

Batwoman
Batwoman Review – It’s Best You Stop Digging (2×07)
Revenge is a powerful drug.
On Batwoman Season 2 Episode 7, both Ryan and Alice’s stories revolved around the desire to get revenge.
One could argue that deep down, they’ve both endured pain and trauma that’s led them down their respective paths.
Ryan usually takes the high road, but she saw how easy it was to stoop down to Alice’s level when given the chance.
The face-off between Ryan and Alice was cutthroat and thrilling, plus, it was something that this season has been building up to.
But thankfully, due to her hallucinations caused by the Kryptonite in her system, Ryan saw a vision of her mother and stopped herself before killing Alice.
In her quest for vengeance, she would’ve become the very thing she hated.
Still, that fight sequence was probably a good way to let out all that pent-up anger even if it wasn’t Ryan’s brightest idea to fight a skilled psychopath while she was knocking on death’s door.
With Alice explaining that she has no recollection of Cora and noting that she wasn’t behind her death, I think there’s more to the story that Ryan doesn’t know. Maybe it wasn’t Alice at all?
The episode finally gave us some backstory about Alice, while also giving us some insight into Safiyah, Coryana, and the origins of Alice’s relationship with Ocean.
I can’t be the only one who doesn’t want him to leave and secretly hopes that he and Alice will finally get the chance at love that was ripped from them.
Tatiana arrived to claim Ocean’s body, which was Alice’s opportunity to fill in all the blanks about her time on the island.
Basically, Alice and Safiyah bonded over their common enemy: Catherine Hamilton-Kane.
As we know, Alice hated her because she convinced her father and Kate that Beth was dead, while Safiyah hated her for burning her on some defense system.
This paints the late Catherine in a whole new light because it means that she likely knew about the Desert Rose the whole time. And now that we know Hamilton Dynamics was running secret and unauthorized testing, there’s no telling what she was truly up to.
Anyway, Safiyah saw promise in Alice. She was impressed with her backstory and how she’d managed to escape, so she wanted to harness that power and use her hatred against Catherine to her benefit.
Of course, as we all know, Alice is a bit of a wild card, so she needed to discipline and tame her, which is when she introduced her to Ocean, who was supposed to teach her how to fight.
As they sparred, they gave each other new perspectives and naturally fell in love. Yes, Alice is capable of love!
He showed Alice that revenge would be all too consuming and holding a grudge against a family she technically loved for moving on instead of clinging to the pain wasn’t doing her any favors. He wanted her to channel all that pain and anger into feelings of love and self-worth.
Ocean knew Alice could fight, but she needed to learn how to feel. It’s the first moment where someone is actually talking some sense into the girl.
She was hurt by the fact that her family gave up on her, but it was blinding her from realizing just how extraordinary she was; she managed to escape from her personal hell and she could do anything she wanted moving forward. She was strong and a fighter.
Meanwhile, Alice told him all about a world outside of Coryana — the one Safiyah wasn’t letting him experience.

Batwoman — “It’s Best You Stop Digging” — Image Number: XXX — Pictured (L-R): Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox and Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Eventually, the two of them developed feelings for each other and Ocean stole some of the Desert Rose to harvest back at home after they ran away together.
Tatiana snitched on them, unsurprisingly, because of her love and devotion for Safiyah.
She was also jealous of the fact that Safiyah was in love with Alice, who, in turn, was in love with Ocean. Doesn’t it always boil down to love?
When Safiyah learned of the betrayal, she decided to hypnotize them to make them forget about each other. It was an eye-for-an-eye move, but in this case, it was an “I’ll take the most precious thing from you like you took the most precious thing from me.”
So, for all of us wondering why Alice is such a cold-blooded killer with no humanity, the short answer is that Safiyah made her that way.
If Alice kept all of her memories of falling in love with Ocean, her story would’ve turned out much differently. And isn’t that heartbreaking?
This didn’t have to be Alice’s story, and while she’s caused quite a bit of pain, there’s still time to course-correct. Though, the writers have to be very careful here because Alice is one of the single greatest things about the serie; changing her could be damaging.
Something tells me that Alice is going to get into her fair share of trouble while in Coryana, but Ocean will arrive in the knick of time to save her. Is that the romantic in me? Probably.
