Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 17 - Kane, Kate

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

Plot

As Alice and Safiyah cross paths once again, Black Mask raises the stakes in the battle for Gotham, as Kate Kane goes to work, thinking she is Circe Sionis pretending to be Kate Kane.


Influences

Batwoman: Rebirth and Batwing


Goofs

It's a minor thing and all part of the drama of superheroes, but one wonders why Black Mask even bothers bringing Ryan into the police station when the police in his employ could have just killed her and said she was "resisting arrest."

"Circe" leaving the rest of the Bat-Team alive is similarly nonsensical, but at least there there's a possibility that Kate is influencing her actions.


Bat Trivia

Circe steals the weapons and tools of several classic Batman villains from the Bat Cave; not all of which are identified in the episode. The identified items are a sample of Clayface's mud, one of Killer Croc's teeth, Joker's acid flower, Bane's Venom distribution pump (and Venom) and a sample of one of Poison Ivy's plants. The unidentified items are the Mad Hatter's hat and one of the Penguin's umbrellas.


Technobabble

Mary identifies the drug used to knock her, Luke and Sophie out as haloperidol. Side effects include nausea, confusion and vomiting. 


Dialogue Triumphs
.
Ryan: Guys, she went from attacking Mary to ditching Sophie to treating half the lesbians in Gotham to an open bar. Is anyone else worried about what she's gonna do when she wakes up?
Sophie: Well, if I found out my memory had been wiped and then reprogrammed into a dead supermodel, I'd go on a 12 hour bar crawl, too.

Black Mask (addressing the Crows) Every one of you signed up to protect this city with a noble purpose in your hearts, and what did you get in return? Your hands tied by corrupt politicians who care more about some criminal's rights than what is right, a system more concerned with the red tape than the red blood running through our streets. The people you're there to defend would rather defund. Well, I'm here to pick up the tab. I'm gonna give you the tools you need and the free rein to use them, so what do you say? Who wants to take off the gloves... and put on the mask? 

Roman Sionis: I am merely a concerned citizen trying to restore justice to a lawless city like you.
Ryan: We are nothing alike.
Roman Sionis: We both wear masks to avenge the wrongs perpetrated against us. I must say I feel that, uh, given the right push together we could give this city its soul back.
Ryan: Yeah, and all I have to do is give up mine.
Roman Sionis: Well, now you're just being selfish. Why should you be the only masked vigilante who gets to be the arbiter of justice? Why shouldn't everyone have the same opportunity? After all, it feels good, doesn't it?
Ryan: It does. It feels good to fight for people who are powerless, people trapped by a broken system, people like your daughter. I know what happened to her, how she was assaulted, how the Crows covered it up, made her look crazy, then threw her in Arkham, where she suffered and died. Where she was murdered. You know what? Maybe we do have something in common because... I know that rage you feel, the need to make someone pay, but using her to justify what you're doing is dishonoring her memory.
Roman Sionis: I don't put much stock in the words of a repeat drug offender. Neither do judges for that matter, not that you're going to live to see one. No hard feelings, Wilder, but I can't have you getting in my way. Good-bye, Batwoman. 

(Safiyah is offering Alice a place by her side.)
Safiyah: Come back with me. Come home.
Alice: You want me to come back to Coryana with you? (laughs) Well, that depends. Do you have any non-smoking rooms available? No, because I'm pretty sure that I turned your little island into an all-inclusive ashtray.


Continuity

This episode opens roughly 10 hours after Kate disappeared in 216.

Ryan questions a security guard as Batwoman, noting that the machine pistol he carries is far too high-end for a typical security guard. This, and his ammunition, reveal that he's part of the False Face Society.

The Rebirth make-up line includes two perfumes called Rekindle and Remember, which Ryan uses as improvised pepper spray to torture the guard.

The guard has no idea where Black Mask is, save that he's gone underground. He also doesn't know where "Circe Sionis" is.

