Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 12 - We're All Mad Here

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

Plot

Ryan, Sophie and Jada come together to put a stop to Marquis' plans, as Mary seeks out the family of the man she murdered to make amends. Meanwhile, Alice's instability grows stronger, as she begins to hallucinate Mouse and Ocean while seeking out the Joker's joy buzzer.


Influences

Alice's dream sequences feel partly inspired by David Lynch's movies.


Goofs

Ryan's working with Jada in this episode completely undercuts her telling off the mother who abandoned her in last week's episode and embracing the found family of friends she made as Batwoman.

Again, the show has to come up with some remarkably twisted logic on the part of the "heroes" to justify why Alice isn't the hero of this show when she does most of the work to stop the major villains, while the protagonists argue with each other and are far more selfish than Alice.


Performances

Rachel Skarsten does a fantastic job capturing Alice's torment. Unfortunately, it makes her far more sympathetic than Ryan, whose motivations basically come down to trying to win the approval of the mother who abandoned her.


Artistry

The opening fight scene with Alice is fantastic.

The dream imagery of Alice's hallucinations is well shot.


Bat Trivia

The episode title is a quote from Alice in Wonderland.

This episode hints at the death of Jason Todd, as Kiki Roulette makes reference to helping the Joker beat Robin to death with a crowbar. This raises the question of whether or not Red Hood exists in the post-Crisis Arrowverse and if so, where is he?

The episode also establishes that there is an Arrowverse version of James Gordon Jr. However, he apparently was drugged into a stupor by an experimental treatment when he was 15 and never became the dangerous serial killer he was in the comics.

In the closing title card, the Batarang has a Joker smile painted on it.


Dialogue Triumphs

Alice: The... the hallucinations are back but worse, and I... I just need a little edger until you can get me the Joy Buzzer.
Mary: But Kiki, she said that there was only one buzz left.
Alice: Exactly, so why are we still standing here?
Mary: Because Ryan needs it for her brother.
Alice: But you need it for you sister.
Mary: Except you're not my sister. Why didn't you stop me? A real sister would have stopped me before I killed someone.
Alice: You think this is my fault? That was all you... Poison Mary. I was there for you, making sure no one got in your way.
Mary: You weren't there for me. You took advantage of me. You needed me, so you encouraged me, and... and now a wife is without her husband and their two boys without their dad, and their life is ruined, and my life is ruined!
Alice: (sarcastic) Got it. I am so sorry that you gutted a man with a tree branch. My bad!

(Alice and Marquis are struggling over the joy buzzer.)
Marquis: Damn. I throw you a party, and this is how you thank me?
Alice: Give... it to me.
Marquis: Or... or... We rule Gotham together. You could be the Harley to my Joker.
Alice: (laughs) I think you have that backwards. Besides, we come from different schools of looney tune.


Continuity

The episode opens with a dream sequence in which Alice imagines that she fights her way into Wayne Enterprises, finds Joker's joy buzzer and uses it to shock herself sane. She later wakes up in Mary's clinic where she declares that she feels like Beth Kane again. She is later put on trial and cleared of all her past crimes. Ryan is bitterly disappointed and tells Alice that she doesn't care what the public or a court says - she still knows that Alice is evil. Beth gives her the joy buzzer and says maybe Luke can still use it to figure out a way to save Marquis.

Alice is snapped out of the dream when Ocean shows up and tells her that she doesn't deserve a happy ending.

Ryan goes after Marquis Jet's #2 at Wayne Enterprises as Batwoman.

Sophie wakes up in Ryan's apartment.

Jada shows up at Ryan's apartment with coffee and pastries.

Alice breaks into Mary's clinic and starts rifling through the medication looking for anti-psychotics.

Alice tells Mary the hallucinations are back and getting worse. She says she thinks the only thing that can save her is the Joker's joy buzzer.

Mary refuses to help Alice and blames her for her killing a man while she was Poison Mary.

Ryan tells Sophie that she contacted Jada so they would work on a plan together. She apologizes for not telling her beforehand.

Ryan got a hold of Marquis' schedule from his #2. He is booked solid from 9-6 every day for the next week, except for today.

Marquis sent an e-mail to his #2 asking him to find the home address of one Barbara Kean - an art gallery owner and Jim Gordon's ex-wife.

Barbara is said to have divorced Jim Gordon at some point after their son, James Jr. was found with body parts in his closet.

Jada says that she will give Ryan whatever resources she needs before leaving in a rush.

Sophie goes after Jada and overhears her calling someone named Mario about something that could be bad for all of them.

Sophie knows that Barbara Kean was part of the Black Glove Society, along with Jada, and asks why she won't tell Ryan about the connection.

Jada tells Sophie not to tell Ryan about the BGS before leaving in a car that turns out to belong to Marquis' henchmen.

Mary seeks out the wife of the man she killed as Poison Mary.

Alice seeks out Kiki Roulette in the Joker's old workshop. As she makes her approach, she hallucinates Mouse, who taunts her.

Luke notices that Sophie is wearing the same clothes she was a day before, due to her not changing after her night with Ryan.

Ryan lies and says that Sophie was out all night helping her track Marquis' assistant.

Luke is able to trace the car that took Jada to Wayne Enterprises.

Alice threatens Kiki and tells her to give her the joy buzzer or make her a new one. 

Kiki makes reference to the Jason Todd Robin, whom she helped the Joker kill with a crowbar. She also makes reference to Harley Quinn, saying Alice isn't the first crazy blonde woman to threaten to kill her.

Kiki claims to have worked for Joker since she was 16.

Marquis kills Kiki and gases Alice.

When Alice wakes up, she is in the Black Glove Society headquarters, along with five people who are tied-up and hooded.

The five people are revealed to be Barbara Kea, Burton Crowne, Mr. Jeremiah Arkham, crime boss Mario Falcone and Jada Jet - all Black Glove Society members.

According to Marquis, the Black Glove Society was founded in 1984 by Marla Elliot - the mother of Tommy "Hush" Elliot, due to his unfortunate obsession with his friend Bruce Wayne and wanting to be him.

James Gordon Jr. is said to have tied a labradoodle to a train track when he was 15. This was apparently the last straw for his mother.

Marquis subjects each of the Black Glove Society members to the same treatment they used on their children.

