BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.10

REVIEW:  BATWOMAN - SEASON 1, EP. 10:  "How Queer Everything Is Today"



Welcome back to Gotham City, everyone!  It's a new dawn in the old dark city, as we now enter a new, reformed Earth in the wake of the Crisis.  How has Gotham changed in the wake of Kate's absence?  Has Alice gotten her plan further into place?  We step into a new world to find out, in order to see the changes in store that await our Lady Crusader.


We open up our Post-Crisis installment with people on their daily commute by train in Gotham, when, unxpectedly, the brakes give out.  The train is speeding towards a crash, when Batwoman is not far behind.  She managest to get her bike on the track, shoot a cable into the ground, and one at the train.  She hops off the bike, and the cable takes hold, and eventually stops the train just before impact.  Feeling a job well done, she releases the cable, but the one end in the ground she forgot about, is just about to nail her, when a young male cop saves her.  People surround them and start with the picture taking.  Not a great look for our Lady Crusader to start out.  

Leave it to Vesper Fairchild to start shipping the two together.  Kate is embarassed by the whole ordeal, and the rumor mill is rampant with her dating this new cop--"Slam" Bradley, who's recently made a name for himself.  He somehow seems to be in the vicinity of where Batwoman is.  Luke sees it as good PR---that the police are on Batwoman's side, but Kate isn't keen on the fact that they think she dating "Captain America".  He feels she should be happy about the good press, but she's not.  She walks off, and he goes to her desk, looks at her laptop, and sees the latest article on her Dad's trial.

Alice and Mouse are at the cemetary, having themselves a tea party---right next to Catherine Kane's grave.  Alice pours tea on the site, thus desecrating it.  Mouse isn't all that thrilled to be there in such incliment weather.  Alice thinks it's just dandy.  She feels she did both her AND Kate a favor.  Mouse believes that Kate doesn't want to be a part of her "family".  He asks her what she will do if Kate defies her.  Alice feels that Mouse has become a wet blanket on their tea party.

Mary is at her clinic, posting a video blog, addressing the rumors that surround her family, and says it's going to be her last blog for awhile.  Kate shows up to offer help and support, but Mary isn't really having it.  When she says that the one way Kate can help is to stop Alice from desecrating her mother's grave.  She throws it back in Kate's face at how she wanted to save Alice, but look what Alice did to their family.  

Back at the scene of the crimem, the runaway train, Luke and Kate try to figure out just how the train's brakes were disabled.  After some looking, Kate finds a device hidden in one of the air vents below the seats.  Just then, they recieve a text message from someone using a dog emoji, saying they want $5 million dollars, or all their secrets will be exposed.  The Mayor of Gotham soon after holds a press conference while Luke and Kate are back at the Cave.  The Mayor urges everyone to remain calm,and go about their lives (as do all politicians in a crisis), and that they will stop the cyberterrorist.  But, however, at that moment, the Terrier appears once again, saying that if the city is safe, why is the Mayor's credit card number on screen---they've hijacked the tv waves as well.  The voice tells Gotham to go and spend freely.  Luke shuts off the Bat Computer, and says they need to stay dark until they catch this person.  Otherwise, they risk being exposed.  

We then visit Jacob, who's in jail right now for murdering Catherine, and he's in the mess hall, when he sees a razor blade in his food.  One of the bigger prisoners goes to hassle him, but Jacob isn't impressed, nor does he do anything.  He just walks off.  He's then on the phone with Mary, who is desperately trying to get proof of his innocence.  He tells her to stop worrying and deal with her mother's death.  Despite their rift, he still loved Catherine.  He asks how she's doing, and she says she's handling it by trying to exonerate him.  She won't give up.

Batwoman is on patrol, looking for the Terrier, when her lead takes her to a warehouse district.  From the shadows, she sees Sophie conducting an interrogation with some other cyberterrorists, whom she thinks are the culprits.  They deny having any involvement, but Sophie gets rough with them.  When she gets nothing she wants, she takes a walk, and bumps in to Batwoman.  Batwoman asks what's wrong, and Sophie tells her that her husband left her, and that she's trying to reconcile with who and what she is.  Batwoman suggests that she stop hiding behind a mask---for which Sophie says is rather ironic coming from her.  

Mary goes to her old college to visit a Doctor did research in skin grafting, and looking for his help in proving that someone could use skin grafts to look like someone else.  He finds her theory more like science fiction.  She says she needs him to testify on behalf of her dad, but he refuses, saying that he can't help her out in proving her theory correct.  He leaves, and she's dejected.

Kate is striking out in finding the Terrier.  She talks with Luke, and wonders if she's actually a hero.  She's supposed to be a paragon of courage, but she doesn't feel like it.  She feels like a fraud.  Luke tells her that the people she saves, the hope she has brought back to the city....that's a hero.  From there, Luke has managed to pinpoint where the cyberterrorist is located---at Kate's old high school.  

