Batwoman Episode 01/05 "Mine is a Long and Sad Tale"

[Dr.]

Scheduled airdate: Nov. 3, 2019

BECOMING ALICE - Alice (Rachel Skarsten) takes Kate (Ruby Rose) down the sad, winding road of her life in the days after the accident as Jacob (Dougray Scott) and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) attempt to track them. Mary (Nicole Kang) has an argument with Catherine (Elizabeth Anweis) which sends her looking for Kate at Wayne Tower, but instead she becomes unwelcome company for Luke (Camrus Johnson.) Carl Seaton directed the episode written by Jerry Shandy and Ebony Gilbert.

 

[Dr.]

Episode 5 promo:

 

[vantheman77]

Good episode for Alice’s origin.

 

[Frodo]

Good episode. It had some good acting and genuine emotion and drama. If more of the episodes going forward are this good and less like the previous ones , the show will have a bright future.

 

[Dr.]

I’ve liked all the episodes so far - including this one. Interestingly, Alice/Beth’s backstory was the main emphasis - and Batwoman (the costumed persona) had maybe 3 minutes of total screen time. So it kinda goes against the typical Arrowverse/superhero template. Probably not something that can be done for most episodes; but still, a nice little departure from formula.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Good episode. It had some good acting and genuine emotion and drama. If more of the episodes going forward are this good and less like the previous ones , the show will have a bright future.

It did?

For me the show is overall rather boring, and the structure of this episode didn't help. But what I find most fascinating is how they handle her stepsister, who apparently is the crappy persona she was putting on before as cover? It is like she has devolved in 4 short episode. What I find most frustrating is how bad Alice is. Nothing like her comic counterpart, and the typical not Joker/Harley copycat that barely has a pulse. How does Riverdale do crazy so much better then these shows?

 

[Frodo]

It did?

For me the show is overall rather boring, and the structure of this episode didn't help. But what I find most fascinating is how they handle her stepsister, who apparently is the crappy persona she was putting on before as cover? It is like she has devolved in 4 short episode. What I find most frustrating is how bad Alice is. Nothing like her comic counterpart, and the typical not Joker/Harley copycat that barely has a pulse. How does Riverdale do crazy so much better then these shows?

Well, I'll start off my post by saying, if that's how you feel then, that's how you feel. I can only respond with how I took the episode, so I'm not gonna argue with you on the merits of how you feel about the series .I'm not gonna say you're wrong about how you feel.

That said, when I was referring to good acting and emotions , I was talking about the child actress who played young Alice. She really did a good job and probably the best acting followed by Dougrey Scott when he finally accepts that Alice is his long lost daughter. Those scenes were well acted imo and really did bring genuine emotions.

Alice as a child being held against her will was the first time I really felt a sense of menace in this series, and the turmoil over her capture was the first time the show really struck and emotional chord with me at least.

Now, I've had issues with the Alice character in previous episodes and have had disagreement's about her character with other posters who like her character . I've also felt the last few episodes have been on the weak end, so its not as if I've been uncritical of the show.

I know zip about the Batwoman comics, and the Alice character outside of this series, and I don't watch Riverdale , so I can't help you there. I'm basically taking the show as is. I can't compare it to the comics since I haven't read the Batwoman comics. As a result , I don't cut it slack if I feel its lacking in certain areas , and I won't give it the benefit of the doubt just because its part of the Batfamily canon .

At the same time, it means if there's something I like, or something I think they improved on, I'll give it credit. This episode is one of the times I'm giving it credit.

I may not like the next one,but for this week's , I thought it was an improvement over the last few. You may disagree. That's fine. We're all gonna have different feelings and responses to these episodes.

 

[WhoMani]

I never thought I would say this but for once I actually liked a Batwoman episode. It isn't a good show yet and it's not a must see tv. But there is some improvement and this is easily the best Batwoman episode so far. Rachel Skarsten was the standout of this episode and I feel that Alice is becoming her own character now, she doesn't anymore feel like a female version of the Joker. I thought the backstory the show gave to Alice was actually quite interesting and it sort of made sense on why she's messed up. I like the twisted sibling relationship between Alice and Mouse, strangely I found it be quite endearing. I like the idea that Mouse can mimic any voice and I found him to be creepy because of the whole skin thing.

