BATWOMAN 2.11

 

RECAP - BATWOMAN  2.11:  "Arrive Alive"  

Things got a tad bit "Fast & Furious" this installment, as The Bat Team (and Sophie), were on the trail of Black Mask and his suped-up delivery drivers, as he was looking to get Snake Bite back out onto the street.  He's been extremely unhappy, as the product hasn't been in production.  His favorite Chemist--Ocean--went MIA, and that left his assistant--Angelique--a prime target to nab and get back into the lab to cook more up, so that he can continue his operation.  Meanwhile, the Bat Team is on the hunt for Angelique, and we have a new Crow on the scene, investigating the case at Jacob's behest.  And while we've got the chase in the streets of Gotham, Alice is seeking to rid herself of her grief over Kate by paying a visit to Enigma. 

We had a VERY frantic episode, as Sophie was promising Ryan that she would find Angelique after she was abducted by The False Face Society.  Ryan wants to help, but Sophie urges her to back off.  Black Mask has hired street racers has couriers to make deliveries to his lab in order to have Angelique begin cooking up new batches of Snake Bite, but she doesn't have the exact recipe...only Ocean does.  But since Ocean is gone, Black Mask has lost money on his operation, and is insistent on getting product back onto the street.  Thus, he threatens Angelique that if she doesn't make the correct batch, he'll kill her.  All she can offer is that she will help him find Ocean.  

With the couriers making their way through Gotham to their destination, one is caught by Batwoman, only to discover that it was Sophie undercover.  With her being made, and blaming Batwoman (who she tells to 'stay out of her way').  Sophie then informs Ryan of what went down, which included getting chewed out by Jacob, and kicked off the case for a guy named Agent Tavarov.  Ryan offers herself up as a driver to try and find Angelique.  With some training, and passing the driving test among the False Facers, Ryan is ready for her undercover job. Sophie gets a fake ID from Luke (whom Sophie introduces Ryan to, not knowing that Ryan is Batwoman).  Luke then gives Ryan a tracer to put on the canisters that she'll be delivering to Black Mask.  Luke also gives her an Artificial Intelligence device to communicate with her from the Batcave.  Once she gets the signal from Black Mask, she's off and racing.  She arrives at her destination, receives the canisters, and she's on her way.  However, Sophie is worried that Ryan will be made if she stops to plant the tracker on the canister, and wants to abort the mission, but things go fairly smooth, as Luke's A.I. gives him control of the car, as Ryan reaches back and plants the tracker---getting shot at by the cops in the process.  Ryan is successful, and now knows they just have to wait to get a ping from the tracker to find Black Mask...and Angelique. 

Luke and Ryan go to meet up with Sophie, who has decided to go solo once they get a make on Black Mask's location.  Sophie makes it to the warehouse where the signal was traced to, and gets captured for her troubles.  As Black Mask prepares to shoot Sophie, Batwoman arrives, and they both take down Black Mask.  As he's captured, he plays his trump card:  A video of Angelique with a gun to her head.  If they don't let him go, he'll kill her.  So, he walks away free, and both Sophie and Batwoman know the fight isn't over.  Later on, as Sophie surveys her car, notices the bullet holes, and finds the A.I. device in the car.  She takes it out, and goes to investigate it.  Meanwhile, Agent Tavarov is scoping out the warehouse, and watches the security feed of the fight between Black Mask and Batwoman.  He pokes around and notices blood spatter from when Batwoman got hit---he gets a sample of it, as Sophie listens to the audio feed from the device---figuring out that Ryan is Batwoman.  

In the other part of our episode, Alice pays a visit to the good Dr. Ryme, for which she has a request for:  erase her memories of Kate.  She knows that Ryme is Enigma, and works with Safiyah, so she wants her to erase every aspect of her sister.  Enigma wonders why, and gets to the root of Alice's problem:  she still has some caring in her heart for Kate, as she keeps seeing her in her mind, and can't shake her.  She's also seeing Ocean in her head too.  Enigma tries to stall in erasing Alice's memories, but Alice isn't having it.  As Enigma begins the process, Ocean shows up, and disrupts the treatment by attacking Alice.  He wants to know WHY she killed him---and she says that she did it to get Kate back.  Enigma uses the distraction to whammy both Alice AND Ocean, as she does what she swore she promised Safyiah she'd NEVER do:  give Alice and Ocean their memories back.  She beats a hasty retreat, and Alice and Ocean then have to deal with the fallout.  She asks WHY he came back to Gotham, and he's there to find the last of the Desert Rose, since Alice torched the rest of it.  He believes that Batwoman has it...and that explains to Alice why she doesn't have Kryptonite poisoning anymore.  But they also address their memories as well...which includes how they felt.  They end up making out in the alley.  

The more Ryan learns on the job, the more there's a chance for mistakes.  And now she's made THREE of them.  First, she interfered in Sophie's undercover operation (which she did NOT know, but it prevented Sophie from finding Angelique), she left the A.I. device in Sophie's car, thus allowing Sophie to not only FIND it, but LISTEN to it, and deduce her secret ID.  Finally...she got popped by Black Mask, and left some blood spatter behind, thus allowing Agent Tavarov to discover it, and will no doubt run a test to determine who Batwoman is.  The heat is coming for the Bat Team, and they're going to have to SERIOUSLY do some damage control.  Now...in regards to Sophie---I think this will be okay, because while she's NOT going to be happy initially, with what's going on with The Crows...and Jacob in general...it might force her to finally join the Bat Team, and be that 4th member officially.  As for Tavarov---he's Jacob's pet flunky, and he'll do what Jacob asks him to do.  And with Jacob high on Snake Bite, that's going to be some VERY rash decisions he'll make, and that will get people killed.  So, it will be interesting to see how the team rallies to protect Batwoman's ID.  Plus, they'll ALSO have to continue to work and find a way to rescue Angelique---who promised to find Ocean for Black Mask, so that he can have more Snake Bite on the street.

As for Ocean...he needs the Desert Rose, and with Alice's help, THAT is going to put him in the direct line of fire of Batwoman.  But how will he and Alice cope with all their memories back?  What will them mean for THEIR relationship, as well as those around them?  Does he go back to Coryana?  Does he and Alice end Safiyah once and for all?  Or will he complete his mission for his sister?  And with all HER memoires back...what does this do for Alice as far as trying to still cope with the loss of Kate---not even KNOWING that Kate is busy getting a makeover---courtesy of Black Mask and Enigma.  

This was a week we got no Mary...who was probably running her clinic, and Julia is off canvas right now, but I fully expect Mary back next week.  Also, we got an irate Jacob this week, and I see his spiral down continuing.  All in all, it wasn't a bad episode, and we start to see SOME things fall in place, and the stakes getting raised.  This season is MUCH better than last season, and I'm very intrigued at how it will end.  What did YOU all think of what went down this week?  Subscribe y'all....and lemme hear YOUR thoughts!

Until next time...the Signal is OFF!