BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.13

REVIEW:  BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.13:  "Drink Me"



Our Dark Lass Detective has had a rough go if it lately:  She met the alternate Earth version of her sister Beth, who was pure and good of heart, only to find out she couldn't exist on the same Earth as the wild and unpredictably crazy Alice.  In the end, Kate made the decision to save Beth, and let Alice die, only to have that decision taken away from her, as Dr. Campbell, who is really Mouse's father August Cartwright, slay the beloved Beth, believing her to be Alice, and thus saving Kate's actual sister from death.  Now, she's out for blood against Kate.  And speaking of Cartwright, aside from getting his revenge on Alice...so he thinks...what are his plans for his son?  We shall have to see...


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We check back into Gotham City, with what seems like a romantic evening for two between a man and a woman.  Just as they're about to get cozy, she puts the vampire bite on him.  He's shocked at what she did, but she puts him in a haze, making him succeptile to commaond.  He's willing to do what she wants, and she's says he's damn right about that.  Next thing we see, he's tied up with heavy rope over the bed, being exanguinated of his blood by her, while she sits and reads a magazine.

Kate is mourning the loss of Beth, as Luke tries to figure out why he messed up.  He knows they all did everything right.  Mary is there with them saying that Kate DID make the right decision in choosing Beth over Alice.  Luke says they have got to find out who killed her.  Kate reminds them that Alice is still on the loose, and VERY upset knowing that Kate chose Beth over her.  

We see on the news that Jacob Kane has been released from jail, and has been exonerated for the crimes against the death of his wife, Catherine.  He makes it clear that now that he's back on the beat, even though Alice is dead, there's still a city to protect,  We then see him in the morgue with Sophie, looking at the body of Beth, whom they assume is Alice.  He wonders why when Sophie had her dead in her sights, she didn't take the shot.  Sophie remembers all the things Batwoman said to her, and she said that she didn't have a clear shot, she kept moving.  But someone took her out.  

Alice, meanwhile, is looking for a rendesvouzes with Mouse, but he is nowhere to be found,  She isn't amused that he's hiding, until one of her Wonderland Gang henchmen find the min panda doll she gave him.  

Luke has been trying to get a trace on who killed Beth.  He found a vechile close by, but the plates are fake, and there's no solid lead.  They're going to have to keep working on it.  Luke does remind Kate, however, that regardless of the Beth/Alice situation, there's still a city to protect, and he fills her in on the new villainess in town:  Nocturna (who turns out to be the woman we saw at the beginning of the show).  He informs her of the victims she's already claimed.  Kate decides to head to an invite only club to check on her last whereabouts.  

Batwoman is on prowl, when she comes across a woman tied up and being bled dry in a wherehouse.  Before Batwoman can do anything, she's attacked by Nocturna.  Both them tussle with each other for a bit, until Nocturna bites Batwoman on the lip.  What happens next is that Batwoman feels loopy.  She's been drugged, and out she goes.  When she awakes, Noctura plans on bleeding HER dry as well.  Just then, the Crows show up to invade the little party.  Noctura doesn't get her fill, but makes sure she beats a hasty retreat before the authorities arrive.  Sophie is on the scene first, and she unties Batwoman, who tells her that the other woman is alive, but weak.  Sophie says that they can't keep bumping into each other like this, and that the next time she sees her, she'll bring her in.  Sophie's team arrives, but she says it's empty...Batwoman is gone.

Kate stops in at Mary's clinic to get her blood tested to see what she got drugged with, and Mary tells her that she has traces of ketamine in her system.  Kate makes up another one of her many exuses to play off the reason she has ketamine in her system, saying she got drunk studying for a real estate exam.  She then takes off without giving Mary any further explaination. 

At the Batcave, Luke says that Nocturna used ketamine as a paralysis drug to knock her out, as she does all her victims, and Kate says it happened when she got bit on the lip, which Luke didn't need to know about.  He says that there are no traces of it on the suit.  Kate says that there's one way to catch her---lure her out into the open.   What a better way than to throw a party.  

Jacob is instructing the team about Nocturna and her activities, and wants her found before Batwoman gets to her.  He wants to prove that THEY are still the premier security team equipped to protect the city, not a vigilante.  Jacob is aware of Kate's club opening a tad early with a party, and he knows it's ripe for the picking for Nocturna, so he's sending Sophie on assignment.  

At Kate's club, is a happening place, and Kate and Luke are using facial recognition cameras to see if they can spot Nocturna, when they stumble upon Mary entering the club, as well as Sophie, who's all dolled up for the occaision.  Mary and Sophie bump into each other, and Mary tries to get Sophie to drink, but she's on the job.  They discuss Batwoman, and Mary says she met her  Sophie says if her dad knew, he'd be upset.  Mary says that she's keeping that to herself.  A woman named Elle Scantling enters the bar, and her and Sophie hit it off...even though she's working.  Mary excuses herself, and Kate is watching all of this happen.  Luke calls her out on the jealousy bit.  Kate then goes to the bar to see Sophie and Elle, and offers them drinks.  Kate then cuts her finger in an attempt to check and see if Elle is Nocturna, but Elle apparently is squeamish around blood.  