During Tatiana’s storytime, we also learn more about the Desert Rose, which is described as delicate and the “most dangerous weapon in the world” depending on who has access to it.
However, considering Safiyah said that it was only able to grow from a woman’s life force, it’s unclear if it would actually thrive if it were taken from the island.
Maybe everyone’s looking for something that won’t actually be able to help them in the first place?
During Ryan’s altercation with Alice, she explained that she put a tracker in her boot, which would hopefully lead them to Coryana. You have to give her props for thinking clearly while in her deteriorating state.
My only concern is that Alice switched boots since she did do an outfit change before embarking on her journey to face Safiyah. The teaser for next Sunday’s episode seems to indicate that Batwoman does get to Coryana, so maybe her plan worked after all.
Ryan also unmasked herself and revealed her identity to Alice, which was a questionable move.
Why would she want one of the most dangerous criminals in Gotham City to know who she is?
On the other hand, maybe being so transparent earned her some kind of level of trust with Alice?
We’ll see how this pans out, but it does seem like Alice is quickly blurring the lines between friend and foe on the series.
There was a moment where it seemed as though Ryan was going to reveal herself as Batwoman to Angelique, which likely would’ve been even worse.
I think the only thing that stopped Ryan from pulling her mask off was realizing Angie already moved on with another woman.
But how ignorant can Angelique really be? Not only did Batwoman call her by her nickname, but she also knew personal things about her like the fact that she doesn’t drink.
It seemed like a dead giveaway and yet, Angie didn’t catch on.
The Commander is continuing to learn that he never knew the truth about any of the women in his life: he didn’t know that Beth was live, he didn’t know that Kate was Batwoman, he didn’t know Mary ran an illegal clinic, and he didn’t know much of anything that Catherine was up to at Hamilton Dynamics.
The guy who is supposed to know everything there is to know about the city he’s protecting has been kept in the dark for so long.
As the Crows connected Hamilton Dynamics to Garnick Logistics, they did their best to find the map to Coryana only to realize Safiyah’s people got to it first.
It’s unclear what their next move is, but if they want a chance at getting to Coryana or finding Kate, they need to team up with #TeamBatwoman ASAP.
What did you think of the episode? Are you surprised by Safiyah’s motivations? Did she simply ask Alice to kill Ocean as part of a sick and twisted mind-game?
Will Ocean and Alice find a way back to each other? Do you have a soft spot for Alice knowing her full backstory now?
Is Coryana going to be the miracle-cure they’re all expecting?
Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below!
Batwoman
Batwoman Season Finale Review – Goodbye Kate Kane, Hello Batwing! (2×18)

Batwoman wrapped up its second season with two Batwoman’s, Batwing, Alice, and the #BatTeam aligning for a common goal. Who would have thought?
Much of the season was building up to the very moment where Roman Sionis aka Black Mask declares war on Gotham and orders its citizens to overthrow the government.
It was essentially the PG-13 version The Purge.
While there were plenty of people who were more than happy to wreak havoc, the city was also filled with scared souls hoping to give Batwoman the faith she needs to continue fighting for them.
And so she did.
Ryan wasn’t confident to take on Circe without the Batsuit, and who could blame her? Without the suit’s protection, she was a mere mortal who could get seriously hurt.
But the fire that she had to protect the city from the bad guys never came from the suit, and thus, she found it in herself to step up for all of those who were relying on her.
In order to make any real progress, she needed to join forces with her sworn enemy: Alice.
I know there’s beef between them since Alice and her Wonderland Gang killed Ryan’s adoptive mother, but they make such a great team. It’s truly enjoyable to watch them work side-by-side.
The goal has always been to save Kate, so when Mary managed to snag an aerosol of Snakebite, they needed to get close enough to Circe to spray her with it and hopefully trigger some permanent memories.
And it worked… but not before Alice and Circe went overboard into the river in what seemed to be a repeat of Beth’s death.
Was Alice hoping that Kate’s memories would bubble up to the surface and she would get a second chance at saving her thus bringing Kate back permanently in Circe’s body?
Instead, Alice pulled Circe/Kate to the surface where she and Ryan performed CPR. Kate recognized Beth immediately just as she was pulled away by the cops.
