches out to Luke, who has to pretend that he doesn't know Ryan when they meet.

Luke sets up a fake ID for Ryan, giving her the name Robyn Wilde.

Luke also gives Ryan a comms they can use without Sophie hearing them, a tracking device to place inside the Fear Toxin and a portable version of the Batmobile AI.

Luke warns Ryan about teaming up with Sophie, saying that they're rising exposing her secret identity.

Enigma tells Alice that Ocean showing up in her vision is proof that she is still capable of feeling emotion and attachment, for all Alice claims to be beyond emotion and a master manipulator.

Sophie calls Ryan as she's waiting to start the heist, telling her there's a drone watching them, suggesting Black Mask is watching the whole operation. This means they can't stop and plant a tracker in the fear toxin, like they'd planned.

Ryan says she can manage it, despite the fear toxin containers being double-sealed and unstable.

Luke steers Mary's car remotely while Ryan opens the far toxin container and plants the tracker.

The Crows shoot at Mary's car while Ryan and Luke are making their getaway.

Ryan makes the delivery successfully.

Sophie decides to go after the False Face Society on her own and is captured.

Alice tells Enigma to erase her memories of Ocean as well.

Alice has a vision of Ocean where they kiss in his subway lab before he angrily asks why she killed him.

Alice wakes up as the real Ocean storms into Enigma's office with a gun drawn.

Ocean explains how Safiyah spared his life in 208, giving Alice a dagger soaked in Desert Rose to use to kill him.

Ocean says he was in Gotham City on other business, but he wanted to find Alice to ask her why she killed him.

Alice says it was because she thought it was the only way to get Kate back.

Enigma makes her escape by doing the one thing she promised Safiyah she would never do - restore Ocean and Alice's memories of each other. She does this by saying the words "Mockingbird anew." This paralyzes Alice and Ocean for a few minutes as their memories return.

Black Mask reveals that he has eyes inside of Crows HQ, so he knows that Sophie came after him alone and nobody is coming to rescue her.

Batwoman shows up to rescue Sophie.

Black Mask gets away after he reveals he has Angelique being held elsewhere and his men will kill her if he doesn't escape.

Angelique tells Black Mask that she doesn't know the full technique for making Snakebite, but claims to know how to find Ocean.

Ocean says that Safiyah gave him Enigma's contact information and that he called her a day earlier. Enigma told him that someone was tracking her and that her identity might have been compromised.

Ocean's mission is to find the one last Desert Rose plant he had taken with him, as Alice has destroyed every other sample on Earth.

Alice confirms that Batwoman probably has it, since she isn't dead from Kryptonite poisoning.

Ocean and Alice start making out after Ocean once again asks Alice if she regrets killing him.

Agent Tavaroff finds security footage in Black Mask's base of Batwoman fighting Black Mask while Sophie was there. Based on that, he searches the scene and finds a sample of Ryan's blood.

Sophie finds the Batmobile AI remote in Mary's car and, hacking it, overhears a conversation between Luke and Ryan where Ryan reveals she's the new Batwoman.


The Killing Jokes

Granting that Sophie's purpose on the show is to be a bad cop who gets captured by the villains in 90% of the episodes she's been in,  the decision to go after the False Face Society on her own is stupid even by her standards.

The one thing stupider than that decision? Ryan leaving the Batwoman AI in Mary's car for Sophie to find later. (It also seems really out of character for Luke not to have nagged Ryan about returning that to him ASAP.)


The Bottom Line

A decent filler episode with some amazing action sequences, let down only by the final five minutes requiring our main heroes by idiots for the sake of advancing the plot.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 10 - Time Off for Good Behavior

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

Plot

Ryan uncovers a sinister plot after a new villain dubbed Kilovolt attacks the community center she helped to repair. Meanwhile, Jacob faces a new challenge in his war on the False Face Society and Alice seeks out the mysterious Enigma with a new goal: forget about her sister.


Influences

The Batman comics of Alan Grant (character of Horton Spence).


Artistry

The dream-like imager of Jacob's hallucination scenes is quite effective.


Bat Trivia

Luke makes a joking remark about Black Mask blaming Aquaman for killing his daughter. This is the first confirmation that Aquaman exists within the post-Crisis Arrowverse. 

This episode marks the first appearance of Horton Spence - an idealistic reporter who alerts Batwoman to the connection between various social programs in Gotham City being attacked by criminals.

Horton Spence first appeared in the comics in Batman #475 in March 1992 and was presented as a partner to Vicki Vale, investigating a new street drug called Fever together. The two also dated for a time.

This episode confirms that Dr. Evelyn Rhyme is Enigma. Dr. Rhyme is an original character unique to the Arrowverse and has no connection to any other character named Enigma.


