S01.E19: A Secret Kept From All the Rest

[Trini]

When members of Gotham's intelligentsia begin disappearing, Commander Kane, Sophie and the Crows go searching for the newest homicidal threat to the city. In the meantime, Kate is consumed with someone's betrayal and starts questioning the loyalty of everyone around her just when she needs them most. So when Luke and Julia (guest star Christina Wolfe) go missing, Batwoman must rely on Mary and a former foe to deploy her rescue mission. Meanwhile, Alice enlists Tommy Elliot (guest star Gabriel Mann) to help acquire an elusive item that her sister also seeks.

Greg Beeman directed the episode written by Jerry Shandy and Kelly Larson (#119).

Airdate: 5/10/2020

[bettername2come]

Well, I called Luke getting kidnapped. What on earth was Kate thinking trying to do this without Luke? He's been there every step of the way. She's the CW superhero least capable of working without her sidekick. So her hugging him and saying "There is no Batwoman without Luke Fox" made me happy. 

I was happy to see the crowdfunding reformed teen villain again. Mary's frustration at being the last to know is still amusing.

Kryptonite? The secret to killing Batwoman is Kryptonite?

[quarks]

1. That Kryptonite reference (especially combined with what happened on Supergirl this evening) strongly suggests that we got robbed of a possible Kate/Kara moment for the finale. 

😞

2. Rachel Maddow is still having a blast, I see.

3. Also loved Mary's indignation that a teen villain got to know Batwoman's secret first.

4. And the trio of Hush, Alice and Mouse. Deeply unstable, but hilarious while it lasted. I particularly loved both Hush and Mouse attempting to act as voices of reason.

5. Did not love Jacob's failure to realize that his arrival at Arkham was the final trigger point for making everything go bam! I mean, not that things were exactly going awesomely before that point, 

6. But for the first time, felt a pang of sympathy for Mouse. I mean, you go through all that effort to get showers, three meals a day AND the chance to lead group therapy sessions for bad guys only to find yourself in sewers again? Yeah, that sucks.

7. Luke Fox at the end: "I was only gone FIVE HOURS!" And that, Luke, is why you can't leave. Team Bats falls apart without you. 

[thuganomics85]

Fun way to bring back Parker for this episode.  Cracked up over both Mary ("Some random hacker girl knew you were Batwoman before me?!") and Luke's ("I'm gone for five hours and you had to resort to her aid!") reactions to that.  Obviously, I doubt Kate is going to want to keep putting a teenager in harm's way going forward, but I wouldn't mind seeing her show back up every now and then.

Glad they didn't drag out Kate and Luke's conflict, and are already on better terms now.  There was even a hug!  Aww!

Credit where credit is due: Julia might be a shady individual, but she certainly knows how to withstand electric torture and even risk death to protect those she cares for.  Didn't recognize the name of whoever she use to work for, but it certainly sounds like she is someone who shouldn't be messed with.  But at least it sounds like Julia is no longer going to be affiliated with her.  Unless this is another twist...

Yep, the love triangle between Kate/Julia/Sophie has started!  Hopefully it won't be too overdramatic.

I love how Alice makes crazies like Mouse and Tommy Elliott/Hush almost seem normal, with them being all "Hey, maybe we shouldn't be trying to rock the boat now!" or "Hey, maybe we could actually get answers if you didn't just kill our prisoners at the thirty minute mark!" about her plans.  Classic Alice!

Jacob's obsessive vendetta against Batwoman is so going to end up doing more harm than good.  I have to think this is leading to Alice or another criminal pulling off a horrific act, thanks to him and the Crows messing things up.  Dammit, Jacob!

According to Lucius' notebook, Kryptonite might be what can kill Kate?!  Is she somehow Kryptonian?  Hmm....

I'm guessing next week's finale is going to be another one that wasn't intended to be the season finale, so I'm curious to see how the season will be wrapped up.

[quarks]

Meant to add: 

Every security person out there: Please don't use social security numbers as part of your security system or password.

Lucius Fox: I, the major genius who outfitted Batman and created a security system for Wayne Enterprises that can withstand bombs and created a nearly uncrackable code....will use a social security number as my codebreaker thing.