Luke has had no luck tracking Kate with facial recognition scans through satellites or traffic cams.

Mary confirms non one matching Kate's description has been checked in at the hospitals or morgues.

Kate is eventually found in the Hold Up, buying drinks for everyone. The team doesn't notice this until a report of a belligerent drunk who acts like she owns the place.

A seemingly drunk Kate recognizes Mary's face this time, but claims not to remember how she knows her.

Mary goes off to look for Alice and finds her with Ocean's body in his subway car base.

Mary lies and says that Kate is doing fine and that she just came to Alice to thank her for helping.

Alice says she should have left Gotham with Ocean when she had the chance.

Luke gives Kate her old journals in a bid to jog her memory.

Luke makes reference to Kate surviving gas attacks (106), a bomb-throwing bird (117) and a vampire (113).

Kate recalls not liking the beach.

Luke gives Kate the keys to her motorycle.

"Kate" is revealed to be Circe Sionis, pretending that she's an amnesiac Kate, apparently having had her doubts in 216 quieted by Black Mask.

"Circe" gives Black Mask Kate Kane's journals, which she describes as a user's manual to the Batcave.

Safiyah says there is one more thing she needs from Black Mask before she will give him her blessing to continue with his plans for Gotham City.

Ryan starts packing up to move out of Kate's loft.

Sophie offers Ryan space on her couch, but Ryan already has a new apartment lined up.

Black Mask recruits the recently fired Crows for the False Face Society.

Russell Tavaroff is among the recruits, but Black Mask notices he looks hesitant. When Tavaroff says he doesn't want to go from being a cog in one machine to being a cog in a different machine, Black Mask says he understands and will help Tavaroff become a machine in his own right.

Ryan overhears Circe, as Kate, telling Luke and Mary that she can't wait to get back in the costume.

Ryan moves back into her van and drives back to where she first found the Batwoman suit.

Ryan is arrested by CCPD officers that are also False Face gang members on suspicion of being a Snakebite dealer.

Alice cremates Ocean and scatters his ashes on the beach. She is joined by Safiyah. 

As Ryan is taken into GCPD HQ, Roman Sionis gets in the patrol car while the cops stand watch. He tells her that he knows she is Batwoman . She, in turn, lets him know she knows he is Black Mask.

Sionis tells Ryan that he's going to have her killed.

Sophie shows "Circe" the letter that Kate wrote her revealing her secret identity.

Ryan uses her one phone call to warn Luke that she's been arrested and Black Mask likely knows who all of them are if she's been exposed.

Luke, Sophie, "Kate" and Mary begin planning how to rescue Ryan. However, "Circe" reveals herself and knocks them all out with tranquilizer darts.

Ryan's parole officer is called and reads her the riot act, not believing her when she says she is innocent. She also doesn't believe it when Ryan tells her that she is the new Batwoman.

Four police officers attack Ryan and her parole officer after she says she needs to speak to Judge Hamada. After Ryan is able to knock all four cops out, the parole officer believes she is Batwoman.

The parole officer offers Ryan her car keys and badge to get out of the parking garage/

Safiyah tells Alice she came without guards because Alice wouldn't kill her if it wasn't fun.

Safiyah says a storm is coming to Gotham and Coryana is the only place Alice may be safe. She offers Alice a place by her side.

Mary, Sophie and Luke wake up locked in the Batcave elevator.

Mary says that Kate must be fighting Circe for control, because that's the only reason they weren't killed. 

Circe steals several items from a Bio-Hazard container deep in the Bar Cave.

Ryan comes to the cave and fights Circe to free the others. 

Safiyah tells Alice that she intends to regrow her Desert Rose fields using the plant Ryan Wilder gave her and a Poison Ivy vine sample that should allow her to accelerate their growth. 

Safiyah also tells Alice that she's getting the sample from Black Mask, in exchange for having killed the man responsible for assaulting his daughter and having her sent to Arkham. 

