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Spoilers Batwoman - Season 2

Batwoman
Season 2 - Episode 12 - "Initiate Self-Destruct"

Luke Fox:
Luke was right--of course--Wilder's responsibility is to the Bat-legacy (i.e. protecting the city), not chasing after her criminal ex. But the BW writers are never going to have BW act like a rational person, so she runs straight into danger and disregards the fact that she's close to being exposed by DNA analysis, and instead of putting her head together with Luke (and Sophie) about a contingency plan, she dumps that responsibility on everyone else. Boy, how that "Rule #1" was quickly flushed down the toilet.

Jacob / Sophie: Jacob: "You think a little fling with my daughter five years ago gives you permission to tell me how to do my job?" Some might say his reply was the drug talking, but with few mental barrier to prevent him from acting out, one would believe he was telling Sophie something he's always believed.

Sophie--while trying to remove evidence of using his computer--discovers empty syringes in Jacob's trash can, leading her to warn a disbelieving Mary....

Roman Sionis/Black Mask and NuKate: Enigma: has brainwashed Kate into believing she's Roman's dead daughter "Circe"--who is sent to kill Batwoman. The problem with this little sub-plot is that Circe should not be able to access (recall) any of Kate's skills, and Roman never said his real daughter ever had combat training....


BW/Alice / Ocean:
Waking up in bed with Ocean, Alice tries to sneak out, but is confronted and subdued (taser) by False Face thugs, who promptly attack and kidnap Ocean, leading Alice to partner with BW to find the location where Ocean--and presumably Angelique--are being held. While luring False Face henchmen away, Alice and BW try amateur psychoanalysis on each other, leading to mutual irritation. Being petty for what Alice said about her interest in Angelique, BW handcuffs Alice to a pole outside, promising to tell Ocean who Alice "really is" (as if he did not know...). But, it is Alice who frees herself to save BW's frightened rear, which was being handed to her by Circe (answering the question about who had the superior skills--Kate or Wilder), but the moment Circe overpowers Alice and begins to strangle her, BW--in one of the most immoral acts ever seen by a filmed so-called "superhero"--ignores Alice's pleas for help, leaving her to be killed.

Circe spares Alice, delivering her to Roman, who has other things in store for her...

NOTES:

Mary just shot her own pride to pieces by doing what Jacob offered to do and make the clinic legitimate, hiring certified doctors and nurses and bringing the facility up to code. So much for her whining that she could only help people her way by going the uncertified route.

So, Wilder leaving Alice to be murdered makes her the complete opposite of a hero, but the showrunners seem to think her behavior is A-OK, ending her part of the episode with Wilder being perfectly content to focus on her love life with Angelique...until the latter decides to leave Gotham.One can argue that BW was "justified" in leaving Alice to--what she believed--would be her death, but she supposed to have grown to rise above the desire for revenge (re: her mother), especially something as immoral as watching and relishing someone being killed--and yes, she did believe Alice was going to die. You know...that hero business and the costumed identity she's adopted.

With Ocean free and assuming Alice was kidnapped, I would like to see him be instrumental in stopping Roman and nit return to be unceremoniously killed off.


GRADE: C.
 
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I guess Ryan won't be keeping the shield now or does this fall under the bat-rule of "I won't kill you but I don't have to save you"?
 
Interesting that Sophie didn't tell any of the Bat-team that she knows Ryan's identity. But then, she should know a thing or two about respecting someone's right to come out on their own terms.

So this was Wallis Day's debut as Kate. With the mask on and her hair styled like Kate's, she was pretty darn convincing as the same person. Although it's a shame to hide Day's stunning beauty behind a mask.

Alice and Batwoman make a surprisingly fun team.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the gargoyles on the Bat-Signal rooftop are based on John Tenniel's illustrations of the Gryphon and Mock Turtle from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Assuming this is the GCPD building, that's kind of incongruous, given how many Lewis Carroll-themed supervillains Gotham City has hosted. Come to think of it, are there any Lewis Carroll-themed superheroes?


The problem with this little sub-plot is that Circe should not be able to access (recall) any of Kate's skills, and Roman never said his real daughter ever had combat training....

He did say that she was in Arkham, though, so she was a criminal. (Perhaps the real Circe died in the big Elseworlds breakout and that's why Sionis blames Batwoman Mark I for her death.) And why would "Circe" have had those special knives if they weren't already her trademark weapon?


Mary just shot her own pride to pieces by doing what Jacob offered to do and make the clinic legitimate, hiring certified doctors and nurses and bringing the facility up to code. So much for her whining that she could only help people her way by going the uncertified route.