[possibilities]

I don't get why you'd need kryptonite to kill Kate. A regular bullet would do it, as Mouse suggested.

Jacob is just looking dim right now. Mary is definitely not the last to know....

Sophie was so obviously disappointed when Kate didn't ask her to keep it platonic with Julia, I guess we're going to have another story about UST where everyone on the show and watching it knows what's going on and the two (not)involved partners are the only ones who either don't know or lack the guts to do anything about it. WHY?? TV writers, PLEASE learn how to write actual relationships, so we don't have to watch adult characters act like clueless tweens.

 

 

[Lantern7]

Was next week's finale in the original plan? Was there supposed to be twenty episodes? I'll admit that the pandemic and quarantine make me feel less invested in plots these days. At least Batwoman is entertaining.

What's that? Modern-day asylums probably don't use shock therapy like a budget electric chair? This is Arkham Asylum, so Mouse can zap geniuses to his heart's content. Alice is still HPIC (Head Psycho In Charge), so she gets to gnaw on more scenery that Mouse and Tommy.

And thank you, Lucius Fox, for staying alive long enough to watch Spider-Man: Far From Home and swiping Tony Stark's snazzy secret decoder glasses. Turns out Tommy didn't have to fry Julia's brains in order to "encourage" Luke to figure out his father's code.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Lantern7

[quarks]

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Was next week's finale in the original plan? Was there supposed to be twenty episodes? I'll admit that the pandemic and quarantine make me feel less invested in plots these days. At least Batwoman is entertaining.

The original episode order was for 22 episodes. Batwoman was only able to film 20 episodes. Batwoman rewrites on set, so they probably could have done some last minute tinkering to give the episode more of a finale "feel" - but bringing in Melissa Benoist for a last minute cameo appearance was probably impossible, especially since Benoist would have been scrambling to finish filming her own show.

(This assumes, of course, that I'm correct about some sort of initial plan to have Benoist make an appearance in the season finale. Possibly not, even with the setups in last night's episodes of both shows.) 

[Featherhat]

I enjoyed that, although it did feel like set up for a finale that might never properly come. 

I did feel a little sorry for Mouse with his 3 meal a day and group being his "Wonderland" but it was never Alice's. Not too much because he has done and continues to do terrible things to other people. Them and Hush were a fun(!) group this ep. Alice is way too "I wanna kill Batwoman!" Sure you do honey. 

I liked that CJ is continuing to get more screentime and scenes with different characters than he had is 1A, and that the show is allowing he and Kate to have disagreements and fallings out as well. Although this was also so they could bring back Parker and have her and Mary interact. Which was hilarious. I love that Mary got a little indigent that some random teenager found out Kate was Batwoman before her. And I enjoyed a meta of Parker and Mary on the Kate/Sophie/Julia love triangle, even though I was rolling my eyes because yeah writers we get it.

Speaking of, I do like this triangle much better than Kate/Sophie/Husband but it's still really screwed up and I don't think any of these people should actually be together right now. Of course they went with the "I just want you to be happy, it's fine to date my ex (even though it really isn't)!" And Sophie was probably hoping Kate would say of course not, don't date my ex because I want to get back together. TV writers always fall back on the least interesting and most frustrating clichés to play out. And Reagan, you can't sleep with a girl and steal for her for your sister and then be "Oh but I did really like you!" No dice. 

Jacob not only is your Batwoman obsession blinding you to the good she's doing and actively stopping you apprehending the bad guys instead, it's also going to end up destroying everything if you're not careful. I would say on some level he has to guess it's Kate and in huge denial about it, that's why he's not thinking clearly and going with "Stop her, stop her stop her!" Even with the kill order. But Arrowverse is hinky when it comes to people knowing but not knowing and several times it's been true surprise and anger when it should have been "oh, yeah that makes sense".  

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Featherhat

[RobertDeSneero]

A little green rock?  Well, Kara did tell Kate to keep the kryptonite during Crisis....

Was Kate telling the truth when she said she didn't recognize the name of Safiyah Sohail?  How explosive would it be for team chemistry if it turns out that was lying?

