It’s a new day in Gotham. Now that we have a new Batwoman who believes in herself, it’s time to see her in action. The city has a new hero, one who will look out for the overlooked or forgotten, the invisible. Someone who was once invisible herself. So don your cape, grab your grappling hook, and join us as we give you five thoughts on season 2, episode 4, “Fair Skin, Blue Eyes.”
1.Making sure no one else is invisible
Another week, another bit of tragic backstory for Ryan Walker. This week, Ryan once again looks out for the overlooked citizens of Gotham by getting to the bottom of “The Candy Lady,” a middle-aged white woman who kidnaps foster kids, brainwashes them to think they’re worthless, and then sells them to one of Gotham’s many gangs. How does Ryan know about “The Candy Lady?” Well, she was a victim of hers in the past. In many ways, “Fair Skin, Blue Eyes” feels almost a spiritual successor to the season one episode, “Mine is a Long Sad Tale,” where Alice recounts her capture. Both episodes show a slow dismantling of kidnapped children as they realize that no one is coming to save them. The biggest difference is that Ryan sees just how much the system doesn’t care about her.
In possibly the most tragic scene of the episode, a tied up and gagged Ryan watches as a group of college kids come to the house on a missing person’s case. You see the hope leave her eyes when she hears that they are searching for a young girl with fair skin and blue eyes. They’re looking for Alice. While this is yet another example of mining a tragic backstory for Ryan, what sets this one apart is that it does give her a sense of closure. Ryan triumphs over the Candy Lady and helps prevent others from getting captured, prevents others from feeling what she felt. It works in another way, too. It shows the parallels between Ryan and Alice. Both women experienced abuse and trauma; one tries to prevent it from happening again.
2. A divided Batfamily creates interesting new bonds
Luke hasn’t given up on Kate, but Mary doesn’t want to trust Alice, and so Luke goes off on his adventure to try and work with Sophie to help find their friend and ally. With Luke out of the way, “Fair Skin, Blue Eyes” lets Ryan and Mary continue to build their relationship. As a duo, Ryan and Mary are already much more fun than Kate and Mary ever were, and this episode continues to showcase that. Perhaps this is because we don’t have Mary on the Batcave’s outskirts, but I think that the actors just seem much more natural around one another. There was always a distance between Kate and Mary, which is gone with Ryan.
Mary is also providing a refuge for Ryan to put her life back together. The two of them work at Kate’s bar, they’ve moved in together above the bar, and they are already acting like sisters. Maybe there’s something more there, or maybe Ryan is just reading something more into it, but in any case, the two of them have natural on-screen chemistry. It’s exciting to see how this relationship grows, especially as Ryan’s past seems to want and screw it all up.
3. A perfect odd couple
While Ryan and Mary have a building rapport, “Fair Skin, Blue Eyes” continues on an entertaining odd-couple pairing from the last episode and has Alice and Sophie having a very awkward adventure together. Sophie is a pretty bland, no-nonsense character, so it’s entertaining watching her navigate the chaos of Alice as they try to work through getting Kate back. Rachel Skarsten has become so comfortable in her role as Alice that it’s fun to see her play against other characters and see the different techniques she uses to get under their skin. For Sophie, it’s to emphasize how his risk-averse nature sabotages her desire to keep Kate safe. Sometimes you need to play dirty, and Sophie isn’t prepared to do that.
Luke is also part of this story but doesn’t have much to do. Luke feels pretty lost in the early part of season two, which is a shame because he was fun in the first season. He helps Sophie fool Alice, but of course, Alice sees right through it. That’s about it. (Although it is fun to watch him get overwhelmed at the drop of a hat.) In any case, pairing Alice and Sophie was consistently fun to watch, especially as Alice raided the fridge. That’s pretty chaotic.
Continued below4. An easing of tension between birds and bats?
The episode’s climax comes after Jacob is captured by the False Face gang, who lie and say they have information about Kate. (For the record, I’m not entirely sure why Jacob goes alone, considering he has a private army.) In any case, Ryan is able not only to save Jacob but also helps Kevin, the boy who was captured and brainwashed by “The Candy Lady.” While it’s unlikely, it would be interesting to see how Ryan can impact Jacob and the Crows to start caring about those who aren’t hyper-wealthy. With a person in the suit who has seen Gotham’s true nature, maybe she can convince them to help everyone.
In any case, at the end of “Fair Skin, Blue Eyes,” Jacob admits that he wouldn’t have survived with the help of Batwoman. Maybe Ryan will have a better partnership with the Crows than Kate could ever hope to have, having to keep hidden from her father. As it stands right now, it doesn’t seem impossible for tensions to lessen.
5. A significant improvement on combining stories
The first few episodes of season two felt very siloed. You had your Ryan stuff over here and your Kate and Crows stuff over on the other side. This week, things began to felt a little better unified. Two examples of this improvement were Kevin’s connection to the False Face gang and Ryan’s relationship with Angelique Martin, who somehow seems connected to the wider conspiracy. At the very least, we are beginning to see the two stories at least acknowledge one another. In previous weeks, that wasn’t the case.
The biggest question in all of this is what is the end game with keeping Kate alive. At the moment, it is creating some reason for a dialogue to exist, but it seems likely that if Ruby Rose were to return, it would be for a cameo or guest spot. It’s nice to keep the door open, but either bring the Crows fully into Ryan’s story or get rid of them. In any case, this episode did a better job, but work still needs to be done.
So there we have it. The conspiracy grows, but Ryan is coming into her own and even getting closure from her past. What did you think of the episode? Sound off below and we’ll see you next time!
