Batwoman Season 1 Episode 20 Review: O, Mouse!
Diana Keng
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Y'know, Batwoman Season 1 Episode 20 may not have been the finale they planned, but it may be the finale we needed.
In no single previous episode have we simultaneously seen Alice so mad, Kate so vulnerable, and Jacob so hard-headed.
And that final reveal on Tommy Elliot's new face? If anything sustains our interest until the show's return in 2021, it'll be our need to see how Tommy pulls off his charade as Bruce Wayne.
And yet, as amazing as that twist was, the shock-and-awe award definitely goes to Alice and Mouse's final scene together.
With all the crazy that we've followed Alice through this season, her history with, and affection for, Mouse has always been a foundational element to her character.
However, with all that history, you'd think that Mouse would recognize which buttons he shouldn't push. Abandonment? That there's Alice's major trigger.
Mouse: You poisoned me? Why did you do that?
Alice: Because I couldn't let you leave me. Not you, too.
Fair enough, he probably never expected her to KILL him. I certainly didn't.
Discovering that her obsession with Kate defies even the relationship with her brother-in-trauma-and-crime is truly an indicator of how unhinged she's become after Kate abandoned her to Arkham.
Even more troubling is her pledge to Mouse before he realized he was dying. She swore that she wanted to live out their dream together, that she wanted to join him someday, that they would find paradise eventually.
If only pain could turn to ash with the strike of a match. But my pain is a part of me the way my family is a part of me.
Alice
It sounds like she has murder-suicide for them in mind; only there's the whole "kill Batwoman" thing between the two actions.
Being Alice, she has very little sense of self-preservation. She appears to have completely forgotten her fear of Safiyah amid her Kryptonite-focused planning.
Mouse's death was quite moving in the suffering that occurred on both sides. Their shared trauma really had created an incredibly intense bond, filled with code phrases, blind trust, and mutual madness.
In effect, Alice had been Mouse's sister for as long as she had been Kate's, and their dependence on one another was far more vital for survival that Beth and Kate's had been.
Without Mouse's tempering presence (and chameleon-like voice ability), Alice's life is about to become epically more complicated.
Meanwhile, the other Kane twin is facing up to hard truths about her own projected happily-ever-after.
Despite Jacob's very clear promise to end Batwoman on Batwoman Season 1 Episode 19, Kate wears her rose-colored glasses right up until he and his Crows open fire on her.
After being out-matched by Titan and unable to stop him from killing his brother (SERIOUSLY, how many more toxic sibling relationships are we going to burn through?), discovering your father has no qualms about shooting you down has got to be devastating.
I feel like Gotham's got enough Greek tragedy happening at the moment.
Mary
Thank goodness for Mary. (Wow, how many times have I said that this season?)
The evolution of their relationship has indeed been a saving grace to the Bat-dynamics of Kate's team.
And Mary was the perfect person to confide in after the stadium double-cross. Luke and Kate's relationship is supportive but not intimate and, let's face it; Kate's slept with everyone else she'd want to talk to.
Mary's presence and placement in the scene were exactly right for the moment, and Kate's need to unpack her relationship with Jacob.
Luke: Kate knows what she's doing.
Mary: No, Kate thinks she knows what she's doing which can be worse than most people not knowing what they're doing.
After all, she may not be a sister by blood, but she has proven over and over again that she is the expert on Kate.
Luke may know Batwoman and her gear better than anyone, but Mary's there for Kate first. #TeamMary (!!!)
Oh, what to do with Jacob?
I get it. He's been through a lot.
He's got a rotten track record with wives. He's not a whole lot better with daughters.
And somehow, all of that is blamed on vigilantes.
I also understand that he's meant to be an obstacle to Kate's openness, Batwoman's heroics, and Gotham's ultimate safety.
He's playing the J. Jonah Jameson to Kate's Peter Parker or, as mentioned by the Rachel Maddow-voiced Vesper Fairchild, Commissioner Loeb to Batman.
Nice way to foreshadow Bruce's "return" there. Gold star, script room.
However, when it comes to this vendetta against Batwoman, an otherwise multi-faceted father figure becomes so frustratingly single-minded and driven that it's almost unbelievable.
The more he pushes the anti-Batwoman agenda, the more people he's losing and that isolation will not look good on him.
Especially if he somehow teams up with Alice (by accident? by coincidence?) to hit Batwoman with a Kryptonite weapon.
Mouse: Where's the rock?
Alice: Hidden among forty-five storeys of anywhere and a million square feet of possibility. Our beloved little rock may as well be a grain of sand upon a beach.
Right. Back to the Kryptonite thing.
So, I'll again give kudos to Batwoman's writing team for making the best use of the crossover event in their central season.
However, the nonsensical nature of having Kryptonite be the singular Batsuit vulnerability is just, huh?
I'm also confused as to how they've been storing it in the Bat Cave. In a puddle?
Luke: You are holding the only shard of Kryptonite on the planet.
Kate: Why was this in a puddle in the Bat Cave?
Luke: Safe keeping. Bruce was holding onto it for a friend.
Kate: Lemme guess. Tights. Cape. Big 'S' on his chest?
Kate's little picture frame hidey-hole is also pretty flimsy. The stuff gives off distinct radiation. Anyone looking for it is going to zero in on it in that office immediately.
Sigh. I guess it's an interesting twist and, combined with Tommy masquerading as Bruce when Batwoman Season 2 premieres, there will obviously be shenanigans.
Still no sign of the pirate queen, but with Julia's sexy adventures coming back to haunt her, there will be no shortage of villains trying to kill the Bat.
With Season 2 pushed back to a January 2021 premiere, you have plenty of time to watch Batwoman online and revel in the antics of a newly-fledged superhero.
Did you have a favorite VotW this season? Was it The Judge? Was it Magpie?
Who would you prefer to forget?
Who's your MVP? (You have to KNOW who mine is.)
Let us know in the comments what your highlights and lowlights were!
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
