BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.6

REVIEW:  BATWOMAN - SEASON 1, EP. 6:  "I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury"


We begin to go further and further down the rabbit hole with our Lady Crusader, and the stakes get to be a bit higher with Alice wanting a very special weapon from Hamilton Industries, Jacob Kane and the Crows looking to find Alice before she kills again, and Kate trying to gain acceptance as Batwoman.  This episode gives us a bit more of Alice's plan for Kate, Kate trying to not only reconcile with her father, but to try and save her sister.  And all the while---Sophie wants to know more about our new resident hero of the night.  But...we also have someone lurking the streets---picking off high officials of the justice system.

This installment begins as a prominent prosecutor named  Angus Stanton is heading to his car, while on a phone call.  A power line gets cut down onto his vehicle.  There's a masked man who throws water onto the ground, and it comes into contact with the powerlines, thus charging the water.  Stanton tries to escape up a chain-link fence, only to be electrocuted.

Jacob, at this time, is on the hunt for a Dr. Marcus Cartwright, Mouse's father from the last episode.  Turns out the man has been missing for awhile, and wants to find him in order to bring him to justice for what he did to Beth.  They get the call about Stanton's death, and view the video footage of the new villain they dub "The Executioner", and go after him.  Meanwhile, Sophie wants permission from Jacob to go after Batwoman.

Speaking of our Bat-Lady, she is working with Luke in the Cave searching for this Executioner as well, considering the lawyer was the man who put Lucius Fox's killer in prison.  He also was responsible for imprisoning Jack Napier---The Joker.  They see the Batsignal in the sky, and Luke tells Kate that they need Batwoman..so, with his help, they find out that a man who goes by the name "The Fist" had issues with Stanton, and could be the Executioner...and she's off to capture him.

Alice, meanwhile, has been making a new skin mask for Mouse.  It is her intention to use him as a member of Catherine Hamilton's research team, Dean Deveraux, to go into Hamilton Dynamics, and steal the weapon she so desperately desires.  Mouse, however, is still not happy about Alice's relationship with Kate.

Batwoman and the Crows are on different paths to find The Fist.  He's barricaded himself inside a warehouse, waiting for a Det. Donnelly, who had put him away.  Donnelly goes to enter the premesis on his own, much to the Crows' and the GCPD's wishes, while Batwoman has taken the back way in, only to run into Sophie, who gets the drop on her.  They head into the warehouse, where they hear a woman screaming while Donnelly heads in through the front, finding only speakers broadcasting the scream.  It's a trap. Donnelly trips a laser detector, thus setting off the boobytrap that appears---guns blazing.  Not only is Donnelly killed, but Sophie gets shot in the process.  Just before she passes out, she reveals to Batwoman that she knows she's Kate.  Batwoman then rushes Sophie to Mary's underground clinic, where she has her patch up Sophie, and orders her NOT to let her leave.

Mouse, as Deveraux, enters Hamilton Dynamics, and he comes upon Catherine and the rest of the team, as the congratulate him on the weapon he created.  He plays the part well, as Catherine states that they created a weapon to pierce through Bat-armor.  He manages to procure the weapon, and return to Alice.

Kate and Luke are back at the cave, where Kate informs Luke that Sophie knows who she is.  He's been doing some digging on the Executioner, and it turns out that he was a former executioner who worked at Blackgate Prison.  He had steady work, with Capital Punishment initiated by Mayor Cobblepot.  They figure that is his motive, and Kate moves with this information.  She enters another warehouse where some weapons are stored, and talks to the highly annoying security guard who apparently hasn't gotten any in a good long time, trying to hook up with our Lady Crusader.  He's proven worthless, as she continues to scour the warehouse.  The Executioner shows up by busting through the entrance in a truck, running over Batwoman in the process.  He makes off with some hydrogen cyanide, and makes his escape.  

The Fist, meanwhile, is on the run, trying to escape the law and the Crows, but is captured by Jacob, who isn't in the best of moods..considering he doesn't want Batwoman on the streets ANYWHERE.  

