BATWOMAN 3.12

 

RECAP - BATWOMAN  3.12:  "We're All Mad Here" 

This penultimate episode of Season 3 sets everything up for quite a finale.  We've got Marquis going off the deep end, and trying to channel is inner Joker, Batwoman trying to stop him, while trying to balance her new romance with Sophie, Mary trying to still come to grips with what she did to the camper, and Alice is looking to get the joy buzzer to cure herself of the madness that has plagued her most of her life.  So...what happens when things REALLY start to hit the fan?  Let's find out...

Alice's mind may not live here anymore, as her hallucinations hit maximum overdrive this week.  We kick things off with her actually getting the joy buzzer and using it on herself, and then telling Mary that she's finally cured.  We then see this sequence of her---as Beth, being put on trial, and being exonerated for her crimes because she wasn't herself.  She tries to make peace with Ryan, only to have her advances rebuffed....Ryan isn't the forgiving type.  But then we realize it's all a dream, and it's making Alice desperate.  She's genuinely upset with her life, and wants to change, so she goes to see Mary, who had packed her a bag and money to get her OUT of town, but Alice doesn't want that....she wants the joy buzzer.  Mary also tells her that she's going to go see the family of the man she killed---the guilt is overwhelming and she can't handle it.  Alice advises against it, but Mary isn't her, and they have something of a tiff.  As Alice says that Mary needs just put it out of mind and out of sight, Mary can't do that.  Mary says that Alice should've stopped her from doing what she did, but because Alice was only capable of thinking of herself, she dragged Mary down with her.  

Alice then pays a visit to Kiki about getting the joy buzzer, but Marquis shows up, and puts a stop to that by actually killing Kiki, and blasting Alice with a dose of the Joker's laughing gas.  Alice wakes up to see that she's watching Marquis execute his master plan by killing off the Black Glove Society.  Alice starts hallucinating about Mouse, and Mouse tells her that she doesn't deserve the buzzer...especially after what she did to him.  She tries hard to shake off the visions, and watches as Marquis tries to kill Barbara Keane, and then go after Jada Jet. The joy buzzer gets loose in a melee between Marquis and Batwoman, and Alice goes for it, but she and Sophie fight over it.  Later on, we see Alice locked back in Arkham, where her visions continue to worsen, and she sees Ocean and Mouse as her orderlies, continuing to mock her.  Mary actually shows up to thank her for looking out for her.  When Mary went to go see the family, they knew who Mary was, and said that the boy saw a blonde woman killing his father----and Alice owned up to it.  Alice gave Mary an out, and she apologizes regardless.  The family understands--so they think--about what Mary's gone through.  But when Mary pays Alice a visit, she apologizes to Mary once again for what she did---give Marquis access to the Batcave.

As for Batwoman herself, she's hunting down members of Marquis' team to find out what his next move is.  She manages to get a laptop from his lawyer to fish for information.  And while her and Sophie had a romantic night, they still haven't given themselves the "official" label as yet, and then there's Jada, who she and Sophie still don't see eye to eye, but it needs to be parked until they take care of Marquis.  They find some info on the computer, but can't quite make it out...except for Barbara Keane, who was Jim Gordon's ex.  Turns out, their kid when a little wacko, and Barbara paid off someone to keep the whole ordeal under wraps....sound familiar?  Jada knows what's up, and calls her people, letting them know that Marquis is coming.  She leaves, and doesn't want Ryan involved, but Sophie continues to argue with her down to the street.  Jada gets into the car, and tells Sophie to keep quiet about her involvement in the Black Glove Society. She takes off, but another car shows up.  Turns out, Marquis abducted his mother.  

As Marquis has his mother, Jeremiah Arkham, and Barbara Keane, he exposes all their sins:  about how they formed the Society to ensure the avoidance of scandal.  By paying off Arkham and several others to try and cure their kids, or keep them under wraps to ensure that they don't harm anyone else.  But Marquis is going to not only expose them, but kill them.  He starts by trying to use the same gasses that Keane had used on her son, that left him in a vegetative state.  Then, he planned on using Mr. Freeze's freeze canister to kill his own mother, as she tried to do to him.  Batwoman shows up, and Marquis talks about how the Joker took over the school bus he was on, how he used the buzzer to mess Marquis up, and then Marquis watched as the Joker ran this car off the bridge they were on---which turned out to be the same car that carried Kate and Beth Kane.  Alice gets wind of this, and offers a deal with him in order to get the joy buzzer, but he's not down with it.  When he and Batwoman face off, as she tells him what she managed to do with her life despite having nothing, while he was given EVERYTHING.  He manages to best her enough to grab the freeze canister, and planned on killing her with it, but Jada shoots him, and he drops it, and flees.  She and Ryan embrace.  They then tell her that they have the buzzer, and hope to use it on Marquis when they can.  

All through this season, we've seen Sophie and Ryan's relationship grow...and as much as they've bickered and argued, there's no denying the attraction.  They finally gave into it last episode, but were still trying to define it this time around, and with Jada interrupting, it made things complicated.  But Ryan is trying to stop her brother, and she's just trying to keep things in perspective.  However, they DO manage to talk, and with Luke and Mary present, finally admit that they, indeed, are a "thing".  

Well, we have finally established Ryan and Sophie as a couple, so we can finally put THAT to bed.  As for the revelation that Jada was a part of the Black Glove Society...not a surprise.  I kind of pegged that one early on.  But to know Jim Gordon's ex Barbara Keane (which is a nice shoutout to Gotham), was a part of it, as well as Jeremiah Arkham, and started by Tommy Elliott's mother also shows that the rich and infulential would to ANYTHING to avoid scandal and to have their kids' psycho tendencies exposed to the world (though that didn't help Jacob Kane...did it?).  We also find out that Marquis was a student on the very bus the Joker abducted, and forced the Kane family off the road and into Gotham River.  So, little dots being connected here to paint a bigger narrative.  

As for Alice...we see the aspects of Beth Kane wanting to come forth, and we're seeing---after her witnessing what Mary's acts as Poison Ivy 2.0 has done to her psychologically.  Alice hasn't had much to hang onto until Mary went rogue.  But she's also never really finished her sister off, either...much like the chances she had with Kate.  Beneath all that psycho bluster, Alice is still craving her family as much as her freedom.  But we're seeing her fully understand the consequences of her actions.  And knowing what Mary was going to risk by revealing that she killed the family's patriarch, Alice instead protected her sister the best way she knew how:  she took the blame.  Beneath it all---I think that Alice has grown to love Mary in much the same way she loves Kate.  And she knows that if she let Mary take the fall...her father would be disappointed...and so would Kate.  That still matters to Alice.  And seeing what Marquis has become is a stark reminder to Alice as to what Augustus did to her all those years---the trauma that Marquis ended up suffering with one buzzer zap, and how it can totally change a person.  So, for Alice...that's growth.

I like that we've gotten more into the psychology of the villains this season....as it should be with any Bat villain.  We got a more well rounded story this season, character progression, and growth, and Ryan come into her own fully as Batwoman.  I'm curious to see how Marquis' final hand is played, and how his sister will stop him.  I wonder if Jada will survive this, and will she be a sacrifice in order to push Ryan forward.  Alice's fate also remains unknown, but I feel she will never be cured....she's been too good a villain, but we'll see how it all shakes out.  So...how did YOU all like this episode?  Subscribe below and lemme know what your thoughts are on this episode and this overall season.  What do YOU see for the future of Batwoman?  

Until the final episode of the season.....the Signal is OFF!