For a night that was supposed to destroy the GCPD, they managed to lock up the leader of The False Face Society and the Wonderland Gang at the same time. I’d call that rather successful.
Kate realized the irony of always wanting to bring Beth out of Alice and having Alice bring Kate out of Circe instead. It didn’t matter how much Alice did or sacrificed to bring her sister back, however, as Kate determined that until she wanted to be Beth again, she couldn’t be saved. I’m going to have to agree with Ocean that Kate never deserved Alice’s love.
While I’m not too happy that Alice is back in the orange jumpsuit and behind bars just as she was making a sliver of progress, I know she isn’t going to stay there for long. Alice always gets out, especially since she has a key piece of information that Ryan is going to want.
In the final moments of the episode, Alice informed Ryan that her biological mother, the one Ryan thought died during childbirth, was actually alive.
Alice always has a card to play — it’s impressive. Is Ryan’s mom in Arkham?
Or does it have something to vines growing, which would indicate the appearance of Poison Ivy! Safiyah did mention that Ivy helped with the creation of the Desert Rose, so could this be connected somehow?
And the floating top hat and black-and-white umbrella that has belonged to Penguin wasn’t lost on me either!
I don’t know about you, but this makes me super excited for season 3!
Hopefully, the revelation about her mother, while jarring, isn’t going to undo all the progress she’s made to better herself.
In the season finale, Ryan finally found her power — she no longer saw herself the criminal she was painted out to be, she was released from parole, and Kate handed over the reins to Batwoman officially.
I didn’t mind the new Batwoman, but I’m glad the whole Kate Kane debacle is over. As I’ve said, she’s overstayed her welcome. Not to mention, Ryan made a much better Batwoman.
It seems almost pointless that the series would waste so much time on flip-flopping between having Kate missing, dead, and alive again, but I guess it does give her storyline closure in a way that doesn’t cheapen the character. It was a solid farewell that allowed her to say goodbye to her team, her sister, and Sophie while passing on the baton to someone who is more than worthy.
As Kate embarks on a mission to find Bruce Wayne, Ryan and the team will stay behind to protect Gotham, give the youth a community center, and provide free healthcare to those in need. It’s all coming up Millhouse!
And who knows, maybe one day she’ll come back to assist with the Bruce Wayne story. He’s such a presence in the series despite being off-screen.
Prior to having his face permanently burned with one of Joker’s acid flower and seeing his plan to become the city’s hero fail, Black Mask pumped Tavaroff full of Snakebite. His body seemingly gave out as he flatlined, and Roman didn’t hesitate to dump his body in a dumpster. They bring him to Mary’s clinic, where she notices the Snakebite and steals it to save Kate/Circe.
This, however, triggers Tavarrof, who goes into full rage mode. He’s beefed up and honestly, looking really Hulk-ish. It’s scary, but Mary manages to fight him off (looking truly fashionable, I might add) as he pursues her in the alleyway before Luke suits up and rises to help her as Batwing!
Luke has always been part of the action, but now, he’s going to be in the thick of it!
Two vigilantes in Gotham? Yes, please!
Since Ryan didn’t have her suit and was preoccupied with the Kate situation, it was awesome that Luke could’ve stepped in. There’s no one that knows more about this operation than he does, plus, his father specifically designed the suit based on his imagined renderings of a Black Batman.
Also, that suit is much more impressive than Batwoman’s!
Batwing, Penguin, Poison Ivy… it’s truly shaping up to be an exciting third season.
One person that won’t be coming back in Commander Kane. Dougray Scott will not reprise his role in the upcoming season as showrunner Caroline Dries admitted that his character has “run its course.”
I’d have to agree considering the Crows have been dismantled and Kate’s continuing on with her journey. I’m sure they could still find ways to involve him in Alice and Mary’s lives, but even towards the end of the season, it felt as though they were running out of storylines for him.
Overall, it was an action-packed finale that changed the trajectory of every major character for the better. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for them!
What did you think of the finale? Were you a fan of this rebooted second season? Are you rooting for Ryan and Sophie to become a couple? What about Mary and Luke?
And what’s the situation with Ryan’s mother? Sound off in the comments, and see you all next season!
