Weekly TV Reviews: Batwoman s2 ep8

 

We may have seen a spoiler for this episode after missing it. So let's dive in and see what happens. The episode opens with Ryan writing to Kate about being afraid to live, Alice writing to Kate about the day is the day she plans to kill her, with the two letters cutting between each other. Interesting contrast between the two showing Ryan thank Kate for how she turned her into a warrior and set her free while Alice tells her that she locked her up again. 

1.) The Race To Find Kate

Ryan makes a risky move to get herself ready to save Kate while Alice has her own plan and Luke goes to Sophie to set her on the path to find her. While Luke, Ryan, and Mary watched, Sophie and Jacob were abducted. Ryan gifts Mary her plant that was a gift for her mom in the event that she doesn't make it back from the island. Jacob and Sophie were taken to the island where she gets an offer from Safiya to join a different army. Ryan works up the nerve to jump out of a plane where she parachutes in on the island. The race to find Kate has different components with Jacob and Sophie against Alice whose against Ryan, all to see who finds her first. Mary and Luke are taking care of things from Gotham, keeping an eye on her, only to lose signal and leaving Batwoman on her own. 

Safiyah maybe the big bad for this season but we have to admit the woman has style with her own island, army, and elegance. Ryan gets there just in time to out Alice's plan to fool Safiyah while Jacob and Sophie manage to escape. The season started with the mystery of Kate's disappearance and this episode is finally bringing it full circle. Ryan gets a choice: the flower or Kate. And much to Alice's surprise, she chooses the flower to cure herself. This episode has a lot of moving parts while staying primarily on the island and several characters that have their own agendas. In a twist, Safiyah tracks Ocean down and drags him to the island for Alice to have a choice. If she's to get Kate back, she has to kill Ocean first. The real Ocean. 

Mary and Luke are left in Gotham without any idea what's happening on the island. Mary has been a favorite from the start and every second with her is a win. And she and Luke make for a fantastic duo. We love every second they're together, and seeing them team up against one of Safiyah's assassins is hilarious. Mary's determined to keep Ryan's plant safe ... going from spritzing it with water to smashing it over the head of their attacker. The funniest moment of the episode is Luke and Mary arguing over getting the plant from the unconscious attacker and it's a not-to-be-missed exchange of dialogue. Mary proceeding to push the attacker over with the lamp while Luke lifts her up so Mary can grab the plant is easily the funniest thing we've ever seen. Luckily for them, Julia shows up just in time to help them by throwing a knife right into their attacker. Julia arrives with news that they found body parts off the coast which she said were run through DNA and is a match for Kate's just as Alice learns from Safiyah that she never had Kate. 

Alice makes a choice. She chooses her sister over Ocean so ends up stabbing him just as Safiyah wanted and much to the heartbreak that it comes with. On the bright side, Alice has decided that she doesn't want to kill her sister anymore.... and we hope that remains true. Batwoman gets a moment to express that she doesn't believe Alice will kill her sister and discovers that Safiyah has a different plan in mind for Alice. The actions of Safiyah are the first time we really see her in the VILLAIN category and though, she's been a threat this whole time this was the first time she's been truly threatening. And then, we see that Safiyah just wanted Alice to choose over Ocean not to kill him and uses this to prove that 'Alice doesn't have feelings for him.' 

In a twist, Safiyah discovers that Tatiana is the one that is behind everything in order to get rid of Alice and her disloyalty costs her. Safiyah stabs her in the chest and declares she'll pull the knife out (thus letting her live) when she decides to forgive her. Meanwhile, Alice makes a bold move against Safiyah by setting the desert rose garden on fire so that they can both have nothing. Sophie finds Batwoman dying against a rock as the roses are set on fire and Sophie gets the news that Kate is dead. Hope isn't lost! As Luke and Mary figure out that the plant that she's been keeping safe is none other than a desert rose. The last shot of the episode is of Kate's body... which came with the reveal that the role has officially been recast. 

Quotes:

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm the one that practices without a medical license around here." - Mary

"God forbid the bat gear to go unoccupied for five minutes." - Alice

"You are a monster!" - Alice; "And I created you. So what does that make you?" - Safiyah