"Circe" beats Ryan and escapes the Batcave, telling Ryan not to feel bad because Kate wasn't strong enough to beat her either.

Alice stabs Safiyah with a Desert Rose dagger, agreeing that killing her wouldn't be fun but making her suffer will be fun and that they can talk after she gets her family back.

Luke determines that Circe stole all the dangerous weapons Bruce had confiscated from his enemies over the years.

Black Mask offers Tavaroff the Venom system once used by Bane.


The Killing Jokes

The villains make the mistake of not killing the heroes when they are helpless for the sake of drama.


The Bottom Line

An oddly sedate penultimate episode, which raises the stakes for the season finale but doesn't feel all that tense despite that.

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 16 - Rebirth

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

Plot

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


Influences

Batwoman: Rebirth and the new 52 Batwing title.


Performances

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

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


Artistry

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


Technobabble

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

Luke has a tool for unsealing sealed digital court records.


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

Roman Sionis is confirmed to have been working with Safiyah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan determines the first witness on the list was blind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kate liked punk rock as a teenager.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jacob is captured by the False Face gang.

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

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

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

Ryan finds Kate and brings her back to Wayne Tower.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luke is informed that Kate is still alive.

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

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

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

Safiya has never met Kate Kane before.

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

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

Alice ditches Ryan to go find Ocean.

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

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

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

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

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


The Bottom Line

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

Batwoman Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 8 - Survived Much Worse

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

Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

The Desert Rose fields catch on fire WAY too fast.

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

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


Performances

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


Artistry

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


Bat Trivia

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


Technobabble

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Disasters

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

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

Sophie finally figures out that Luke is working with Batwoman.

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

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

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

The planes heading to Coryana left from the Olsson Airstrip.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Batman does not have a Batplane or Batsub.

Ryan has never been on a plane before.

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

Safiyah's people found the tracking device on Alice.

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

Tatiana claims that Safiyah wants Sophie for her army.

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan refers to her last conversation with Alice in 207.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan asks Sophie to stay with her while she dies.

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

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

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


Location

Coryana


Untelevised Adventures

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


The Bottom Line

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

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

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

Plot

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


Influences

The Batwoman Rebirth series (Safiyah flashbacks)


Artistry

The various nightmare and hallucination scenes are truly horrific.


Bat Trivia

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


Technobabble

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan suits up and takes the Batmobile while hallucinating.

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

Coryana has no electricity.

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

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

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

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

Angelique does not drink.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alice leaves Gotham for Coryana.

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


Location

Coryana


Untelevised Adventures

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


The Bottom Line

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

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

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

Plot

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

Influences

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


Bat Trivia

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

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

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

Technobabble

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mary recognizes that Amygdala has a scar from a craniotomy. 

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

Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan's wound continues to get worse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alice tries to call Tatiana but Safiyah answers the phone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jacob closes down Mary's clinic.

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

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

Untelevised Adventures

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

The Killing Jokes

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

The Bottom Line

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

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

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

Plot

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

Influences

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

Goofs

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

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

Performances

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

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

Artistry

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

Bat Trivia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Technobabble

The Batarangs cost about $1000 each to make.

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

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

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

Dialogue Triumphs

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

(The Mistress whimpers as Zsasz swings the bottle at her head and we fade to black.)

Sophie: Safiyah? How do you know her?

Alice: How do YOU know her?

Sophie: She's been surveilling Julia and me for months!

Alice: (wistful) She always did like to watch.

Sophie: And why are YOU here?
Alice: To do us both a favor. It's been a while since I've killed a queen.

(Mary and Luke are arguing about Ryan's continuing to be Batwoman because she knows the killer they are hunting by sight when Ryan's phone vibrates.)

Ryan: My PO's at the Hold-Up looking for me. I've got to go! 

Luke: What about Zsasz?

Ryan: I'll deal with him when you find his address. (turns back, looking thoughtful) His scars are works of art. He ships in some high-end French skin care lotion. Name translates "Like A Baby's Butt" or something-

Mary: (suddenly excited) Oh! Les Fesses De Bébé!