For Barbara Kean, this means 7 doses of the same untested drugs that left her son a drooling vegetable. Miraculously, she survives this.

Mary learns that Alice apparently confessed to the killing of the murder she committed and the wife of the man she killed presumed that was why she came to talk to her, given her own connection as a victim of Alice. Mary lies and says that was it.

Ryan apologies to Sophie for hiding the last night from Luke, saying she isn't ashamed but it isn't his business to know. She later admits that she's afraid to admit to anything good in her life publicly because she always seems to lose everything good.

Alice stops Marquis from using the Mr. Freeze coolant from freezing his mother after shocking her crazy with the joy buzzer.

Marquis tells Alice about how he came to be shocked by the Joker and how they were born on the same day, which is why he feels a connection to her.

Alice offers Marquis something that would make the Joker jealous of him in exchange for the joy buzzer. This is later revealed to be the secret of how to get into the Batcave.

Sophie approached Alice as she was leaving Marquis' hideout.

Ryan stops Alice from stealing Sophie's gun and shooting her. 

Ryan takes the buzzer from Alice, but is overpowered by Marquis.

Jada shoots the coolant tank to stop Marquis from using it on Ryan.

Marquis escapes in the confusion.

Ryan and Sophie agree to become a couple and live openly.

Ryan says she is not going to let Marquis rot in Arkham for the rest of his life and asks Sophie for 24 hours to try and save him before they go against him in full force.

Luke and Mary learn that Ryan and Sophie are involved.

Alice is committed to Arkham Asylum. 

Mary visits Alice in her cell, driving away the images of Ocean and Mouse as orderlies that were taunting her.

Alice tells Mary that she told Marquis how to get into the Batcave.

The episode ends with Marquis entering the Batcave and inspecting the arsenal. 


Untelevised Adventures

Alice called the GCPD off-camera and confessed to the murder that Poison Mary committed. 


The Fridge Factor

Sophie is easily beaten by Alice, purely to set up a chance for Ryan to save Sophie.

Ryan is overpowered by Marquis purely to give Jada a chance to turn against her son to save her daughter.


The Bottom Line

This may be the episode where the series jumps the shark completely. While Alice has always been an anti-hero and her motives here are purely selfish, she's still far more sympathetic than Ryan, whose motivations are equally selfish. The script twists to make various characters helpless as the plot demands it, even when they're facing an opponent who shouldn't be as capable in a fight as they are.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 9 - Meet Your Maker

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

Plot

With multiple signs pointing to the original Poison Ivy having awoken, Ryan, Luke and Sophie begin trying to track her down, while Montoya attempts to reach whatever remains of the woman she loved. Meanwhile, Mary's behavior begins to unnerve Alice, as Jada Jet seeks out an old friend's help in saving Marquis.


Influences

Every horror movie where the idiot protagonists are trapped in a cabin in the woods and A Quiet Place (trying to avoid triggering killer plants tracking sounds).


Performances

Again, Nicole Kang and Rachel Skarsten steal the show.


Artistry

The special effects for the killer plants are interesting.


Bat Trivia

The lake where Poison Ivy kills two fishermen is called Loeb Lake. This is likely in honor of legendary Batman writer Jeph Loeb, who wrote Hush and The Long Halloween.


Technobabble

Luke creates special darts for fighting Poison Ivy that combine a paralytic drug and a herbicide. He's certain this will slow her down without killing her until they can recreate Batman's desiccation formula.

All the psychologists Jada Jet consulted with believe a second jolt of the Joker's joy buzzer will reawaken Marquis' sense of empathy.

Natural networking is where plants communicate through acoustics in the ground.

Poison Ivy describes the cutting of her vine that Batman kept as a sporeling, which she created to recharge her, like a battery without a plug. She says that meeting Mary will restore her.

Luke describes Diggle's box as a transmatter cube and guesses it isn't from Earth. Diggle confirms this, but asks him to keep that quiet.


Dialogue Triumphs

Poison Ivy: What were you thinking would happen when you freed me?
Montoya: I wasn't. I got wrapped up in the moment, seeing you, the white tulip, the memories, the guilt.
Poison Ivy: Ah. I'm so sorry that you had to feel guilt, Renee, while I rotted for a decade with no water, no sunlight, no soul mate. Must have been really awful for you.
Montoya: I am sorry, Pam.
Poison Ivy: How am I supposed to believe that? I needed you... more than anything, and you're the one that put me there. 

(Mary is trying to go off on her own because of Ivy's efforts to reach her.)
Alice: Stop! I am supposed to be the crazy one!
Mary: You're not the one with a bitch of a migraine that only seems to stop bitching when I go... this way!
Alice: If you go that way, you'll probably die! The O.G.'s back? She's trying to draw you to her. Why?
Mary: Uh, do I look like the president of the Poison Ivy fan club?
Alice: I don't know, but I do know that a world with two of a kind never ends well. Why don't you ask poor, boring Beth Kane? Oh, that's right. You can't because she's dead! 
Mary: Okay. Then that's why I've been feeling this way? Clearly... w-w-we have some sort of bond, and she's calling out to me. Give me the keys.
Alice: Were you not listening to anything I said?
Mary: I'm going, Alice. This is the woman who unlocked my prowess and the reason why I'm finally happy. The least I can do is go and see what she wants. Please.
Alice: Fine. Let's go meet your maker. 

Mary: Why do we work, Alice? You killed my mom, I replaced you in our family, but... here we are on this crazy adventure together. Hmm? Why?
Alice: Probably because you made me drive out to "deliverance" country.
Mary: It's because despite all of our baggage, we both found the sister we always wanted. I see the girl who... just craves her freedom, and I love that you support me to do what I want... And this is what I want.
Alice: (sighs) Okay. 

Dialogue Disasters

(Sophie watches Luke working out, shirtless, in the middle of their new lair.)
Sophie: Pretty sure in the real world this would be an HR violation of appropriate workplace behavior. Luke: Good thing it's not the real world.


Continuity

In the opening scene, Poison Ivy attacks several fishermen at Loeb Lake, to Montoya's disappointment.

Poison Ivy declares that submerging herself in water is not restoring her strength, like she thought it would.

Ryan visits her adoptive mother's grave, which notes she died in 2015.

