Spoilers Batwoman - Season 2

[TREK_GOD_1]

Batwoman
Season 2 - Episode 9 - "Rule #1"

Luke Fox: Luke is--as always--the only rational mind on this show, admonishing Wilder for her complete lack of an ethical thought regarding Angelique.

Wilder/BW: Whew..Javicia Leslie's opening monologue was horrible. She really needs an acting coach, because her journal dialogue was just...reading and not sounding like someone being thoughtful.

Again, before Angelique uncharacteristically threw herself on the sword, BW never tossed her ass in jail...because? Well, we know the reason why (showrunner), but it makes the so-called "hero" of this series look like a hypocrite, as she's been constantly barking about no one ever arresting Alice and/or working with the Crows, but she's never taken so much as one step toward leaving career criminal Angelique--undeniably a criminal accessory of a political assassination--on the steps of the GCPD. Oh, well.

...and trying to sell this "undying love" BS with straight up criminals did not make Angelique a sympathetic character.

Roman Sionis/Black Mask: So, in addition to holding NuKate hostage as Black Mask / leading the False Face gang, he's working his way into power by assassinating the police commissioner...not that anyone believed that was going to work on this show.

Enigma wiping Kate's memory. Sigh. Everything connected to that sub-plot needs to go bye-bye. If the mind wipe is a success, I'm guessing this will prevent a quick reunion in this season, possibly having her recover her memory in the announced third season. Of course, the showrunners are hoping this gives the Wilder more time to find an audience.

Alice: Nutjob self-analysis. Yikes. One wonders if she will lose more of her mind when NuKate shows up, and she cannot accept that her sister is still alive--or NuKate's inability to recognize her.

Jacob: The funeral scene fell flat simply because viewers knew Jacob did not believe Kate was dead, considering how Catherine set him up with falsified evidence regarding Beth.

NOTES: Mary says...what? She's placing Wilder--someone who is not an insider, or entrusted with taking control over Wayne's Bat secrets--in a position of leadership? What BS that is. For all of her newfound "confident" talk, she was quickly overwhelmed by the False Face gang, and was nearly killed if not for blind luck (aka Plot Convenience 101, Part One) with Sophie finding her in the nick of time.

Next episode: April 11.

GRADE: C+.

 

[Reverend]

Honestly my main take away from this is that I'm surprised at how much I liked Black Mask. It's been a while since a DC/CW villain was either charming or funny (even if he is a psycho.) They're usually so one dimensional...and boring. So between him and Alice I guess that means Batwoman as a show is two for two. A pitty the hero side of things continues to be a bit lacklustre.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Enigma?

Edward is trans?

The groin question marks are gauche.

Not much is known about Enigma. She briefly joined the Teen Titans after Infinite Crisis, but like most of the members during that time she left. During this period, she was known as the Riddler's Daughter and seemed to be friends with Duela Dent.[a] She is as talented at riddling as her father, throwing in some jokes from time to time. Enigma also wields a question mark-shaped cane as a weapon.

Edna Nigma?

https://www.whattoexpect.com/baby-names/list/baby-girl-names-that-start-with-e/

 

[Christopher]

Well, looks like the position of Gotham Police Commissioner is open again. It'd be cool if the next Commissioner were Barbara Gordon.

So Black Mask sees himself as a reformer against the corrupt Gotham system (by embracing it, or something) and blames Batwoman Mark I for killing his daughter, which can't be right. He's also fond of deathtraps right out of Golden Age Batman comics and the '60s TV show that homaged them, albeit without conveniently leaving the room and letting them proceed slowly enough to give the hero a chance to escape, so it's lucky Sophie got there in time.

So Sophie is now officially out, and her social-activist sister is trying to set her up with Ryan, who's available now that Angelique is out of the picture. Does Sophie have a type, i.e. mysterious and caped?

So Julia's had her memory erased of a previous attempt to investigate Kate's death, and it turns out that Black Mask pulled her from the plane under orders from the enigmatic Enigma (Alphas' Laura Mennell, who I almost mistook for Saphia until I realized the accent was wrong). The Arrowverse Wiki reminds me that Enigma was previously mentioned as the hypnotist who erased Alice and Ocean's memories of one another, so I guess Julia found her already. I wonder, is Black Mask working for Saphia, or is Enigma a free agent for hire?

In the comics, Enigma was the daughter of the Riddler (E. Nygma), or at least claimed to be. Fittingly, little is known about her.