Yet she also made it clear that she'd use the unplugged fax machine as an excuse to avoid reporting her cases to the police, which was the main thing she objected to. Obviously she'd have nothing against making her medical clinic a cleaner and safer place, so she didn't compromise anything there, and she only gave the token appearance of conforming to the part she objected to. So she didn't really give up a thing.
 
So, I was trying to remember: We didn't see the real Circe last season, did we?

Funny that that Alice describes herself as an "antihero." Um, I hate it break to it to you, Alice, but you're a villain. A villain with a tragic past, but . . ..
 
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So, I was trying to remember: We didn't see the real Circe last season, did we?

No, we didn't see any members of the Sionis family. We never learned Circe's given name until this week; as of this writing, the Arrowverse Wiki entry for her still hasn't been retitled from "Roman Sionis's daughter."

If you meant the real real Circe, i.e. the Ancient Greek sorceress, I wondered if we might've seen her on Legends, but apparently not. DC Circe's only screen appearances to date have been in Justice League Unlimited and Justice League Action. The Siren (Joan Collins) in Batman '66 went by Lorelei Circe, though it's ambiguous whether that was her real name or an alias.
 
Batwoman
Season 2 - Episode 13 - "I'll Give You a Clue"

Luke Fox / Wilder/BW / Jacob / Mary / Sophie:
Five years ago, a criminal called the Cluemaster was beginning 13 life sentences, after being caught due to Sophie solving one of his clues--or rather, she took credit for someone else solving it, but she still accepted a promotion to field agent, though unqualified. Present day: he escapes, leading Sophie (along with Wilder and Mary), on a hunt for the remedy (antihistamine) for a woman who turns out to be his daughter (Stephanie) locked in a glass cage, begging to be freed. After she is freed by shooting targets connected to the cage's locks (and asserting her military marksmanship over the chest-pumping doubts of Wilder), Stephanie exposed her back and arms--defaced with clues written by her father.

Wilder, Mary and Sophie Luke's help with the clues (and subsequently teasing him for flirting with Stephanie, who tries to lord it over Luke by bragging that she attended MIT), but she's not the helpless victim, hitting Luke in the head, rendering him unconscious. Her motives were not malicious, but trying to stop her father from his latest, murderous scheme.

Luke eventually comes to, finishes deciphering the clues and races to rescue Stephanie--now trapped in a car with Cluemaster, who intends to kill himself & his daughter (presumably with the car's exhaust fumes). Luke frees both, leaving Stephanie to wonder how Luke uncovered the last clue; Luke tells her just because he did not attend MIT does not mean he did not get in (SEE NOTES). Stephanie kisses Luke, parting that she does not have to give him her number, because he's smart enough to figure it out.

After being led into a trap at the abandoned set of an old game show--with Wilder and Mary standing on a pressure plate (wired to explosives) meant for Sophie, Sophie grows tired of the back and forth, reveals she knows Wilder is Batwoman and presses her to help. Wilder sends her to the Batcave to retrieve one of her grappling devices, which saves Wilder & Mary from the triggered explosive.

Jacob is still using his drug of choice, imagining he sees his daughters as children playing on a park swing. The showrunners are playing his misplaced guilt out for some time, and unless NuKate recovers her memory and makes herself known to him, he would have little reason to stop burying his troubles in the drug, which leads to his overdose. He's rushed to Mary's clinic (SEE NOTES) convulsing, then coding....

Roman Sionis/Black Mask and NuKate aka Circe: Alice is tortured to learn the identity of Batwoman; she resists, at least at first. As the torture device's blade slides under her fingernail, Alice decides to free herself by letting the blade rip her nail off. Once free, she calls Jacob--of all people--and begs him to trace her phone and come to the rescue. Jacob--still living in his drug-induced fantasy, dismisses her pleas and hangs up. Circe knocks her out...

Later, Sionis threatens to kill Alice, but the psychopath buys her safety by promising to use her skills with skin to give Circe a new face. As Alice prepares to attach the fact to Circe, Alice says she knows Circe is not who she says she is, as the real Circe was trampled to death during a breakout at Arkham several years ago...and notes that she has blue eyes, unlike the photo of the real Circe.

The second Alice attaches the face, she is shocked, whispering that Circe has "our father's eyes"--finally identifying her as....Kate.

NOTES:


Luke tells Stephanie that he was accepted at MIT, but did not attend; I would like to know what prevented him from going (if his father's death was not a factor). I'd also like to see Stephanie be more than a one-and-done character, since she definitely has an interest in Luke.

