BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.17

REVIEW:  BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.17:  "A Narrow Escape"


After a long hiatus, we come back to Gotham City, where things have been getting a bit crazier, what with Batwoman out of action, Alice in Arkham with Mouse, and Jacob and Sophie trying to figure out who the bad guy in the Crows is.  Luke is trying to find his father's killer, and who knows what other evil is lurking around the bend...


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We come back from a short break with a double whammy, as we got TWO episodes within a week, with this show happening a bit earlier than expected, but with the possible shortened season, it seems as though they're throwing everything at us in this final stretch before the summer break.  

This installment gave us a bit of action, some psychological issues...especially pertaining to Kate, Alice and Mouse up to no good in Arkham, the return of Tommy Elliot, Julia reappears, and, of course, some answers to some burning questions.  

Alice started off the show with a scene where she's spending time with Kate, having been "rehabilitated", and happy to be with her sister.  Turns out, though, it's just some good ol' electric shock therapy, courtesy of Dr. Butler at Arkham.  She didn't want to leave the memory, and it shows us that---despite feeling betrayed by Kate---Alice still yearns to have Kate not give up on her.  It's a deep recessive thought that she still begs to be saved.  She winds up in a therapy session with Mouse, who seems to like the comforts of Arkham, because he feels safe there.  We also get a new twist in the episode:  the return of Tommy Elliot, who is still obsessed with Bruce Wayne, and actually brings a shank tucked into his shoe to therapy.  It's something that's not lost on Alice, and she later uses that to her advantage, as she goads Elliot on about being inferior to Bruce Wayne (who is, actually, her cousin), and he ends up stabbing her.  She manages to get the shank the hard way, but her plan works nonetheless.  

Julia Pennyworth returns, as she is working with Sophie in uncovering the identity of the rogue Crows agent who swiped the security footage from the convenience store where Luke's father Lucius Fox was killed.  Also, we have a villain named the Detonator who has resurfaced in Gotham after 7 years, looking to prove that the heroes are NOT who they make themselves out to be...which turns out to be the general theme running through this episode.  The Detonator first strikes a cop on patrol, by having planted a bomb on him, leaving recorded instructions that he either save himself by deactivating the bomb by pressing a yellow switch, or let the bomb go off, and save the lives of innocents in a building somewhere in the city that the Detonator rigged another explosive to that one.  The cop chooses himself, and the building explodes, killing many people.  

Meanwhile, Batwoman is out stopping a burglary, when she fights him off, she knocks him down a flight of stairs.  However, she starts having flashbacks to when she killed Cartwright, and she freaks out.  She manages to check on the guy, and he's okay, just out.  And she bails before the cops arrive.  Kate is battling PTSD the whole episode, feeling guilt over having crossed the line that Bruce had always drawn---NEVER kill.  It eats at her so much, that she refuses to go out on patrol as Batwoman, hence the criminals are amping up their activity.  Julia goes to Kate to get her to snap out of it, and get back in the game.  

Kate goes to the Batcave, and sees Luke taking out HIS frustrations with a punching bag.  He's trying to figure out who really killed his father, since it wasn't Reggie Harris, who'd been set up, then assassinated right in front of Luke when he confronted him.  He and Kate get cracking on the Detonator case, and they pull up some old files that Bruce had, but Bruce was never able to catch him.  Turns out, they manage to find a lead with a the bombs' numbering, which were military issue.  They find a man that knew the original Detonator, and Kate goes to see him as herself.  Meanwhile, Julia and Sophie are on the case, as is the Crows.  Jacob has the intel as well, and he sends his men looking for him.  Kate manages to talk to the soldier, George Adler, and she gets a lead from him, but the original Detonator is dead.  Sophie and Julia are trying to track the assassin that almost killed her and Jacob as well to a name:  Michael Fisher, but most likely an alias.  The try to follow the money trail.

The Detonator strikes again, as he manages to nab Reggie Harris' lawyer, Bobby, and---much like the cop---has a bomb strapped to him, and the same situation.  He calls Jacob, and Jacob scrambles the troops.  They go to save him.  Jacob has one of the buildings in the city evacuated before detonation.  It turns out---it's where Mary's Underground Clinic is.  Mary's been patching up people, including several women who've been parading around as Batwoman.  One gal is hurt, but helps Mary evacuate some of the patients, then comes back to help her protect the others.  Kate races to Mary, and once the evacuation is deemed clear by Jacob's men, he has Bobby press the button to stop the bomb.  The other bomb goes off just as Kate had arrived at Mary's clinic.  However, everyone seems to have survived the blast, and when Kate sees the woman dressed up as Batwoman, she has another PTSD attack, and bails.  Mary finally confronts her, and tells her she knows she's Batwoman.  She tells Kate that the city NEEDS her, and that SHE is the hero that Mary has looked up to her whole life.  Kate then takes off back to the Batcave to meet up with Luke, and plan to stop the Detonator.

