S03.E11: Broken Toys

[Trini]

Just when it seems things can't get worse... Batwoman's identity is once again at risk of being exposed, and some of Gotham's most villainous unite. Sophie joins Luke on a mission and Alice gets into Mary's head.

Camrus Johnson directed the episode written by Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux and Natalie Abrams.

Original airdate 2/3/2022

 

[Primal Slayer]

These writers even trying anymore? Marquis is allowed to just waltz into Arkham and release anyone he wants? How does that make sense? Who is he to those in Gotham? 

Marys arc really was for nothing except to make her feel bad for killing a guy was it? It didnt really serve her character for her own development. Is she not going to have any side effects from being Ivy jr? Turn her into Red Thorn or something like that. 

Did not miss Luke speaking to an AI that he treats as his father and acting like it's healthy. I wish they would've ripped that thing to pieces. 

Why does Alice think she needs a good buzz to the head? What is Jokers buzzer going to do that some electro "therapy" wouldnt? 

Could care less for the knock off of Sophie/Kate. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

These writers even trying anymore? Marquis is allowed to just waltz into Arkham and release anyone he wants? How does that make sense? Who is he to those in Gotham? 

Marys arc really was for nothing except to make her feel bad for killing a guy was it? It didnt really serve her character for her own development. Is she not going to have any side effects from being Ivy jr? Turn her into Red Thorn or something like that. 

Did not miss Luke speaking to an AI that he treats as his father and acting like it's healthy. I wish they would've ripped that thing to pieces. 

Why does Alice think she needs a good buzz to the head? What is Jokers buzzer going to do that some electro "therapy" wouldnt? 

Could care less for the knock off of Sophie/Kate. 

In fairness, between Arkham's general ineptitude and corruption, and Marquis having lots of money, it's not unbelievable that he would get to have the run of the place.

Mary's arc was also supposed to be about the Batfam actually acting like a family and being supportive of Mary as well. And everyone but Alice is back to completely ignoring Mary's needs.

The way they've set it up, one buzz with the joybuzzer turns a psycho into a non-psycho. ECT isn't guaranteed to work at all, and probably is a multi-step process. As Alice says, she's not into doing the work. 

Speaking of not doing the work, it's pretty pathetic that Batwoman let Kiki get away with the joy buzzer. She's an old woman who didn't even have a two minute headstart, and rather than chasing after hero foot or getting in the Batmobile, Ryan's posing with Mary and Alice to technomusic. And Batwing and Sophie are just as bad, letting Marquis go for...reasons.

[Trini]

Well, so much for that Ryan/Sophie slow burn! But it's pretty in character for both, though. So apparently Sophie liked Ryan from before she was Batwoman (or before she knew she was Batwoman)?? That seems like a huge ret-con.

Hey, Judy Reyes! As far as I can tell Kiki Roulette is a new original character, so that's cool. Although, I definitely have to nitpick the Joy Buzzer supposedly being made to kill empathy, and not to you know, electrocute people -- okay.

So Alice is just part of the Bat-Team now, and they're still sticking with her latched to Mary. Thanks, I hate it. I don't really believe Alice wants to change, and even if she does, I doubt the writers will actually let that happen. They need to "do the work" for this redemption.

Surely Jada has a copy of whatever was on that tape? I liked the additional insights on Jada and Ryan, but they're still being coy about who Ryan's father is. I guess that's a Season 4 story?

LOL - Zsasz is still fun. Clearly, they didn't let him watch his soaps in Arkham, so he was just looking for drama! Also I had completely forgotten that Ryan and Zsasz knew each other from before she was Batwoman, so I was confused for a minute there when he was congratulating her.

