Jessie Robertson reviews the eleventh episode of Batwoman…
This was the most well-written, coherent episode of the series yet….
Let’s make one thing crystal clear about this show: this show is depicting a young girl kidnapped and forced into captivity for most of her life. That is a dark, dark subject with really no happy ending. There is a certain way that CW shows can seem to “gloss” over tough subjects and while the shows are always going to have a certain look, make no mistake: this is really tough stuff here. This young girl, taken after near death, not only is told her family has moved on (newspaper clipping of her father remarrying with a new daughter) but she’s then told she needs to start helping sew these skin masks for Mouse’s facial deformities. I mean, no one can imagine these horrors this poor child had to endure.
There’s also this theme of captivity that’s talked about here a lot, and it really works so well. Alice, is obviously, incarcerated this time and while this isn’t The Dark Knight, you can clearly see Alice is in complete control over her time held by Sophie and the Crows. As Mouse holds a few Gotham sons hostage (as well as Kate, after hitting her on her cycle in a truck in an extremely violent crash), Alice is already hatching her plan while retelling horrific childhood back and sprinkling in pieces of how caged Sophie is, and in a cage, by herself, keeping her true sexuality a mystery. I should clarify: not her sexuality, as she was married to a man, but more so her love of Kate, which coming from their past, is the event that triggered when she would create that cage for herself.
The other major, MAJOR storyline is the appearance of Beth, Kate’s sister. Not Alice, Beth. This is a byproduct of the worlds combining into one. I wondered if this would be a rush job, but no, and it’s done very well as Beth is actually a stranger to everyone here, even though she knows them all from her own world. Rachel Skarsten (playing both roles) balances these two very well and adds such an interesting wrinkle to the show. The haunting backstory of her Earth when Beth and Kate were 13 and got into a wreck (still lost their mother) but Kate actually saved Beth that night and she’s been her hero ever since. She decides (once filled in by Luke on everything) to try and help Kate to pay her back, but not being a psycho path or costumed hero, Beth can’t quite close the deal as Mouse is on to her and locks her in the trunk of a car and sets it on fire. Kate does manage to get free and takes out Mouse (who trades Alice’s place in jail) and save Beth in a great dramatic beat.
Rating – 9/10 – The themes, the pacing, and the introduction of Beth into the fabric of this show is all pulled off so very well. Great start to the 2nd half of the season.
Jessie Robertson
Originally published January 28, 2020. Updated January 27, 2020.