Cora Lewis worked three jobs and volunteered at her church while raising Ryan.

Sophie spars with Luke, who seems more determined than ever to get in shape and become a good fighter. She guesses this has something to do with his being man-handled by Marquis Jet in 308.

John Diggle appears for the first time since S612, though it is believed his last chronological appearance in the Arrowverse was in F716. In either case, he has started growing a beard since his last appearance.

John Diggle oversaw Jada Jet's personal security detail at some point when her husband was still alive and they remained friends after.

John Diggle is also implied to be an old flame of Jada Jet, as he tells her he got back together with his wife and had kids and she seems disappointed.

Sunlight is also not restoring Poison Ivy's strength.

Ryan is still angry at Sophie for sleeping with Montoya and refuses to talk to her directly.

Team Bat presume Poison Ivy is active again based on reports of the two dead fishermen at Loeb Lake, an unnatural hornet attack at a pesticide factory and an oil rig being tipped over. All of these attacks were within a two mile radius of a national park outside Gotham City.

Jada offers Diggle a job as head of her security detail. He turns it down, saying that he only agreed to meet with her because he just happened to be in Gotham City attending to other business. 

Diggle agrees to help Jada find Joker's joy buzzer, which she believes might be able to cure Marquis. He suggests, given all the other Batman villain weapons on the street, that all of them were part of a collection, which means the joy buzzer might be out on the street as well.

Diggle says his sources at ARGUS thought Renee Montoya, who works for the Mayor's Offices' Rogue Unit, would be worth consulting about the possibility of a Bat-villain weapons cache.

Poison Ivy reaches out through the plants to send a message to Mary, bringing them together.

Alice tries to talk Mary into leaving Gotham with her to go to Santorini.

Mary describes the sensation of being summoned by Ivy as feeling like brain-freeze when you eat something cold too quickly.

Ryan, Sophie and Luke's van is attacked by vines shortly after they get to the national park.

A random hunter dies after trying to warn Ryan, Sophie and Luke away. They hide in a cabin.

Luke blames himself for the team's current predicament and says it's clear his father didn't give him the Batwing suit because he isn't meant to be a hero.

Ryan says that real heroes screw up all the time and keep going, pointing out that Sophie allowed Alice and Poison Ivy to escape on her watch. Sophie sarcastically agrees, pointing out that for all of Ryan's alleged detective skills, she didn't realize Mary was possessed by Poison Ivy until it was too late.

Poison Ivy confronts Montoya on how Batwoman and her allies seemed to know how to find her. Montoya admits to working with them, but says Ryan is different from Batman. Ivy refuses to believe her and goes off to kill Batwoman.

Jada Jet knows how to pick locks and apparently learned the skill while living on the street in her youth.

Diggle and Jada find Montoya's list of the missing Bat Villain weapons.

Alice makes reference to the Beth Kane doppelganger from 112.

Alice agrees to help Mary find Poison Ivy, but Mary knocks her out so she can go on her own.

Sophie and Ryan continue to argue, but Ryan does thank Sophie for grabbing the Batsuit out of their van before it was destroyed.

Sophie asks Ryan why she's always held a grudge against her and says it goes beyond her treating Ryan badly when she was a convict.

Luke is able to kill the vines that come into the cabin with a mixture of salt and vinegar.

Ryan puts on her Batsuit and makes for a truck they saw earlier that had a bag of salt in the bed.

Diggle and Jada steal he booze out of Montoya's mini-fridge.

Jada has no idea how Ryan tracked her down.

Jada finds Joker's joy buzzer in Montoya's desk.

Montoya tries to kill Mary.

Luke saves a boy, whose father was the hunter killed by Ivy earlier in the episode.

Luke visits his father's grave. He also died in 2015.

Luke tells his father that he thinks he is ready to be a hero now.

John Diggle meets Luke as his father's grave and says he is sure his dad is proud of him.

Luke returns a box to Diggle and says he couldn't get it open. This is the box Diggle found in a smoking crater in A810.

Diggle says ARGUS couldn't get the box open either, but it opened for him once before.

Luke guesses that whatever makes the box open isn't based on science.

Diggle asks Luke for one more favor - passing on a message to Batwoman from Jada Jet, that she found her fix.

Alice finds Mary's phone and a man's corpse impaled on a tree.

Montoya built up an immunity to Poison Ivy's pheromones by poisoning herself a little each day.

Mary finds Ivy. The two hug and Ivy is rejuvenated.

Sophie kisses Ryan.


Location

A national park outside Gotham City.


The Killing Jokes

Granting that they're somewhat desperate, Team Bat going into a national park hunting a villain who manipulates nature with an untested weapon seems incredibly stupid, even for these heroes.


The Bottom Line

Painfully bad. The "heroes" continue to be as unsympathetic as they are idiotic and the only thing marking the villains as villains is random, unmotivated murders. Not even John Diggle and the promise of his Green Lantern storyline being resolved can make this episode worth watching more than once.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 6 - How Does Your Garden Grow?

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

Plot

A frightening discovery in a Robinson Park garden shed sends Montoya rushing to Ryan to place the city on high alert, as she theorizes that Poison Ivy has returned in a new form. Meanwhile, Alice is suspiciously eager to help the Bat Team, as Sophie seeks vengeance for her sister's near death at the hands of the Black Glove society.

Influences

The Batman comics of Grant Morrison (Black Glove Society)


Goofs

The newspaper article with the headline "Batman Scratches The Poison Ivy Itch" is dated as having been published one month ago. However, Batman's last battle with Poison Ivy would have had to have taken place at least six years earlier, given when Bruce Wayne disappeared from Gotham City.


Performances

Rachel Skarsten steals the show.

That being said, Nicole Kang does a masterful job switching between Mary and Ivy and is pitch-perfect vamping it up as Ivy.


Artistry

The horror elements are well played, particularly the make-up for Chris Hayner, the living beehive.

The special effects for the killer vines are good.


Bat Trivia

The episode title comes from an old English nursey rhyme, "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary." Alice quotes it to Mary near the end of the episode. The title is also a foreshadowing of the revelation that Mary has become a host to Poison Ivy's mind.

Mary's hairdo in this episode mimics the horned-hairdo worn by Uma Thurman during her final fight with Batgirl in the movie Batman and Robin.