It only hit me when Luke and Sophie were in the Wayne Tower office that Marquis could also be called "Mr. J" - another Joker reference. I guess it'll be answered next week, but what would Marquis want the Joy Buzzer (fixed) for? Maybe he wants a sidekick? Or to corrupt either Jada or Ryan? But I would think the safest thing for him would be to destroy it; but common sense doesn't exist in Gotham.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Trini

[Chicago Redshirt]

13 minutes ago, Trini said:

Well, so much for that Ryan/Sophie slow burn! But it's pretty in character for both, though. So apparently Sophie liked Ryan from before she was Batwoman (or before she knew she was Batwoman)?? That seems like a huge ret-con.

Hey, Judy Reyes! As far as I can tell Kiki Roulette is a new original character, so that's cool. Although, I definitely have to nitpick the Joy Buzzer supposedly being made to kill empathy, and not to you know, electrocute people -- okay.

So Alice is just part of the Bat-Team now, and they're still sticking with her latched to Mary. Thanks, I hate it. I don't really believe Alice wants to change, and even if she does, I doubt the writers will actually let that happen. They need to "do the work" for this redemption.

Surely Jada has a copy of whatever was on that tape? I liked the additional insights on Jada and Ryan, but they're still being coy about who Ryan's father is. I guess that's a Season 4 story?

LOL - Zsasz is still fun. Clearly, they didn't let him watch his soaps in Arkham, so he was just looking for drama! Also I had completely forgotten that Ryan and Zsasz knew each other from before she was Batwoman, so I was confused for a minute there when he was congratulating her.

It only hit me when Luke and Sophie were in the Wayne Tower office that Marquis could also be called "Mr. J" - another Joker reference. I guess it'll be answered next week, but what would Marquis want the Joy Buzzer (fixed) for? Maybe he wants a sidekick? Or to corrupt either Jada or Ryan? But I would think the safest thing for him would be to destroy it; but common sense doesn't exist in Gotham.

If you had asked me last season about R/S, I would have been dead set against it since personality-wise each of them should have wanted nothing to do with each other and also Sophie was kind of a lifeless character who failed constantly. I think that this season, they've improved the writing for Sophie and she has leveled up in competence, so I'm more OK with it. That said, given the attractiveness of R/S, that scene was not very sexy IMO.

I don't know if I like the retcon that the Joker didn't just make all his own gadgets. Also, it doesn't so much make sense that Kiki was bad all along and playing good to get her hands on the joy buzzer for Marquis. A) What if Mary and Alice (to henceforth be referred to as Malice) never showed, had no idea about the joy buzzer, etc.? B) Why can't she build as many joy buzzers as she wants, being the genius that she is and having access to Marquis's millions?

I hate the retcon heel-face turn of Jada being like "I always loved you and it killed me to put you up for adoption." One doesn't get to be a billionaire businesswoman success by just handing $2 million to a doctor and expecting him to just give it to your kid. Not when it would be fairly easy to arrange a trust fund and confidential legal ways to ensure Ryan got the money and would be cared for. 

I love how Zsasz is such a snarky gossip in this incarnation. I wonder if he will/has put together that Ryan is in fact Batwoman after she beat him down.

I am operating under the presumption that his end goal is to make Ryan and/or Jada crazy like him. 

[thuganomics85]

Great seeing Zsasz again.  While I don't think any version will top the one from Gotham/Anthony Carrigan for me, I really enjoy the actor and I like how this version is strangely insightful at times, all for the drama other times, but legitimately seems happy when things work out for his potential victims.  He really seems to have an "it's not personal, it's just business" mindset and doesn't hold it against anyone if they beat him.  I'm guess I'm saying if one looks past him being a psychopath with a bodycount that likely rivals natural disasters, he's not a bad support system/sounding board!

All that said, I'm really going to have to stretch my disbelieve to go with that fact that there will be no blowback on Marquis with the public over letting him out.  Even if Jada and Ryan kept mum for whatever reason, I just don't see how that couldn't be traced back to him.  I guess I can just chalk it up to normal incompetency from Gotham law enforcement and the citizens just being their normal idiotic selves as they continue to hate on Batwoman just because some business tycoon told them too.

