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 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 8 - Survived Much Worse

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

Plot

Alice heads to Coryana with her fake Ocean corpse to trade for Kate's life (and death), with Jacob and Sophie one step behind. Unfortunately, when they get captured by Safiyah's men before they get the chance to leave Gotham, Ryan must undertake her greatest challenge ever to rescue them, stop Alice and survive long enough to get the Desert Rose that can cure her. Meanwhile, Luke and Mary will face their own encounter with the Many Arms of Death.


Influences

Batman: The Movie (the shark repellant gag) and the Batwoman Rebirth series.


Goofs

The Desert Rose fields catch on fire WAY too fast.

Even by the laws of comic books, it's entirely too contrived that Ryan's plant is a Desert Rose. Hopefully we'll get some explanation as to how that happened.

Not a good with the episode itself, but the dramatic ending was immediately undercut by WB's Sunday evening announcement that the role of Kate Kane had been recast with a new actress, suggesting that Kate's apparently confirmed death was not, in fact, confirmed.


Performances

Again, Rachel Skarsten steals the show and is the best thing about Batwoman.


Artistry

The scene of Alice burning the rose fields of Coryana is a satisfying and cinematic moment. 


Bat Trivia

When pushing Ryan to jump from the plane, Luke says she doesn't want to jump too late and wind up in the ocean because her utility belt doesn't contain any shark repellant. This is a nod to the 1966 Batman movie and an infamous scene in which Batman fights off a shark with Shark Repellant Bat Spray. (In fairness, this was one of several repellants in the Bat-Copter rather than a utility belt standard.)


Technobabble

Ryan injects herself with a combination of adrenaline and cortisone which will give her a jolt of energy and dull the pain of her Kryptonite poisoning at the cost of accelerating the speed of her cellular decay by %. This means she will die in a matter of hours rather than days.

Luke speculates that the system which keeps Coryana from showing up on satellites uses anti-radar electromagnetic waves. The lenses of the Bat-Suit can detect this electromagnetic field.

Luke gives Ryan several EMP grenades to disable the electric wrist restraints that Sophie said are the only electrical devices on Coryana.

A HALO jump is a high-altitude, low opening skydive.

Ammonium nitrate is a chemical that is used in making bombs and as a fertilizer. 

Safiyah's special daggers were imbued with the Desert Rose when it was forged. As a result, when used to stab a person, its curative properties seal the arteries upon entrance, creating the illusion of death without actually killing them until the dagger is removed.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Open on Ryan, writing in her journal.)
Ryan: Dear Kate, today is the day I'm supposed to die. Truth is I'm not scared of dying. I'm scared I didn't live. My mom always told me I was put on this earth for a reason, and now I finally know what that is.
(Cut to Alice, who is likewise writing in a small book.)
Alice: Today is the day I kill you, Kate. I spent years waiting for you to find me, but instead, I found you. Then, I waited for you to save me, but instead, I saved you, I turned you into a hero.
Ryan: You helped me find my inner warrior, my voice, my power.
Alice: While I played the part of your villain - the girl who reminded you how right and noble and courageous you were.
Ryan: You made me feel brave.
Alice: So I told you my greatest fear was being locked away again, and on that very day, what did you do?
Ryan: You helped me break out of the system that was trapping me.
Alice: You lured me into a box, and you locked the door.
Both: I've come so far...
Alice: ...to get my revenge.
Ryan: ...to inspire others,
Both: ..and I've survived much worse.
Alice: Cartwright, the Queen of Hearts...
Ryan: Foster care, the Candy Lady. If I could do that...
Both: :I can do anything.
Ryan: I can push off death another day if it means saving you.
Alice: I can even kill my sister.

Sophie: I have an active APB and field teams looking for Alice, yet you not only managed to locate her but tagged her with a high-powered tracking device? How?
Luke (sarcastic) I'm sure you're familiar with the concept don't ask, don't tell.

(Luke is going through the steps for a skydive.)
Ryan: This would be a lot easier if we had a Batplane.
Mary: That's what I've been saying!
Luke: Okay. I'll get right on that after I work out the kinks in the Batsub.

Jacob: Why are we here?
Tatiana: You're here because Alice wants you to have a front row seat to watch her kill Kate. She's here at Safiyah's request.
Sophie: Me? What did I do?
Tatiana: It's not what you did. It's what Safiyah thinks you're capable of. You're skilled, strong, and most of all, loyal. She wants you to join her army.
Sophie: (laughs) Why the hell would I join an army of ruthless killers?
Tatiana: Because you're already a part of one. (motions to Jacob) His. Both groups are organized, armed, and... dangerous, but we are committed to protecting our people while you oppress yours. 

