SPOILERS ahead! Watch the episode before you read this!
SPOILERS ahead! Watch the episode before you read this!
“General”:
My highlights from this episode (without particular order):
1 – Batwoman 1, Crows 0 - A strong early action scene as Batwoman was battling through some false faces to bring on a tracking device on one of them. I'm pretty sure that was the first time that Batwoman battled so many goons in season 2. But the damn Crows show up to ruin everything (once again). It was very interesting that Tavaroff was threatening her to shoot her in the face. So far that logical possibility wasn't mentioned as all practical behaved that her suit was bulletproof and that shooting her was thereby impossible. But now we officially know that it isn't and it is an option in the show. And that's a good thing. Plus Agent Tavaroff is well established as the new bad guy at the Crows. As Jacob is out of order for now...someone has to fill in ;-) . And Tavaroff seems to be really determined to catch Batwoman....
2 – Alice gets tortured by Black Mask and Circe! Alice is back in a basement....and as always... that isn't good news for her. I like Circe's outfit much better in this one, no weird pink in the mix this time. I don't fully get why Black Mask is so sure that Alice knows Batwoman's identity. Yes, they were teaming up in the night before...but besides that.... Also, it's interesting how Alice doesn't tell who Batwoman is! The question is....does she really know? I mean she had seen Ryan's face and she knows her foster mom story and her connection to Angelique. Alice is smart, she should be able to combine these clues together and has a name Batwoman by now. But it's not 100% clear that she knows.... But if she knows, why didn't she tell Black Mask? Is she sorry for getting her mom killed and wants to protect her? Or has she other reasons?
3 – Girl's night! - Well, for a while at least. At this point Ryan is still really blind about Sophie, luckily that will change later on. But in that scene, she only sees Sophie as a Crow and all Crows have to be bad for her. I really enjoy how the three hang out together, as this hasn't happened so far. And the whole "Never have I ever....." game was fun! Especially as Sophie is dropping small clues about her knowing who Batwoman is. Also, it's great how Mary brings Sophie to point out that she actually has kissed Batwoman in the past. Hmh, somehow I think that won't be the last time ;-)
4 – Jacob on drugs! As he has some more hallucinations about young Kate and Beth....Alice calls and begs him to help her...but in his condition, he is no help to anyone. Again Alice gets rejected by her dad. Quite a tragic scene!
5 – Cluemaster and Stephanie Brown! Ok, Cluemaster's introduction wasn't strong. Yeah, he tricked the guard somehow (where was he?) but from there he still has a loooong way to break out from prison. But ok, that might have taken too much time to show. For me, his daughter was much more interesting anyhow as I really love her from the comics as Spoiler and Batgirl! The scenes with her and Luke were really good, really strong chemistry ;-) . More on that later...
6 - Sophie in the Batcave! Well, that was a milestone moment for sure! I love how excited she was as she entered the Batcave.....well, totally understandable! Also, after all of Ryan's negativity towards Crowphie, it was really good that she told Ryan and Mary that she knows who Batwoman is. From now on they really can develop a relationship on trust. And I think that is the start to ....MUCH more ;-) . The late scene with Ryan and Sophie in the bar was just the beginning as they are now on the same page. Actually, there is a little mistake in that scene: Sophie mentions that Ryan said on that tape that she would miss her Batmobile. But that is wrong...she said she would miss her Batsuit. Just a tiny, odd error, but I noticed it....as it was a key sentence in that episode.
7 - Kate is back! Well, more or less ;-) . The last scene of the episode was quite revealing...in some ways. Again, Alice's ability to make....faces...comes in handy. A good way for her no to get killed by Black Mask. Also, she realizes that it's not Circe sitting in front of her. She recognizes Kate's eyes and says "You have our father's eyes". A sentence that was dropped in season 1 also as she left a note with that sentence to Kate who thereby then knew that Alice knew that Kate was Batwoman. It was great to finally see Wallis's face! Really excited about how this will now continue! What is Black Mask up to? When will Kate fully realize that she is Kate? How will Alice get out of this?
Aspects I didn't like in this episode:
>>> Very little Batwoman! In the last episode, we had more Batwoman screentime than ever. In this one, it's almost the complete opposite. One action scene at the beginning and that was it. I get that it was much more fitting to have Ryan in all the scenes afterward....but still, I wanna see Batwoman in a decent amount of scenes.
>>> Ok, the whole quiz show element with Cluemaster was pretty great, but his idea to kill himself along with his daughter, cause she "betrayed" him....was a little odd....to say at least.
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More interesting aspects for me:
--- Jacob has totally lost it by now. Ironically two homeless folks got him into the clinic he was so battling against (at least as long he wasn't on drugs). On the good side, Mary won't leave him out of her sight now as it's crystal clear now how serious his addiction has become. Perhaps he will now get into some rehab program? Or they need to get some antidote from Ocean....
--- The Quizbowl scenes were really cool. I loved how the Cluemaster showed up in that video messages "....and now a word from our sponsors!". And the quiz questions around DC characters delivered some smiles as well. Really cool easter eggs!
--- The scenes with Larry ....I mean Luke....and Stephanie were fun! From the first moment they met... the sparks started flying ;-) . Ryan's comment "...that's how nerds flirt..." was quite funny too. And again, Luke had a little out in the field moment as he came to the rescue with a baseball bat. They know each other for just an hour or two and already she is kissing him! Hopefully, she will return in season 3! Would love to see her as Spoiler in the Batteam.....
--- Mary's comment "...that was awesome..." as they barely escaped the explosion...was hilarious, a classic Mary.
>>> Rating “General:” <<<
4 out of 5 - A strong episode with some big reveals that will change....a LOT!
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