Alice makes reference to Montoya having a "wall of weird." This is a reference to Smallville and the mural/database started by Chloe Sullivan of strange things happening around Smallville.

At one point, it is noted that the Arrowverse version of Renee Montoya was on track to become the next Police Commissioner. At the time this episode aired, Rene Montoya was the GCPD Commissioner in the monthly Batman comics.

Alice makes a reference to Harley Quinn when it is discovered Mary violated medical privacy laws while under Ivy's influence. This is the first mention of Harley Quinn existing in the Post-Crisis Arrowverse.


Technobabble

Luke checks Mary's credit card records and finds out she bought a flowering pot, fertilizer and a watering can that morning.  Her phone's geo data says that then she went to a vacant lot in the Burnside district.

Mary theorizes that Poison Ivy's pheromones allow her to communicate with nature while heightening the things she is passionate about.  This is why she overreacted to a rejection and bent the rules to see justice done to a Black Glove operative that couldn't be touched legally. 

Sunlight is the trigger for changing Mary into Poison Ivy. Her eyes turn green when Ivy has control.

Luke detects an abnormally high thermal presence in the plants Poison Ivy controls.


Dialogue Triumphs

Ryan: How did you get Poison Ivy's vine?
Alice: While you were slurping caviar off of Mummy's fine china, some of us were in the field protecting this city.
Ryan: Mm-hmm. You just so happened to stumble across a Batman trophy while you were taking a stroll through the park? 

Alice: (mock-earnest) The cherry blossoms are so gorgeous this time of year.

Alice: Ahem. I'm gonna go check on the vic's progress.
Ryan: (Because you care about a stranger's life all of a sudden?
Alice: You're right. I don't. Let's you and I go sit in the Batcave together and watch the computer tediously cycle through all the anti-encryption ciphers.
Ryan: (deadpan) Have fun with Mary.
Alice: Will do. 

(Ryan and Luke are slow in believing Mary's theory that she is Poison Ivy's host.)
Alice: I thought watching Kate come out was torture.

(Ryan and Luke finally believe Alice and Mary's story.)
Alice: And we're all on the same page. Well, that was an excruciating process.
Ryan: You knew Mary was infected by the vine. That's why you were being so coy in Montoya's office.
Alice: I just figured the last thing anyone needed was for Mary to end up on Renee's wall of weird.
(Ryan's cell phone vibrating. It's Montoya. She dismisses the call.)
Alice: (sarcastic) Oh. Muting the boss. I'm sure that's gonna end really well.
Ryan: Montoya doesn't need to know anything about this.
Alice: Okay. I see. It's fine when we throw Alice in Arkham, but, oh, poor, sweet, innocent Mary, yeah, we should protect her at all costs.
(Mary handcuffs herself to the rail.)
Ryan: What are you doing? 

Mary: What one does when they realize they can control mother freaking earth! I nearly killed someone, and I don't know why or when this infection is gonna make me transform again, and until we figure it out, I am a threat to everyone...
Alice: (mouths words) Not me. 

Ryan: Why didn't you say anything about Mary?
Alice: I was wondering how this would end up my fault.
Ryan: You obviously knew something was up. How'd you figure it out?
Alice: Uh, the question isn't how I figured it out. It's how the hell you didn't. You're her roommate, you have a billion dollars of Battech at your disposal, and your number two is a certifiable genius. One of you should have noticed. 

Mary: So... maybe the chemical pheromones from the Poison Ivy allow me to communicate with nature while heightening the things that I'm passionate about like justice?
Alice: Well, seeing as that M.O. tracks and, uh... ahem... I killed your mother, I'm really not looking forward to being turned into a cabbage. So we should find out exactly what turns Dr. Jekyll into Mrs. Hide my victims under a pot.

(Ivy, in Mary's body, knocks out Luke. She stretches in the sunbeam leaking into the Batcave.)
Alice: Good morning, sunshine. I was wondering when you'd come out to play.
Ivy: You figured out sunlight was my trigger. 

Alice: (starts undoing the handcuffs on Mary) Well, they don't call me a supervillain for nothing, but Batty will be home soon, so I hope you know what you're doing.
Ivy: Why are you helping me?
Alice: Well, why does anyone help anyone? To accrue favors owed. But until I redeem this one, I need you to be careful. Once you slither out of this Batcave, Renee Montoya's gonna be hunting you down like a gardener with a weed whacker.

Montoya: Where did you get infected? The park, the river? Where was the vine, Mary?
Ivy: It's not a homing pigeon for the brokenhearted, Ray-Ray. You don't whisper, "Pamela Isley", into the leaves and follow as it slithers its way to her secret burial site.
Montoya: You know about Pam?
Ivy: Enough to know that she doesn't want you to find her.
Montoya: Look. You need to come with me so I can get you help.
Ivy: Is that what I need? Did you use that soft, gentle tone to lure Poison Pam into captivity?
Montoya: No. She was out of control. You're not there yet. Let's keep it that way.
Ivy: What do you think she thinks about down there? I mean... besides freedom and water and how her veins scrape together like sandpaper? 

Montoya: Easy. Let's not make this ugly.
Ivy: She thinks about how much she hates you, Renee. 

(Ivy drowns Batwoman in vines.)
Ivy: You've been so wrapped up in your own drama, Ryan. It's time you got wrapped up in mine for once.

Alice: "Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" Quite well it seems from all the sirens I've been hearing around town. (gesturing to the car) It's fully electric, steppy.
Mary: Is that supposed to impress me?
Alice: Uh, yeah. Considering it was 10 times harder to hotwire. So you gonna tell me what you did to everyone's favorite cellar dweller at the Mayor's office or what? 

Mary: On the road. 

Alice: Aw. There's that patented Dr. Hamilton bedside manner... all warm and chatty.
Mary: (impatient) Get in. 


Dialogue Disasters

Cop: (To Montoya) Your ambiguous yet far-reaching power supersedes ours.


Continuity

A group of teenagers playing basketball in Robinson Park come across a man who seems to have been built into a bee-hive, who has bees come out of his mouth as he begs for help.

Montoya takes charge of the crime scene, to the annoyance of the GCPD officers on the scene.

Montoya has the man sent to Mary Hamilton's clinic on Bennett Street.