Mary is talking to Sophie, and Mary is upset that everyone thinks she's crazy, but she knows she's not.  Sophie suggests that she needs to deal with her grief, and that she should talk to Kate.  Mary just isn't ready for that.  Sophie, however, says that she DOES have a friend in Metropolis in the medical field, and that she'll look them up, and see if they can help.  Just then, Mary spots who she believes is Alice with darker hair enter the school.  Still on the phone with Sophie, she relays that to her, but Sophie thinks Mary's imagining things.  Mary swears by it, and Sophie gets the team and rolls.  

Batwoman crashes the dance at her old high school, and is surrounded by teens, who're all taking selfies with her.  She then uses this electronic nullifier that Luke made up in order for her to use on the Terrier.  She uses it on the kids' and the building, and manages to use her night goggles to see the Terrier head out of the gym.  She follows the kid into the ladies room, and it turns out to be a young teenage girl named Parker, who has recently been bullied and outed by a fellow student for being a lesbian.  She used the train as a prank to get her parents to actually care about her.  Batwoman, however, isn't thrilled that she used innocents to get her point across.  Parker said she was on the train, and had every intention of stopping it.  She goes on to give Batwoman the speech about how her parents just pray for her, and that she's ostracized by her classmates.  She berates Batwoman because she says that she can't understand what she's going through.  Parker walks off, and Batwoman does nothing to stop her.  

As Parker is leaving the school, when she happens to run into Alice, who had been looking for her.  Parker is intent on leaving, but Alice isn't going to let that happen.  Batwoman then shows up, and the two begin to fight.  Batwoman tells Parker to run, and she attempts to, but Batwoman is knocked out, and Alice manages to also take out Parker, and make off with her.  We see Parker awake, and Alice has a skill saw with her, threatening Parker with it.  Batwoman shows up, demanding Alice release her.  Alice says they only way she'll do that is for her to unmask, and give up trying to be the hero.  

We see Mary at her clinic, looking to close up shop when Sophie arrives.  Sophie tells her that Alice was never there at the school, and that she needs to start allowing herself to grieve.  She then admits to Mary that her marriage blew up.  She says they both have to deal with their own individual fallouts.  Mary insists that she isn't crazy.  

Alice continues to use Parker as a pawn and hostage to get Batwoman to unmask.  Parker tells her NOT to do it, because she IS a hero, and that this city needs her.  Alice is getting frustrated, and leans the saw closer to Parker, when Batwoman relents.  She unmasks, and Parker recognizes her as Kate Kane.  She says she read an article about her, and she admires her.  All that aside, Alice wants Parker to use her techo talents to expose Kate as Batwoman.  She refuses, and Alice reminds the both of them that she planted C4 on the campus.  Kate tells Parker to do it, and she does. Alice feels vindicated.  She unties Parker, and Kate tells her to bail.  

Sophie is back at Crow headquarters when she gets a text saying that there's C4 planted on the high school campus.  She assembles a team, and is off to save the kids.  They arrive to stop the threat, and Slam Bradley is there as well to help out.  Meanwhile, Alice and Kate bicker.  Kate captures Alice with a handcuff device, keeping her at bay.  She wants to know where the C4 is.  Alice said she killed Catherine because she kept them from each other, and framed their Dad because he gave up on her.  Alice says she did this for THEM.  Alice wants her sister, but Kate doesn't want her.  She says that she doesn't want what Alice has to offer, and that it would've been better had Beth stayed dead.  She again asks for the detonator for the bomb, and Alice lets her know that she doesn't have it---she has a fake.  From a car parked a little away, Mouse detonates the bomb, but the kids have been evacuated, however.  But Bradley is trying to get the rest of then to hurry up, and is about to be caught in the explosion, but Batwoman rescuse him by covering him up with her cape.  The day is saved, and the pubic is wanting Batwoman and Bradley to kiss.  As he goes in for a smooch, Batwoman stops him dead in his tracks, and says no way.  

Back at Waye Enterprises, Parker shows up at Kate's office, joking about her cave.  She then says she's got community service, and Kate said she will pay back all the money she swindled people out of, and not do any of that again.  Parker says she will keep Kate's secret, and Kate believes her.  She also says that if Parker ever wants to talk...knowing that as hard as things get, they will get a little better, that she's there if she needs her.  

At the Crows' HQ, we see Alice chained to a desk, as Sophie comes in.  Sophie requested that Alice be given to her, and she is planning on interrogating Alice about Mouse's location.  

Back in the Cave, Luke presents Kate with a belated birthday present, since it was her birthday the day before, and he shows her the cover of the new CatCo magazine that outs Batwoman as a lesbian (a story written by Kara Danvers, mind  you).  We see several people in the city reading about it (as Vesper has another one of her broadcasts), and it certainly gets Sophie's attention.  Luke also gave Kate a bat cupcake, and she makes her wish.

Mary is at her clinic, feeling down, when Kate shows up.  Mary begins to break down, as her and her sister hug, knowing they'll be there for each other.  We then have Kate and her dad having a conversation.  The previous inmate who tried to bully him earlier sees him on the phone, and wants him off it.  He tells Kate that she and Mary are going to need each other, and Kate says they're not going to give up on him.  He believes her, and he drops the phone, and walks away.  