(Batwoman is dragged before Safiyah.)
Alice: If I had a nickel for every bad penny...

(Alice is tossed in the same cell as Ryan.)
Ryan: I was wondering how this place could suck harder.
Alice: Why are you even here?
Ryan: To stop you from killing Kate.
Alice: I don't know what this obsession is with my sister, but you're not part of our family soap, 'kay?
(Ryan begins coughing and spits up blood. Alice nods.)
Alice: Oh. I see. You're on your way out. You've got a few hours left to live, and you need Kate to tap back in because God forbid the Bat ears go unoccupied for minutes!
Ryan: So people like you can roam free and kill their own siblings?
Alice: Not to play Monday morning quarterback, but if you didn't want me to kill Kate, you should have stopped me when you had the chance.
Ryan (chuckling) Then I wouldn't have been able to follow your dumb ass to this godforsaken island.
Alice: The tracker was you.
(Ryan laughs.)
Alice: (sighing) Clever girl.
Ryan: That's it? I just royally screwed up a move you've been planning for months. You could end me right now, but you just hit me with a loud sigh.
Alice: You're already on death's door. Let's let nature run its course.
Ryan: Or maybe you're terrified.
Alice: Of killing a sky rat?
Ryan: Of killing your sister. You've been throwing the same tantrum for months, poisoning bats, attacking Gotham Square, killing God knows how many people because if Kate was gonna die she was gonna die your way, and here you are moments away from getting what you want except... it's not actually what you want, is it? You don't want Kate back to kill her. You just want her back.
Alice: (laughs)  Well, someone has spent an awful lot of time thinking about the girl they blame for their mom's death.
Ryan: You remember what you said to me on your way out? You said... "It's not my fault", but you weren't talking about killing my mom. You were talking about why you are the way you are because as dark and screwed up as you are, at the end of the day, you're a victim of somebody, too... and that tiny sliver of humanity won't let you kill your sister. Because then it is your fault

Safiyah: Someone care to explain why I had to dagger one of Safiyah's minions? 

Tatiana: I have to applaud you for picking your own survival over Kate's. Take it from an island lifer... self-sacrifice is overrated.
Ryan: Heh. That's not why I did it. Alice isn't going to kill her sister.
Tatiana: I'm curious how you know that.
Ryan: I saw it in her face. Revenge, hate, anger, th... those are the only emotions she knows, so she hides behind them.
(There is a long pause.)
Tatiana: Well, you're right about one thing. Alice isn't going to kill her sister today.

(Alice learns that she just killed Ocean for nothing and Safiyah never had Kate.)
Alice: You blew up her plane! You killed her, you stupid, lying bitch!
Safiyah: I had nothing to do with her plane, but when someone tried to frame me for killing your sister, I saw an opportunity to get what I wanted, to make you and Ocean pay for your betrayal.
Alice: You are a monster!
Safiyah: And I created you. So what does that make you? 

(Ocean is gasping for breath after having the dagger removed from his chest.)
Safiyah: Welcome back, brother. That breath in your chest is only there because of me. I gave you your life back.
Ocean: (gasping) Why would you do this to me?
Safiyah: When push comes to shove, Alice doesn't actually have feelings for you. I wanted you to see that.
Ocean: You're sick.
Safiyah: I'm not the one who just put a knife through your heart. Alice's loyalty will always lie with her sister just as yours should lie with me because loyalty is everything to me. Isn't that right, Tatiana?
Tatiana: It is, my queen.
Safiyah: Then why test it? Why after I gave you power and freedom and health would you pick a fight with Alice on my behalf?
Tatiana: (uncertain) Safiyah, I don't know what...
Safiyah: You slaughtered Alice's gang. You sent her a note saying I killed Kate. You reeled her back into my life. Why when you know how hard I worked to forget her?
Tatiana: But you never forgot her! That's the problem. You couldn't. You were in love. I was... trying to get rid of that toxic an...
Safiyah: (suddenly furious) Enough! You always hated Alice and tried to drive a wedge between us. That's how I knew it was you.
Tatiana: (protestingly) No! No!
Safiyah: You wanted to see her lose, and now you have. Congratulations, Tatiana. I hope you were entertained!
(Safiyah stabs Tatiana in the chest. She falls to the ground, as seemingly dead as Ocean was.)
Safiyah: (to another guard) Keep that in her. I'll pull it out when I decide to forgive her. 


Dialogue Disasters

Jacob's whole hypocritical speech about not being above the law.

Luke and Mary losing 100 IQ points in dealing with the assassin.


Continuity

Alice is revealed to keep a diary in the form of letters to Kate, just like Ryan.

Alice makes reference to her battle with the Queen of Hearts (115) and being locked in Arkham by Kate.(116)

Ryan refers to her battle with The Candy Lady (204).