Technobabble

Community centers bring about a 10% drop in crime and a 15% increase in graduation rates from nearby schools.

According to Dr. Evelyn Sharpe, Snakebite attacks the hippocampus - the part of the brainwhich stores memories and emotions, targeting those memories most associated with regret or remorse. This triggers a hallucination where the user is able to alter the circumstance of the bad memory so they end happily.

Mary uses a mafenide acetate cream to treat Horton Spence's electrical burns.


Dialogue Triumphs

Alice: I see you got my message.
Julia: Oh, the sad desperation came through loud and clear. Gotham’s most deranged diva reduced to making prank phone calls. What’s next? Ding-dong-ditch? Heh.
Alice: (pulling a knife) How about "ghost in the graveyard?"
Julia: (batting the knife away) Oh, you’re not gonna kill me. You’d just be lonely again. I mean, that’s why I’m here, isn’t it? With Kate gone because no one really cares about your every move. I mean, the new Batwoman doesn’t give a damn about you anymore, and that must drive you absolutely crazy. Well, crazier. What will Alice become now that her sister is dead, hmm? I mean, it’s the age-old question, isn’t it? If a lunatic throws a tantrum in a forest, will anyone hear? Guess Gotham’s not much of a playground without a playmate.
Alice: I don’t need a playmate. I need a partner.
Julia: Well, your last overture at partners ended with a knife in my gut, so…
Alice: (wincing in exasperation) Oh, I really need to work on my negotiating skills!

(Black Mask shoots one of his followers - a man in a clown mask.)
Black Mask: You’re forgiven. (turning to the rest of his followers) Does anyone else want to apologize for the fact that for the last two weeks not a single viable dose of Snakebite has been produced? Anyone? I got plenty of bullets to go around!

Mary: Look. I don’t care what you have to say I’m opening the place back up, so if you want to stop me, you’ll have to arrest me.
Jacob: I don’t want to stop you. I want to help you. Make this place a real clinic. Hire real doctors. I’ll even pay for it.
Mary: You know that there are some things that you can’t fix by writing a big check.
Jacob: What possible objection could you have to making this place legit?
Mary: Because it goes against the very reason I started the clinic, ok? I don’t ask for I.D., I don’t require insurance, I don’t report O.D.s or non-violent criminal behavior. I opened up this place to serve the people that you don’t see as legit.
Jacob: Come on. You haven’t even finished med school...
Mary: And yet yesterday, I saved a guy’s life, and, you know, for the first time since Kate died, I don’t feel hollow! I feel like what I did mattered! That I can make a difference in this crappy city, and you want to take that away from me, and for that, I will never forgive you.


Continuity

As the episode opens, Batwoman is attacking her third Snakebite distribution center that week.

Batwoman specifically calls out Black Mask in a live TV feed.

As Jacob Kane is watching the news report on Batwoman's raid, he is kidnapped and injected with Snakebite.

While high on Snakebite, Jacob hallucinates that he was able to save Beth while she was a teenager.

Batwoman is calling the leader of the False Face Society Black Mask as she has no idea who he is.

According to Luke, Kate never killed anyone's daughter as Batwoman.

Ryan visits Angelique in Edgewater; a private prison facility.

The price of phone calls inside the prison has almost doubled since Ryan served time. According to Angelique, a ten-minute phone call is $22 and some change. It as $11.50 when Ryan was in prison.

Ryan encourages Angelique to flip on the False Face Society. She still refuses.

Ryan and Mary attend the opening of the new Sheldon Park community center Jordan Moore was working with. They are singled out for their help in getting it set up again.

A reporter named Horton Spence asks about the community center's security.

Ryan meets with Imani, who is the head of the community center's tutoring program.

Ryan is asked about teaching martial arts classes at the community center.

The community center is attacked by a man with an electric gun. The media dubs him Kilovolt.

Luke determines that a weapon like the lightning gun costs more than a community center is worth.

Horton Spence was fired from the Gotham Gazette six months earlier for undisclosed reasons.

Julia Pennyworth goes through her expense accounts from when she was searching for Kate and discovers that she spent two nights in Monaco with a layover in Valencia and a car rental in Madrid, but she has no memory of being in any of those places.

Alice calls in an anynonmous tip to The Crows, addressed to "Penny Dreadful," about a break-in at the Cartwright farm. Julia takes this as a sign that Alice wants to meet with her.

Julia makes reference to Alice stabbing her in 202.

Alice tells Julia about Enigma and asks for her help in finding her. This prompts Julia to think that maybe she already ran into and that is why she can't remember anything.