Figured Kiki was going to be up to no good, but she was a fun antagonist and it was great seeing Judy Reyes again.  Between her and 

Spoiler

hearing Donald Faison will be appearing in Legends of Tomorrow, it seems like the Arrowverse is all about getting the former Scrubs cast up in here!

No surprise Mary is feeling the guilt over what she did, but it seems like this is all being set up to make her try and "save" Alice?  This really just feels like the show wants to find a reason to keep these two paired off and while I'm all for more of Nicole Kang and Rachel Skarsten bouncing off one another, I just wish they found better reasons to do it.

Ryan and Sophie have already moved on to the hook-up phase of their relationship, I see.  Can't wait till we get to the eventual break-up at this rate.  Probably season finale... hell, maybe even the next episode. 

[tennisgurl]

Seems like the writers have been listening to me, they went out of their way to address two big issues I have had with this season, even if they both smell like retcons. First, that Jada thought she was setting Ryan up to go to a good family instead of just dumping her into the foster care system, which seems like a huge dick move considering Jada supposedly left Ryan to protect her, but, like Ryan said, she could have checked on her at any point, but she never did, so I am still not totally onboard her "I always loved you" proclamations. Second, that Sophie apparently had a crush on Ryan before she was Batwoman, so it doesn't look so much like Sophie just has a very specific type and just exists to kiss anyone in a Batwoman suite, which is a nice attempt but I don't buy it at all. I don't like Ryan and Sophie as a couple, but its happening so I'll go along with it. 

So we get a whole arc where Mary turns supervillain because her friends are ignoring her, and the first episode after she comes back, her friends are all in different subplots except for one scene for Ryan gives her the typical "its not your fault" line when Mary started angsting. I do like her and Alice as a duo, but I really wanted her to get a plot with Ryan or Luke after everything that happened. Of course Alice is starting that redemption arc to become the obligatory snarky former bad guy that every Arrowverse team is required to have, although I hope her redemption is a lot more thorough then just sticking a joy buzzer on her head. The show has already tried to make us like her more by trying to say that her Alice persona was a result of hypnosis, which was stupid, so I hope she actually has to put some effort into being a better person. Listen to crazy Judy Reyes! I would say that a joy buzzer that can destroy a person's empathy is ridiculous, but comic book science is gonna comic book science. 

It was really fun seeing Judy Reyes, and she was clearly having a blast when she got to let her crazy loose. I guess its no surprise she's still crazy town banana pants if her therapist was Harley Quinn. 

I love Victor Zsasz so much, he's the most cheerful murderer you could ever hope to meet, I was so glad to see him. He's such a sassy gossip who loves people's drama, its so hilarious. He can even be surprisingly insightful at times about peoples issues, is up on various social issues without Gotham, and can even be happy to see things working out for the people he's going to kill. If anyone was going to assassinate me, if it was him at least I might have a fun conversation before I went. 

I would normally say that its ridiculous that Marquis can just show up at Arkham and take over, but its hardly the worst choice the staff of Arkham has made. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Josh371982]

Ryan/Sophie just reeks of gross(gross cause for some reason Sophie can't be with someone who isn't Batwoman) and laziness from the Writers. And Mary shouldn't give 2 shits about the Woman who killed her mother. But this is the universe where they had Dinah become BFF with the Laurel that killed her husband and that was gross as well. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Josh371982

[Lantern7]

Whoops. Totally forgot I didn't post about this episode. Not much for me to add except that I liked Ryan and Sophie's makeout session at the end. I'd say how much, but that would be icky.

On 2/3/2022 at 1:43 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't know if I like the retcon that the Joker didn't just make all his own gadgets.

I get that one of Joker's deals of being as good at things as the plot needs him to be. Here, I'm good with him having a mad gadget lady. He's crazy, but why fuck around with a joy buzzer than might not zap the shit out of whatever you're touching? It's like ranting at Robert Deniro and pulling the trigger, only to realize you left the safety on. Total embarrassment.