Ryan gives herself a shot that will keep her functional for another day, but risk her dying from the Kryptonite poisoning much faster.

Luke tells Sophie about the tracker that Ryan planted on Alice and gives her the frequency,

Sophie finally figures out that Luke is working with Batwoman.

Luke also tells Sophie that the new Batwoman has been poisoned and asks Sophie to get him a Desert Rose flower when she goes to Coryana to rescue Kate.

The Crows got footage of Ocean leaving Gotham on a flight to Rome the night before. This confuses Sophie.

Luke suggests to Sophie that Alice is attempting to fool Safiyah with a fake Ocean and refers to the fake Bruce Wayne from 201.

The planes heading to Coryana left from the Olsson Airstrip.

Sophie does try to honor her deal with Luke and tells Jacob they need to get a Desert Rose while on Coryana.

Sophie and Jacob are ambushed by Safiyah's men en route to the airport.

Luke is able to guess where Coryana is based on where Alice's transponder cut out.

Ryan leaves Mary her plant, which was a gift from Angelique and was going to be a gift to her mother when they moved into their new apartment.

Mary couldn't keep a Taagotchi alive for five minutes.

Luke gets Ryan on board a mail carrier bound for a few minutes over the airspace over Coryana.

Batman does not have a Batplane or Batsub.

Ryan has never been on a plane before.

Jacob and Sophie wake up in a cell in Coryana with their wrists shackled.

Safiyah's people found the tracking device on Alice.

Tatiana says that Jacob was brought to Coryana because Alice wanted him to see Kate die.

Tatiana claims that Safiyah wants Sophie for her army.

Ryan lands on Coryana, but her comms are fried after she drops the EMP.

Jacob and Sophie are able to free themselves once the EMP disable their bonds.

Ryan tells Safiyah about the fake Ocean.  This leads to her finding the seam on the flesh mask Alice made.

Sophie tells Jacob that she's working with someone working with Batwoman.

Sophie refers to the events of 205 and how the Crows who nearly killed Wolf-Spider were fired rather than being arrested, when Jacob says The Crows are held accountable for what they do, unlike Batwoman.

Ryan refers to her last conversation with Alice in 207.

Safiyah offers Ryan a reward for telling her about Alice's treachery. Ryan asks for enough Desert Rose to cure her and for Kate's return. When Safiyah says she can have one or the other, she chooses the flower.

Safiyah's followers recaptured Ocean on his way to Portofino. They found him because Alice had done a search for it on her phone, apparently intending to find him once Kate was dead.

Safiyah offers Alice a choice: spare Ocean's life or be allowed to kill Kate. Alice stabs Ocean in the chest with the knife Safiyah gave her.

One of Safiyah's assassins comes after Mary and Luke in Bruce Wayne's office with a spiked flail.. She is killed by Julia Pennyworth and bleeds out onto Ryan's plant.

Safiyah reveals that she doesn't have Kate and never did, after guiding Alice to a room full of perfect replicas of her and Kate's matching necklaces.

Julia says that she hired a team to run down some leads from the Crow's tipline and they found body parts off the coast of Blidhaven that have Kate's DNA. This seems to prove that Kate is dead.

Safiyah once again denies having anything to do with Kate's death, but does admit to taking advantage of the situation to get her revenge on Alice and Ocean.

Jacob knows how to fly a plane, but is out of practice. He leaves to get a plane going, while Sophie goes to find Kate and a Desert Rose.

Safiyah reveals that her daggers do not permanently kill a person - only lock them in a coma.

Safiyah wished to prove to Ocean that Alice didn't really love him and that she would never choose him over her sister.

Safiyah also revealed that she knew it was Tatiana who killed the Wonderland Gang in 116 and framed Safiyah for Kate Kane's murder, leaving a note for Alice in 201.

Tatiana is stabbed with the special dagger and left until Safiyah decides to forgive her.

Alice kills her guards and sets the Desert Rose fields on fire.

Sophie finds Ryan near death, having been abandoned by her guard when the fields caught on fire. She tells Sophie that Safiyah never had Kate - a fact she learned from Tatiana. 

Ryan asks Sophie to stay with her while she dies.

Luke calls Sophie and tells her they need to get Batwoman back to Gotham because they have a cure.

Ryan's plant is revealed to be a Desert Rose, which bloomed after being fed the assassin's blood.

The episode ends showing a corpse in a sewer that appears to be Kate Kane.


Location

Coryana


Untelevised Adventures

Ocean is captured by Safiyah's men off-camera.


The Bottom Line

An enjoyable episode, despite a contrived coincidence in the final moments that is a bit much even for the melodrama of a superhero show. 