The man is identified as Chris Hayner, a Tricorner resident.

Monotya theorizes that Ivy has a new host, based on the dead vine Alice found in 305.

Montoya gives Hayner's phone to Ryan.

Alice goes to Mary's clinic to check on Hayner's progress.

Ryan finds Sophie in the Batcave, using the computer to find footage of her sister's attacker using the CCTV system. She says Alice spilled a cherry soda on her laptop.

Sophie is convinced Jada Jet is working with the Black Glove Society.

Ryan says that Jada had no idea people were going to get hurt and that she only contracted them for one job.

Sophie makes reference to her sister being frozen and three of her friends dying in 304.

Alice notes that Mary has even more plants in her clinic than she did in 305.

Alice confronts Mary with the idea that she is Poison Ivy's new host.

Chris Hayner wakes up and screams when he sees Mary, saying that she's the one who did this to him.

Mary tells Ryan and Luke that she thinks Alice is right about her being Poison Ivy's host. She says she can't remember where she was earlier in the day.

Ryan and Luke don't believe Mary or Alice until it is pointed out that the last three texts on Chris Hayner's phone were sent to Mary.

Alice says she didn't come forward with what she had figured out because she figured the Bat-Team wouldn't want Mary getting busted by Montoya.

At one time, Detective Montoya was on track to be the next GCPD commissioner.

Sophie confronts Montoya and asks for a favor, given that she agreed to take custody of Alice. She asks for all her data on Victor Fries and his preservation serum. Montoya says she doesn't have half of what Batwoman does. Sophie then asks for all the information Montoya has on the Black Glove Society. She says she knows nothing beyond the fact that people who know anything about the Black Glove Society end up dead.

Luke discovers that Mary had a profile on a dating website called Twinge and that was where she apparently met Chris Hayner. 

The Bat-Team's best guess is that Mary buried Chris Hayner in honey after he said she seemed sweet but rejected her

Alice and Batwoman go to the vacant lot and find a man buried up to his neck, The man is a Black Glove operative named Virgil Getty.

Mary was apparently able to track Virgil through the PO Box he was using to buy the cryogenic medical supplies he used on the Freeze Serum victims. She was able to do this by using her ability to access medical records to bypass the normal privacy laws.

Alice suggests they tell Sophie they have a Black Glove operative held under the Batcave, but Ryan says they have enough problems without Sophie looking for more.

Alice tells Luke and Mary that Renee Montoya and Pamela Isley dated in college and that is why Montoya is so obsessed with Poison Ivy. 

Alice makes reference to the new Mad Hatter from 301, the new Killer Croc from 302 and Nora Fries in 303.

Ryan meets with Montoya in her office at Wayne Enterprises and tells her that she knows they found a second Poison Ivy victim. She demands to talk to the victim, but Ryan says she will let her know once he's awake after she questions him.

Renee tells Ryan about her involvement with Poison Ivy.

Alice admits to telling Sophie about the Black Glove operative in their custody after Ryan told her not to.

Sophie questions Virgil and learns that the Black Glove Society had been employed to take care of various screwed up rich kids in secret since Marla Elliot hired them to try and treat her son, Tommy Elliot, before he became Hush. Before that, she formed a group of other rich parents with bad seed kids that swapped horror stories, discussed treatments and medications. This led to them spending millions on R&R to fix their kids brains.

Virgil is able to kill himself while Sophie's back is turned, as she confronts Ryan over Alice being more honest with her than she is.

Alice tells Luke and Mary that Ryan is rushing to stop Sophie from talking to Virgil because she's more concerned about Jada Jet's secrets than saving Mary and she wouldn't be surprised if Ryan handed Mary over to Montoya.

Ivy takes over Mary. Alice helps her to escape the Batcave.

Ivy calls in a tip to Rene Montoya's office, reporting an Ivy sighting at the Gotham Botanical Gardens.

Luke tracks Mary's phone to the Botanical Gardens and suits up to join Ryan as Batwing.

Yellow roses are left where Batwoman and batwing will find them. These are a symbol of friendship.

Ivy removed the fail-safe/Lucius Fox AI from the Batwing suit.

Ivy builds on Mary's resentment of Luke and Ryan neglecting her or ignoring her advice to turn her against the Bat-Team.

Luke tears his radiator cuff in the fight.

Montoya saves Ryan and Luke, but she is not happy that they didn't tell her about Mary being Ivy's new host.

Sophie is drinking at the Hold Up and is joined by Monotya. The two are later seen furiously making out.

Ryan calls Jada Jet and says that she needs a favor.

Alice meets with Ivy with a stolen electric car.


The Killing Jokes

Ryan and Luke are dumbed down considerably in their efforts to dismiss Mary's claims that she's the Poison Ivy host, purely because they don't want to believe Alice would be honest about something.


The Bottom Line

The strongest episode of the season so far.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 2 - Loose Tooth

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

Plot

Forced to work with Alice to track down the Bat-Trophies, Ryan Wilder's life is further complicated by the emergence of a new Killer Croc and the sudden arrival of Jada Jett; a powerful CEO who is insistent on meeting Wayne Enterprises' new CEO. Meanwhile, a secret threatens to drive Luke and Mary apart, as Sophie grows closer to Ryan.

Influences

General beastman horror movie aesthetic, with a man-eating monster in the sewers of Gotham.


Goofs

Steven's father reportedly took him to several Gotham City doctors trying to treat his condition, yet none of them noticed the resemblance to Killer Croc's rare condition?


Performances

As usual, the interplay between Javicia Leslie and Rachel Skarsten is the best aspect of the episode.


Artistry

The direction of the episode does a good job of pushing the horror movie elements of the story, particularly in the opening scene at the pool.

The make-up for Croc 2.0 is good.


Bat Trivia

This episode title kept changing from "Loose Tooth" to "Loose Teeth" in various announcements building to its release.

Killer Croc first appeared in Detective Comics #523 in February 1983. Born Waylon Jones, Croc was the victim of a rare form of atavism that gave him reptilian skin. His mother died in childbirth and he was raised by an abusive aunt. In the Pre-Crisis reality, he was the killer of Jason Todd's parents and presented as a large, but still basically human mob boss.

