Welcome back to Gotham! Hope is on the rise after some recent Batsightings as Gotham looks for their returned Dark Knight. But you and I both know this is no Bruce Wayne, it’s Kate Kane and she’s not here to play by the rules as she tries to figure out who is trying to kill Batman. So don your cape, grab your dual-sided grappling hook, and join us as we give you five thoughts on Batwoman season 1 episode 3, “Down, Down, Down.”
1. Dual lives are everywhere in Gotham
One of the things that makes the superhero genre fun is the idea of dual lives, and Batman is one of the best examples of this device. Batwoman really takes this idea to heart, giving multiple characters multiple lives that showcase different facets of their personality.
Sophie is living a dual life by lying both to her husband and herself about her previous relationship with Kate, informing her husband that while they went to the military academy together they were never that close. While her husband, who by all accounts seems like a nice (albeit kind of dorky) guy, initially accepts this, it’s clear that the show is setting up a building tension in their relationship.
Last week, it was revealed that Kate’s stepmother Catherine might have more connections to the mysteries of this season than we were originally told. This episode doesn’t give a lot of new information, Alice does leave three cards after breaking into the Kane apartment that makes her nervous. In this case, the double life is Catherine manipulating pretending to be a scared and vulnerable citizen, manipulating her husband to take out Alice to hide the truth.
Finally, the best example of this is Mary. Mary has a reputation of being a ditzy socialite, being referred to as the “Queen of Gotham’s party scene” and only in med school to find a husband. Yet, she is actually an incredibly gifted doctor operating a secret clinic and is able to correctly diagnose trauma after an elevator collapses. Mary is the best example of this dual life, using her ditzy reputation to hide a very important free clinic her parents won’t approve of.
2. With friends like these, you get some good enemies
The villain of the week in “Down, Down, Down” is Tommy Elliot, a close friend of Bruce Wayne, and by extension, Kate. Elliot is a real estate mogul who is responsible for the developments that separate out the super-rich citizens, building walls in Gotham. Tommy is excited to see Bruce again to gloat about owning the bigger building overlooking Wayne Tower. He’s rich, petty, and wants to show Bruce that he’s better… and he also knows that Bruce is Batman.
The major mystery of the episode is that an experimental railgun designed to pierce the Batsuit has been stolen. Alice couldn’t be the culprit as she doesn’t know that Bruce is Batman, making Elliot the only likely suspect. Years earlier, Batman saved Elliot’s mother, but to Elliot, that moment ruined his life. In Elliot’s warped mind, he is saddled with the responsibility of his mother’s caretaking and preventing him from inheriting his fortune. His resentment of Batman only grew as he saw Gotham worshipping his personal villain as a hero.
Elliot wants to kill Batman and is willing to kill Gotham’s elite in the process in order for him to show up. Gabriel Mann does an excellent job of balancing Elliot’s frat-boy charm with his growing insanity as the episode progresses. I look forward to seeing him break out of Arkham and terrorize Gotham.
3. Elevator antics lead to a tense conclusion
The majority of the ending of “Down, Down, Down” takes place in Tommy Elliot’s highrise for a housewarming party. There is quite a bit of talk about the height of the building, which leads to an awkward and funny elevator ride as Kate, Mary, and Sophie ride to the party. Initially, Kate and Sophie exchange jabs which then leads to an even more uncomfortable silence. The scene is shot perfectly, Kate opposite Sohpie with Mary awkwardly splits the difference. While it might seem superfluous at the time, giving setup of what floor the party is, or what the interior of the elevator might be, it all pays off in an exciting way.
Continued belowAs mentioned earlier, Elliot wants to kill Batman, and as a way to draw him out, captures guests and employees in elevators, dropping one an hour until the Bat shows up. Each elevator contains some of Gotham’s elite, and two contain members of Kate’s family. In both of those elevators, plot points are revealed. Jacob promises to end Alice to keep the crow’s reputation and his family safe, and Tyler confronts Sophie about her relationship with Kate. But the real excitement comes when Elliot, upset that its Batwoman and not Batman that appears, drops the elevator containing Jacob and Catherine. This allows Kate to use the Batgadget of the week, a dual-sided grappling hook.
Elevator drops are a nice and easy way to built tension and terror, and in the case of this episode is set up and paid off very well.
4. Twenty-four hours off shows a different side of Alice
At the beginning of “Down, Down, Down,” Kate and Alice have a standoff on the top of Wayne Towers. Alice wants Dodgson back from Kate. Kate issues an ultimatum, if Alice can go twenty-four hours without killing anyone, she can get her boy toy back.
Alice proceeds to spend the rest of the episode staying true to her word but also spends the time continuing to harass and intimidate Jacob. Alice breaks into the Kane penthouse and applies Catherine’s makeup, breaks photos of Jacob’s new family, and calls Jacob and plays Bach’s cello suite, a song that Jacob encouraged her to practice. It’s because of this intimidation that Jacob inadvertently puts his family into peril and seems to put a certain level of blame onto Alice.
But the biggest thing about Alice’s visit to the house is the discovery that while Jacob might have abandoned his search, Kate never did. The break into the apartment is what causes Alice to save Kate at the end of the episode. There is a moment of hope that perhaps Alice has had a change of heart, but no… Alice reveals that she has killed again and that Beth is dead. Once again, it has to be said just how good Rachel Skarsten is at selling all of this, Alice continues to be one of the shows strongest aspects, even with this week’s limited exposure.
5. Batwoman is officially here
Over the past couple of weeks, Kate has been using the suit but upset at the unintentional consequences it has created. This week the intensity has been turned up as Bruce’s villains are starting to come out of the woodwork and are ready for Batman’s blood.
At the end of the episode, Kate decided that she no longer wants to pretend to be Batman, she wants to do things her own way and by her own rules, painting the bat symbol red (the color of her birthstone) and donning a red wig. It’s exciting to see Kate finally embrace that the suit is more than just a thing of intimidation. While it’s clear that she’ll be a different hero than Batman, that’s the point. It’s exciting to see where to go from here, but one thing is for certain, Batwoman is here, and she’s playing by her own rules.
So there you have it! Batwoman is now officially in her costume! What did you think of the episode? Who are some baddies you want to see in the future? How will Kate handle the work/life balance, will she be better than Bruce? Sound off below!
