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. 

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! 

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? 

And that’s a wrap on The Crows. 

After multiple attempts, Batwoman, Sophie, and Mary were able to show Commander Kane the error of his ways — that the agency he started to protect Gotham from monsters was filled with monsters instead. 

The takedown of the soulless and corrupt Agent Tavaroff was beautifully executed, but sadly, it came at the expense of Luke Fox, who was shot and framed for crimes he didn’t commit.

What kind of system turns a blind eye and lets the actual perpetrator run off simply because he’s white?

Tavaroff had no qualms about using violence on those he deemed “less than.” We saw it when he disobeyed Sophie’s orders and shot the cannibals that were high on Snake Bite in the church, and we saw it now with Luke.

Not only did Tavaroff shoot Luke for pulling out a cellphone, but instead of owning up to his mistakes, he had his lackeys doctor the bodycam footage and placed a gun at the scene of the crime. 

Tavaroff wasn’t about justice, he was all about self-preservation, and he was willing to get rid of anyone who stood in his way. 

We saw him turn on Sophie, attempt to leak Batwoman’s identity, frame Luke, and finally, attack the Commander and essentially try to kill him. 

Tavaroff had a vision for the Crows, and when Kane’s didn’t align with it, he tried to eliminate him by injecting him with a lethal dose of Snake Bite. 

Tavraoff is the worst of the worst. He’s the kind of villain who hides his true colors behind a suit and justifies his actions, unlike Alice, who may be deranged but always owns it and never shies away from it. 

Thankfully, Batwoman wasn’t interested in letting Tavaroff get away. She hoped that by saving Kane, he would finally see that his team was corrupt and that they were on the same side — the side of justice. 

And then, she hoped he would do the right thing. 

In this case, it was disbanding The Crows and stopping them from doing any more harm, which he did without hesitation. He finally “drained the swamp.”

I think the Commander knew that The Crows weren’t fulfilling their purpose for a long time, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself because that would mean he had to admit defeat. 

He knew that things weren’t adding up because he knew Luke to some degree; he knew that he wasn’t a criminal, and he knew that he would never be guilty of the things he was being accused of. 

It’s great to know that in the end, Kane did what was right while also giving Batwoman, his biggest opponent, credit for helping him see the light. 

And by taking Tavaroff down, Batwoman proved that you can fight even the most deadly of criminals without using lethal force. 

Color me shocked! 

If only the solution to the problem was so easy in real life. 

The Crows were an added layer of protection to a city that already has the GCPD and its own vigilante. It’ll be fine, or even better off, without The Crows. 

The demise of The Crows is a good sign for Gotham, but it’s a better sign for the series. 

The storyline had run its course, especially with Sophie turning in her badge and joining Team Bat. Is that official yet?

Commander Kane was also boxed in when it came to possible storylines, but his departure opens up the door of possibilities. 

Namely, it allows for the ideal team-up between Alice and Jacob. Isn’t it hilarious how absolutely no one is scared of Alice anymore?

She’s off her rocker, sure, but she also has a soul, so she’s not going to kill her loved ones. 

Kane never could’ve worked side-by-side with Alice while running The Crows because the optics wouldn’t be good, but now, he can finally reconnect with her and have some kind of relationship without using Snake Bite and living in the “what could have been.”

This might be how Jacob makes amends. It won’t be with the daughter he once knew — she died when the car went off that cliff, but it’ll be with a new version of her that has a little wiggle room to improve. 

And their team up to save Kate Kane may allow Jacob to redeem himself and save at least one daughter from going down a dark and twisted path. He’s always carried that guilt, but this is his second chance. 

Batwoman — “Armed and Dangerous” — Image Number: BWN215fg_0022r — Pictured (L-R): Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder and Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore — Photo: The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Jacob is the only person that Alice told about Kate, which is interesting considering she tried to convince herself that she wanted nothing to do with that family. 

Again, deep down, Alice wants nothing more than to be on good terms with her dad and her sister — that’s why she fought Ocean so hard when he told her to forget about Kate and move on. 

Alice knows what it’s like to be forgotten, and despite all that Kate and Jacob put her through, she’d never turn her back on her sister. 

Ocean is to Alice as Catherine Hamilton was to Jacob.

Alice is also pleased that this is one of the only decisions she’s been able to make for herself. 

But how do they plan on getting Kate back? Alice doesn’t have the trigger word that would revert Kate’s memories, so is she hoping that their love is strong enough to fight through the hypnosis in the same way hers did with Ocean?

Maybe teaming up with Jacob is necessary because she knows he’s the only one who could jog Kate’s memory?

I’m eager to see how her plan pans out. 

This might just be Alice’s redemption arc. 

Luke Fox spent the episode fighting for his life in the real world and chatting up Bruce Wayne in his subconscious. 

My first thought when Luke saw Bruce was that it was the show’s attempt at confirming that Bruce is actually dead. 

I’m glad Luke posed the question, but Bruce gave an ambiguous answer that I’m guessing purposefully leaves the interpretation up to the audience.

If the series never intends to bring back Bruce Wayne, it explains why no one has heard from him since. Or we could go with Luke’s explanation that working tirelessly every day to make the world a better, safer, and more positive place while getting spat on is depressing as hell.

Pick your own adventure, I guess.

Either way, Bruce was a figment of Luke’s imagination, which is sweet as it shows us just how much Bruce meant to him.

We may not have seen their relationship in action, but the two of them had us convinced.

Bruce was also the gatekeeper allowing Luke to make a decision about whether he lives or dies.

It was a tough decision considering crossing over meant he would finally get a chance to reconnect with his father, which is something he’s always wanted. 

It’s a tough crossroads to be at. 

What was even more heartbreaking was Luke’s decision to die after acknowledging that the world was a broken place, particularly for a Black man. 

“No matter what good we put into the world, it’s still a world where it happens, and I don’t want to live in that world anymore,” he told Bruce right before voicing his choice. 

Luke flat out chose death because spending day-in-and-day-out trying to change the world and the way the justice system works is tiring; it’s a tiring battle that doesn’t seem to have a light at the end of the tunnel. 

But the thing is — the world is a much better place with Luke in it. 

Ryan and Mary would agree, and they went to great lengths to ensure his survival. 

Mary fixed up a serum with Desert Rose that Wolf Spider then snuck into Luke’s room. 

Normally, I’d be thrilled that he woke up, but the fact that he willingly chose to die left me kind of conflicted. Why go through all that trouble to give him a choice if he was going to wake up?

The moment gave me all the feels, but was it ever really Luke’s choice? Will he be grateful that his choice wasn’t honored?

What will Luke be like on the other side? From next week’s promos, we see a rougher side of Luke that swapped in his pristine suits for a beanie and a leather jacket. 

I’m while all here for an edgier look, but it makes me nervous that he’s going after Tavaroff who clearly doesn’t hold back when it comes to violence. 

Shouldn’t the guy be behind bars anyways? What happened to Blackgate?

Batwoman returned from its brief hiatus without missing a beat and providing compelling storylines which offer commentary and an introspective look into real-world issues in the context of a superhero drama set against the backdrop of a fictional city. 

And dashed in between is an improbable storyline about Kate Kane with a new face. I don’t hate it, but if this season has proven anything, it’s that we didn’t need Kate then and we don’t need her now. I might be on Team Ocean to just let Kate be! 

Are you excited for Luke’s arc? Are you glad The Crows are no more? Are you excited about a team-up between The Commander and Alice? And why is Black Mask so obsessed with the Kane family?

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