After Crisis, Croc was reworked into a more monstrous figure, with his condition being aggravated by a virus that devolved him in the Hush storyline. More recent comics have made Croc more animalistic, but explained away his enhanced strength and ability to breathe underwater as the result of his disease interacting with his metagene. 

The Arrowverse version of Killer Croc was a professional wrestler named Waylon Jones, who developed some kind of disease that started slowly turning him into the monstrous crocodile man of the Post-Crisis era. Reportedly Batman tried to find a cure for his condition, but the GCPD elected to solve the problem of Croc's cannibalism by dropping thermite into the sewer. Reportedly all Batman could find of Croc afterward was a single tooth.

In the opening scene, one of the new Croc's victims makes reference to Aquaman and how he is ripped. This could be an indicator that the Arrowverse Aquaman is a doppelganger of Jason Momoa's famously muscular and often shirtless take on the King of the Seven Seas.


Technobabble

The original Killer Croc suffered from an unidentified infection that caused his skin to grow scales, eventually developing an elongated jaw, claws and a tail. 

According to Sophie, Killer Croc's saliva contained a paralytic agent which rendered his victims unconscious.

Mary notes that medical professionals do not use the word "crazy" to describe patients now.

The Batwing suit tracks medical date like biometrics, eye movement, electromagnetic impulses to the brain and heart rate. Due to a glitch, when the person wearing the suit is injured, it places the suit in safe mode and shuts down.


Dialogue Triumphs

Montoya: If you attempt to escape, this release will be rescinded and you will spend the remainder of your life at Arkham in solitary confinement. Any questions?
Alice: Yes. (gestures to tracking bracelet) Does this kind of wreck my ensemble?
Montoya: Any questions I'm likely to answer? 

Ryan: You're tying my fate to a psychopath? 

Montoya: Well, more like handcuffing it, but yes.

(Mary and Luke are working on the Batwing suit.)
Mary: If I'm reading this right, the suit thought you were injured.
Luke: Yeah, which prompted a system-wide shutdown, putting the suit in safe mode.
Mary: Turning off in the middle of a fight because it thinks you need medical assistance seems more like unsafe mode. 

Luke: Yeah, well, there's a reason that this thing was under a tarp in my dad's lab and not out on patrol in Gotham. 

Alice: I was thinking back to my first kill, for which I chose a geriatric harpy with an oxygen tank. Now, do you know why I did that?
Ryan: Because you're a killer, Alice.
Alice: No. (beat) Well, yes, but that's not the takeaway. I chose her because she was easy pickings.

Alice: Do you really think I'm gonna run?
Ryan: Do you really think I'm going to believe that you give a damn about stopping this Croc? Yes. I think you're gonna run the first chance you get. So, it's my job not to give you any chances.
Alice: Oh, that's funny. I thought it was your job to save a little girl.
Ryan: Don't act like you're here to do the good deed, Alice. You only think about yourself, so, don't you dare use that little girl as camouflage.
Alice: (intensely) I was that little girl. Don't act like you're the only one with abandonment issues. I will not give up on this girl the way everyone gave up on me.


Continuity

The opening scene shows two college students sneaking into a private pool, which was apparently turned into a lair by the new Killer Croc. What remains of their bodies is discovered later.

Alice is released into Ryan's custody, with the understanding that if she harms or attempts to harm anyone she will go back to Arkham for the rest of her life. She likewise threatens to out Ryan as Batwoman and put her in Arkham if she refuses to go along with this and fails to keep Alice under control.

According to Luke, Killer Croc ran wild in Gotham 20 years earlier and was a professional wrestler named Waylon Jones.

Bruce Wayne apparently tried to research a cure for Killer Croc's condition, but the GCPD killed Croc before he got the chance. All Batman was able to find of Croc afterward was a single tooth. It's possible the tooth could spread the same infection.

Wayne Tower is 44 stories tall, according to Alice.

Jada Jet, the CEO of Jeturian Industries contacts Wayne Tower wanting to have an immediate meeting with the Wayne Enterprises CEO.

Before leaving Gotham City, Kate Kane named Ryan Wilder the acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises so that she could handle an problems that came up in her absence.

Jada Jet took over Jeturian Industries after her husband's death a decade earlier and doubled the company's wealth.

Jeturian Industries specializes in microtechnology.

Sophie tells Ryan that Jada Jet is her birth mother.

Jada Jet says she met Bruce Wayne a few times. She exchanged heated words with him after he poached one of her best employees.

Jeturian Industries is 12 blocks away from Wayne Tower.

Jada Jet explains that she came to talk to Ryan because someone hacked into her company's servers and the trail led to an IP belonging to Wayne Enterprises. She accuses Ryan of corporate espionage and tells her this is her one warning to stay out of her business.

The artificial intelligence in the Batwing suit has Lucius Fox's voice and something of his personality, as it offers to show pictures of Luke when he was 6 when Mary asks it what Luke was like as a kid.

Alice theorizes that the new Killer Croc, like any young predator, would start out going after lone targets or other easy prey. This leads her to go through the missing persons reports and discover a spike in missing persons on the East River, less than two miles from the pool murders.

A girl named Whitney Hutchinson is abducted by the new Croc while playing in a park near dusk.

Alice finds a sizeable piece of shed reptile skin which had to have belonged to the new Croc.

Alice tries to get Ryan talking about meeting her birth mother. To shut her up, Ryan says she seemed powerful and strong, but she doesn't care to have her in her life.

Ryan and Alice discovered rotting meat hanging in one part of the sewer. It was hung by a man who said the new Killer Croc was his son, Steven.

Mary gives Luke a physical. He seems to be in good health, apart from his heart racing when Mary touches him while his shirt is off.

Luke decides to override the fail safe on the Batwing suit, thinking the AI is overprotective.

According to Steven's father, he discovered Killer Croc's tooth in the stomach of a bluegill they caught while on a fishing trip. He put the tooth on a necklace and cut himself on it. After that he got an infection and began changing in ways the doctors couldn't explain.

Steven' father uses an animal taser to incapacitate Batwoman.

The new Killer Croc grabs his father and drags him off.

Alice takes the taser and uses it to short out her tracker bracelet before running for it.

Mary lies about the suit being fixed when Ryan asks her about it and if Luke can join her in the field.

Alice hears Whitney Hutchinson crying for help, but abandons her when she discovers her leg is broken.

