Super Tuesday Recap: Batwoman S2E9 Review – Defund GCPD
Before Batwoman heads into another hiatus, Shanna, Ro, and Hiroja are back to talk about all the post-Coryana drama in Gotham.
Alice, who is apparently on a completely separate show, is stuck in a liminal space after learning that Kate is dead. Because the stages of grief are just guidelines, Alice decides she's going to skip right over them by telling her brain that she never had a sister. This should be interesting when Kate returns with a new face.
It's okay that Alice is having a full psychotic break because Black Mask AKA Roman Sionis (Peter Outerbridge) is here and he's our official big baddie of the season. Ryan has inherited his vendetta against Batwoman, the Crows, and GCPD, which kicks off when the False Face Gang shoots the police chief.
Angelique was driving the getaway car and Sophie's sister, Jordan, was the sole witness pulling Ryan and Sophie into the mix. Jordan (Keeya King) is an activist and community organizer so she presents an interesting moral dilemma for Sophie who is finally starting to realize that she may not be on the side of right. And, surprisingly, Jordan also challenges Ryan's image of Batwoman as a savior when she questions the "throw a Batarang, ask questions later" nature of what Batwoman does.
Right now Batwoman is settling into itself and despite some questionable glossing over of certain plot points (the Bat Team just has a desert rose plant now? We're not going to investigate how?) using characters like Jordan and villains like Black Mask to bring our character's issues to a head is exactly what this show needs.
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I’ve been LOOKING for this exact kind of recap/discussion. Everything y’all said: yes, yes, a million times yes!
This show has the potential to be great but their inability to let go of Kate is really been setting this season back. Instead of getting a deeper look into Ryan’s world/people/thoughts, we get hints, and then it’s right back to Kate. Don’t get me wrong, I did love me some Kate Kane, but (and I know she’s back but still)they needed to let her go, at least for a while, to better establish Ryan as Batwoman and also, just other characters in general. Like y’all said, certain characters(Jacob) should have been written out, or pushed to the background and others should have been brought to the forefront. Eg. Luke and Mary. For all the chemistry the new BatTeam has, sometimes L&M feel like glorified extras. I also agree on how they handle social issues. They do their best but it’s all race/crime 101. I know it’s a CW show and I’m not expecting any real tacking of issues or some in depth analysis, but damn, sometimes they really write themselves in corners. I was cautiously optimistic about the direction the show had taken, and it’s cool to see a gay black Batwoman kicking ass, but I do wonder how they plan to execute some of these new ideas they’re setting up. Because I fear they don’t have the range…. example, y’all mention how Sophie forgets she’s a Black woman many times and I agree, but I feel like it’s unintentional on the part of the writers, and not really purposeful commentary. I think the writers were just writing Sophie how they would have written any old white law abiding gun slinger woman, and in their ignorance, they accidentally touched on something. But maybe they have a plan going forward? We’ll see! Also, appreciate y’all for not falling into the Sophie/Ryan ship. Feels like everyone I know that watches this brings it up and it doesn’t make any sense to me. Like 1. Sophie is the feds, and 2. she don’t even LIKE Ryan like that. Like they’re cordial, but that’s it. Not seeing whatever sparks everyone else is, Ryan is still caught up in Angelique and her grimy games, and does seem to even clock Sophie as more than a Crow. Anyway, this episode was underwhelming; they yada-yada-yada’d things that needed to be addressed emphasized and things that could have been a sentence which culminated in a flat ending. But! I have hope that they’re still settling into what they want this show to be and that the second half will be better.
Thanks for the comment Lisa. I was over here snapping while I read it. So glad I’m not paying close attention to the Batwoman socials because Ryan and Sophie is the LAST ship I’m interested in.