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 7 - It's Best You Stop Digging

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

Plot

As Ryan's condition becomes worse, she begins to hallucinate and becomes a danger to herself and Gotham City, more determined than ever to kill Alice before what she believes to be her certain death. Meanwhile, as Sophie and Jacob continue the hunt for the map to Coryana, Tatiana arrives in Gotham City to confirm Ocean's death and tells Alice the full story of why Safiyah erased her memories.


Influences

The Batwoman Rebirth series (Safiyah flashbacks)


Artistry

The various nightmare and hallucination scenes are truly horrific.


Bat Trivia

This episode reveals that Ocean and Alice had their memories of one another erased by a master hypnotist named Enigma. While there have been several DC Comics villains to use that name, none of them were hypnotists. 


Technobabble

Mary says that Ryan is suffering from acute radiation poisoning, which has her bone marrow disintegrating and her circulatory system failing. 

Luke has installed a second GPS tracker inside Ryan's gauntlets, in case she ever tries turning off the tracker she knows about again.

Mary mixes two complementary cardiotonics to calm Ryan down and speed up her system. 

According to Safiyah, the Desert Rose is delicate, but its serum can cure any illness, hereditary disease, toxin or pathogen. 

According to Mary, the buttons for the wind-shield wipers and the rocket launchers on the Batmobile look exactly alike and have no labels.

According to Ocean, the Desert Rose requires a woman's blood to bloom.


Dialogue Triumphs

Safiyah: Relax. I'm not going to hurt you, and from the looks of what you did to my men, I wouldn't stand a chance.
Beth: Why am I here? What do you want?
Safiyah: First, I'd like to know why a beautiful young woman with her entire life ahead of her was found sequestered away on a boat floating in the middle of nowhere.
Beth: Let's just say I've grown accustomed to small spaces.
Safiyah: The real world can be an overwhelming place sometimes. I understand we both have a bone to pick with Catherine Hamilton-Kane.
Beth: She convinced my entire family I was dead while I spent the last 11 years in my kidnapper's basement cell. 
Safiyah: And here you are... a siren once trapped in a net, who somehow found her way out. 

Alice: So you're telling me that... A little crush on the first cute boy I laid eyes on after escaping captivity for 11 years threw the island queen into a tizzy?
Tatiana: It wasn't like that. In fact, at first, no one even noticed.
Alice: Let me guess- clandestine trysts by the water well?
Tatiana: No. The reason no one noticed was because you two hated each other.

(Luke and Mary are loading the Batwoman into the back of Luke's SUV. Once that is done, as a spotlight from a hovering GCPD chopper finds them, Luke offers a set of keys to Mary.)
Luke: I'll meet you in the Batcave.
Mary: Why are you giving me the keys?
Luke: I have to take the Batmobile!
Mary: I can take the Batmobile.
Luke: You've never driven it befor!.
Mary: I've never driven your car before!
Luke: Mary, no!
Mary: Yes!
Luke: No!
Mary: Yes!
Luke: Mary!
Mary: Yes!
Cop: Release the suspect.!
(Luke looks up at the chopper and pulls another set of keys from his pocket.)
Luke: We don't have time for this.
Mary: Gimmie! Gimmie! 
(Luke reluctantly hands Mary the Batmobile keys as they both run to their respective cars.)

Alice So Safiyah and I shared a common enemy, she thought I'd be a good soldier, and I started to hate-crush her metaphorical brother. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm missing the motive for a lobotomy.
Tatiana: You're really not getting it, are you?
Alice Well, you're not exactly unfolding the plot to a Shakespearean drama here. 
Tatiana: Safiyah would claim she wanted you for her army, survival instincts would make you an excellent fighter and advisor.
Alice: And what would you claim?
Tatiana: That she was in love with you. 

Ryan: Wait. How did I get back here?
Mary: Luke and I found you outside of Angelique's.
(Ryan winces.)
Mary: Yeah. But good news... I got to drive the Batmobile. Bad news... the wipers button and the rocket launchers look very similar. Someone should label those. 

(Tatiana finishes telling Alice about her foiled escape plans with Ocean years earlier.)
Tatiana: The man you were willing to change your life for, the one person who offered you a second chance and freedom from your past is the same man Safiyah convinced you to stab through the heart!
(Tatiana laughs wickedly. Alice looks at her, completely nonplussed,)
Alice: I'm sorry. That's it? That's your big mic drop moment? "Surprise! You killed your soul mate that you don't even remember!". Yeah. I found my mother's head in a freezer, so if you're trying to shock me, you're gonna have to do a little better than that.