[tennisgurl]

So is Kate part Kryptonian or something? Pretty sure that just a regular rock fired from a regular gun could work on Kate, not sure why it needs to be glowing green, unless Alice decided to go screw with Kara to shake things up. 

Rachel Maddow is clearly still having a ball. I was glad to see Parker back again, and Marys indignation at some seemingly random teenager knowing that Kate was Batwoman before her. And we see that the Batcave isn't just named that to sound cool, it is a literal cave filled with actual bats that like to swoop around dramatically from time to time. I am glad that Mary found the sunglasses though, she seemed so upset that she couldn't contribute much, and while super on the nose, the meta commentary as Parker and Mary talked about the love triangle as they watched Sophie and Julia on the screen was funny. I cant imagine Kate would want a teenager around permanently given that she would be in danger, but I would be good with seeing Parker again. Of course, cousin Bruce had more than one teen in his superhero internship program, so who knows? 

I figured pretty quickly that this would go badly for Luke, and like damn, Julia might be on the sketchy side, but she is pretty hard core. Electro shock? No big deal, screw you. I am glad that Kate and Luke made up quickly, and they even hugged! Oh Luke, you cant leave the Batcave, this whole operation falls apart without you within minutes! Of all of the Arrowverse heroes, Kate is probably one of the ones who is least likely to get by without her tech support. "There is no Batwoman without Luke Fox." Luke feeling like he cant live up to his dads intelligence is so sad, although even Lucious fell into that classic trap of using numbers connected to them or their family! 

You know Alice has gone even further off the deep end when Hush and Mouse are actually sounding like the voices of reason. It is really quite sad that the best Mouse has ever had it was at Arkham Asylum of all places, and now he is back in the sewers again because Alice still wants to get back at Kate and her family. Alice keeps slipping further and further down the crazy train, but thats what happens when you sent to Arkham so thats probably to be expected. Yeah, maybe brain frying anyone who can solve your code to death before they can actually do the thing you want them to do isn't the best way to get what you want?

As much as Jacob is worried that Batwoman and Alice are going to develop a Batman/Joker super rivalry murder soulmates thing that leaves countless cops and civilians dead, I feel like, ironically, its Jacobs obsession with stopping Batwoman that is going to end up getting people hurt or killed. 

At least the love triangle between Kate/Sophie/Julia is better than the one between Kate, Sophia and her husband, but I am not generally a fan of love triangles, especially rather early in the show, so while I dont hate this, I dont really like it either. Kate might say that this is cool, but Sophie should know that its not. 

[Rushmoras]

Why Kryptonite is needed to kill the Bat? A well placed shot to the uncovered face area serves just as well, but that will not happen, cause the main character has a terminal disease called Plot Armour, which extends to villains as well, who act stupid and, if having guns, only shoot the armoured parts. No worries, this is a syndrome of 95 percent of series/movies. That being said... why Kryptonite, though?

[mrspidey]

Couldn't help but recognize "Order of St. Duma" when we got a glimpse of Alice seeing the translated code.

Does this mean we're gonna get Azrael at some point?

[Maverick]

Safir is the same person Alice was revealed to be working for way back before Crisis.  Is this a canon character?

 I assume kryptonite is needed as a power source for some weapon that can kill a Bat. 

[Starry]

I think regular bullets won't work on Batwoman because they need something that can pierce the suit. It may seem nonsensical but I'll chalk it up to comic book logic. What I don't understand is why they are looking for Kryptonite specifically. My first reaction to that twist was "wrong show!".

Kate's stubborness about Luke could have had deadly consequences. Their hug was super sweet though.

Sophie and Julia were getting closer but it was premature of Kate to claim that they were dating. I don't think Sophie had to ask for her permission even though she was probably hoping she'd have a problem with that.

Mary and Parker's commentary was hilarious. Last week I was skeptical but I loved how Mary was used here.

I liked the Alice, Mouse and Hush trio.

I have to say this show has been a pleasant surprise. I've been enjoying every episode lately.

