While it’s a new day in Gotham, things seem to be getting pretty bad for the city. The False Face Society’s power is growing, seemingly infiltrating all corners of Gotham. Black Mask has a new way to synthesize Snake Bite, the drug that is slowly spreading its venom through the city’s streets. Ryan has to keep her city safe, but there are plenty of obstacles in the way. So don your cape, grab your Batmobile A.I. programming, and join us as we give you five thoughts on Season 2, Episode 11, “Arrive Alive.”
1. Communication breakdown highlights the power of the False Face Society.
A running theme through the second season of Batwoman is that a failure to communicate ends up hurting the Bat-family. While this isn’t exactly new territory for the show, “Arrive Alive” stumbles upon an exciting element of the miscommunication of those trying to help the citizens of Gotham. It makes the villains look that much more competent. While Ryan is helping Sophie track down Angelique as Ryan, she continues to keep her identity secret. The decision ultimately takes a bad situation and makes it that much worse when Ryan blows Sophie’s sting operation and then has to go undercover herself.
By contrast, the False Face Society is a well-oiled, if brutal, machine. Members are given individual phones with individual routes. The Society keeps drivers on time limits to prevent tracking by authorities. Everyone has a role. These sequences highlight Black Mask’s methodology, a villain with contingencies upon contingencies, always with a trick up his sleeve to ensure that he has the upper hand. While Ryan’s miscommunication takes a bad situation and makes it worse in “Arrive Alive,” The False Face Society looks like a pretty formidable threat.
2. Fast and Furious: Gotham Drift
Credit where credit is due, “Gotham Drift” was probably the best joke of the episode and fits the central heist of “Arrive Alive” as both Sophie and Ryan go undercover as trick drivers to deliver fear toxin for the False Face Society. It seems that the Society is recruiting drivers to transport the vital drug to create Snake Bite, but if anything goes wrong, you miss a turn or show up late, then the mission is scrapped. Ryan going undercover makes some of the best moments on the episode, both during the heist and in the moments leading up to it when she has to meet Sophie’s informant Luke. Watching Javicia Leslie and Camrus Johnson play off one another in these scenes was a lot of fun, as both do an excellent job playing dumb while also throwing little jabs at the other.
But that pales compared to the actual car heist, which is probably one of the better-executed action sequences so far in season 2. Luke gives Ryan a machine to connect Mary’s car to the Batmobile A.I., which helps Ryan impress the potential drivers in her “interview” and allows Luke to take the wheel when Ryan plants trackers into the toxin. It was a tense action sequence, especially when the Crows show up to ruin all the fun. The car chases in “Arrive Alive” are the right balance of tense and engaging, making it a clear standout in the episode.
3. Sophie going rogue
So it seems that the Sohpie leaving the Crows storyline is this season’s “Joe is convinced Mary is joining the Bat-family,” a plot point that seems all but confirmed but taking their time to get there. After last week’s revelation that Jacob Kane is now seemingly addicted to Snake Bite and Sohpie’s activist sister calling out the Crows and her involvement with them, Sophie seems keener on breaking the rules. It doesn’t hurt that a seemingly unhinged and on edge Jacob Kane has replaced her with Agent Tavaroff, a generic, square-jawed, “shoot first ask questions never” agent. That decision pushes Sophie into taking matters into her own hands. Honestly, it’s fun seeing Sophie push the limits and gain a bit of edge. It certainly made her more interesting in “Arrive Alive.”
Though it did set up a particularly dumb end game scenario where Black Mask immediately captures Sohpie, was saved by Batwoman, and then the two of them had to let Mask go once he reveals that he has Angelique at gunpoint. It’ll be interesting to see what Sophie does from here. I’d be pretty shocked if she’s still on the Crows at the end of the season, but she may try to start a better version of the Crows. In any case, it’s some much-needed character momentum for Sophie, making her that much more interesting.
Continued below4. What is Alice capable of?
After tracking down Enigma in “Time Off For Good Behavior,” Alice confronts the good Doctor not for answers but to try and remove all memory of Kate from her personality, freeing her of her bonds from Gotham. The thing is that Enigma (and the Kate in her mind) try and convince Alice that perhaps this is her last tether to being something more than Alice, that she is more than the personality created as a defense mechanism. It’s all pretty effective stuff, but it gets interesting when Ocean shows up again.
While the relationship between Alice and Ocean isn’t the most intriguing thing about Batwoman’s second season, the fact that Enigma gives them back they love certainly raises some eyebrows. It’s clear that Enigma is no one to be trusted, so it just further continues the questions established last week, who is she working with, and why did she give them their memories of love back? Is this part of a larger plot? It will be interesting to see, and “Arrive Alive” makes one thing clear, Alice still has a lot to give, making me very happy.
5. An identity that is no longer secret
As “Arrive Alive” wraps up, after the car chases, the fighting, the exploration of Alice’s psyche, the show throws out one of the better hooks of the season. People are close to discovering Batwoman’s true identity. While Agent Tavaroff doesn’t do much in this episode, the show does a lot of explaining that he isn’t necessarily the coolest head when it comes to confrontation, so having him on Ryan’s tail could make for quite the exciting end game. On the other hand, Sophie fully knows after hearing a conversation between Ryan and Luke about the A.I. and hearing Ryan talk about her suit.
Because Ryan is an ex-con and one with quite a history with the Crows, if they discover Ryan’s identity, it is much more dangerous than Kate’s identity being revealed. Kate comes from money and privilege. Jacob would probably be able to sweep it under the rug. Ryan won’t have that luxury. The end of “Arrive Alive” is exciting because it’s hard to think about what’s next. Will Ryan be exposed to the public? Will she become public enemy #1? Who knows! In my book, that unknowing is pretty exciting.
So there we have it! What did you think of the episode? Sound off below!