(There is a pause as both Luke and Ryan stare at Mary.)

Mary: (quietly) What? It's really good stuff.
Ryan: (awkwardly) You two go -

Luke: (nonplussed) - track The Baby's Butt. Yeah, I got it.

(Zsasz nonchalantly makes himself a drink as Ryan tries to get her bo staff to extend.)

Zsasz: (conversationally) So I take it you're the replacement. What happened to the old one? Did she get killed? Or are you like Sammy Hagar to her David Lee Roth?

Ryan: You're looking at me and wondering which old white guy I am?

Zsasz: (scoffs) Kids today. No sense of history.

Ryan: Yeah. Not gonna sweat some freak who uses his skin as a knife sharpener.

Zsasz: (snorts) Well at least it's my skin. Because, and I'm only being honest, you don't seem very comfortable in yours. It's like... trying to pass for somebody else.

Ryan: I didn't design the damn suit.

Zsasz: (chuckles) I can tell. Because I don't see the Batwoman in you.(thoughtful) And maybe that's because I don't see the you in Batwoman.

Ryan: You want to know what I see?

Zsasz: (innocently) Is it... a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile?

(Zsasz pulls out the mentioned weapon and puts it on one shoulder.)

Ryan: Oh, hell no!

(Ryan runs for the balcony and throws herself over it just before the missile explodes over her head.)

Mary: You're Victor Zsasz.

Zsasz: I'm actually here to clean up a little mess. It seems you and I have ruffled some of the same feathers. And now I have to tie up the loose ends.

Mary: Would those feathers belong to Safiyah?
Zsasz: I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. 

(Zsasz smiles suddenly.)

Zsasz: So I'll just tell you. Yes.

(Ryan tells Luke that she's altered The Bat-Suit)

Luke: But the suit is perfect!

Ryan: Have you seen the damn wig?!

(Zsasz retrieves his knife from the door and sees his reflection, noting that Mary hitting him with a surgical tray has left a hash mark on the side of his head above his eyebrow. He sighs and calls after her.)

Zsasz: Now let's not get ahead of ourselves! First I make you bleed, THEN I make me bleed!

(Ryan drops between Mary and Zsasz. She's wearing the new Bat-Suit. This time she sticks the superhero landing.)

Batwoman: (To Zsasz) Do you see me now?

Sophie: Why am I still alive?

Alice: Yeah. That's probably not a good thing.

Sophie: Why is that not a good thing?!

Alice: Because Safiyah spared you. Which means she has a crush on you. Which is all very well and good... until it's not.

Sophie: Why are YOU still alive?

Alice: Cy and I need each other. (pats Sophie) Toodle-oo!

(Alice gets up and gets ready to leave.)

Sophie: Hey! You're still one of Gotham's most wanted criminals!
Alice: But if you arrest me, then I can't complete the job that your new... girlfriend has tasked me with. And then she might never tell me where... Kate is.

(Mary is standing before the shrine to Kate Kane in The Hold-Up. Luke comes up behind her.)

Luke: (reading Mary's card) "May your memory be a blessing."

Mary: It's a traditional Jewish honor for the dead.
Luke: I'm not ready to say it yet.

Mary: I know I shouldn't have kept how I feel from you, but that doesn't change the fact that it is how I feel.

Luke: And that doesn't change how I feel. 

(The two regard each other a moment before Luke nods and walks away as Mary returns to looking at the shrine.)

Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan still does not have a day job.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Safiyah says Alice was her best student.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mary has never heard of Safiyah. 

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

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

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

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

Mary's lab assistant is killed by Zsasz.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mary's parole officer is a Batwoman fangirl. 

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

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

Alice speculates that Safiyah has a crush on Sophie.

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

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

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

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

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

Location

The island nation of Coryana.

Untelevised Adventures

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

The Bottom Line

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