Before we dive head-first into the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, each of The CW’s solo shows are wrapping up storylines or facing off against pivotal foes. That has proved to especially be the case for Batwoman, which saw the season-long song-and-dance between Kate Kane/Batwoman (Ruby Rose) and Elizabeth Kane/Alice (Rachel Skarsten) reach a tipping point. Throughout the episodes thus far, fans have seen the proverbial puzzle that made Alice the antagonist she is today, which made her “Mad Tea-Party” in this week’s episode both understandable and emotional. For one character, Alice’s master plan also proved to be surprisingly deadly. Spoilers for this week’s mid-season finale of Batwoman, “A Mad Tea-Party”, below! Only look if you want to know!
Videos by ComicBook.com
The episode saw Alice attempting to enact her wrath on the Kane family, which began to take shape more and more as the episode went on. Alice had Mouse (Sam Littlefield) impersonate Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott) for a lengthy amount of time, culminating in him, Mary Hamilton (Nicole Kang) and Catherine Hamilton-Kane (Elizabeth Anweis) heading to a benefit in Gotham City. While on the ride to the event, Mouse-as-Jacob gave Catherine and Mary champagne, which later proved to backfire in a major way.
The benefit saw Catherine giving a speech about her work in Gotham City, only for the teleprompter to be hijacked by Alice, who was in the crowd. Catherine was forced to admit that her company was selling weapons to Gotham’s supervillains and that Jacob’s work in The Crows was profiting off of this cycle as well. By the end of it, Catherine’s nose began to bleed, and she passed out.
Backstage in the theater, Mary came to her mother’s side, as did Alice. Alice revealed that the champagne had been laced with a biochemical engineered by Catherine’s company — but that she had the antidote, in the form of a tea made from a Red Lotus from Coryana, which she would only give if Catherine apologized for faking Beth’s death as a child. Catherine eventually gave an emotional apology — just as Mary began to show symptoms of the same poisoning. This complicated things, as there was only enough of the antidote to help one person.
Catherine eventually convinced Mary to drink the antidote, and they remained by each other’s side as Catherine’s condition grew worse. Catherine eventually succumbed to the poison and died, something that Mary was clearly distraught about.
Catherine’s death certainly adds a dark new twist to the world of Batwoman, in part because her work at Hamilton Dynamics seemed to be an interesting potential adversary for Kate’s time as a superhero. It’s clear that the moment also deeply impacted both Mary and Kate — and gave the former her own sort of dark, Bruce Wayne-like origin story.
“It was in a theater, right? And then it was backstage and it felt operatic, it felt like this symphony, it felt like it all came to a [head] and then it became very, very quiet. It was theatrical in this way that many, many… comic book lore [have done] before me,” Kang told ComicBook.com of comparisons to Bruce Wayne watching his parents get murdered. “It just feels significant and it’s more than just this person, that it is this person in this family in Gotham from this comic, in a Batman comic. That I signed so significant, and yeah, and that’s why it has to be handled with care, and if we were going to do it, we were going to really do it.”
“But I got to say, Bruce seems to snap into Batman and really figure it out,” Kang continued. “Mary is in shock and denial and she’s going to… Her journey is long and she doesn’t even know Batwoman’s identity. So I think she’s more… she’s #relatable. I mean, she’s a citizen of Gotham, and potentially she’s having an experience that many people have had, losing someone very close to them at the hands of Alice. This time, just as an audience, it has significant ramifications. So I think it shows how villainous Alice is.”
What do you think of Catherine’s death on Batwoman? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.
