Batwoman Episode 01/19 - "A Secret Kept From All the Rest"

[Dr.]

Scheduled airdate: May 10, 2020

Synopsis:

CRACKING THE CODE - When members of Gotham's intelligentsia begin disappearing, Commander Kane (Dougray Scott), Sophie (Meagan Tandy) and the Crows go searching for the newest homicidal threat to the city. In the meantime, Kate (Ruby Rose) is consumed with someone's betrayal and starts questioning the loyalty of everyone around her just when she needs them most. So when Luke (Camrus Johnson) and Julia (guest star Christina Wolfe) go missing, Batwoman must rely on Mary (Nicole Kang) and a former foe to deploy her rescue mission. Meanwhile, Alice (Rachel Skarsten) 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.


…Don’t let him know she liked them best,
For this must ever be
A secret, kept from all the rest,
Between yourself and me.
-- verse read at the trial of the Knave of Hearts, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

 

[Dr.]

Promo:

 

[super85]

Kind of a achievement to make "Hush" look that terrible. The costume is a longcoat and bandages. That looks like Daffy Duck as a sex offender..

 

[Dr.]

Kind of a achievement to make "Hush" look that terrible. The costume is a longcoat and bandages. That looks like Daffy Duck as a sex offender..

Does the original/comic book version of Hush have a different look?

In this version… Tommy Elliot fakes his own death by having his face grafted onto an Arkham “suicide” victim. Alice seems to indicate that she’ll provide a replacement face for Elliot. But in the meantime, he wears the bandages.

 

[NotNickFury]

If Alice wants/needs kryptonite so badly, just give Lex Luthor a ring.

Also, what's so super secret about something that could kill Batwoman? Just pull out a gun and point it at her head.

 

[vantheman77]

Hush looks great in live action.

 

[batdude]

Kind of a achievement to make "Hush" look that terrible. The costume is a longcoat and bandages. That looks like Daffy Duck as a sex offender..

Thanks a lot. now I'm picturing him telling Kate "Your despicable!!

 

[Dr.]

Also, what's so super secret about something that could kill Batwoman? Just pull out a gun and point it at her head.

Given the modern ubiquity of guns, it makes sense that the batsuits would incorporate some degree of body armor. But typically, this has only meant that a gunshot was survivable. Batwoman, however, has gone fancifully sci-fi with the concept. Thus, our hero seems to be as casually bulletproof as Supergirl - which is a conceit I don’t care for. In turn, this means that villains seek out a specific physical weakness for the batsuit, itself. Earlier in the season it was a high-powered, high-tech rail gun. Now, for some reason, kryptonite is the needed phlebotinum.

On another point… Alice knowing Kate’s dual identity always struck me as problematic. But given the love/hate relationship between the sisters, one could almost rationalize why Alice would battle Kate without exposing her secret. (Perhaps it was a kind of twisted chess game for Alice.) Now, however, the gloves are off and Alice clearly wants to destroy Batwoman. So why not expose her? At the very least, it seems that Mouse (who also knows the secret) should be bringing this up as an option.

 

[Dr.]

Caroline Dries talks about incorporating kryptonite into the Batwoman plot and episode 20 being the unintentional finale.

'Batwoman' boss explains the latest 'Crisis'-inspired twist

 

[proserv]

Honestly, I tried.

I stayed through the repeated aiding and abetting of Alice, a casual serial killer.

I stayed through the continued idiocy of putting someone else's skin on one's face changing everything from hair to weight to height.

I stayed through Batwoman being able to take out gangs of people twice her size yet losing, consistently, to any female.

I stayed through Batwoman appropriating her older, obviously smarter, cousin's estate and technology.

But to simply make a trade with her enemy with no contingencies - giving Alice the glasses and the book - illuminates event further the mental incompetence of Kate/Batwoman.

And taking the magic suit concept to another level is purely nauseating. The idea that Lucius Fox, supposed genius, would not simply write that the secret to killing Batman is to shoot Bruce Wayne is idiotic, at best.

And yes, Batwoman fighting off a dozen much larger people in a confined space was unconvincing and insulting to the intelligence.

What an insult to the Batman mythos.

 

[Thome216]

Yeah, can't figure about the book. I thought maybe the book contained all the dirty little secrets about Batman, as a way to 'kill' the entire mythos, and in that way killing Batwoman metaphorically. If the mythos of Batman was dead, then no one else would be able to just don a black suit with ears and a cape and be the new Bats.

But now we're talking about kryptonite.. That implies Supergirl of course, so now were they planing a crossover with SG..? Because you don't need kryptonite to kill Batwoman.

Alice said she wants Kate to know who did it, so the easiest way would be to just meet her while she's out of costume say, 'g'by, sis' and just pull the trigger. I'm really hoping there is more to it than being convoluted just for the sake of being convoluted. If there is no bigger plot involved, then it would have been better just to have the book be an RnD treasure trove, similar to Bane finding the Batcave in TDK.

 

[Dr.]

Honestly, I tried.

I stayed through the repeated aiding and abetting of Alice, a casual serial killer.

I stayed through the continued idiocy of putting someone else's skin on one's face changing everything from hair to weight to height.

I stayed through Batwoman being able to take out gangs of people twice her size yet losing, consistently, to any female.

I stayed through Batwoman appropriating her older, obviously smarter, cousin's estate and technology.

But to simply make a trade with her enemy with no contingencies - giving Alice the glasses and the book - illuminates event further the mental incompetence of Kate/Batwoman.

And taking the magic suit concept to another level is purely nauseating. The idea that Lucius Fox, supposed genius, would not simply write that the secret to killing Batman is to shoot Bruce Wayne is idiotic, at best.

And yes, Batwoman fighting off a dozen much larger people in a confined space was unconvincing and insulting to the intelligence.

What an insult to the Batman mythos.

I’ve raised many/most of these criticisms as well. But in my estimation, at least some of these issues have been improved upon (e.g., the “internal logic” of fight scenes) and others have been resolved through the narrative (e.g., though it took a while, Kate finally captured Alice). And I was fine with Kate giving up the vital secrets of Fox’s journal to save Luke and Julia. Even if you disagreed with the choice, a bargain to save lives over secrets is certainly not unfathomable or incoherent.

Ultimately, however, enjoyment/evaluation comes down to the “demands” we make of this or any show. Of course, your personal standards may be higher that what Batwoman has been delivering. Fair enough. But I must assume that you’re equally dismissive of the rest of the Arrowverse. Because the complaints you cited exist to a much higher degree in The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow and LoT - if only because those shows have had multiple seasons to accumulate their narrative flaws, idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. By comparison -- grading on the “Arrowverse curve” -- Batwoman’s shortcomings seem relatively minor.

 

[Lencho01]

... wasn't expecting Kryptonite... at all.