Batwoman season 2, episode 7 review: It’s Best You Stop Digging

It’s episode 7 of Batwoman season 2 and we traffic in spoilers. Kryptonite in Ryan’s brain, she feels her life and chance at revenge slipping away.

Two weeks ago on Batwoman season 2’s latest episode, Ryan and friends failed to learn the meaning of “Do not resuscitate,” although they succeeded in finding out the secret of a forged painting was a map to a place Kate might be and Alice has already been. The map’s in the hands of bad guys, but it’s Sophie and the Crows that really want it.

They will need it too because Ryan is running out of time. She heals old wounds when it’s that new one caused by a Kryptonite bullet that’s going to kill her. A special flower from said place, Coryana, could save her, but they may not get to it in time.

And, unfortunately, this week in the seventh episode of the Arrowverse show’s season, “It’s Best You Stop Digging”, Ryan is too blindly consumed with avenging, or rather revenging, her mom.

Dishes served cold and bloody in Batwoman season 2

It can be confirmed Ryan is willing to break Batman’s one flimsy rule. The thing is her slaying of Alice plays out in her head for the most part. Kryptonite enters her brain, kicking her vertigo hallucinations up a notch, to the point all she can see is her mom bleeding and Alice taunting her.

Ensuing folly of pursuing Ocean leads to her falling out a window and onto a car. Luke and Mary scramble to save her from being arrested but can’t get her to lie down and recuperate. Ryan, finding a second wind, is too driven to take Alice out for good.

She should wait until they’ve cured her Kryptonite poisoning but delivers an impassioned speech to Mary about why ending the threat of Alice is so important. It’s easier to understand Ryan’s position here, and she makes a good point – even if she breaks the Bat’s code by trying to live up to the symbol.

Only when she confronts Alice does Ryan realize it isn’t a good idea. Despite clear, sympathetic motives, she is too injured and unprepared. Oh, and she reaches the conclusion she can’t lower herself to the level of her enemies. Now she’s thinking like a Caped Crusader.

Go Get that map

The episode begins with Jacob Kane swearing to Sophie they’re going to get that map, which Soph did such a banger of a job keeping out of the hands of the pharmaceutical mad doctors that had guns on her.

Well, the thieves are discovered dead – executed to be exact and hooked up to IVs in a bloodstained board room – shortly after being identified, so that lead goes cold. The return of Kate Kane, and maybe Ruby Rose with it, will have to wait.

Although it’s not a huge part of the episode and things on the Crows front tie up a little too conveniently, Dougray Scott puts a good deal of earnestness and believability into the material, which the guy who almost was Wolverine doesn’t get enough credit for.

Oceans Apart

On that note, as so often stated here, you can’t dismiss Rachel Skarsten when you think of the best performances in Batwoman. Her Alice gives the show a great foil and generous portions of attitude.

Before she and Ryan meet head-on, Alice does her own digging into the mystery of her erased memory and connection with Ocean. Them hitting it off was a problem, she finds, but the real kerfuffle was an unforeseen love triangle including Safiyah. Her fondness of Alice was why she trained the lost girl to be so dangerous in the first place.

This remains the most intriguing plot thread and will be the focus when Batwoman returns next week.

Did you dig Sunday night’s episode, “It’s Best You Stop Digging”? Give us your reactions below and stay posted for our next episode review.