We soon discover that the Detonator is the agent that Jacob had interrogated about the missing security footage - Miguel Robles.  He was a rookie cop when the original Detonator was in town, and became part of the Crows.  He then knocks out Jacob, and plants a bomb on him, as well as putting a bomb in the underground garage of WayneTech.  He told Jacob he was tying up loose ends, and he takes off for out of town, but doesn't get far because Batwoman hunts him down, and brings him back to WayneTech, where there's a truck in the parking garage.  She calls Julia to let them know that she has Robles, and the bomb is there.  Jacob wants WayneTech and anything around it evacuated, making sure that Kate is out of the building.  Sophie was looking for a way to disarm the bomb, but Jacob tells her not to.  

Batwoman interrogates Robles, and he admits that Tommy Elliot hired him to obtain a diary that Lucius had kept.  Luke arrives, looking to kill Robles for his father's death.  Batwoman warns him about the bomb, but Luke uses his phone to lockdown the building, and keep the blast relegated to the parking garage.  Robles admits that he was ordered to get the diary, and if Lucius didn't give it to him, he was ordered to kill Luke.  Lucius, however, had lept for the gun, and it went off, killing him.  Luke wanted to kill him, but Kate manages to talk him down by admitting to him that she killed Cartwright.  Lucas gives up his quest to kill Robles, and he's knocked out.  They manage to escape from the garage before the bomb goes off.  

Later on, Luke and Kate talk about Cartwright, and how she crossed the line, and feels shame that she let down Bruce.  Kate felt the whole episode that if she suited up as Batwoman, she'd be a fraud.  Luke, however, gives us a real juicy tidbit that explains a lot:  He tells her that Bruce is not a saint---and he stared into the abyss.  He asks Kate if she every wondered WHY the Joker has never reappeared?  He's NOT in Arkham.  So, we find out that Bruce stepped over the line himself....with his arch enemy.  Would also explain WHY Bruce took off...he had to get away from Gotham...AND Batman.  So, he ends up telling her that she can ease up on herself.  It's a major bombshell for us as viewers, and pretty much means we will probably NEVER see Batman in the Arrowverse.  

We go back to the Crows, where we see Sophie reinstated, and SHE is now the head of the task force.  But she feels it's a job she can't do alone.  And, wouldn't you know it, Julia got a call from HER superiors, and she is now a part of the Crows as well.  This is going to be VERY interesting down the road, considering that BOTH woman have had a go with Kate, and THEY seem to be starting a budding relationship.  I wonder how that will effect Kate down the road to see Sophie hook up with Julia.  And how will THEIR dynamic mesh with Batwoman?  Kate's flying solo out there, and while she has allies with Julia and Sophie, will they have to compromise that for Jacob, who STILL hates Batwoman?  Some intriguing questions to be answered down the road.

It was humorous to see Mary walk in as Luke and Kate had been discussing Bruce and his apparent killing of The Joker, and Luke instantly go into the act, only for Kate to tell him that Mary knows she's Batwoman.  She takes off, and leaves the two to work things out for themselves as far as knowledge of Kate's double life.

Our episode ends in Arkham, where Dr. Butler had been killed by Mouse, and now Mouse has taken over his ID.  Alice has now re-thought her escape plan, and decided that she'd rather take over the Asylum, and run it herself.  There's a new evil plan forming, and I feel that Batwoman will be the prize.  Alice's grand play is beginning to take form.  And with the re-emergence of Tommy Elliot---Hush isn't far behind.  It's going to be a VERY wild last few episodes of this season.  This was a good installment...it put Luke's anxiety about his father's death to rest, it cleared up the bad seed in the Crows, and it gave us Tommy Elliot back.  I'm glad the Mary FINALLY told Kate she knew her ID, and it helps seal that bond between sisters even moreso.  NOW we have Mary in the fold of the Bat-team.  Sophie and Julia working together is interesting, and will we see a budding romance there?  From the eyes Sophie was giving Julia, I think that's what's gonna happen.  This show had started off slow, but like all shows during their first season, it takes time to pick up steam, and this one has.  I'm looking forward to the season finale.  I'm just wondering, if like the other shows, will we have a cliffhanger?  Hard to say, but the ride has been fun!  

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Okay, kids!  That does it for THIS installment of our Lady Crusader.  Subscribe and leave a comment if ya can---curious to know YOUR thoughts on the show and this episode!

Until next time...The Signal is OFF!