(Ryan kicks in the door as Alice is getting ready to leave Ocean's lab.)
Ryan: Alice, do you know who I am?
Alice: Okay. I've had a day. Can we do this in, say, 2... 3 weeks?
Ryan: Do you know who I am?!
Alice: Honestly, so many women keep showing up in that outfit, it's impossible to keep track.
Ryan:  How's this? (pulls off her mask and wig)  You killed my mom, and now I'm here to kill you.
(Alice laughs and then realizes how serious Ryan is.)
Alice:  You're kidding, right? That's what this is about?
Ryan: My mom was Cora Lewis. Your gang beat her to death on December 13, 2015.
Alice: I get it. Mommy died, and now you're a "Woman on fire", which means I'm responsible for spawning not one Batwoman... but two.
Ryan: You think this is funny?
Alice: (nonchalant) Yes. 


Continuity

Ryan describes the effects of Kryptonite poisoning as feeling like a brain hemorrhage.  Later, she describes it as causing a worse hangover than two-dollar tequila.

According to Luke, Ryan's wound smells worse than it did the day before, but Mary cuts him off before he describes the smell.

As Ryan goes unconscious, she has a dream of killing Alice.

Tatiana shows up to verify Ocean's death. Alice knocks her out and ties her up after she sees the fake body Alice prepared.

Jacob believes Amygdala's story about being sent after him and Mary by doctors employed by Hamilton Dynamics. He imagines the thugs who stole the Coryana painting from Sophie were also working for those same doctors.

Jacob determines the most likely suspect is Dr. Ethan Rogers -a neurologist with Garrick Logistics, who treated Amygdala, who is believed to have been running off-the-grid experiments. 

According to Tatiana, the reason why Safiyah spared Alice was because they had a common enemy in Catherine Hamilton.

Reportedly Catherine burned Safiyah on a defense system for Coryana. Safiyah was going to retaliate by stealing one of her boats, only to discover that Beth Kane was hiding there, waiting for a chance to kill the woman who stopped the manhunt for her.

Beth was able to take down four of Safiyah's soldiers before they brought her down. Tatiana described Beth as fighting lie a feral animal.

Tatiana claims that while she would never admit it, Safiyah views herself as a prisoner of Coryana.

Safiyah turned Beth over to Ocean, hoping to turn her into a perfect weapon to use against Catherine Hamilton.

According to Tatiana, there are few laws or rules on Coryana beyond no leaving without permission, no stealing the Desert Rose and if Safiyah wants something, she gets it.

Mary says the Desert Rose is the only thing she thinks can save Ryan, but she's at a loss as to how to convince her father to get one once he gets to Coryana.

Jacob is still unaware that Mary was helping Batwoman, despite shutting down her clinic.

Ryan suits up and takes the Batmobile while hallucinating.

According to Tatiana, Ocean and Beth hated each other at first, so nobody suspected when they became attracted to one another.

Coryana has no electricity.

Beth told Ocean about the world outside Coryana, as he knew nothing beyond combat and botany.

Ryan has a nightmarish hallucination of her mother telling her that she didn't approve of Angelique as she was helping set her hair, only for the back of her head to become bloody.

Angelique's apartment is on the West End and Mary knows where it is.

Ryan tries to break into Angelique's apartment to question her about Ocean. She finds Angelique is already with another woman.

Angelique does not drink.

Angelique tells Ryan that Ocean has a mushroom farm in Coventry before pushing her off the fire escape - an attack Ryan can't avoid in her weakened condition.

Mary and Luke find the injured Ryan and are barely able to escape from a GCPD helicopter patrol that spots them and the Batmobile.

Luke hides the Batmobile keys inside of Dino - the dinosaur in the Batcave. 

Tatiana claims that Safiyah had a crush on Beth and hoped to seduce her. She also admits to loving Safiyah, but denies she looked for an opportunity to kill Beth out of pure jealousy.

According to Safiyah, Coryana was founded by a group of women who fled their abusive husbands seeking an island located under the constellations of Cassiopeia and Andromeda. The Desert Rose is said to have first bloomed on the battlefield after many women died to defend their new home from the men who came to take them back. 

Sophie tells Jacob that she knew about Mary's clinic.

Sophie and Jacob discover that Dr. Rogers and all of the rest of the staff of Garrick Logistics are dead, heaving been injected with the Desert Rose blood that killed after being used to save a single patient. 

Jacob finds the map case that held the Coryana painting, but it doesn't hold a painting: just a message reading "IT'S BEST YOU STOP DIGGING - SAFIYAH"

When they were on the island, Alice told Ocean about feeling Kate's presence when she and Jacob almost found her. as depicted in the flashback in 105.

Ocean planned to escape Coryana with some snips of the Desert Rose, which he would use to finance his travels around the world. He wanted to take Beth with him when he escaped. It was Tatiana who caught them in the act.

