Welcome back to Gotham! The city’s own paragon of courage Kate Kane defends Gotham as Batwoman, but her life has been difficult. Kate has to deal with the fallout of letting her demons win, for killing Dr. Cartwright, all while trying to stop an enemy from Gotham’s past. So don your cape, try to be the hero others see, and join us as we give you five thoughts on Batwoman season 1, episode 17 “A Narrow Escape.”
1. Going to her darkest place leaves Gotham unprotected
Kate has been having trouble being Gotham’s caped crusader. From visions of her going too far, the inability of looking at the suit without having a panic attack, and just generalized anxiety to be the hero Gotham sees her as, Kate takes a break. All this stems from her killing of Dr. Cartwright, the man who is responsible for her twin becoming Alice. Throughout “A Narrow Escape” we see it manifest in many ways, but what works is the way that the show presents it, using camera tricks to create warping in the frame and muting sounds to create a growing sense of isolation, it’s all incredibly effective. It feels like we’re right there with Kate, dealing with the situation as she is.
The only real thing is that doesn’t work is that the timeframe could have been extended. Kate disappears for one week, but it should have been longer. There are now enough copycats that Mary is beginning to recognize them, crime seems to have gone back to normal, and Luke says that this has given The Detonator confidence. If it had been closer to a month that Kate had disappeared, this would just work a lot better. But in any case, it’s good to see the show dealing with Kate’s actual emotional fallout from her extreme decision, and it’s interesting to see how Gotham has dealt with Batwoman’s temporary hiatus.
2. The Detonator elevates Batwoman in creative storytelling
With Alice safely tucked away in Arkham, the major threat this week is “The Detonator” a villain of Gotham’s past who was known for rigging up people like doctors, firefighters, lawyers, and police officers, people the public see as heroes and force them to make tough decisions. Either they blow up themselves, or they blow up a random location in Gotham. Proving that no one is a hero when faced in a true life or death situation.
There are three explosions, one to establish the threat, and then two that are presented in a way that feels realtime. The episode is successfully able to juggle multiple storylines and present information across each storyline in a creative and compelling way. There are moments when the episode cuts between Luke, Jacob, Mary, Sophie, and Kate, each cut giving us more information but showing how in this particular case everyone is working at the same speed, learning things at the same time. The impressive thing is just how well it works. It creates a riveting tension, showing a full picture of the situation at hand, the audience is the only one who truly knows the whole scope. The setpieces in “A Narrow Escape” were truly exhilarating, proving that you can create exciting compelling superhero action even without the cape.
3. Luke shines not only as a team member but as a friend.
It’s revealed by the halfway point that “The Detonator” is a copycat, but Sophie, Luke, and Kate all come to the realization that there is a growing thread to this new killer, all of the events are connected to the death of Lucius Fox. This all culminates in the kidnapping of Jacob Kane with the target of the second bomb being Wayne Tower. The reveal is that the new Detonator was Agent Robles, the Crow agent who has been proving to be a wrench in the investigation, and the man who accidentally killed Fox. Robles explains that his employer at the time wanted information from Fox and was tasked to “rough him up” to get it. Now he was simply cleaning up his mess. But Luke wants vengeance.
“A Narrow Escape” gives Camrus Johnson a real chance to shine. He’s always been great on the show, but this week he was next level. The final confrontation with Luke, Kate, and Robles is amazing. Luke, usually so kind and lighthearted has a scary amount of drive and passion, seemingly an unstoppable force until Kate finally admits to him that she killed Cartwright. Kate knows, very personally, that vengeance doesn’t work. Their conversation at the end of the episode, similarly, is wonderful. Kate admits that she didn’t want Luke’s reputation of her ruined, but Luke still is going to be there and supportive, even admitting that Batman has also gone to the extreme, but what matters is how you go from there. At this moment, it truly feels like these two are no longer teammates, they are true friends.
Continued below4. A bigger, better Batfamily
During the second bombing, Mary’s clinic is under direct threat (though, her stepfather doesn’t know that) and Kate goes to help (but not in costume.) Kate has another momentary panic as she sees that one of the victims of Mary’s clinic is dressed as Batwoman, even without Batwoman, people are getting hurt because of her. Mary is able to talk some sense into Kate, though, not only revealing that she knows who Kate is, but that Kate needs to be the hero that Mary has always seen in her. It is, once again, really good.
Mary shows up at the end to thank Kate, both of them casually just talking about her alter ego. Luke tries to play it off, but it seems that Mary is going to become a member of the team. Honestly, it’s about time. This has been a big complaint of mine during this back half of the season, but the payoff is so good, I can’t be that mad. In any case, I’m excited to see her dynamic with the team. Not only is she an intelligent doctor, but a social media guru as well. It will be exciting to see those skills on the team.
5. Alice decides to take over (not quite) Wonderland
Alice is back in Arkham, but she’s not alone. She has Mouse, sure, but she also has quite a few other baddies from earlier in the season as well. While Mouse initially seems like he’s trying to take advantage of the healing, Alice is having none of it. Trying to find a way to escape. It involves being stabbed, hiding a shiv in the wound, and then taking Arkham’s abusing doctor and giving his face to Mouse.
While Mouse is ready to escape, Alice has decided, instead, to take advantage of the situation. After all, they have food, shelter, and eventually, people will forget about them. It’s better to lie in wait comfortably then scheme on the street miserable. Alice is going to be the queen, she’s ok to wait for it. Here’s the craziest thing, though, the Alice stuff of “A Narrow Escape” was probably the weakest part of the episode. It was still good, but the rest of the episode outshone just a little bit. You know you have a good episode if that’s the case. In any case, it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.
So there you have it. This was an across the board stellar episode, from directing, to editing, to acting. Each cast member got a moment to shine and it was all balanced really well. What did you think? Sound off below