Jacob is wandering the halls of headquarters, reading the file on Alice, when one of his agents shows up with video of the raid on the wherehouse where Nocturna was believed to be.  What he sees is shocking.  

Sohpie is called away on business, and leaves the club.  Luke ends up running interference for Mary, as she's being hit on by a woman who's a fan of hers.  We then see Luke get called away by Kate, talking into his earpiece.  He makes the excuse that her sister is needy, and takes off.  Turns out, once Luke gets to the back office, that security cams show Alice outside the club.  Kate says she'll handle it, and Luke advises against it. but she says she's got it.  She goes outside to confront Alice, who wants to know where Mouse is.  Kate has no idea.  Kate wants to talk to Alice as to WHY she chose Beth, but Alice is upset with her about that.  Kate says she wanted to save the version of Beth that was kind, good hearted, sweet.  Then, the sirens blare, and Alice knows she has to take off.  But before she does, she tells Kate what she did wrong.  She let Kate change her.  She was wrong---her sister let her die.  Kate goes back to the club, and Alice takes off.  She doesn't get far, however, as Nocturna gets the drop on her, and bites her, taking her out.

Once again, Luke and Kate are checking facial recognition, when they come across a woman named Natalia Knight.  Turns out, Natalia suffers from Porpherea, a disease that makes her sensitive to sunlight, and that her kidneys have trouble cleaning her blood.  So, she needs fresh blood to survive, surmises Kate.  They have found Nocturna.

We see Alice strung up like the other victims, and Nocturna telling her that she's gonna bleed her dry.  Try as Alice might, she's not very convincing...until she offers a better choice---Mary.  

Jacob called Sophie back to headquarters, and she tells him that she didn't find Nocturna.  He wonders if she's clear on what she's supposed to do.  She says her allegiance is to the Crows. 

Batwoman manages to find Alice strung up.  Batwoman notices that Nocturna only drew part of Alice's blood, and wonders what she did to break Nocturna's bloodletting.  Alice denies she knows anything, but Batwoman knows how meticulous Nocturna is---and she figures out that Alice offered up someone  else instead.  While they banter, Mary is helping a sick gal outside the club when  she is attacked by Nocturna.  Batwoman figures out that the rope used to string up Alice is rope they used for church bells.  She has Luke do a search, and they find out that they came from the Gotham Cathedral, but it's been closed down for awhile.  Alice should be dead,thinks Kate.  Alice knows---Kate tried.

Batwoman arrives at the Cathedral, and finds Mary tied up, with her blood just starting to drain.  As Batwoman goes to get her down, Nocturna attacks.  They fight for a little, and Noctura is about to get the edge, when she's knocked down.  We see Alice standing over her, and she takes off.  Alice helps Batwoman up, and they both try to help Mary.  Batwoman needs to stop Nocturna, and Alice says she will stay with Mary.  It's either that, or Noctura gets away.  Batwoman heads up into the top of the church to put Nocturna down.  Batwoman uses a UV light to blind Nocturna and burn her face, then cuffs her to the bell, stopping her reign of terror.

Jacob then reveals to her that he knows she's been working with Batwoman.  She says that when they went on a manhunt for Alice, they became a ruthless group, that the public lost faith in.  She thinks Batwoman can be of help.  He doesn't want Batwoman's help. Sophie's phone rings, and it's Batwoman, telling her were to find Nocturna.  Jacob suspends Sopie until she can get her priorities straight. 

Kate goes to see her sister at her clinic, and checks up on her condidtion.  She's got low blood sugar, but she'll be okay.  She says she checked her own blood, and it was nothing special.  She's surprised that Batwoman knew what to get her, and was grateful she got saved by her.  Kate wonders WHY Nocturna targeted her, and Mary says something about her mentioning a Desert Rose.  It then hits Kate, and she takes off, and says she'll check back in later.

Kate goes to see Alice, and knows about the Desert Rose, and that Alice sent Nocturna after Mary.  Alice admits it, and says she did it to prove that Kate was stupid in NOT saving her.  Kate says that the only thing that's stupid, was her believing that her sister could be saved, that she could be reformed, and that she could have her sister back.  Kate walks off, but not before Alice says that doesn't mean she doesn't want her to stop trying.  Alice is then interrupted by one of her men, as he says they had another guest.  He hands her a file on the dear Dr. Campbell, and she peruses it, and discovers he took a six year sabbatical from his practice to study skin grafting for children who were burn victims.  It doesn't take long to realize that Dr. Campbell is August Cartwright, and that she feels the Caterpillar is trying to make his presence known to her, by showing her that he can be a "butterfly".  But she swears that she will find Mouse, and when she does, they will BOTH clip his wings.  