Sophie wakes up, cuffed to the bed, and she discovers that she's in Mary's underground clinic...Mary having been putting on an act for her father.  Mary tells her that Batwoman brought her there, and Sophie needs to go, but Mary reiterates that she was told by Batwoman to keep her there, and that Batwoman scares her more than Sophie does.

Batwoman heads to the Executioner's hideout once her and Luke located it.  He's not there, but she finds the cyanide bottle he lifted earlier, and when she opens it...she finds something---a flashdrive.  Her and Luke then take a look at it, and the Executioner confesses his crimes, saying that he realized that the people he killed...they weren't always guilty.  He did some digging, only to discover that there were three people all involved:  Stanton, Donnelly, and a Judge named Calveric.  

As the Crows are taking The Fist to the GCPD, Jacob is telling them to call HIS guys before flashing the Batsignal.  Just then, Batwoman rescues The Fist from custody, and batarangs the flashdrive to Jacob.  He's then back at headquarters observing the flashdrive, not wanting to believe the Executioner's confession.  Just then, Kate shows up, and they have a heated argument about Batwoman.  He blames Batman for his family falling apart.  Kate says that wasn't it---it was the fact that HE gave up looking for Beth, when SHE didn't.  Batman had nothing to do with it, but he feels that he did.  All the crazies came out BECAUSE of Batman he feels.  So, indirectly, he hates anything with a Bat symbol.

Alice is playing checkers with Deveraux when Mouse returns.  He's not a happy camper.  He plays a trick on Alice by calling her as Kate---using his talent to fool her.  He verifies that she has Kate's number on her phone.  He doesn't want Kate around, and Alice tries to console him, and tell him that she is her sister.  He kills Deveraux, and tells her to see if she can fix THAT mess.  

Vesper Fairchild is all over the airwaves, throwing Batwoman under the bus, while Sophie eventually escapes the cuffs, and goes to head out and find Kate.  Mary stops her, and Sophie says she knows who Batwoman is.  Mary isn't interested, because it's not her business.  But she isn't happy that, while Batwoman saved her, she's going to throw her under the bus and betray her, just like she did Kate all those years ago.  It's not like Mary didn't notice.  Sophie takes off.

Judge Calavic is seen burning incriminating documents when Batwoman shows up.  Just as she arrives, the Executioner arrives as well.  They finally do battle, and the Judge escapes.  As the Executioner has Batwoman dead to rights, he is shot by Jacob Kane.  The Executioner is taken out to custody, and the Commander has Batwoman at gunpoint, when she strips him of the gun, and they scuffle, only for the room to be sealed shut.  Gas starts blowing in, as this was the Executioner's plan for the Judge.  Oxygen is slowing going away, and Luke is in contact with Batwoman, while she's trying to keep her and her father alive.  Luke remembers the hydrogen cyanide, and they can use it, but only at a certain point.  Batwoman tries to keep Kane alive by having him focus on his hatred of the bat symbol, and what it represents.  He confesses that if he doesn't hate it....he'll hate himself, and blame himself.  Batwoman released the hydrogen cyanide just in time to burn off the gas, thus saving them both.

We hear Vesper again, admitting she was wrong about Batwoman, and that the Judge and his cases were going to be reopened.  That means the case of Lucius Fox, as Luke looks upon his father's file.  Kate goes to see her father, and they realize they're both to blame for not doing what they could to save Beth.  They share an embrace as Jacob promises Kate that he will NOT give up this time in saving Beth.  Sophie catches them in an embrace, then leaves after making eye contact with Kate.

Batwoman goes to see Mary, and she thanks her for taking care of Sophie.  She mentions to Batwoman that Sophie knows who she is...but she didn't tell her.

We finally see Mouse sitting in the street, looking up at Wayne Tower, as Alice meets him.  He is still not happy with having Kate involved, since he wants her all to himself.  He talks about how he took care of her, and that Kate never did.  Alice says she needs Kate, and Kate is her sister.  And Kate will join her "party".  And Mouse asks that if Kate refuses, then Alice replies to him that they will use the gun he obtained, which she trades him a tiny Mr. Pandy doll for it.  


