Batwoman Recap With Spoilers: Everyone Searches for a Second Chance in "A Very Un-Birthday Present"
Now that we're safely in a post-'Crisis' world, The CW's Arrowverse of shows are definitely in new [...]
Now that we're safely in a post-"Crisis" world, The CW's Arrowverse of shows are definitely in new territory. While each show set up their own plot twists or turns, Batwoman shook things up in a pretty unexpected way. Last week's cliffhanger added a whole new layer to the dynamic between Kate Kane/Batwoman (Ruby Rose) and Elizabeth Kane/Alice (Rachel Skarsten) -- and now we know where things will go next. Here's what you need to know about this week's episode, "An Un-Birthday Present".
***
We pick up right where last week's episode left off, with Kate interrogating Beth's arrival. She nearly chokes Beth out, before Beth pepper sprays her and runs away. Kate confronts Sophie about Alice escaping, and learns that Mary also saw Beth.
Luke, Kate, and Mary inspect Beth's bag. Kate is able to unlock her phone, and finds a recent photo of herself and Beth. As Mary leaves, Kate tells Luke about experiencing the multiverse during "Crisis", and suggests that Beth is on Earth-Prime as a result of the multiverse being put back together.
Kate tracks Beth down to the playground they visited as kids, and apologizes for freaking out before. They hug. Kate takes Beth to her bar, where she explains the whole multiverse situation to her. Beth reveals that her Earth's Kate never had tattoos, but that a lot of elements of their lives are similar. Beth then mentions that a version of their car accident happened, but that Kate was able to save Beth from it.
Mouse sends a video to the Crows, revealing that he's kidnapped the sons of local politicians as hostages in exchange for Alice's release. The commissioner refuses to turn on Batwoman's batsignal for help because of her recent coming out, which leads Sophie to try to get through to Alice again.
Kate talks to Luke about saving the hostages, and debates whether or not she could have really saved Beth as a kid. She travels on her motorcycle to find the hostages, but it's hit by a Crows truck and she's kidnapped by Mouse. She wakes up locked in a car with the hostages. Mouse calls the Crows and tells her twice to release Alice -- which is code that she shouldn't do it.
Beth meets with Luke, who reveals that she's been kidnapped -- by her doppelganger. She tries to find a way to help, and ultimately decides to impersonate Alice, as a way to help save Kate. Mary helps Beth dress up as Alice, which triggers her to remember Catherine's death. Beth apologizes to her about what happened. Luke finds Kate's location, and Beth arrives, just as Kate and the hostages are about to be killed in the car. She tries to convince Mouse to release the hostages, but he argues that Kate doesn't deserve to live. He then realizes that Beth is impersonating Alice, and locks her in the trunk of the car.
Kate manages to escape and fights of the Wonderland gang, just as the car - which Beth is still locked in - is almost set on fire. Kate races to rescue Beth and the other hostages, and ultimately succeeds.
Protesters flood GCPD headquarters, advocating for the Batsignal to be turned back on. Kate suits up as Batwoman and visits the protest, and everyone cheers.
Mary and Luke throw Beth and Kate a surprise party. Mary tells Kate that she finally understands why she had fought to redeem Alice, and then suggests the existence of the multiverse. Kate and Beth both blow out candles on their cake -- just as both Beth and Alice start to get splitting headaches.
Other tidbits from the episode include:
- Sophie calls Jacob for advice on interrogating Alice. He argues that it's not worth it, and to just keep her quarantined until she goes to Arkham. Alice sits in interrogation, and remembers Mouse giving her a birthday present when they were kids. The present was a kitten, who Alice names after the Cheshire Cat. Dr. August gives Alice a candle to blow out for her birthday, and when she wishes to see her family again, August tells her that's never going to happen.
- Later, Alice asks Sophie for her copy of Alice in Wonderland, but Sophie continues to be hostile to her. She hints that a surprise birthday party is already being planned for her and Kate. She brings her Alice in Wonderland and explains how reading it helped her get through the horrors of August experimenting on Mouse. In a later flashback, August finds Alice's cat, and kills him in front of Alice and Mouse. He later shows Alice a newspaper of Jacob and Catherine's wedding, to prove to her that she's been forgotten by her birth family. He realizes that her sewing skills could be useful to experiment with grafting human skin onto Mouse. She manages to do it, and it forever changes her into Alice.
- Sophie sympathizes with Alice for what's happened to her, and she argues that Beth has not completely been lost. Alice disagrees and says that she lost herself after realizing that everyone had moved on from her. She continues to antagonize Sophie, leading to her being transported to Arkham. Sophie realizes that Alice disassembled her copy of Alice in Wonderland, and is using the twine to kill the guards transporting her. Alice holds Sophie at gunpoint, telling her that she's locked in her own personal cage, before leaving.
- Sophie tries to lock down the city to potentially find Alice and Mouse. Kate arrives, and they comfort each other. Sophie later visits Jacob, who advocates for hunting down and potentially killing Alice, if necessary.
Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.