Alice refers to the events of 115 and how she found her mother's head in a freezer.

Ryan determines where Ocean's hideout is, guessing that a mushroom farm would require a moist area near the river and demand a lot of power for the growing lamps.

Mary agrees to help Ryan find Alice and gives her the Batmobile keys after Ryan says she may never have another chance to stop Alice before she dies.

According to Tatiana, Safiyah decided that Alice's punishment for her betrayal was to become a dark mirror of what Safiyah saw herself as: a queen held hostage by her position, who could not be allowed to love anyone. This turned Alice into a cold, hard, vengeance-obsessed killing machine with little of Beth Kane's warmth left.

Enigma removed all of Ocean and Alice's memories of one another, but also went a step further in removing any chance of truly feeling love that Alice had.

Alice tells Ocean what she learned from Tataiana. They agree to part ways, as Ocean goes to Portofino. 

Alice intends to return to Coryana and get her revenge on Kate. 

Ryan finds Alice as she is leaving Ocean's hideout.

Alice's gang beat Cora Lewis to death on December 13, 2015.

Ryan almost beats Alice to death, but stops after she hallucinates her mother telling her not to do it.

Alice leaves Gotham for Coryana.

Ryan planted a tracker on Alice's boot as they were fighting, figuring they can follow her to Coryana and Kate.


Location

Coryana


Untelevised Adventures

A series of flashbacks reveal how Beth Kane came to be on Coryana and how she was taken into Safiyah's confidence, fell in love with Ocean and then betrayed that confidence to run away with Ocean.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode, despite its focus on Alice and it largely being devoted to confirming what we already guessed from the flashback sequences from before. As per usual, the scenes with Jacob and Sophie are completely pointless and add nothing to the show. Still, the "Ryan being a potential killer" storyline is settled well enough and the Alice fans in the audience (of which I am one) will love it and the revelation that she's not responsible for her murderous personality.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 6 - Do Not Resuscitate

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

Plot

Ryan's Kryptonite wound worsens and begins to hamper her ability to protect the people of Gotham, as Sophie approaches her with a threat regarding Angelique and her connection to Ocean and the False Face Society. Meanwhile, as Alice and Ocean struggle to figure out their mutual amnesia and a plan to fight back against Safiyah, Mary and Jacob are taken hostage by a madman with anger management issues.

Influences

The Rebirth Batwoman series (Safiyah plotline), Shadow of the Bat (character of Amygdala) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (the subplot about Alice and Ocean having all memory of their romance erased.)


Bat Trivia

Aaron "Amygdala" Hellzinger first appeared in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #3 and was created by writer Alan Grant and artist Norm Breyfogle. An inmate at Arkham Asylum, Amygdala's name came from the portion of the brain that regulates emotions. A doctor attempted to surgically remove Hellzinger's amygdala in a bid to make the violently angry man more docile. Instead, the surgery made him permanently angry, which was something of a problem as he had enhanced strength, endurance and durability. While Hellzinger's condition could be managed with medication, he was often recruited by as dumb muscle by Arkham's many supervillains. 

The Arrowverse version of Amygdala lacks the super-strength of this comic book counterpart. He also has a slightly different origin story, have been a test subject for a secret program at Hamilton Dynamics which involved treating his abnormal amygdala with UV light. The treatment worked for a week, but apparently gave Amygdala brain cancer which aggravated his condition, resulting in frequent random outbursts of rage.

The idea of humans being able to be poisoned by Kryptonite has been explored before in the comics and in other media. In the comics, Lex Luthor wound up developing cancer after wearing a Kryptonite ring for several years to keep Superman away from him. He managed to survive by having his brain transplanted into a younger clone body, which he passed off as his son, just before the Death of Superman storyline. Lex Luthor developing cancer from Kryponite poisoning was also a major subplot of the Justice League animated series. Previously in the Arrowverse, it was suggested that Lex Luthor acquired cancer from his experiments with Kryptonite, but it turned out Lex was faking his illness. 

Technobabble

In the opening scene, a doctor at Hamilton Dynamics attempts to transfer the white blood cells of a 10 year old boy who had Stage IV leukemia but managed a full recover after being treated with The Miracle Serum into an 80 year old man with a comparable condition. They did this by replicating the cells and mixing them with a synthetic granulocyte. However, it caused him to begin hemorrhaging and vomiting blood immediately. 

The Desert Rose antidote can permanently cure all manner of blood-based ailments, including anemia, malaria and advanced leukemia.

The active agent of the Desert Rose antidote cannot be synthesized and attempting to pass it on second-hand makes it toxic.

The Crows determine the Napier painting they have is a fake, based on the viscera testing positive as pigs blood rather than human remains. However, they do detect a fingerprint which they trace to Ocean.