Mary's at her clinic doing some work, overhearing Vesper talk about Nocturna's downfall, and how she got to her victims, by using ketamine as a drugging agent, by biting them.  At the mention of ketamine, Mary starts checking the bloodwork she did on her sister.  She then re runs the whole past day in her head, and eventually looks at the CatCo magazine cover with Batwoman on it, and puts the pieces together:  Kate is Batwoman.  

The Batsignal is shining in the sky, and Batwoman answers it, only to see Sophie on the roof.  Sophie says that she has worked her whole life to be a Crow, it's her career, and now she doesn't know WHO she is without it. She tells Batwoman that she was discovered by her boss that they were working together.  Batwoman understands, and says that she'll keep her distance, and turns to walk away.  But Sophie stops her, and goes up to her, and they start kissing as the episode closes.  


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This episode was different.  We got a villain of the week, with an unusual problem that required an extreme solution in Nocturna.  And we were quick to find out she didn't play favorites.  She was gutsy enough to go after Batwoman, as well as Alice AND Mary.  She really wasn't the BIG part of the episode, even though she was the main villain of focus for the week.  This installment was STILL very heavy on the whole fallout of the Beth/Alice situation, and how Kate was dealing with the consequences of that.  And what Alice had been up to since then.  

If I had thought that Kate and Alice's relationship was past the point of no return when Alice killed Catherine, and nearly killed Mary, I had thought last week would've ended it for sure.  But now...now we're past the point of no return if you look at if from Kate's perspective.  As much as Alice wanted to teach Kate a lesson about being stupid and WRONG for choosing the "Nice Beth" over HER, she got a lesson of her own from Kate, when Kate told her--in no uncertain terms--that the stupid part was her trying to save Alice no matter what.  By NOT turning her in, by saving her from the river, by trying to appeal to whatever shred of humanity she had left...it was all for naught.  With sending Nocturna after Mary, that was the last straw for Kate.  She truly believes that Beth is dead...and all that's left is the psychotic Alice.  Even though Alice came to save her when Nocturna attacked, and stayed with Mary while Batwoman went off to deal with Nocturna, it doesn't wash the slate clean for Kate.  She. Is. Done.  And yet---interestingly enough---it's ALICE who tells her as she leaves, that she doesn't want her to give up trying.  Sadly, I think, that Alice has gone too far with Kate,and that sisterly bond between twins has been erased.  

Alice has another problem to deal with though.  Aside from trying to keep a low profile, because everyone thinks she's dead, she has to now deal with the very much alive August Cartwright---her former captor, and Mouse's abusive father.  He's got Mouse, and she wants him back.  And she figures that she needs to end him once and for all.  That confrontation will be interesting to see.

Sophie bot busted!  Jacob being exonerated was a bit of a surprise that it had happened so early, but I guess "Dr. Campbell" did his part to make sure Jacob got his release.  Now he's back to putting the Crows as THE only security force in town to handle the heavy threats, like Alice.  But since she's "gone", according to him, criminals like Nocturna needed to be brought in, on their terms.  However, he doesn't want Batwoman in the picture.  He's still very much anti-Bat-anything.  So, when he finds out Sophie has been working with her, it's a stake in his heart.  Sophie's suspension makes her feel worthless, as if she doesn't know what she is WITHOUT the Crows.  But..she can't pull away from Batwoman, and she lets her know about it with that smooch at the end of the episode.  And as much  as Mary tried to set Sophie up with the Elle woman at the club, she knew it wouldn't be long before Kate entered the picture.  

As for Mary---it took half the season, but she FINALLY figured out Kate's double life.  Of course, Kate didn't do herself any favors by going to her sister, of all people, to get checked out.  Obviously, she can trust her sister, but I don't think she gave her sister that much credit.  Once Vesper's story broke about how Nocturna nailed her victims, Mary didn't take long to put the puzzle together...especially when, in the club, Mary found it odd that Luke and Kate were talking with earpieces.  I KNEW she was going to figure it out.  I just wonder how long it will be before she actually confronts Kate about it?  Needs to be soon.  

Overall, a pretty standard episode.  It wasn't mindblowing, but it DID provide us with some more story with Alice, Jacob, Kate, Mary, and now Sophie.  Where do we go from here?  Who's to say?  Alice has to deal with Augustus Cartwright and get Mouse back before she can return her attention to Kate and her father, and revenge on Gotham.  We shall stick around, and see what transpires...right?

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Until next time...the Signal is OFF!