Batwoman
Batwoman Review – A Storm Is Brewing in Gotham (2×17)

Thought Kate Kane was back?
Think again.
On Batwoman Season 2 Episode 17, the Bat Team welcomed Kate — with a new face — with open arms, but in their desperation to have her back, they didn’t consider the possibility that it wasn’t her at all.
Honestly, Sophie even mentioned that they didn’t know what state Kate would wake up in after her hangover, so why didn’t they even stop to think that it might be Circe pretending to be Kate?
Luke basically handed her the blueprints that she needed to infiltrate the Bat Cave, lock them up, and steal all of their weapons.
Rookie mistake.
They also needed to get Ryan Wilder out of the way, so the GCPD rounded her up by framing her on a drug possession.
Once again, the drugs weren’t Ryan’s, and thankfully, this time she was able to convince her parole officer that she was being wronged by spilling the secret that she’s Batwoman.
While it was a hard sell, Ryan was able to back up her claims by taking down several officers. It takes a lot of skill.
Ryan may have been able to break out, but she’s now a woman on the run. She’ll be limited in what she’s able to do, which will usher in Luke as Batwing. Two vigilantes are better than one! Does this also mean she’s getting a new batsuit!?
It was always possible that Circe was still working with Roman Sionis, but the betrayal still blindsided me.
Sionis is ruthless, however, so it wasn’t surprising that part of his plan also included rounding up ex-Crows to do his dirty bidding.
Those guys are so desperate to fit in. Plus, the fact that they were so easily swayed to join the bad guy means that they were always corrupt from the getgo; they never had the people of Gotham’s best interests at heart.
And of course Tavaroff is going to be Roman’s right hand man!

Batwoman — “Kane, Kate” — Image Number: BWN217a_0101r — Pictured (L-R): Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox and Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore — Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Circe made off with bioweapons that Bruce snatched up from Gotham’s most dangerous villains, but what does he intend to do with them? Build a superweapon?
And where does Circe fall into the plan? She obviously has no interest in being Batwoman, but there’s a part of Kate Kane inside of her that I have no doubt will bubble up to the surface.
If there’s anything we know about Kate it’s that she’s persistent, especially if her friends are dedicated to saving her.
We know the Bat Team won’t give up on her, but the person that’s most motivated is Alice.
After losing Ocean, Alice has no one left, which means she can fully invest herself into saving Kate.
I’m just as heartbroken about Ocean’s death as Alice is. He was the one person that was able to ground her and proved to her that she was worthy of love. He made her a better person — as good as Alice could be.
She’s already lost so much, and she continues to keep getting pushed to the edge.
Sure, she may have burned down Coryana, but Safiyah deserved it for what she did to her and Ocean.
And she more than deserved getting stabbed with the dessert rose dagger. Alice ripped that play right out of Safiyah’s playbook.
In order to weather the storm, Alice is going to have to work together with the Bat Team.
Thankfully, she’s starting to make some real progress with everyone including Mary.
Will the inevitable faceoff between Ryan and Circe lead to Kate’s demise? I can’t see Circe’s storyline continuing on for too long and there’s clearly not enough room for two Batwoman’s.
Plus, who’s to say that Kate would even want to take up the mantle if she were to come back?
All this Gotham drama would make me want to escape to a deserted island… no, not that one!
I hated how Ryan felt as though she were pushed to the side with Kate’s return. She’s proven that she’s worthy of wearing the cape, while the series proved that they can tell incredible stories without Kate. Even Ryan and Sophie’s connection is more convincing than Ryan and Kate’s at this point, so really, Kate’s return would just be messing up tons of personal and professional relationships.
What did you think of the penultimate episode of Batwoman?
Batwoman
Batwoman Review – Rebirth (2×16)

Roman Sionis, Circe, Kate Kane, and Safiyah are all connected.
On Batwoman Season 2 Episode 16, Safiyah makes her return as it’s revealed that she worked with Roman aka “Black Mask” to deliver him Kate.
But when she finds out that “Circe” and Alice came into contact, she informs him that Alice is Beth Kane. Safiyah knows that Alice would be able to identify her sister even if her mind was been wiped.
By the time Roman’s people get to Circe/ Kate, Alice and Commander Kane have made impressive strides with forcing her memories back.