Plot Convenience 101: So, the people who found Jacob thought to contact the clinic instead of just calling 911? This showrunners are really desperate to suggest no one trusts established sources of help, so it gives a sense of importance to Mary's clinic.

Next week, Luke, Wilder and Sophie are arrested. I suppose the episode will comment on the criminal justice system's mistreatment of black people--which should be interesting, as it should illustrate how any black person--including those with no criminal record (Luke and Sophie) cannot escape from being subjected to the same abuses.

GRADE: C+
 
I'd also like to see Stephanie be more than a one-and-done character, since she definitely has an interest in Luke.

Stephanie Brown is a fairly major character in the Batman comics. At times she has filled in as both Batgirl AND Robin, but she usually goes by the alias, "Spoiler," because she started out spoiling Cluemaster's schemes. One suspects they would wouldn't throw her away in a one-and-done appearance, given that she's been an established member of the Bat-Family for decades now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Brown_(character)
 
So they’ve established Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Mr.Freeze, Nora, The Iceberg Lounge as well as Black Panther and Iron Man!
 
I remember the Black Panther reference, but what was the Iron Man reference?
Stephanie's clues:
I'm smarter than my king. My technology protects Wakanda.
You think it'd be as easy as kissing a frog.
I woke a monster by reading from the book of the dead.
I helped lay an iron giant to rest.
As smart as I'm mighty, the chosen one still gets all the credit.
Shuri, Tiana, Evie, Pepper, Hermione
 
Stephanie's clues:
I'm smarter than my king. My technology protects Wakanda.
You think it'd be as easy as kissing a frog.
I woke a monster by reading from the book of the dead.
I helped lay an iron giant to rest.
As smart as I'm mighty, the chosen one still gets all the credit.
Shuri, Tiana, Evie, Pepper, Hermione

And Hermione would be a Harry Potter reference?
 
And of course one of Stephanie Brown's first lines is "Spoiler alert!" Which is what I said to myself a few minutes earlier when they found her in the box. And of course she's wearing purple.

Kinda fun to do a "girls' night out" episode with very little time spent in the Bat-suit. Although I wonder why Sophie and Ryan were so cool with letting Mary come with them into probable danger. On the other hand, it's kind of weird that our heroines don't actually stop Cluemaster; he stops himself by attempting suicide, and Luke is technically the one who apprehends him.

If Cluemaster's arrest was five years ago, that would make it about a year after Batman disappeared, which would explain why nobody in Gotham was able to solve his riddle. (Although that leaves me wondering about the status of Dick, Barbara, etc.)

I find it implausible that the Batcave has no security system beyond the secret panel in the bookcase.
 
Where did the rest of the "old guard" go, then?

Good question. I'd guess Dick relocated to Bludhaven. Maybe Barbara is a Congresswoman now. No telling how many other Robins there were and what happened to them.

I'm intrigued by Ryan saying that the Penguin owns the Iceberg Lounge, present tense. Meaning he could potentially appear on the show.


That clue-tattoo bit left me really alienated against Arthur Brown.

Did they say it was a tattoo, as opposed to just marker ink? I think she said she discovered the writing when she woke up that morning. If it had been tattoos, wouldn't her skin have still been irritated and red?

Either way, though, I see what you mean, since the writing clearly went some way down her chest, at least.
 
Stephanie Brown is a fairly major character in the Batman comics. At times she has filled in as both Batgirl AND Robin, but she usually goes by the alias, "Spoiler," because she started out spoiling Cluemaster's schemes. One suspects they would wouldn't throw her away in a one-and-done appearance, given that she's been an established member of the Bat-Family for decades now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Brown_(character)
I know about her comic background, but this series does not have the best record of establishing characters and building on them (Julia comes to mind, even after several appearances on the show). That, and I'm looking at the fact that part of her 1st series appearance also had her interested in Luke, and so far, if you remove the sub-plot about his father and the Crows, he's had no real personal life explored, which made me wonder if Stephanie--despite her clear romantic interest in Luke--might end up as part of his neglected personal life by the showrunners.

So they’ve established Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Mr.Freeze, Nora, The Iceberg Lounge as well as Black Panther and Iron Man!

So, in this world, Marvel is all fiction. If memory serves, I think a Marvel character was mentioned in season one.
 
The first place my mind went with those references is that I'm surprised Tobias hasn't thrown some Wakandas into his insults to Black Lightning.
 
So, in this world, Marvel is all fiction. If memory serves, I think a Marvel character was mentioned in season one.

They've made a bunch of Marvel movie references on The Flash and other shows. In Crisis on Earth-X, at the reception before Barry's wedding, there was a long conversation about giving Jax spider-powers and how they'd be different from Spider-Man's.
 
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