I'll say this about Batman villains---they're all unhinged in some sort of way.  As the Joker once said:  "All it takes is ONE BAD DAY".  What we got tonight was another decent installment of the show, with everyone starting to settle into their roles.  And a few easter eggs to boot as well.  

This week's villain---The Executioner---became disenfranchised with the system once he found out that the Judge, lead Detective, and the District Attorney we're all doctoring evidence in order to convict those THEY felt were guilty, and made themselves look good in the process.  It's corruption of that type that tends to dilute our justice system, so this plot wasn't improbable, as it has happened in real life.  And for a man who THOUGHT he was ridding the earth of the scum of humanity---only to realize that he killed possibly innocent people, sent him over the edge.  So...revenge became his tool, and his warped sense of justice.

Betrayal has been a common theme running through this series, and it's not just with the Executioner, but with Alice, Kate, Mary, AND Sophie.  Kate has felt betrayed by TWO people:  her father Jacob and Sophie.  Her father because he gave up on looking for Beth, when it was Catherine who doctored evidence to make Beth "dead", so that they would get on with their lives.  So, Jacob felt betrayed by his wife.  Mary feels that same betrayal, because her mother lied to her all this time, as well as Kate and Jacob.  Kate also feels betrayed by Sophie, because Sophie chose her career over Kate, and that's a love sting that doesn't quite go away.  Now, with Sophie married, it muddies the water even more.  When Sophie calls Batwoman "Kate", we know she wants to know the truth...but at what price?  Kate's anonymity?  Sophie's intentions MIGHT be good---trying to protect Kate from her own father, but--as Mary points out---what good would it do to betray her?  To stomp out the one symbol Gotham needs, for the sake of "protection".  Mary does well in rubbing a little salt in the wound with Sophie when she tells her that doing this to Batwoman would be like betraying Kate, as she had done years ago.  Sophie now has to walk that fine line between doing her job, and knowing what Kate is up to as Batwoman.

Jacob also feels betrayal from anything with a Bat symbol.  He hates Batman, Batwoman, and anything to do with a bat, mainly because it shows HIS shortcomings, and he'd much rather reflect his anger elsewhere.  That came into good use when Kate was trapped with him.  

Betrayal is also something that has been driving Alice the whole time, and is her focus for revenge.  But, she also had to deal with how Mouse felt SHE betrayed HIM.  She didn't make much conversation to him about Kate, and is extremely jealous of her.  He wants his relationship with Alice all to herself, but she has MUCH bigger plans in store.  I have a feeling that Mouse feeling betrayed by Alice won't be the last time.  Sadly, knowing how screwloose Alice is---he's a means to an end---and expendable.

We did get TWO big bombshells dropped on us tonight.  Well...for ME, I wasn't sure I had caught in the earlier episodes about HOW Lucius Fox died---but he was murdered.  While Luke had thought his father's case was closed, the end of the episode was proven that it's now a reopened wound for him.  And the killer might NOT be who it was...or rather would be tough to re-try the case.  But we DO find out that Oswald Cobblepot was the MAYOR of Gotham.  For those of you just new to Batman lore:  Cobblepot is the real name of The Penguin.  And the even bigger bombshell was in finding out that Jack Napier had been brought down by Stanton.  Jack Napier was the name of Jack Nicholson's version of The Joker in the Tim Burton Batman movie from 1989.  Now, I know I have heard RUMORS about THAT Batman universe being used in CRISIS, but to what extent, I am not sure (though ANOTHER rumor states that Helena Kyle from the Birds Of Prey TV show, is from that universe).  But we NOW know that both the Penguin AND Joker do exist in the Arrowverse.  Now...don't get your hopes up we'll see EITHER of them.  Much like Batman himself, not exactly characters you will see on TV---more than likely NONE of Bats' MAJOR villians will appear.  Remains to be seen.  However...it's nice we're getting some mentions, though.

All in all, a decent episode.  The plot is moving along, and I'm wondering how much longer it will be before Mary finds out that Kate & Batwoman are one and the same?  Keep waiting for that one.  Plus...will be curious as to WHEN we start getting some CRISIS references, since we are inching ever closer to our huge crossover.

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Until next time...the Signal is OFF!