Ryan tries to talk the new Croc down, but gives up after she finds the father dead.

Batwing catches Alice and injects her injects her with nanobot trackers.

Batwoman is able to beat the new Croc and save Whitney Hutchinson.

Vesper Fairchild dubs the new villain Croc 2.0 and reports that Arkham Asylum is building a special cell for him.

The Lucius AI is not speaking since Luke disabled the failsafe.

Mary determines that the suit was shutting down because it sensed an injury around Luke's gunshot wound from last year. She suggests that the suit was sensing psychological tension.

The Rogues Unit investigate a Poison Ivy vine that is determined to be a fake.

Ryan confronts Jada Jet and tells her that she is the baby she abandoned.


Untelevised Adventures

Montoya encountered Poison Ivy at some point in the past.


The Fridge Factor

Alice abandons the missing girl after saying she'd never abandon a girl like she was, in a forced moment that seems to have been written into the show purely because the audience was feeling more sympathy after Season 2 for Alice than Ryan.


The Bottom Line

Largely lackluster, despite some effective horror-movie direction and good production values on the new Killer Croc. Unfortunately, the whole thing suffers from feeling rushed and Alice acting out of character because the writers are apparently afraid they need to remind the audience that Alice is an anti-hero constantly.

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

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

Plot

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


Influences

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


Performances

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


Artistry

The script is witty, with some great dialogues.


Bat Trivia

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

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

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


Technobabble

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Continuity

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

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

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

Circe Sionis was apparently an inmate at Arkham Asylum.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sophie figures out that Mary works with Batwoman as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Batwoman tells Angelique that Ryan sent her.

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

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

Batwoman runs into "Circe" and the two fight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mary refuses to believe Jacob is an addict.

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

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

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

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


The Bottom Line

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

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 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 5 - Gore On Canvas

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

Plot

The new Batwoman is approached by Commander Kane and Sophie Moore about locating a piece of art that leads the way to Coryana... and Kate Kane. Ryan is reluctant to return to her criminal past, but Luke and Mary push her to agree. Meanwhile, Alice locates the mysterious Ocean and learns that there may be parts of her past on Coryana she doesn't remember.


Influences

Marc Andreyko's run on Batwoman (character of Wolf Spider)


Goofs

The CGI of Wolf Spider in the opening scene is really cheap.


Performance

Again, Rachel Skarsten steals the show.


Bat Trivia

Ethan Blake aka Wolf Spider is an villain from the comics who first appeared in Batwoman (Vol. 2)  #26 and was created by writer Marc Andreyko and artist Jeremy Haun. Wolf Spider was an art thief who first encountered Batwoman while stealing a series of paintings by a Depression era artist which formed a map to a cache of stolen money. Wolf Spider was revealed to have been hired by the grandson of the robber baron from whom the money had been stolen. However, when his client was killed and the truth about the money revealed, Wolf Spider elected to dispose of the blood money in Slaughter Swamp.

The Ethan Blake of the Arrowverse seems to be a similarly minded thief and something of a Robin Hood figure, who attempts to steal the Napier painting to spite the rich jerks paying tribute to a famous serial killer and uses his Banksy-style art crimes to mock the elites of Gotham City. He has no superpowers, but is a skilled acrobat and a master of parkour. 

The idea of Joker's real name being Jack Napier and him going through an artist phase is a nod to the version of The Joker played by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 Batman movie.


Technobabble

Luke runs a spectral analysis to find the original map under The Napier.

According to Mary, Evan Blake's injuries include a distal femur fracture, a dislocated elbow, a minor concussion and a nicked femoral artery.


Dialogue Triumphs

Sophie: Look. I don't know where you got this idea that all Crows are bastards, but some of us are trying to make a difference. 
Batwoman: Well, in my experience, when the crows fly together, they call it a murder for a reason.

(Ryan is sitting on the balcony looking at the city. Luke comes and takes a seat next to her.)
Luke: So. Crows horror stories. You want me to go, or...Do you want to do your first?
Ryan: My girl Angelique had a drug habit, and on a very ugly night, she was gone, like a different person, so I found her stash, and I took it, thinking I could somehow straighten her out, bring her back. I'm on the street, crying, no question what kind of night I'm having, and I pass these two Crows, and one of them yells out, "You'd be cuter with a smile on your face." And my Mama told me what to do about it. I... pay them no mind and keep moving, but they... they wouldn't let me go, so my hand went out, my finger went up, and boom, those Crows had what they wanted.
Luke: They found the drugs and thought they were yours.
(Ryan nods softly.)
Luke: Sorry that happened to you.
Ryan: What was yours?
Luke: Um... The Crows... Killed my father.
Ryan: Wait. What?
(She looks at Luke who is clearly struggling to hold back the tears or the urge to scream.)
Ryan: Really?
Luke: Really. It's, uh, not a story for today, but, um... It's the worst thing that ever happened to me.
(Without a word, Ryan scoots closer to Luke and puts an arm around him, leaning her head onto his shoulder.)
Ryan: I should have let you go first.
Luke: Look. I will never forgive them, and I don't want to help the Crows either, but we need them to help us. 

Alice: Shall I explain?
Ocean: I do wish you would.
Alice: Some lunatic on a far-away island is holding my sister hostage, and she won't hand her over until I gut you and air mail the evidence.
Ocean: This woman got a name?
Alice: Enough women want you dead I need to be specific? 

Alice: I have spent more years of my life in captivity than any elephant in the Gotham Zoo. The key to surviving... Keep yourself entertained.
Ocean: Rough childhood?
Alice: You could say I come by my abandonment issues honestly, yeah.

(Alice and Ocean have just killed the three assassins sent for them with style, trashing the motel room in the process.)
Alice: Hey. Do you have any cash? We should probably leave the maid a tip.
Ocean: You're dark.
Alice: Shouldn't have doubted me. 


Continuity

Jacob Kane learns that the Napier painting Kate was researching  is in the possession of a group of art snobs called The Collective, which is made up of the richest people in Gotham City, including many of his clients. They are said to hold regular meetings where they buy, sell and trade forbidden art items.

Garrett Hall, the man who tells Jacob about The Collective, is killed by a man armed with a spear. Batwoman subdues the man before he can kill Jacob. Hall was an investment banker at Gotham Cpital with no criminal record, according to Luke Fox. 

