BATWOMAN 2.9

 

RECAP - BATWOMAN  2.9:  "Rule #1"  

Grieving with loss is something the Bat Team is having to deal with in the wake of Julia's findings of Kate's "remains".  They prepare to move forward, as does our Scarlet Crusader.  Another having a hard time coping with the loss of Kate is her twin sister, Alice.  She's trying to figure out just how to deal with the loss of her sister as well.  But WE all know better...as we saw LAST episode.  Kate is alive....but has been discarded under the streets of Gotham....her face having been damaged, and bandaged up.  And she's out of it---not even aware of where she is.  And now we have Black Mask stepping up his criminal activities in the distribution of Snake Bite.  And caught in the middle of THAT mess....Ryan's girlfriend Angelique.  

We got the funeral for Kate this week, as Luke, Julia, Jacob, Sophie, and Mary all paid their final respects to Kate.  Meanwhile, we get a voice over of Ryan, writing in her journal to Kate, thanking her for showing her how to be a hero, and promises to honor her.  With her being cured, Ryan plants the Desert Rose in the Batcave, and promises to honor Kate.  She was worried that she'd have to give up wearing the cowl once Kate returned, but now that she's gone....Ryan says SHE is Batwoman now.  Meanwhile....Black Mask makes his first big appearance---finding Kate in the tunnels, and knows who she is---and has BIG plans for her.

Skipping to a month later, we got the Commissioner being interviewed by the press, when a young woman approaches him, and asks questions about his meeting about police funding, and how he skips over the fact that there has been cases of police brutality.  She's putting the Commissioner on the spot, but he fires back at her that IF she's so concerned....run for office.  Later on, we see the Commissioner a victim of an attack by the False Face Society on the steps of City Hall.  He ends up lying on the steps as the gang makes their getaway.  Unbeknownst to THEM, however...there's a witness:  the same woman who accosted him on the steps of City Hall earlier.  In the aftermath, we get the press interview local businessman Roman Sionis, who offers his help to the police.  He feels that both The Crows AND Batwoman are the TRUE problem plaguing Gotham City.  

The death of the Commissioner sends both The Crows AND Team Bat on the hunt for the killer.  The Bat Team discovers that there's a glitch in the security tape---someone had erased footage, and therefore feel it was an inside job.  Ryan notices some graffiti on the wall next to where the Commissioner met his end, and she's seen it before.  Angelique goes to see Ryan, and she tells her that she wants out...and she was driving the getaway van.  Mary and Luke wonder about Ryan being objective when it comes to her...especially since Angelique was asked by Black Mask to be the new maker of Snake Bite.  The woman who witnessed the entire incident turns out to be Sophie's sister Jordan---and activist and the tagger who's spreading the message with her graffiti.  She's the one who saw WHO drove the getaway van---she had a gold bracelet. 

We later find out that Angelique was the one who drove the getaway van after the murder of the Commissioner.  She wants out, and she wants out.  Ryan says she knows Batwoman, and when Batwoman goes to find her...she finds her apartment trashed, and she's been taken.  Mary had given Ryan an hour to find Angelique before she called the cops on her.  All Ryan wanted was the team's trust in her decisions.  While she was at the bar chatting with Sophie and Jordan, she got insights a little about both women, and that led Sophie to discover who was behind the getaway van.  Jordan meets Batwoman, and they put her into hiding, as to not let Black Mask get to her.  Batwoman goes to find Angelique, but ends up battling Black Mask's men, and gets knocked out.  Locked onto a machine, she witnesses Black Mask kill one of his goons for failing to nab Jordan.  He plans on doing it to her, while espousing about how she and The Crows are the true plague of Gotham.  He blames the previous Batwoman for killing his daughter.  As he turns the machine on, and a saw starts inching closer towards Batwoman, Sophie arrives and stops the machine, having found her because Luke contacted her, saying that he couldn't contact Batwoman.  They save Angelique, and Angelique decides to fess up to the crime of killing the Commissoner.  When Ryan asks why Angelique did that, Sophie says it' was to protect Ryan from being killed by Black Mask.  We also see that Jordan and Sophie patch up some of their differences, and Jordan is in Sophie's corner about her sexuality...even going so far as to try and set Sophie up with Ryan.  Later on, Ryan thanks them for their trust, and lays down the 3 rules for the team:  Support, Accountability, and Giving Back to the Community.  

Elsewhere, Black Mask had his other plans---for Kate.  Since Kate Kane is now legally dead, it's given Black Mask a chance to use Kate for his own means.  And with his assistant Aniqua---his plans for Kate are huge.  They plan on repairing her face, and...no doubt...altering her memory, ensuring that the Kate Kane WE know will be long gone.  

