Batwoman Season 2 Episode 16 Review: Rebirth
Diana Keng
at
.
Updated at
.
Many questions were answered as Batwoman Season 2 Episode 16 broke several big reveals in blessedly uncomplicated ways.
Kate/Circe's dual existence is revealed quickly and beyond a shadow of a doubt, while Safiyah's connection to Roman is finally confirmed.
Luke's return to the land of the living is understandably rough, but at least he came clean with Ryan about the issue. (Those with long memories will recall that it took Buffy six weeks and a song-and-dance demon to 'fess up to her Scooby gang.)
He also got some of his own back with Tavaroff at the poker table and spent some quality time with John "Spartan" Diggle. So, #Winning
Throw into the mix all of Alice's crazy boyfriend/father/ex-queen-boss shenanigans AND a sword-swinging Tatiana, and we have a proper forerunner to a helluva Batwoman Season 2 finale.
Of course, taken as a whole, this particular Batwoman offering wasn't actually all the Batwoman-centric.
In fact, there isn't a single image of her in the promo materials.
Not that she wasn't a key part of the solution to Safiyah having Alice, who held the key to unlocking Kate.
However, once she had traded her Mama Cora Desert Rose plant away for Alice, Alice immediately ditches her to look for Ocean.
And Sophie loses Kate/Circe in the next breath. It's all quite disheartening.
But at least Batwoman got to deliver an awesome speech.
The choice is easy. Revenge is short-lived, but rebuilding your island... It's a no-brainer.
Batwoman
I mean, Tatiana escapes from her TWICE, and Safiyah is plotting circles around them, but at least Luke answers the call of the Morse-coded Batwoman signal, and she gets to prove herself to the Queen of Coryana once again.
I know what Kate Kane stands for. And I owe a debt to the symbol she created. Found my second chance at life because of her.
Batwoman
Woo-hoo, nobility!
If I'm honest, I was more invested in Luke's secondary plotline than the ostensibly more important Safiyah-Roman-Jacob machinations.
The curmudgeonly Fox has been a personal -- as well as a crowd -- favorite from the beginning.
The truth about his father's murder was the emotional lynchpin of the Batwoman Season 1 conspiracy.
And I was lucky enough to speak with Camrus Johnson back then, and, in light of this week's exciting announcement that Luke will become Batwing, it was a true case of our coverage coming full circle.
John Diggle appearing for a poker game and a back alley chat was pure icing on the superhero cake.
The Tavaroff showdown and takedown were immensely satisfying.
Tavaroff: You stalking me, Fox? This is law enforcement only.
Luke: They let you in. And last I checked, your new occupation is unemployed haircut.
Unfortunately, now that Jacob's been arrested, there's an excellent chance that everything Tavaroff predicted will come true.
Speaking of good speeches, Jacob's statement to the press about Alice was pretty great (if completely out of keeping with EVERYTHING we've ever known about Commander Kane.)
If Gotham is angry with me, then so be it. I ask only this of them, as a father. When you judge Alice for her crimes, remember Beth.
Jacob
Did anyone else think that it's interesting that Kane thinks he's safer being transferred to Metropolis?
It was just around the time that Ocean shook Jacob's hand and addressed him as "Mr. Kane" that I sensed that Alice's happily-ever-after wasn't going to last.
There's was just a little too much "happy families" vibe to their cooperative kidnapping and deprogramming mission to jibe with our Gotham reality,
Jacob: Enigma worked on you too?
Alice: Daddy. You don't get this extra without a little shove.
The obvious expectation is that Ocean's death will trigger Alice to revert to her worst Enigma-implanted self.
Can the love of a father and two sisters (well, one dissociative one and one who actually hates her) keep some Beth on the surface?
And this all leads to whether Safiyah has any further endgame in play.
Safiyah: I have reason to believe Circe's unique attributes could benefit us both.
Roman: Whatever it is, I don't want her involved. She's finally got her life back.
Safiyah: Last I heard, she was running around with a tree stapled to her face.
She had something in mind involving Kate/Circe when we first see her with Roman.
Now that she has her beloved Desert Rose plant and has devastated Alice by killing Ocean, one might be tempted to think that she would quietly return to Coryana.
I've always held the belief that a woman has a right to decide exactly who she wants to be.
Safiyah
But the final scene would indicate otherwise.
Maybe she's hanging around, thinking recruiting Sophie is still in the cards?
Besides the scorching of Coryana, Safiyah's suffered other serious casualties. Tatiana's death leaves a vacuum at her right hand and, whether or not she knows it yet, Enigma's also gone.
Sophie would make a formidable new general, and Circe being Kate would be a great lure to bring her on-side.
I'm not sure that Safiyah and Roman have dovetailed goals, but Safiyah's definitely been pulling his strings.
Whether that leads back to the Snakebite and his control of the GCPD is a track yet to be revealed.
It's always intriguing when a new Gotham hangout is introduced.
The "law enforcement only" poker bar implies that there's enough GCPD and Crows/ex-Crows (and maybe Blackgate staff?) to sustain an establishment like that.
My thought is that Janus Cosmetics probably subsidizes it.
Reason #1 is the fact that Roman's False Faces are GCPD.
Reason #2 is the artwork hanging behind the bar, depicting a police officer beating up a crow.
I love Easter Eggs like that.
Roman: First you're up, then you're down. I don't know if you're going to take any comfort from this, Jake, but now you're down and out for good.
Jacob: True for both of us, Black Mask, unless you think Gotham is going to buy its zit cream from a psychotic gang leader.
Roman: Tough call. It's a good zit cream.
To sum up developments among the major players to this point: Jacob's been taken off the board; Ocean, Enigma, and Tatania are dead; Alice is probably a wild card; Roman and Safiyah are poised to carry out their plans for Gotham completely unchecked.
Does Diggle stick around?
Which persona will Kate/Circe choose?
As you watch Batwoman online, who do you think will be left standing?
What are the chances anyone thought to take a cutting (or some seed pods) of Ryan's plant?
Does Mary get to suit-up once Batwing takes flight?
He was saying that the DNA checks out, but Kate thinks she's Circe Sionis, and she's been alive this entire time, which doesn't actually make sense because Julia wouldn't lie to us and say that she found Kate's skull because everybody knows that you can't survive without a SKULL!
Mary
What will Gotham look like when the GCPD is taken down and with the Crows still disbanded?
That might be the biggest gamble yet!
Hit our comments with your wildest guesses!
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.