Kane asks for Batwoman to hand the man over to him. She refuses.

A mysterious prankster artist known as Wolf Spicer climbed to the top of Gotham Century Tower and painted an emoji on the top of the building.

There are rumors in the Gotham Press that the new Batwoman is working with The Crows, after having been seen with Jacob Kane for the second time is as many nights.

Ryan and Angelique are apparently back together.

Ryan has not told Angelique that she is the new Batwoman yet.

It is revealed that Angelique had a drug problem when she and Ryan were last dating and that Ryan took her stash in a bid to force her to get clean. It was while carrying Angelique's drugs to dispose of them that she was caught by the Crows and set up on a drug dealing charge. 

Angelique claims that she is now clean and has turned her life around.

Angelique offers Ryan a make-up present - one of a set of matching bracelets. She keeps the other bracelet for herself.

Angelique sees the wound Ryan acquired in 201. It is getting worse and is now turning green.

Mary treats Ryan's wound, giving her antibiotics. Ryan claims she has no symptoms apart from feeling more tired than usual. After hearing that, Mary gives Ryan two of a special painkiller that Kate swore by.

Ryan is not on Twitter.

Ryan asks Mary not to tell Luke about her wound or her feeling sick, because she's tired of Luke's judgmental attitude towards her.

Ryan wants to starve the spearman from Coryana but Luke says that will take too long and suggests working with The Crows as they're better at questioning hardened criminals. 

Sophie and Jacob interview Ethan Blake - a fixture in the Gotham art scene who was caught with plundered artifacts several years earlier and forced to pay restitution. 

Blake was friends with Kate Kane as a teenager. They went to Gotham Preparatory Academy together.

Kate helped Blake to out himself in 8th Grade by agreeing to be his date to a dance and then trading clothes with him, so that he arrived at the dance wearing one of her dresses. 

Blake was senior editor at the Gotham Museum of Antiquities and curates his own private collections.

Blake knows the legend behind the painting known only as The Napier. The story is that The Joker broke into the home of some rich person and started slashing them to ribbons, spraying blood over an old oil painting. Inspired, The Joker painted over the painting using the blood and guts of his victim. Somehow, the painting disappeared from the crime scene and has been bouncing around the Gotham underground ever since.

Blake denies being part of The Collective and tells Sophie and Jacob that there will be lawyers present if they want to talk again.

Jacob tells Sophie to start spying on Blake. She suggests it might be easier if they try to work with Batwoman. 

Alice tracks Ocean to the Burnside Motel and finds him in the hotel bar.

Sophie uses the Bat-Signal to contract Ryan and pitches her idea. Ryan is against it, but says she'll consider working with The Crows and letting them have the spearman.

Wolf Spider is shown to be listening in to the talk between Batwoman and Sophie.

Ryan tells Luke and Mary she doesn't want to work with the Crows, especially Sophie, given how they tried framing her for multiple crimes.

Luke tells Ryan about how The Crows killed his father and covered the crime up for years, so he understands why she hates them, but they have to think of the greater good this time.

Sophie and Jacob begin to question the spearman under Ryan's supervision. He uses a cyanide capusel to kill himself before answering any questions.

Ryan agrees to help The Crows infiltrate a meeting of The Collective they have learned about, but only if Sophie is in charge of the team, with no Crows on site and no surveillance of the location.

Ocean tells Alice that he's a soil technician and that he grew up in nature with his family cultivating all they needed to survive. 

Alice follows Ocean back to his room but he knocks her out.

Alice sleeps through half the next day.

Ocean reveals that he is Safiyah's brother.

Mary helps Ryan pick out an outfit and get made-up for the Collective event, which is to be held at a private hangar.

Mary had a rivalry with Evan Blake because they were both trying to get her attention before Evan realized he was gay.

Ryan is able to buy her way into the auction by trying to sell one of Batwoman's batarangs.

Ryan's cover is almost blown because new people are only supposed to come to The Collective as the guest of known member. Thankfully, Angelique is there to claim Ryan as her "plus one."

Evan Blake is gender fluid.

Angelique is at The Collective event as a drug dealer. She claims to have not lied to Ryan because she is clean and doesn't use drugs herself anymore.

Ryan lets it slip that she is gay to Sophie Moore over their comms.

The Napier is revealed to have been painted over an ocean current map rather than an oil painting.

Luke tries to scan the painting remotely but says he'll need the painting in person to find the map. This means Ryan will have to steal the Napier somehow.

Ocean does not recognize Alice, despite claiming to have been on Coryana at the same time she was.

Ocean then has a flashback where he argues with Safiyah about getting what she wants and that upsetting her.

Luke hides the Bat-Suit inside a tampon dispenser at the airstrip. 

Wolf Spider steals The Napier before Ryan can get it.

Ryan is momentarily disabled when the pain in her shoulder from her wound gets worse.

The Crows officers chasing Wolf Spider hit him with their truck, take the painting and leave him for dead.

Ryan saves Wolf Spider and finds out he is Evan Blake.  She takes him to Mary's clinic.

According to Ocean, the cardinal law of Coryana is no outsiders, which makes Alice's story of having been invited to come there after impressing Safiyah very unusual if true.

Sophie says that The Crows who left Wolf Spider for dead have been fired. Ryan doesn't care.

Ryan says she will never work with The Crows again and urges Sophie to quit the group.

The Napier painting is revealed to be a forgery, made with pigs blood.

Ryan's wound is getting worse.

Alice has another flashback while fleeing with Ocean, in which she sees herself kissing him.

Ocean is revealed to have the real Napier painting.


Untelevised Adventures

Apparently Alice and Ocean were romantically involved and both had their memories erased.

The Bottom Line

A filler episode, but an amusing one, which does a lot to develop Ryan and her relationships with the rest of the cast. Of course Alice steals the show again and, ironically, is the only one who makes any progress on the quest to find Kate Kane.

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

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

Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

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

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


Performances

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

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


Artistry

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

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

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


Bat Trivia

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

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

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

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

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


Technobabble

Gotham City is 330 square miles.

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ironically, Ryan has a feat of bats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Julia does not know who the new Batwoman is. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Location

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

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


Untelevised Adventures

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


The Bottom Line

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