Luke and Mary have a great chemistry with each other, I like those lighthearted scenes that the two had as this was a dark episode and it needed some comic relief. I will give this episode a 6.5/10

 

[Karelia]

I thought this was a pretty decent episode, better than the last. The "white eyes" for the Batwoman suit looked pretty cool too. Lack of her in the costume is kinda a bummer, but I guess that's the way of all these CW DC shows.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Well, I'll start off my post by saying, if that's how you feel then, that's how you feel. I can only respond with how I took the episode, so I'm not gonna argue with you on the merits of how you feel about the series .I'm not gonna say you're wrong about how you feel.

That said, when I was referring to good acting and emotions , I was talking about the child actress who played young Alice. She really did a good job and probably the best acting followed by Dougrey Scott when he finally accepts that Alice is his long lost daughter. Those scenes were well acted imo and really did bring genuine emotions.

Alice as a child being held against her will was the first time I really felt a sense of menace in this series, and the turmoil over her capture was the first time the show really struck and emotional chord with me at least.

Now, I've had issues with the Alice character in previous episodes and have had disagreement's about her character with other posters who like her character . I've also felt the last few episodes have been on the weak end, so its not as if I've been uncritical of the show.

I know zip about the Batwoman comics, and the Alice character outside of this series, and I don't watch Riverdale , so I can't help you there. I'm basically taking the show as is. I can't compare it to the comics since I haven't read the Batwoman comics. As a result , I don't cut it slack if I feel its lacking in certain areas , and I won't give it the benefit of the doubt just because its part of the Batfamily canon .

At the same time, it means if there's something I like, or something I think they improved on, I'll give it credit. This episode is one of the times I'm giving it credit.

I may not like the next one,but for this week's , I thought it was an improvement over the last few. You may disagree. That's fine. We're all gonna have different feelings and responses to these episodes.

That's fine. Personally I haven't found any acting to work, but okay. In terms of the internal logic of the show, I find Alice flawed as a concept. Forget the comics for a second, where Alice is a break from reality for Beth. She literally "loses her mind" as a coping mechanism based around the trauma of that day in Belgium, and thus when Alice is doing what she is doing, it isn't Beth. It's this being she has created in her mind, based on a fairy tale. It makes the moments where Beth is present, significant imo.

On this show Alice seems like a run of the mill evil person, who knows exactly what she is doing, and thus I am confused why I am suppose to sympathize with her. It reminds me of the issue with Hush, where he turned out to just be a normal weaselly jerk villain from a soap opera, except missing the soap opera crazy. With Alice, it is like they made a worse version of the Arkham Knight, here which to me is amazing because that characters origins were awful.

I do think the idea in this episode was to show that her "trauma" caused Alice to occur. But that rings hollow when she's just being Beth, and calling herself Alice. She knows who her sister and father is. She isn't broken from reality. She's just a villain working inside the frame work by choice. Basically, there is no lost soul to save.

The reason I bring up Riverdale is it is suppose to be a show about "normal" people, but is anything but. They are these crazy larger then life characters, who walk out of prison because they themselves own it. Where the heroes think a for profit prison is the "best" solution, because otherwise the town might burn. This show doesn't seem to be functioning on that level at all. Even as it means everyone is then just playing dress up to... well talk.

 

[Thome216]

Another good episode. I liked that the costume was kept out of most of it, though for what we did see it was cool. Especially like the night vision optics.
Alice is coming into focus, in that Kate failed to be a proper twin who could 'sense' her so she grabbed onto a new sibling. One who just happens to be crazy too. Though I would say that Alice is 'high functioning' crazy and not really manic. Nor have I had any inkling of a Joker comparison.
I do miss the comic rendition of her though, that story is something they made a mistake in not following in favor of their own idea. But I'm okay with this.
It was a good scene when their father finally accepted that Alice was Beth, though of course he shouldn't have gotten so close...
Heartbreaking to think that they were so close as to be just a door away from her, but with her too afraid to say anything.
Have to say, RR is looking good in the costume, both in the wig and without!

 

[Web-Head]

It was cool to see Alice/Beth's backstory, but the biggest problem, like others have said, is the show is just sorta... boring.

None of the characters really stand out to me. Alice has her moments, some of the action is okay, but eh.

I did like the Luke and Mary stuff.

 

[Lencho01]

The Luke and Mary parts were the only ones I liked. The rest was boring.

I'm just wondering how they're going to keep this interesting for 22 episodes.