Kate then heads back to her office, when she sees a woman with brown hair at her desk.  She is in shock, because it's Beth!  But she's freaked out, because she thinks it's Alice.  Kate attacks her, and asks about what's going on, and Beth has no idea what's happening,  She genuinely says she's her sister.  Kate is utterly confused as we end the show.


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Well!  Certainly an interesting way to kick off the Post-Crisis edition of our Lady Knight.  This episode pretty much picked up where we left off Pre-Crisis, with Alice causing mayhem, and Batwoman still trying to earn the city's trust, and grow in her role as the resident hero.  I think Kate's time with the rest of the League (yeah, I'm calling them that now), as well as being a Paragon, have kind of made her doubt herself a little as far as her place in what is now a MUCH larger world for her.  She wasn't used to all the cosmic and metahuman stuff being thrown her way, and now it's a part of her everyday life.  Some of her best friends can run at the speed of light, or leap tall buildings in a single bound, travel through time, and turn into Martians.  So, she kind of feels like a small fish in a big pond.  But, at least she knows she HAS a support system should she need it.  However, that doesn't mean she hasn't a few doubts.  This episode throws that particular question out there, as she tries to navigate Gotham City in this post-crisis world.  Her saving the train, and then interaction with cop "Slam" Bradley (more on him in a bit), make her a celebrity of sorts, and in unnerves her.  Then, when the public is trying to 'ship them, it makes her more wary.  Then, we add onto that, Alice's plot to get Kate over to her side, by exposing her secret ID, and thus outing her to the public, so that she'll give UP being Batwoman.  Alice is desperate for family, since Mouse is her only family at this juncture, but even HE is beginning to doubt Alice's plan to win Kate over to her side.  Alice had drawn the line 2 episodes previous when she killed Catherine, thus doing what Kate had not wanted her to do.  Plus, putting Mary and Jacob in danger.  Kate had washed her hands of her.

Still, couldn't blame Alice for trying---it's what a good villain does.  And try she might.  This latest plan was something that she felt was foolproof, but, she didn't rely on a lesbian teenager dealing with her angst from being outed, and seeing Kate as Batwoman, to know of Kate's importance to the city.  Parker, I have a feeling, will show up a little more as sort of a "ward" to Kate (WONDER where I'm going with this).  So, I feel we haven't seen the last of Parker.

Speaking of the other parts of the Kane family, Mary is still hung up on Kate's choice of saving Alice over choosing her other family.  Kate is remorse over it, and wants to reconnect, but Mary won't make it easy.  It takes a nudge from Sophie AND from her father to reconcile with Kate, which she does.  It also brings Mary one step closer to being in the Batwoman fold.  Kate and her father also seem to be mending fences as well.  Mary is also going to be unrelenting in wanting to get their father exonerated.  She will comne in handy to Kate down the road.

Sophie, it appears, is not taking the dissolution of her marriage well.  The poor bastard she interrogated was going to get much worse if she had stuck around.  She was smart enough to pull back before it got worse.  But she seems to be going through a situtation all her own:  the battle of her own identity.  We know she has never stopped loving Kate, but she also loves her career.  Though, now with the hubby out of the way, and Jacob probably not having any issue with her and Kate being an item, it would appear that we can see a reconciliation down the road---but I doubt it.  I think Kate will hold onto the relationships she has, but she won't allow herself to fall in love again.  She feels she can't trust Sophie, and I think Sophie needs to try and find her true self before she even STARTS to try and win Kate back.  

Now...finally, for "Slam" Bradley.  I kinda perked up when I heard that name.  This was your one new Easter Egg for the season.  "Slam" Bradley was the name of a comic character created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Schuster---the creators of Superman.  They created Bradley prior to their creation of The Last Son of Krypton.  He was a detective in the early comics days before he disappeared pretty much from DC Continuity.  For the show creators to bring in a Siegel/Schuster created character into a Batman themed show...it's funny, ironic, and pretty damn cool as well.  And, well, I'm sure you get the whole "Captain America" references---do I really need to explain that?!  Aside from being the Good Ol' All American Boy, the actor DOES remind you of Chris Evans a bit.  

The Beth at the end of the episode.  Ooooh boy, THAT came out of left field.  For those that remember the 2nd episode of the CRISIS crossover, Kara had snatched the picture of Kate and Beth from Earth 99, and gave it to Kate.  That Beth had brown hair...the same as THIS Beth.  Now...I have a couple of theories, and I'm interested in YOUR take on this:  

1.  This is a Kate from an alternate Earth.  Somehow, she survived somewhere else, and was brought here, but much was the same, so, instinctively, she went looking for Kate.  Which is why Mary saw her at the school.  

2.  Alice is NOT the real Beth...she's someone else.  And Beth is the real Beth.

3.  This Beth isn't the real Beth either...but either a clone, or another plant by Alice to lure Kate into a false sense of security.  

Either way, it will be interesting to see THIS little development play out.  One thing is for sure---things have picked up in Gotham!

That does it for this week...and welcome back!!  Do me a favor, though ,and make sure you subscribe and pass the good word of this blog around.  I wanna be viral.

Until next week....the Signal is OFF!