BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.4

REVIEW:  BATWOMAN - SEASON 1, EP. 4:  "Who Are You?"


The Lady Crusader's opening season has been quite an interesting ride so far.  A couple of twists and turns, and now we're seeing Kate Kane fully step into her role as the new protector of Gotham...but not without her share of hiccups.  Meanwhile, dear sister Alice is continuing the mind games agsinst her family, Sophie wonders about who wears the cowl, and Kate's got two dates:  one with Regan, the bartender...and with the thief Magpie.

Magpie is the new villain of the week, though we know Margaret Pye is not going to go away permanently.  We see her open up the show committing a robbery, and making off with her stolen goods with the use of little magpie grenades she made from a printer.  Vesper Fairchild is on the radio wondering just WHERE Batwoman was when this was going down.  We get our answer as Kate and new galpal Regan are snuggling up after spending the night with each other.  Luke ruins it all by telling her she's needed at the cave.  So, she asks to have lunch with Regan later, who agrees.

Luke and Kate discuss Magpie, and her penchant for shiny things.  Luke also grills her on where she was.  They also decide to check in on Alice's boy toy, and he's not doing so well.  So Kate--as Batwoman--dumps him off at step-sister Mary's underground clinic.  Mary's not thrilled with the idea, seeing as THIS is the man who nearly killed her.  But she's willing to help Batwoman out.  Batwoman takes her leave.  

Catherine Hamilton-Kane has had QUITE a lot on her plate lately.  Being a part of Hamilton Dynamics' R & D Department, as well as being the head of the investigation into the missing Beth Kane.  She knows she lied about Beth being dead, but is taking extra precaution by having her grave exhumed.  Low and behold, here comes Alice...looking to play.  She wants the weapon that Catherine had built, but shelved.  She's also got Catherine by the nose, as she will expose Catherine to dear old Dad if she doesn't give her what she wants.

Magpie is at it again, and this time, Batwoman is there to meet her.  The two have a brief little tussle, as Magpie looks to escape using her printed grenades.  Batwoman doesn't fare well as she uses the batarang against Magpie, but it doesn't do its job, and destroys a valuable vase.  Magpie escapes.  Vesper is all too willing to grill the Lady Crusader over the airwaves the next day, as Kate and Regan meet for lunch.  They talk about life, and Regan mentions the area where she used to live in, until the rich fat cats came in and took everything over, forcing people out.  Luke again interrupts her, and Kate hastily makes a date for the museum gathering later that night, which will feature Martha Wayne's pearls.

Jacob Kane is listening to the musical piece Alice played for him the other night.  Sophie interrupts him, to inform him that someone on the inside used explosives from Hamilton Dynamics to break Alice free, and destroy the convoy.

As Luke is awaiting Kate, he gets ambushed at Wayne Tech by Magpie, who makes off with Martha's pearls.  Kate was too late to get there, but she reaches out to Sophie for help.  They discover that Magpie uses a printer to make her grenades and has explosive ink in it.  Not too many places they can find that unless she secretly orders it.  They trail it to a PO BOX, and they're on the hunt.

We swing back around to Alice, who just happens to invade Hamilton Dynamics looking for the weapon.  She's met by men hired by Catherine, but the incident doesn't go well.  One of the men ends up losing a couple of fingers in the process--as a message to Catherine from Alice.  He says it isn't worth the money, and tells Catherine she's on her own.  

Mary, having Alice's Mr. Wonderful all tied up, and doped up enough, listens to him start to drop some info about Alice.  She decides to play along as Alice to gather some info, which she then relays to Batwoman, who came back to check on him.  She chips him for good measure, so now they can track his whereabouts.

Batwoman discovers Magpie's hideout, which is cryogenically protected.  She enters and manages to find the pearls, and Luke tries to get her to download her server.  Just as she's doing that, one of the feathers from Magpies suit floats up, and Kate sneezes, setting off the alarm, and an explosion happens.  Batwoman escapes.

Kate is really struggling trying to balance her personal life as well as her life as Batwoman, and asks Luke how Bruce managed.  Luke tells her that the playboy act was just that...an act.  Bruce used it to make excuses, but all in all, Batman was who he really was.  Much for her to ponder on.

Batwoman's overseeing the gala from above when she spots Regan.  She forgot about her date!  She races down to the gala and switches back to Kate and meets up with her.  They chit chat, and bump into Sophie, who's on security detail  Reagan and Sophie meet face to face, which is awkward for Kate.   The gala starts with Martha's pearls, and as they're on display, Luke is back at the cave printing out a copy of Magpie's new bomb.  Turns out, the bomb is the pearls.  Luke never gave the museum the real ones back once Kate retrieved them.  They fall off, and start to go off.  Batwoman is there to prevent the explosions from causing damage due to her suit.  Meanwhile, Sophie and the Crows are getting civilians to safety.  Batwoman chases after Magpie, who tries to escape, but is finally brought down by Batwoman.  The Lady Crusader bails, as Magpie is taken to jail.

We later on catch up with Kate and Reagan, who wants to have something with Kate, but she needs her to be honest.  Kate tells her she's got a lot on her plate right now, and can't commit.  Such is the life of one who wears the bat-cowl.

Catherine goes to see her husband, and she finally fesses up that the bones her investigators found were NOT human, but yet she signed off on them being Beth's, so that Kate and Jacob would get on with life, and stop trying to find Beth.  Jacob lashes out, tells her to leave, and continues to listen to his and Beth's musical piece as he cries, finally knowing the truth.

Kate decides that she's going to get into real estate, and buy up the properties abandoned, and give them back to those less fortunate.  Luke knows nothing about it, but Kate says that he's her partner now.

This was a decent episode that pushed the story along, and everyone got their chance on center stage.  Kate is now coming to the rationalization--as Bruce did many years ago--that having a social life is not going to really happen.  The call to protect Gotham carries a greater weight, and that is where Kate's mindset is at the moment.  I feel that--in a sad way--she kind of USED Reagan as a way to fill that void where Sophie was, but it was only fleeting.  She now realizes that her social life is on hold...if not gone permanently.

I like that Mary was more involved this week.  I still feel she's going to be a member of the team once she finds out Kate is Batwoman.  She's integral to this story...especially since she's taken over as the sister now that Alice is on the other side of the fence.  She was brazen this week, but love her development.

We still continue to see tension between Kate and Sophie.  When will her husband find out about the two of them being an item in the past?  Eventually, all will be out in the open.

Alice is good at playing her cards---and she has a few against Catherine, and wasn't afraid to play them.  Catherine is on the defensive now, because not only does Alice want her toy to wreak havoc upon Gotham, but to teach Daddy Dearest a lesson.  We see Catherine's guilt grow, and eventually, she fesses up...which doesn't sit well with Jacob.  Jacob now has to come to the realization that Alice IS Beth...and faces quite a dilemma coming down the road.  

Magpie is a typical villain, but had a purpose---steal shiny things because it's her obsession.  She'll be someone we see again.

Overall, the story is moving at a decent pace, and they're not dragging things out.  We're getting some pretty meaty stuff, and I enjoy it.  I hope you are too.  I feel the show is really beginning to find its legs.

That's it for this week.  Please subscribe, pass the good word along, and leave some commnents, willya?  Love to hear what YOU think and have to say.

Until next week...The Signal is Off!