BATWOMAN 3.4

 

RECAP - BATWOMAN  3.4:  "Antifreeze"  

Piggybacking on last episode, where we had some band of thugs kidnap the recently thawed out Nora Fries and her sister Dee in order to get info on how to use Mr. Freeze's cryochamber, but Batwoman busted that plan up, but they managed to make off with Victor's notes.  We also see Luke upset with Mary over the fact that she snitched on him about taking the safety measures out of the Batwing suit.  And for Mary herself, she got dragged away from what appears to be Ivy's vines at the end of the episode, and for Alice---her hallucinations are getting worse, because now she thinks the nanobites are taking over her body.  On top of ALL of this---Ryan is now dealing with her mother, Jada Jet, and just got to meet her brother, Marquis.  

We meet a mysterious man in a room who has heat lamps on someone he's had frozen, trying to gauge the experiment with the freezing technique with one of Victor's canisters of liquid nitrogen.  Sadly, the person he froze ends up breaking apart upon melting, and dies.  His experiment with reanimation has failed.  But he seems undaunted.

Mary is on a park bench in Gotham Park, and is awakened after the vines dissipate.  And she's bewildered at what happened.  While she's gathering herself, Ryan is now been tagged by a magazine for their "30 Under 30" List as a rising star in the business world.  And Luke warns her to be careful and weary about running into her brother, due to the fact that Jada will take that as crossing a line, and might go after Wayne Enterprises.  Sophie is there to help back her up, as well as support her sister Jordan, who's giving a speech about saving the community.  She goes over the speech with Sophie, and Sophie fesses up about having dreams about Ryan, so Jordan is trying to encourage Sophie to pursue Ryan, and Sophie is just trying to table the convo for now.  Ryan herself has to deal with her brother coming to visit, and she's doing all SHE can to avoid him.  He wants to know his sister, and she is trying to protect Wayne from the wrath of Jada.  So, she does what SHE can to blow him off.  

Things go south at the event when a guy comes up to Jordan and drugs her, dragging her off.  So, Sophie and Ryan begin the search for her, as Ryan has to also give a speech about Wayne's business standing at this gala.  Marquis is also looking to help out.  After not being able to find her, and Luke scouring the hotel for her, Marquis is the one who lets them know that she was seen with some guy going up to one of the rooms.  Turns out that Jordan was given the same treatment as the person at the beginning of the episode.   She is frozen in place, and there are the heat lamps.  They know they need to get her to Mary immediately.

Mary herself tried to discuss her night in Gotham Park with everyone, but they're busy...though Ryan DOES want to hear what happened, but she had to get ready for the gala.  Her sister, Alice, however, is not doing so well, as she hallucinates one of the guards giving her letters from her dad, and making fun of her.  She ends up killing him, but it's only her imagination.  She needs to see Montoya, and then heads to Mary's clinic.  She says she's having issues (moreso than normal), and she hands Mary a phone, and to have her call Montoya--because she has a deal with the Bat Team, and...like it or not...they have to work with her.  

Jada is plotting, because she gets ahold of Vesper Fairchild, and says she has a scoop for her.  This is not good news for Ryan, as we later find out. 

They get Jordan to Mary's clinic, and Sophie wants to know why this happened.  It turns out that Jordan was looking into the Black Glove Gang, and was going to expose them at the gala, and was possibly the reason why she was taken and nearly killed.  BUT, they also have a bigger problem:  the cryo-canister is still out there, and they're using it.  They need to find it before someone else in Jordan's group dies, because one victim from her group has already been killed for this.  So, Sophie grabs Alice, and they go investigate Jordan's apartment, while Ryan has to worry not only about Jordan, but now has a bigger issue:  a news story that breaks that Wayne Enterprises' CEO has funneled funds to secret accounts, and now they're being investigated.  What Luke and Ryan realizes, is that it's their "Bat Budget" that got exposed, and they have to find a way to answer for that before the company goes under.  She knows Jada is behind it. 

Alice and Sophie are searching Jordan's apartment for information she had about the Black Glove Group, and Alice then hallucinates about the guard again, but she shakes it off enough to find a clue in the air vent in Jordan's apartment, which is Victor's notes.  And then the Black Glove group shows up looking for the notes, Alice wonders if they're real.  She and Sophie TRY to fight them off, but both are knocked out and tied up in chairs to each other, with books lined up to them, with a trap to set them on fire.  As the fire sets off, and they're trying to escape...Batwoman busts in, and uses the cryo tank to freeze the fire before they get fried.  

Mary had been racing to try and keep Jordan cold enough to be able to save her life, but she was thawing out.  Luke is giving her some static about saving her, and Mary is doing what she can...but then looks at the plants in her clinic, and realizes that they hold the key to save her.  Jordan is saved, and Sophie breathes some relief.  As for Black Glove, Sophie is NOT going to be shut out in taking them down.  So, Alice offers her help, but says she needs to be someplace AWAY from Arkham...because Mary and Ryan feel that whatever they're giving her in Arkham is making her worse.  So, Alice agrees to hang with Sophie...much to Sophie's dismay.  

As for Ryan, her advisers and Luke feel that she'll need to step down to save Wayne, though they did come up with the excuse (no doubt getting help from Lyla and Diggle), about Wayne using funds for a secret ARGUS contract.  But if Ryan stays in charge, she'll expose the company, and leave it to takeover....which is what Jada wants.  Luke does NOT want to lose the company, and Ryan says she will fight.  She then goes to her brother, and she reaches out to see if he's still willing to work to take dear old Mom down.  He says he's signed so many documents, but Jada has never allowed him to really get a feel for the business.  So, he's on board. 

As for Jada....the head guy for the Black Glove shows up in her office, offering her the weapon he'd helped put together to give her the chance to freeze and un-freeze anyone she wants.  She inquires just what he did to perfect the weapon, and he says that was their deal:  she got what she wanted, and didn't ask questions.  She just wants to keep herself ethically clear.  But...she also feels it's time for her son to take a "leave of absence".

It looks like Jada is dealing dirty, as she goes after Ryan from a business aspect this episode, and we are introduced to this Black Glove group that has been using Victor Fries' cryo-tech to develop a new weapon to freeze and un-freeze a person, and had to experiment to get it right along the way.  But once they did, they delivered this weapon to Jada, who has sinister plans for her son.  Something tells me Jada does NOT like sharing, and really doesn't care much for her kids.  She IS a mega bitch, and I look forward to when Ryan takes her down....especially if she does it as Batwoman.  I feel THAT confrontation is coming fairly soon.  

Mary using a little botany knowledge to help save Jordan was the key to save the day, but she still feels lost in the shuffle, as she wanted to relay her night in Gotham Park, but everyone was busy.  Especially Ryan.  Whatever happened with Mary in that park, I have a feeling it will lead to something major with her down the road...especially once Poison Ivy enters the scene.  We DO see that Luke reinstalled the safety measures, thus getting his A.I. dad back---and he realizes that he's not ready to wear the suit until he gets over this PTSD that's been plaguing him.  

And hey...whatever it is that's bothering Alice, seems to be stemming from whatever they're giving her at Arkham, so I'll be curious to see what's been in THAT little cocktail to amp up HER paranoia.  And how will her and Sophie function as roommates?  And is Sophie starting to have the hots for Ryan?!  Amazing how much communication between two people can lead to some attraction....but does Ryan feel the same way?  Something I'm also curious about is THAT growing relationship.  

How did YOU guys feel about this episode?  And what do you think of the little mysteries that are popping up as we progress further into this season?  Let me know YOUR thoughts and leave a comment below.

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