Batwoman season 1, episode 20 review: O, Mouse!

Last week’s Batwoman harbored drama over the secret journal plus some zany villainy and this week’s finale is much the same, if dialed back.

Here we are, the season finale of Batwoman. Has it been a full season already? The year is going by quickly and halts to production everywhere shortened the season by two episodes so we are treated to an early resolution.

Episode 19 gave us Hush and all the gaga of Lucius Fox’s coded diary that made no sense. It also dug into Alice’s tenuous motivation which only makes sense because she is crazy. Otherwise, she is bratty and unappreciative of the golden opportunity given by ruling Arkham.

The possibilities of that gave us four open-world games everybody loves, but that’s another story.

Alice, Mouse, and Hush strike the same off-the-wall chord as before. Barely being in the ep, they affect and mangle very little, physically or narratively. The pieces though are still at play.

Gimme Back My Face

Hush is still a lackey to Alice but there’s less of that to behold, fortunately. He’s sick of the bandages and Alice finds him a new face because he complains and she takes pity. Again, he’s someone to be feared when done right. Alice should fix his face because she fears and respects him. Instead, she makes excuses for why she’d do him a favor.

Conversely, she has an ulterior motive that sets up Season 2 and gives us the return of Bruce Wayne (kind of). Warren Christie (Syfy’s Alphas, October Road) is the face of Wayne and may have a dual role depending on what happens. In any event, they aren’t shying away from Bruce like past series.

101 Ways to Kill the Bat and You Can Too

Alice and Mouse are back at it with the journal. It’s not the main plot thread and is undone anyway when she turns on him to “show him betrayal” or whatever.

Mouse has to be eliminated as some confusing means to an end – there it is with Alice’s motives again – but she still feels super bad about it. They think of anything to move her along.

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The real villain of the week is Tim ‘the Titan’ Teslow (Terrence Terrell) – an escaped convict and football player carrying around two machetes. Able to fight Kate and a few Crows to a standstill, he’s billed as dangerous but barely registers that way. He has cool blades, though.

But her father is the one Kate has to worry about. Jacob Kane wants to bring a war to Batwoman not knowing who she is under the mask. He and the Crows surround her and open fire because they can and, impressively, her suit and cape protect her as if she’s Supergirl. Kate is actually bulletproof.

That will leave the show’s critics shaking their heads but it’s one of the better reveals of this episode.

Magic Bullet

As unusual as it is to bring up Supergirl when talking about Kate’s sternly bullet-resistant armor, it’s not a coincidence; it’s a leitmotif. Like her Kryptonian BFF, the answer to piercing Batwoman’s armor is Kryptonite – one shard which Luke can destroy.

They treat it like a big deal. Mary even refers to the chunk of meteor rock as “the only thing that can kill” Kate. Jacob Kane even teases he will look for something strong enough to shoot Batwoman dead, making him look more like a jerk.

One problem, same as always: Kate is a normal person without the costume. She goes out on missions in plain clothes every week where nothing short of her wits prevents her from being hit by a stray bullet. And she has vulnerable spots when suited up, especially her face. This storyline does not work and shouldn’t really continue unless it starts making sense.

Looking Ahead

Swamp Thing on DC Universe was cut short too and had to be rewritten on the fly. Possibly the best and most intriguing show DC ever produced, its finale felt rushed and uneven with the rest of the series.

Batwoman’s season finale fares better. It doesn’t feel like they lost much ground and we get a nice cliffhanger. They are aiming higher for the second season. We know a crossover with Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) is coming and a little play at “World’s Finest” is always cool.

Sadly, we have to wait until 2021 to see how that works out. Until then, tell us your thoughts about Batwoman’s first season in the comments and on social media.