Considering there was so much focus on the keyword to trigger Kate’s memories, I feel like they returned a little too easily, but I won’t complain too much cause the team-up between Alice and her father, albeit short-lived, was such a treat.
Alice may no longer be the Beth she remembers, but she’s still in there somewhere.
Jacob seems grateful to get any time with Beth at all, plus, he’s learning more about what led to her Alice persona and he’s surprised that it wasn’t all Cartwright’s doing and Enigma played a huge role in pushing her over the edge.
I feel like Alice will always be Alice, but they’re at least on their way to having some sort of relationship, especially after it was publicly revealed he is the father of one of “Gotham’s most notorious monsters” and he came to her defense.
Alice has done her fair share of terrible things, but she is a victim of her circumstances. She’s a victim of a kidnapping, of trying to forge a new path on Coryana, and of Enigma’s brainwashing. It doesn’t make all the things she’s done right, but it helps to see her in a new light.
With Jacob arrested for aiding and abetting Alice/Beth, he asks Mary to save both of her sisters, who he believes can become who they once were again. It’s a huge ask of Mary considering Alice/Beth killed her mother, but if there’s anyone who has the heart and will to do it, it’s her.
After Roman’s people captured Jacob, Circe/Kate was able to escape to the Batcave where she endured an inner struggle between the two entities inside her mind.
At times, Kate was able to recall things. And while she doesn’t have any memory of her sister, Mary, she does recognize Sophie.
Honestly, Mary always gets the short end of the stick. I guess the point is to showcase how deep Kate and Sophie’s love was, but it’s a low blow not to recognize the sister who was always in your corner!
After Circe resurfaces, she manipulates Sophie in order to escape and confronts Roman about who she really is
Safiyah then tells Roman to tell her the truth and allow her to decide for herself. Roman’s plan is to re-introduce Circe into society as the face (ha, get it?) of his Rebirth line of cosmetics (and even had the perfect millennial story about Malibu and rehab to explain her disappearance), but will Kate/Circe be interested in that.
Or will she try to become part of the #BatTeam again?
Safiyah created a world of chaos when she visited Gotham and made sure that Alice paid the price for burning down her entire field of dessert rose.
She didn’t even attempt to look the other way when Batwoman gave her the only remaining plant to rebuild her empire.
When it came down to it, she took what mattered most from Alice — Ocean. Is he dead for real this time?
Aside from actually enjoying his character and what he brought to the story, I enjoyed his dynamic with Alice.
Who would have thought we’d ever see Alice introduce a man to her dad? And how sweet was it that Ocean wanted to make a good impression?
Plus, I don’t want to see what happens to all the progress Alice has made if the love of her life is taken from her permanently.
We saw how she spiraled by losing her family, and Ocean was one of the few people who accepted her and loved her for her; he didn’t try to change her into something she wasn’t.
Roman may have revealed Alice’s true identity to the world, but it’s time someone reveals him as Black Mask. He’s done enough damage in Gotham.
The episode also focused on Luke’s recovery post-shooting. He was looking for trouble by confronting Tavaroff, who proved that he’s quite the tool who can’t even play poker without cheating. And he’s a sore loser to boot.
Luke may have lost his way temporarily, and it was interesting to see his “bad boy” side come out, but he’ll come around eventually.
While he wanted to reconnect with his father, he’s needed in Gotham. In a city full of bad men, they need all the good guys they can get. We know this is going to lead to Luke becoming Batwing, which was ushered through a guest appearance from Arrow’s John Diggle (David Ramsey). Yay for a mini-crossover! I wouldn’t mind if he stuck around to become a mentor for Luke!
Luke’s always been a superhero to his friends, but with the Crow’s dismantled, the city needs another vigilante more than ever.
And I love that Ryan gave him the space he needed while refusing to apologize for saving his life.
No one should ever have to apologize for that.
What did you think of the episode? Can Alice/Beth truly be redeemed, especially now after Ocean’s murder? What will trigger Luke’s decision to become Batwing? Will Kate return or will she go to the dark side and become Circe?
And does Kate’s return mean a Ryan and Sophie relationship is out of the realm of possibility?
Share your thoughts below!
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