The Crows make use of an invisible high-frequency generator/receiver app to bug smart phones, turning them into digital microphones. Its use can only be authorized by the Crows Commander. However, it is hardly foolproof and Angelique detects its presence because it also makes static on her regular phone calls and half her apps stopped working.

According to Mary, the Miracle Serum only retains its stability after one generation. Once the cure was extracted from the blood cells of someone treated with the first generation serum, it became toxic and lost all of its curative properties.

After Jacob is stabbed in the stomach, Mary asks if he was hit in the celiac artery.

Mary recognizes that Amygdala has a scar from a craniotomy. 

Kryptonite is said to be composed of sodium, lithium, boron and several elements that do not exist on Earth or the standard periodic teable.

Dialogue Triumphs

(Ryan is getting The Hide Out opened. She hears someone come in through the door.)
Ryan: Not open yet.
Sophie: The door was.
(Ryan glares at Sophie, having realized who it is.)
Sophie: Good to see you staying out of trouble.
Ryan: Good to have your approval that... I don't care about. Still not open.

(Sophie continues to give Ryan a hard time about her loyalty to Angelique.)
Sophie: I know this was hard for you-
Ryan: But you don't, though. Because you don't know what we've been through.
Sophie: I know you're right back in the exact same situation you've already served time for and you're choosing to stay there. Why?
Ryan: You've never been in love, huh?
Sophie: Of course I've been in love.
Ryan: And now you're alone. See, when I care about someone, I fight for them.
(Sophie says nothing. She just turns around and walks out of The Hide Out.)

(Alice is trying to convince Ocean their memories of each other were erased.)
Ocean: She doesn't want anyone knowing the location of the island, so she blitzed my memory so I can never get back.
Alice: She didn't just erase that day. She erased our entire existence from each other! That's not strange to you?

Ocean: (sarcastically) You're right, Alice. Maybe you were the one busted stealing the Desert Rose and maybe you framed me to save your own ass.
(Alice seems to consider this for a few seconds.)
Alice: I don't think I would have done that.
Ocean: Why? Too honorable? You helped me gut three men yesterday.
Alice: You really don't remember, do you?
Ocean: Remember what?
(Alice takes Ocean's hand and squeezes it.)
(Cut to a flashback of Beth Kane sitting next to Ocean before a campfire, where he takes her hand and squeezes it.)

(Cut back to Ocean in the present, looking disturbed.)
Alice: You and I had a thing together. From the looks of it, it should have been memorable.
Ocean: ... oh, crap.
Alice: Yeah. My thoughts exactly.

Alice: (To Safiyah) I've never asked this to a woman, but... you didn't happen to roofie me for six months straight, did you? Because I'm hitting a lot of potholes on Memory Lane that need filling.

Continuity

Alice's bat attack in 202 took place on January 31.

The Desert Rose antidote developed by Hamilton Dynamics is dubbed BP296 officially. Unofficially, it is called The Miracle Serum.

Dr. Ethan Rogers, a doctor with Hamilton Dynamics, sends a violent patient, Aaron Hellzinger, after Mary Hamilton to find the source of the Miracle Serum.

Ryan has a spasm from her wound while chasing two burglars. She calls Angelique to help her.

When Ryan sees a doctor about her wound, he prescribes antibiotics after she says it was a spider bite.

The insurance Ryan gets from The Hide-Out doesn't cover blood tests. When Angelique finds this out, she says she'll pay for whatever Ryan needs out of her own pocket. 

Ryan encourages Angelique to get out of drug dealing. Angelique says she likes her job, is good at it, and with the crew she works with and the rich clients she has dirt on, there's no way she can just "quit."

Ocean denies having anything to do with Kate Kane's disappearance or sending a message to Alice about Safiyah being responsible. Ocean further says that he's a simple botanist and that picking a fight with a warlord would be too much work, even if he had a reason to do it.

Ocean admits he did train Safiyah's army, but that he got bored and tried to leave Coryana with one the Desert Rose flowers.

Alice theorizes that she and Ocean tried to flee Coryana together and that Safiyah somehow erased all the memories they had of each other. 

Mary and Jacob have a meeting with a lawyer who pressures them to have Kate declared legally dead. It is on the drive back home that they are attacked by Aaron Hellzinger.

Sophie has been building a case against Angelique, claiming that she can prove she's been involved in selling Snakebite and that she has five cases with rich party kids that will turn on their dealer in a heartbeat.

Sophie says she recognized Angelique as the woman who attacked her at Ocean's apartment in 204.

Sophie says Ocean is growing the psychedelic mushrooms used to make Snakebite.

Sophie offers to "lose" the information on Angelique if Ryan helps her install some spyware on Angelique's phone. Ryan reluctantly agrees. 