 

[Nerys Myk]

who I almost mistook for Saphia

Safiyah?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Well, looks like the position of Gotham Police Commissioner is open again. It'd be cool if the next Commissioner were Barbara Gordon.

So Black Mask sees himself as a reformer against the corrupt Gotham system (by embracing it, or something) and blames Batwoman Mark I for killing his daughter, which can't be right. He's also fond of deathtraps right out of Golden Age Batman comics and the '60s TV show that homaged them, albeit without conveniently leaving the room and letting them proceed slowly enough to give the hero a chance to escape, so it's lucky Sophie got there in time.

So Sophie is now officially out, and her social-activist sister is trying to set her up with Ryan, who's available now that Angelique is out of the picture. Does Sophie have a type, i.e. mysterious and caped?

So Julia's had her memory erased of a previous attempt to investigate Kate's death, and it turns out that Black Mask pulled her from the plane under orders from the enigmatic Enigma (Alphas' Laura Mennell, who I almost mistook for Saphia until I realized the accent was wrong). The Arrowverse Wiki reminds me that Enigma was previously mentioned as the hypnotist who erased Alice and Ocean's memories of one another, so I guess Julia found her already. I wonder, is Black Mask working for Saphia, or is Enigma a free agent for hire?

In the comics, Enigma was the daughter of the Riddler (E. Nygma), or at least claimed to be. Fittingly, little is known about her.

Sophie is going to be the new commissioner.

The sister is thinking about running, but it's more likely she'll succeed as a queen maker.

Her first step will be to close down the Crows.

 

[Christopher]

Safiyah?

Her too. They can't pronounce it right anyway.

 

[DEWLine]

And this is where my brain fell out of the plot, despite so much else going for this episode:

The police commissioner of Gotham City didn't have a security escort.

It occurs to me that - unknown to me - there may be an early draft of the script where he did have one, but concerns related to either budgets, COVID-19 or both might have deep-sixed that.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

And this is where my brain fell out of the plot, despite so much else going for this episode:

The police commissioner of Gotham City didn't have a security escort.

It occurs to me that - unknown to me - there may be an early draft of the script where he did have one, but concerns related to either budgets, COVID-19 or both might have deep-sixed that.

And how often have you seen James Gordon running around with a security escort?

 

[DEWLine]

They should have learned from what happened to him...repeatedly.

 

[DigificWriter]

The announcement of Kate's return for Season 2 got me to break down and actually buy the first season on DVD, which is something I had said I wasn't going to do back when I was upset about the decision to shift the focus to Ryan.

 

[JD]

I finally got caught up this morning. I was pretty happy with how they resolved the whole Safyiah storyline.
I was surprised they had the Julia tell everyone Kate was dead, and then revealed her still alive right after that. I would have expected them to give us at least an episode or two where we thought she really was dead.
The introduction of Black Mask was pretty good, I've like Peter Outerbridge in other stuff I've seen him.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Batwoman
Season 2 - Episode 10 - "Time Off for Good Behavior"

Luke Fox: Luke name-dropped Aquaman. Hmm.

At last--Luke leaves the cave and saves Batwoman's life, also wiping away the doofus moment (earlier) where he did not understand how the energy weapon worked. The series needs SO much more of this.

Wilder/BW: Ah, Leslie's performance in the opening was pretty good; her exasperation while making her threat on camera was a nice moment. Probably the best for the actress so far.

Roman Sionis/Black Mask: Roman's "If this stuff is as bad as you say, it could really ruin someone's life." Cold as ice hand delivering Snake Bite to Jacob to continue his addiction/destruction.

Julia and Alice: I enjoyed Julia taunting Alice's nutjob-ery and why she wanted to find Enigma...only Julia somehow could not even guess Alice does not want to forget (despite what she said after erasing Jacob's session) but to remember--at least until she's dealt with Safiyah. Julia will likely remember what Enigma erased either in-flight, or shortly before the end of the season. Either way, here's hoping she will have her revenge for what appears to be a total memory wipe.

Jacob/Sophie: Poor Jacob--reliving the past...questioning his actions in what he should have done while searching for Beth. Clearly, he's thinking his "failure" to find her led to Beth becoming Alice, but its all misplaced guilt. ...and now Jacob's been forcibly turned into a Snake Bite addict...and in turn, using the drug to blot out said guilt. The showrunners have finally given Dougray Scott something really meaty to sink his teeth into.

