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Batwoman

Batwoman Review – Off With Her Head (1×15)

Credit: Batwoman/ The CW

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We knew Alice’s past was traumatizing, but we weren’t clued into the extent of the trauma until Batwoman’s “Off with Her Head.”
The episode finally gave a play-by-play of what happened to Alice that forced her to snap and essentially turn off her humanity. Surprisingly, it didn’t have as much to do with Cartwright than it did with his mother, Mabel Cartwright, who Alice referred to as the Queen.
The events unfolded after Alice tracked down Mouse to save him but was met with straight hatred inspired by his exposure to teargas. His father wanted to mend his relationship with his son, and the only way that could happen was if Mouse believed Alice was a monster who ruined his family.
Mouse was so far gone when Alice came to save him that he turned on Alice, chained her up, and exposed her to Scarecrows toxins, which gave us a look at Alice’s deepest fear. Alice came face-to-face with Cartwright’s oxygen-tank wielding older mother who immediately disliked “the girl” and unleashed holy hell on her because she was envious of her youth and beauty.
Alice went through years of emotional and physical abuse that made learning how to sew new faces out of human skin look like child’s play. “Her majesty” broke Alice to the point where Alice chose to be numb instead.
The memories were interlaced with Alice’s hallucinations of the Queen, which were pretty straightforward aside from one vision — Mabel with her face burnt off. It didn’t make sense throughout most of the hour until Alice finally revealed the climax of the story.
After realizing that “mommy dearest” was wearing her real mother’s earrings, the ones that matched the necklaces given to her and Kate for their bat mitzvahs, Alice broke into the locked refrigerator to find her mother’s severed head inside. At that moment, she truly snapped as she understood everything that had been taken from her. In her first act of turning into an unhinged psychopath who reigned hell on Gotham, she burnt Mabel to a crisp, which explains the “burnt face” vision.
Digging into Alice’s backstory on such a deep level not only painted a better picture of what she endured, but it also made us feel sorry for her. She’s no longer a one-dimensional villain; her motivation is clear and the depth of her pain easily excuses the hurt she dishes out. Alice is a byproduct of insanity forced upon her through years of living in survival mode.
Batwoman Off With Her Head Review

Batwoman — “Off With Her Head” — Image Number: BWM115B_0283b — Pictured (L-R): John Emmet Tracy as August Cartwright and Debra Mooney as Mabel Cartwright — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Both Alice’s version of the story and Lucas’s findings indicate that Mabel died, but whatever happened to their mother’s face? Did it go to anyone? Or was it simply preserved in the fridge forever? Or was Cartwright hinting that his deranged mother picked Gabi’s face, which is what caused the accident? The “omg” moment seems to have been lost on me probably because I couldn’t believe Cartwright fished her head out of the water and held onto it. That whole family is twisted and sick!
While Alice’s obvious fear was Mabel, there was an underlying fear that plagued her while under the fear toxin and it was the worry that no one was going to come to save her again. Alice has always blamed her father and Kate for allowing her childhood to be ruined by not looking for her hard enough, and those anxieties also manifested themselves again. At one point, Jacob and Batwoman even came to visit her but deemed her not worthy of redemption, which hurt Alice more than anything.
Alice’s present-day situation mimicked her kidnapping the first time around, and once again, it was at the hands of her initial captor. However, it was also a second chance for both Jacob and Kate to prove their love to her and come to her rescue.
If they didn’t do enough or try hard enough back in the day, that was far from the case this time. Kate quite literally put everything on the line to save her sister. And when Jacob found her, holding a shard of glass and contemplating suicide, he simply held her in his arms and told her “he cared.”
While this wasn’t part of Alice’s plan, she achieved the results she’d wanted. Her family came through for her, they went to great lengths to get her back, and they no longer judged her for what she’d done because they understood why she was the way she was. It was the first step in their reconciliation into becoming a real family.
When I say Kate did everything to get her sister back, I mean she killed Cartwright with her bare hands despite promising that she wouldn’t because she wasn’t a killer.  She was overcome with emotion after realizing just how much Cartwright took for her, so it’s understandable, but it’s going to be hard for Kate to bounce back from. The moment was raw and engulfed Kate in a way she didn’t expect while challenging expectations of herself.
Kate is the city’s hero — she’s righteous, good, and protects the innocent while punishing the criminals in moral ways. This goes against everything she believes in. How will she face herself every day? How will she try to set an example when she disappointed herself?
Again, it wasn’t Alice’s plan, per se, but she was proud of her sister because she finally got what she wanted — Kate on her level. Kate could no longer judge her because she too had blood on her hands. Plus, it’s not like Alice would be mad at the fact that the man who destroyed her life was finally dead and could never hurt her again. It was a cause for celebration.
Other Gotham Musings
  • Kate sent Sophie a “you up” text, but it wasn’t the best idea since she can’t just go tell her ex-girlfriend she just killed a man.
  • Mary was straight up looking for a way to open the secret underground Batcave. And she was close to figuring it out. She’s too smart for all of this.
  • Kate called Mary as Batwoman to help Cartwright from bleeding out. She might as well clue her in on the truth because Kate and Batwoman’s worlds are getting murky.
  • Lucas figured out that Mary knows, right?
  • Kate didn’t tell her father about alternate-reality Beth, but now he knows the real Alice is alive. How will he continue running the Crows while protecting his other daughter?
  • Seeing how miserable and vicious Mabel was also helped us realize why August Cartwright was the way he was. Hurt people hurt people.
  • Couldn’t Jacob look up August Cartwright’s information and quickly find what his mother’s address was so that they didn’t waste time?
The teaser for next week’s Batwoman shows Alice and Kate teaming up to break Mouse out of Arkham. In an attempt to get mend her relationship with her sister, will Kate lose her sense of self and heroism? How will she straddle the line when she’s aligned with a villain?
As for this week’s episode, it may have been my favorite simply because it broke all the rules and portrayed the hero and the villain as both one and the same; they’re both in the same gray area. Everything we knew up until this moment was questioned and flipped upsidedown as the narrative proved we’re all just as good as our responses to external situations. If Batwoman keeps this up, it’s on its way to becoming one of the best superhero shows simply because it’s not afraid to go against the grain and get a little dark.

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Lizzy Buczak is the founder of CraveYouTV. What started off as a silly blog in her sophomore year at Columbia College Chicago turned her passion for watching TV into an opportunity! She has been in charge of CraveYou since 2011, writing reviews and news content for a wide variety of shows. Lizzy is a Music Business and Journalism major who has written for RADIO.COM, TV Fanatic, Time Out Chicago, Innerview, Pop’stache and Family Time.

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Batwoman

Batwoman Season Finale Review – Goodbye Kate Kane, Hello Batwing! (2×18)

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Batwoman Season Finale Review Power Season 2 Episode 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. 

Batwoman Season Finale Review Power Season 2 Episode 18

Credit: The CW/ Batwoman

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! 

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Batwoman

Batwoman Review – A Storm Is Brewing in Gotham (2×17)

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Batwoman Review Kane, Kate Season 2 Episode 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 Review Kane, Kate Season 2 Episode 17

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

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Batwoman

Batwoman Review – Rebirth (2×16)

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Batwoman Review Rebirth Season 2 Episode 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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