Amygdala takes Mary and Jacob to Mary's clinic. Mary plays dumb as to where they are at first, but eventually confesses that she had been running it for two years.

Mary relates the events of 108 and how she learned of the Desert Rose poison, the antidote and how Alice gave her a sample of her antidote-filled blood to save the people of Gotham to Jacob, along with how she's been running an underground clinic for two years.

Ryan's wound continues to get worse.

It is revealed that Ryan's favorite plant was a gift from Angelique five years earlier.

Ryan pulls strings to get Angelique a job working with her at the Hide Out. Angelique rejects it. It is only after that happens that Ryan bugs her phone.

Ryan gets a call from her doctor saying they need to redo the blood tests since they show she has severe radiation poisoning. He says the only way her tests are accurate based on what she said is if she was snapping selfies in Chernobyl. 

 Aaron Hellzinger says his doctors started calling him Amygdala because his circuits were mixed up and he reacted the wrong way to things. Cute puppies made him angry. Sad children made him laugh. His doctors tried to treat him by frying the 'bad' parts of his brain with UV light as part of a secret experiment. It cure him for about a week after two dozen treatments, but then he developed brain cancer as a side effect and his condition became worse, with the tumor rubbing against his amygdala and causing him intense pain and leaving him unable to feel anything but anger.

Mary tells Amygdala about Coryana and says she can cure him if she can find a way to get there.

Ocean says that Alice helped him gut three men yesterday, indicating this episode (or their scenes, at least) take place the day after 205.

Ryan researches Kryptonite on the Bat Computer while Luke is out.

Luke tells Ryan about his encounter with Alice and her working with Sophie in 204, the existence of the Coryana map under the original Napier painting 

Sophie told Luke that Ocean forged the Napier painting that was on display in 205. This is why they need to find Ocean before Alice does so he can help them find Kate and Coryana. Ryan points out how incredibly stupid it is to think Alice is telling the truth.

Mary calls Luke, makes a point of calling him Lucas and telling him that she needs the map to Coryana, trying to give him the hint that something is wrong, up to and including mentioning her father being in her clinic.

Ryan has a spasm at this point and Luke finally learns about her wound.

Alice tries to call Tatiana but Safiyah answers the phone.

Safiyah admits to altering Alice's memories but says she will tell her what she lost if Alice is really sure that's what she wants. 

Alice tries to kill Ocean, but the two have more flashbacks of sparring and apparently making love.

Sophie finds Alice and Ocean and demands the real Napier painting.  Ocean gives it to her.

Sophie calls Luke to tell him she has the painting and he tells her about Jacob and Mary being held hostage at Mary's clinic.

Despite her pain, Mary suits up as Batwoman to save Mary and Jacob as well.

Luke tells her he can give her an adrenaline shot through the suit if she needs it. 

Neither Mary or Jacob can say for certain that Catherine Hamilton didn't sign off on the tests that resulted in Amygdala being created. 

Sophie is knocked out by Amygdala. Thankfully, Ryan is able to stop him, after getting revived remotely by Luke.

A group of masked mercenaries show up, take Sophie hostage, and agree to exchange her to Batwoman for the Napier painting. She accepts the deal.

Jacob thinks someone at Hamilton Dynamics was involved with tipping off the mercenaries.

Jacob closes down Mary's clinic.

Angelique figures out Ryan had a hand in slipping spyware onto her phone and dumps her. Sophie overhears the whole conversation. 

Alice gives another man Ocean's face and kills him, in a bid to fool Safiyah.

Untelevised Adventures

We see more flashbacks of Ocean training Beth Kane to fight and the two making out.

The Killing Jokes

The entire episode is based around the inability of various characters to deal with one another honestly. This starts with Dr. Rogers deciding it's easier to manipulate a violent patient than try simply ask Mary Hamilton where she got her blood sample from, assuming it's too valuable for him to just ask. It continues through Sophie manipulating Ryan, Ryan deciding to work with Sophie against Angelique rather than trying to find a way to fight together against Sophie and Ryan keeping secrets from Luke when he's the only person who might have a clue how to treat Kryptonite poisoning. The grand irony in all of this is that it's the allegedly irredeemable psychotic Alice who attempts to talk openly and honestly with Ocean and Safiyah, despite having far less reason to trust them.

The Bottom Line

A decent episode that makes use of another obscure Batman villain in a way that's more accurate to the idea of the character than the actual execution in most comics. (Even the Batman wiki notes that the doctors who worked on Amygdala seemed to confused the amygdala with the hypothalamus). The best part about this is that all the stupid lies that had been pushing the drama so far are out in the open now, so hopefully the show will work past some of the problems that came about during the first season.