Jacob has a meeting with Dr. Evelyn Sharpe - a noted therapist with a practice in Gotham City, who joined the Crows special Snakebite task force. She has a PH.D in criminal psychiatry.

Dr. Sharpe somehow knows that Jacob used Snakebite. She says it is addictive enough that even one dose can hook a person.

Batwoman confronts Horton Spence about the community center attack. He tells he that several other social programs have faced similar attacks, such as the Narrows Midnight Basketball court being burned by an arsonist and the Diamond District tutoring center being shot up.

Spence claims he was investigating a link between the attacks when he was suddenly fired from the Gotham Gazette. He had just gotten his former editor to agree to take another look at his case.

Kilovolt tries to kill Batwoman and Spence, but her suit largely insulates her from the attack. Kilovolt gets away, but Ryan is able to get his gun.

Spence gets third degree electrical burns from the attack, but Mary is able to treat him with what few supplies she has left at her clinic. Unfortunately, his laptop was destroyed by the attack.

Luke traces the lightning gun to some tech being sold by a shady Russian defense contractor.

Luke is able to pull a partial finger print from the gun and traces it to a convict named Michael Kastrinos, who has been locked up in Edgewater Prison's Cellblock J for two years.

Alice discovers a to-do list written on Julia's boarding pass, which notes that she had a meeting with Dr. Evelyn Rhyme before flying to Madrid. Julia has no memory of this meeting.

Julia agrees to confront Dr. Rhyme about the meeting, while Alice investigates her office on Sixth Street.

Jacob has a private session with Dr. Rhyme where he admits that not saving Beth was his biggest regret and that not an hour goes by that he doesn't think about how he left her in the cell in Cartwright's farm.

Jacob admits he's tempted to try Snakebite again because of the good feeling he got from being able to save Beth, if only in a dream.

Jacob and Mary have not been speaking.

Dr. Sharpe suggests that Jacob try and mend fences with Mary.

Ryan visits Michael Kastrinos in prison. He refuses to confess to being Kilovolt, but Ryan identifies the injury she gave him before he escaped.

Luke checks the security footage of the time Kilovolt attacked Batwoman and it shows Michael Kastrinos in his cell, where he is meant to be.

Ryan visits Angelique and asks if she knows anything about a secret way out of the prison. She does not.

Ryan also pleads, once again, for Angelique to turn on the False Face Society. This time she seems to consider it when Ryan says she can protect her.

The False Face Society has not been able to produce any Snakebite in two weeks as only Ocean and Angelique knew the formula.

Ryan calls Sophie Moore about the two names she got from Angelique. They're both managers at the Gotham Gun Club. Sophie is skeptical, but agrees to check into it.

Luke matches the security footage of Michael Kastrinos to identical footage from 2 weeks earlier. This suggests that someone in the prison is deliberately altering the footage.

Michael Kastrinos wasn't going to be eligible for parole for another decade, yet somehow got a hearing for an early release the day after the community center attack. Discovering this led Luke to look at all the recent paroles from Edgewater prison and led to the discovery that a serial arsonist was paroled the day after the midnight basketball program was burned down and an armed robbery enthusiast was released the day after the Diamond District tutoring center was shot up.

Luke determines that Edgwater's CEO Ellis O'Brien personally signed off on each of the early releases. Ellis was also on the executive board of the Gotham Gazette and would have the power to fire Horten Spence.

Roman Sionis shows up at Jacob's office with a Snakebite dose he claims was found in one of his employee lockers. He asks if Jacob can dispose of it for him.

Julia confronts Dr. Rhyme, who reveals herself as Enigma before easing Julia's memory again.

Batwoman confronts Ellis O'Brien, who confesses that he was trying to destroy social programs that prevented at-risk children and repeat offenders from filling his prison.

Luke shows up in time to give Batwoman some back-up when he detects three guards with lightning guns coming for her.

Sophie finds the two men Angelique implicated, dead on their shooting rage, wearing masks.

Alice listens to Dr. Rhyme's recording of her session with Jacob.

Mary gives Horton Spence some antibiotics, since his insurance won't kick in for a few more weeks.

Horton spence was apparently rehired at the Gotham Gazette and given a promotion as well.

Jacob offers to pay for Mary to open a real clinic but she refuses his money.

Julia puts in for a transfer to the Crow's Security office in Berlin.

Sophie tells Ryan that a WITSEC team is moving Angelique into protective custody until Black Mask is captured, thanks to the DA accepting a plea deal.

Jacob takes the second dose of Snakebite Roman Sionis gave him.

Angelique is abducted by the False Face Society, after the Crows' Security caravan escorting her is attacked.


The Bottom Line

An enjoyable episode that plays out like a classic Green Arrow comic, with all of the ensemble being given a chance to shine.