...and "Dr. Evelyn Rhyme"...well....I'm sure everyone saw that coming.

NOTES: The center opening is Gotham seems like a "good intentions" project waiting to be set up--a target, as Spence--the Gazette reporter mentioned, and sure enough, a Black Masked man (allegedly Michael Kastrinos / "Kilovolt") with an advanced energy weapon ripped into the walls, sending everyone fleeing in terror. For the first time, this series makes a relevant point about the neverending threats to anyone trying to correct the most neglected social issues--something well-explored on Black Lightning.

While this series' comment on correctional facilities making sure they have a steady supply of inmates was taken from real world criticism of prisons--particularly privately owned ( and corporate) prisons, it was rushed and sloppy. This was a subject that needed several episodes to take the deep dive into so grave an American problem, and not have O'Brien convicted so quickly. Feel good moments should be earned after a real struggle for the heroes..

GRADE: B-.

 

[SAndrews10]

Everyone being all head scratching about directed energy weapons when DRE’s are a thing in Freeland. Maybe Gotham’s internet doesn’t yield search results from there...former earth thing and all lol

 

[Mr. Adventure]

- Interesting plot point with the private prison system.
- Don't usually see criminals running in little sporty Subarus.
- Did that voice recorder have VCR tracking lines when Alice rewound?
- I like Black Mask/Sionis as a villain so far
- I'll never forgive you for trying to make my clinic legal and legit, I hate you!

Everyone being all head scratching about directed energy weapons when DRE’s are a thing in Freeland. Maybe Gotham’s internet doesn’t yield search results from there...former earth thing and all lol

Isn't it DEG? But yeah, even though I get the reality of how these shows function I kept thinking about Black Lightning as well. I was wondering if we might at least get a mention of Gambi or ASA or something but no.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Is Mary charging for medical services?

 

[Marc]

Is Mary charging for medical services?

No and that's a major point behind her clinic - care for people who can't afford it.

Mary is worth billions after selling her stake in Hamilton Dynamics so why does Jacob think he needs to pay?

 

[Guy Gardener]

No and that's a major point behind her clinic - care for people who can't afford it.

Mary is worth billions after selling her stake in Hamilton Dynamics so why does Jacob think he needs to pay?

So it's the shot up gangsters being wheeled in, that stops the families coming in for a check up?

I think she's doing it for the rush.

She should have a bouncer.

Which defeats the point.

 

[Christopher]

Everyone being all head scratching about directed energy weapons when DRE’s are a thing in Freeland. Maybe Gotham’s internet doesn’t yield search results from there...former earth thing and all lol

It wasn't that they were confused that such a thing existed, just wondering why such an advanced weapon would be used to destroy a community center. And these lightning guns were a distinctly different technology from the DEGs in BL (although the ASA did use a lightning gun in season 1 to frame BL for Lady Eve's murder).

Also, keep in mind that BL had a one-year time jump between seasons. The events happening there might still be in the future of the other Arrowverse shows.

- Interesting plot point with the private prison system.

Yeah, I like the engagement with that issue. Private prisons are an abomination, ruining people's lives to make more money rather than seeking to rehabilitate them and get them out of the system. I don't know if they've ever actually sabotaged community centers, but it's not that much worse than the things they actually do.

- I'll never forgive you for trying to make my clinic legal and legit, I hate you!

"Legal" isn't always moral, and "legit" is often defined by the powerful at the expense of the powerless. If the clinic were official and authorized, it would be hamstrung in its ability to help people who are already shut out by the rules of the medical system, a system designed more to promote insurance companies' profits than patient care.


The woman from the community center, Imani, is played by Samantha Cole, who was Enchantress in Legends of Tomorrow last season, and was in Charmed just a couple of weeks ago as the corporate assistant who sympathized with Macy when she had an encounter with a racist executive. I think they're setting her up as a love interest for Ryan; there were some definite flirtation vibes there. Odd timing to set that up while she's worrying about Angelique, though.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

"Legal" isn't always moral, and "legit" is often defined by the powerful at the expense of the powerless. If the clinic were official and authorized, it would be hamstrung in its ability to help people who are already shut out by the rules of the medical system, a system designed more to promote insurance companies' profits than patient care.

I could see her disagreeing for those reasons but it seemed an odd place to hang "I will never forgive you".