[quarks]

13 minutes ago, Rushmoras said:

Why Kryptonite is needed to kill the Bat? A well placed shot to the uncovered face area serves just as well, but that will not happen, cause the main character has a terminal disease called Plot Armour, which extends to villains as well, who act stupid and, if having guns, only shoot the armoured parts. No worries, this is a syndrome of 95 percent of series/movies. That being said... why Kryptonite, though?

That's why I think that this was meant as a setup for a Kara crossover. Because given all of hte other quasi-scientific superenergy sources/major weapons in the Arrowverse, the only need for Kryptonite that I can think of is to create a plot connection with Supergirl. 

 

[Trini]

LOL at Mouse being the sanest out of the three psychos!

Did Kate at least put a tracker on those glasses?? She really needed backup and/or a plan B + C; but all her best helpers were literally tied up.

Poor Mary! Also poor Luke; all these women finding out the secrets he's trying to keep!

Alice, Alice, Alice. You gotta learn that insisting on killing a Bat 'with flair' only hampers your goals.

Kryptonite?? Interesting - but will we actually get that crossover payoff?

[opus]

7 hours ago, mrspidey said:

Does this mean we're gonna get Azrael at some point?

Whose name I believe I saw in the book.

Edited May 12, 2020 by opus

[BaggythePanther]

8 hours ago, mrspidey said:

Couldn't help but recognize "Order of St. Duma" when we got a glimpse of Alice seeing the translated code.

Does this mean we're gonna get Azrael at some point?

The text in the book was lifted from the Wikipedia page for the Batsuit. So the things mentioned might show up eventually, but it’s not why they were written in the book.

 

I didn’t buy it when Kate called Luke her friend during the Crisis crossover, but their relationship has come a long way since then. I had a feeling we’d be seeing Parker again, and if Luke fulfills his comic destiny it will be helpful to have another hacker on call.

Jacob can leave anytime now.

I’m going to be really disappointed if we were cheated out of a SuperBat crossover because of the shortened season.

[possibilities]

It's a problem with the format that they can't really end the Kate-Alice conflict, because once Kate broke into their lair, you'd think she might decide to kill or subdue them, rather than just striking a handshake bargain which was bound to lead to more trouble. As Luke said, his father died to protect those secrets. So, odds are they're pretty important, and the demented trio has proved they will do a lot of damage if given any way to do so.

And once they had the glasses, you'd think the trio of doom would just break their agreement about freeing Julia and Luke, because why would they honor any agreements at this point?

Also, if the goal was to kill Kate, and they have her right there, to just let her walk out so they can try to find kryptonite to kill her later is... well, it's silly.

If the goal is to torment her, they could have tormented her right there.

None of this makes sense.

I don't know what I want them to do about it, but this set up was too much for me, it was just too much to handwave.

[Spaceman Spiff]

On 5/10/2020 at 9:20 PM, quarks said:

Rachel Maddow is still having a blast, I see.

What bothered me was that Maddow's character voices over that the new villain is being called Hush, only to have useless Sophie reiterate that very fact in the next scene. Plus I am having an issue of one of Batman's iconic villains being used here. They have avoided that so far giving Kate he own rogues gallery so this bugs a little bit.

[RobertDeSneero]

On 5/12/2020 at 6:19 AM, Spaceman Spiff said:

They have avoided that so far giving Kate he own rogues gallery so this bugs a little bit.

Alice and Mouse.  And there have been hints of another villain from her comic book rogues gallery 

Spoiler

Safiyah Sohail

 Given that Batwoman is a relatively new character comics-wise, they are going to have to ration her canonical villains if the plan on having several seasons, so they have repurposed minor Batman villains like Nocturna and Magpie.

You might as well complain that they are tying her to Batman by having her associate with the children of Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox.

It's inevitable that Batman villains make their way into a series based in Gotham where a disappeared Batman looms as major background figure.  I actually applaud the series for choosing to use a character who hasn't really made the jump to TV/movies.

[Spaceman Spiff]

2 hours ago, RobertDeSneero said:

 Given that Batwoman is a relatively new character comics-wise, they are going to have to ration her canonical villains if the plan on having several seasons, so they have repurposed minor Batman villains like Nocturna and Magpie.

