A terrorist mad bomber has his sites set on Gotham City’s heroes and innocent lives hang in the balance unless Batwoman can come to terms with her own demons before the clock runs out on the next innocent victim!
Hold tight true believer! [Spoilers Ahead!] The latest episode of the inaugural season of Batwoman has our heroine dealing with a severe case of PTSD, that has her second-guessing every step she takes whenever she suits up as Gotham City’s newest caped defender. Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) has not been herself since exerting full-force on her captive, but we all know Cartwright (John Emmet Tracy) had it coming. Snuffing the life out of the man that had held her sister Beth hostage all those years, has left a traumatic side-effect.
Now Kate doesn’t feel up to wearing “the suit”, unworthy of her cousin, Bruce Wayne’s crime-fighting legacy. In Episode 17 of Season One “A Narrow Escape” the Batwoman apprehends a jewel thief, but during a scuffle in a tight stairwell causes her to trip him up; the thief stumbles and for a second it appears that he may have broken his neck sending Kate over the edge. She decides that she may need to hang up her Bat-suit indefinitely. When a villain calling himself “The Detonator” reemerges, Gotham City is flung into chaos.
Working alongside, Julia Pennyworth (Christina Wolfe), Sophie (Meagan Tandy) is able to determine a correlation between Detonator’s victims and the murder of Wayne Industries R&D executive, Lucias Fox. Concerned about Kate’s recent reluctance to wear the suit, Luke (Camrus Johnson) attempts to reach out to her, but when The Detonator’s next target takes out Mary’s (Nicole Kang) underground hospital, Kate runs to the rescue but suffers another anxiety attack. Mary reveals that she knows Kate is “The Batwoman” and that the city needs her.
Mental Ward
Meanwhile, in Arkham Asylum’s psych ward, Alice (Rachel Skarsten) is undergoing electro-shock therapy under the direction of Dr. Butler (guest star Alex Zahara) targeting specific memories and further inciting Alice’s resentment of her sister Kate. During one of her group meetings, Alice runs afoul of fellow-inmate Tommy Elliot (Gabriel Mann) whose continuing obsession with Bruce Wayne gives Alice an idea. After taking out Dr. Butler — and convincing Mouse (Sam Littlefield) to assume his identity — the pair scheme to overtake the asylum, before ruining Gotham City!
The Detonator exacts his final revenge by placing a bomb on Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott) but not before Batwoman is able to uncover his secret identity and determine that CROWS agent Miguel Robles (Nathan Witte) was also the man responsible for the murder of Lucias Fox. In a final bid to rid themselves of both of their debilitating fear and rage, Batwoman confides in Luke (who is threatening to kill Robles) that she murdered Cartwright — and it’s a feeling she can’t walk away from and she doesn’t want Luke to become similarly consumed.
In a resolute final act, the pair are able to prevent the Detonator’s bomb from taking down Wayne Industries and bring Robles to justice; saving Jacob Kane in the process, Sophie is reinstated as a full-fledged office within the CROWS and is partnered with Julia Pennyworth, who has accepted a temporary assignment with the organization. The two are also becoming quite close in the process. Having confessed to Luke, Batwoman returns to form as Gotham City’s defender, and with Mary now in on the secret, she has more allies in her quest for justice.
Team Batwoman Emerges
Directed by Paul Wesley, the star of The CW hit The Vampire Diaries this episode begins to truly round out the supporting cast and helps to imagine how they’ll all coalesce as Kate’s mission to assume the mantle of Gotham’s Caped Wonder as her own. Ruby Rose continues to emerge as a formidable presence as the show’s lead, and audiences can only begin to grasp the depths of what the actress will continue to bring to the series as it evolves. Kate is becoming much more texturized and appears poised to step into the vacancy left now that Arrow has concluded.
And although Batman villains have always had the luster of feeling much more profoundly developed than the vigilante hunter on their tails, Alice, as played by the magnetic Rachel Skarsten, is becoming a little stale. The diagnosis being, that even as the villain felt she was stealing all of the thunder early in the season, now that she’s been captured, her direction is falling a little flat. Perhaps it’s time that a new baddie starts to take root, especially in anticipation of Batwoman Season Two, and give Alice some much-needed rest and relaxation.
BATWOMAN | “A Narrow Escape” | Season 1 / Episode 17 | Directed by Paul Wesley, written by Daphne Miles | Original Airdate: 4/26/2020