Jacob isn't quite convinced that Kate is truly dead.  Despite the reports and body parts that were found in Bludhaven that matched Kate's DNA, and Julia Pennyworth reported to him....he's not going to give up on Kate.  He expects Julia to comb through everything thoroughly.  So, Julia makes some inquiries, and it appears that she had contacted the department where they investigated the crash awhile back, but she can't recall.  It's possible either someone used her name to get the info....or she actually DID call about the crash back then....but can't recall it because her memory was wiped.  Safiyah had been after Julia, so it's possible SHE was brainwashed as well.  This is a side mystery that I'm curious about, and we'll get to see Julia in full investigation mode.  

Finally, we can't end this recap of the show without mentioning Alice and how SHE has been dealing with the loss of her sister.  As we see throughout the episode, Alice is in a state of denial, and is seen hallucinating to the point she sees the younger version of Kate appear at Mouse's old home in the basement where she was held captive.  Young Kate had offered a way to help Alice deal with her grief and to let go.  She leads Alice to where she had buried her cat.  When Alice digs the cat up...it's alive.  Young Kate says that Alice has so much potential, and her mind is limitless.  With that, Alice must cope with the grief of losing Kate, and try to let her go.  

There was a lot of emotional beats in this episode, as the Bat Team (as well as Jacob and Sophie), were coping with the loss of Kate in their own ways.  While Ryan herself plans on doing all she can to fulfill the boots Kate left as Batwoman, Luke and Mary are still dealing with the loss, but Mary's bonding with Ryan pulls them closer together like sisters, and it also strengthens the team itself.  Jacob is NOT convinced that Kate is truly dead, and doesn't trust the final report....and he's got good reason to.  As Julia tries to be the strength of everyone, she's also now in charge of going through the crash investigation with a fine tooth comb. And the fact she has missing time will give her the motivation to dig further.  I've no doubt all roads will lead to Black Mask...but I'm intrigued at HOW Julia's investigation will go...and whether or not Sophie or the Bat Team will get involved.

Then...there's Alice.  With Kate gone, it feels like Alice has lost her motivation...her reason for being.  Kate was always the Yin to Alice's Yang.  Very similar to Batman and the Joker's relationship, but on a more personal level.  Alice has always managed to shun the grief of tragedy by hiding in another world....another personality.  But Beth Kane...the woman beneath Alice...will now have to learn to cope with her feelings of loss...to experience grief.  I doubt that it will turn on the lightbulb in Alice's head, but where she goes from here will be interesting.  At this point---Alice is a woman with NOTHING left to lose---and that makes her the most dangerous wild card in the deck.  

With Sophie and Luke keeping contact with each other...it seems as if Batwoman has a person on the inside with The Crows.  Not only that, Sophie believes in her, and it seems we're getting closer and closer to Sophie becoming part of the Bat Team.  And I'm gonna toss THIS out there right now:  With NO Commissioner right now...how about Sophie becoming Commissioner someday, in much the same way Gordon was.  To keep the tradition of the Commissioner of the GCPD and a Bat working together.  I'm just tossing seeds out there....

We are introduced to Roman Sionis this week....and if anyone couldn't figure it out---he's Black Mask.  He's definitely working his mojo overtime to ensure that he can get the public on his side as Roman, all the while doing all the dirty deeds he wants to gaining control of Gotham.  His plans for Kate are going to be devious, and the Kate we remembered will be gone.  With Aniqua removing Kate's necklace, and with her getting a new face---expect new memories to come with it...and her joining Black Mask's gang.  When this Kate reappears, she will be dangerous to the Bat Team, and I see a confrontation between her and Batowoman down the road.  

We are taking a brief pause from the show for a couple of weeks, as we get set for the next chapter of our story.  But we're now seeing a more confident and take-charge Ryan Wilder.  She knows she IS Batwoman now, and is embracing it, and making the cowl her own.  She's also embracing her role as the leader of the team, and I like that Luke and Mary are willing to follow her lead.  It's a nice step forward for Ryan...despite the fact that the love of her life just committed self sacrifice to save her from Black Mask.  This episode had some sense of sadness, intrigue, and a tiny bit of Bat action.  But it's beginning to form a really interesting story going forward.  It took awhile for this show to gain its footing last year, but this year, they've got a better idea, and they're throwing in enough twists and turns to keep us interested.  

How did YOU feel about this installment?  Are you embracing Ryan as Batwoman now?  Your thoughts on what is going to happen with Kate at the hands of Black Mask?  And what role will Alice play in all of this? What will Julia's investigation uncover?  We've got questions, and I'm curious about YOUR answers.  Subscribe and leave a comment below to toss out your theories.

Until next time....the Bat Signal is OFF.