You might as well complain that they are tying her to Batman by having her associate with the children of Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox.

It's inevitable that Batman villains make their way into a series based in Gotham where a disappeared Batman looms as major background figure.  I actually applaud the series for choosing to use a character who hasn't really made the jump to TV/movies.

I understand all this, and to clarify. I don't mind them tying Fox and Pennyworth to Kate by using next generation characters. I don't mind the use of minor villains and them being repurposed.

The minor complaint I had is taking an iconic Batman villain and placing his origins and changing those origins in this show. If he had just emerged on the streets (as Hush already) because a new Bat had suddenly showed up in Gotham, and he started hunting Batwoman down to find out where Batman/Bruce went would have worked better for me.

[Joe Hellandback]

1. Jeez, the library massacre is hard to watch as is the torture of the experts. 

2. I always expected this line;

Reagan; "I can't abandon Magpie, it's a sister thing"

Kate; "Believe it or not I do understand"

3. Nice trick by Mouse but how did he get Luke's number? Shouldn't he have a tracker on him?

4. Love Mary's incredulity at Kate having a land line. 

5. The Sophie/Julia/Kate triangle really is a soap opera. 

6. Mary has taken to day drinking, wonder if that will be a thing?

7. Where did these other journals Mary uses the glasses on come from? 

8. Is there anyone left in Gotham who doesn't know Kate is Batwoman? 

9. Love Mary and her resentment at the 'random teen' being let in on the secret, it's not a privilege if everyone is in on it. 

10. Kryptonite? You sure you have the right superhero? 

11. Interesting, as I suspected Mouse actually liked Arkham, I wonder if this means a rift between them?

12. My problem with this 1 is that Alice is my favourite character but she and Jacob are very badly written this week. 

7/10

[John Potts]

Nice to see Hush respected the rules enough to keep his voice down in the library. He even used silenced pistols! It's probably an oversight in Gotham that they don't have a "no homicides" rule as well.

Love Mouse really getting into his "Doc" role!

If I was capable of swapping faces, I would have posed as Julia when "persuading" Luke to translate that diary (and faked the shocking, obviously).

Beyond the fact that Arkham is really badly designed, why would the ECT (presumably some sort of general treatment) room have a panel that unlocks all the cells? Maybe the Governor (or the Security Office) would have such a button, but the Doctor's office?

Could have done without the relationship angst (though loved Parker lapping it up!).

On 5/11/2020 at 3:20 AM, quarks said:

loved Mary's indignation that a teen villain got to know Batwoman's secret first.

That was funny (though Kate could have mentioned it was to save her life).

On 5/11/2020 at 4:18 PM, RobertDeSneero said:

Was Kate telling the truth when she said she didn't recognize the name of Safiyah Sohail?

I'm still betting it'll turn out to be a Bat cover identity (or possibly Catwoman, working for the Bat) trying to get dangerous info off the streets.

[Joe Hellandback]

On 7/28/2020 at 9:19 AM, John Potts said:

Nice to see Hush respected the rules enough to keep his voice down in the library. He even used silenced pistols! It's probably an oversight in Gotham that they don't have a "no homicides" rule as well.

Love Mouse really getting into his "Doc" role!

If I was capable of swapping faces, I would have posed as Julia when "persuading" Luke to translate that diary (and faked the shocking, obviously).

Beyond the fact that Arkham is really badly designed, why would the ECT (presumably some sort of general treatment) room have a panel that unlocks all the cells? Maybe the Governor (or the Security Office) would have such a button, but the Doctor's office?

Could have done without the relationship angst (though loved Parker lapping it up!).

That was funny (though Kate could have mentioned it was to save her life).

I'm still betting it'll turn out to be a Bat cover identity (or possibly Catwoman, working for the Bat) trying to get dangerous info off the streets.

Swapping faces is one thing but her bodyshape? 

[John Potts]

1 hour ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Swapping faces is one thing but her bodyshape?

If you needed a Watsonian explanation, you could have swathed her in enough equipment/electrodes/restraints so only her face was visible (and obviously the Doylist explanation is they just swapped out the actress!).