It’s a new day in Gotham! Even though the city has a new protector, the hunt is still on for Kate Kane, and time is of the essence to see who finds her first. There are plenty of parties involved, including the new Batwoman, who doesn’t seem too interested in finding her predecessor. In any case, various parties have to make reluctant alliances to get to the bottom of her disappearance, so don your cape, grab the Batarang you’re auctioning off, and join us as we give you five thoughts on season 2, episode 5, “Gore on Canvas.”
1. All Crows are bastards
So it turns out that the shaky alliance between Batwoman and the Crows alluded to in “Fair Skin, Blue Eyes” was nothing more than the media spin of Vesper Fairchild, Gotham’s gossip radio personality. In reality, things are as tense as ever between Ryan and the Crows. As the episode progresses, Ryan explains her position to Luke about not trusting or wanting to work with the Crows, how they have brought her in for nothing more than looking the way she does. As she flies off after her initial confrontation, she lets Jacob know why the tensions are there, ACAB, all Crows are Bastards. While she ends up helping them, it’s with many caveats.
The conflict between Ryan and the Crows could prove much more interesting than it ever could have been with Kate and the privatized police force. For one, Kate could waltz in at any moment, shooting the breeze with her dad as she gathered information or hacked into the mainframe. Ryan doesn’t have the luxury. A throughline of season 1 included Kate learning more about the negative impact the Crows had on her city. For Ryan, it’s not something to learn. It’s a lived reality.
2. An art show to die for
The main mission of “Gore on Canvas” is to infiltrate an art show hosted by “The Collective,” a high-profile art trading club that deals in illegal art. The Collective will be auctioning off a rare Napier, a painting that had the blood of Joker’s victims splattered on it. It’s morose and more than a little messed up, but I guess that’s the Gotham elite for you. The Crows are all after the Napier because it contains a map to Coriana. “Gore on Canvas” also introduces Evan Blake, an old acquaintance of Kate and a high-profile art dealer who knows a thing or two about the illegal art trade. There are a lot of moments that feel similar to the season one episode “If you believe in me, I’ll believe in you.” Both involve heists infiltrating exclusive illegal auctions, both involve unfortunate run-ins with exes, and Ryan even wears the same dress Mary wore in that episode (I double-checked.)
The turn comes when the art thief Wolf Spider steals the Napier. As Ryan struggles to get into her suit, Wolf Spider can get away, only to be hit by the Crows squad car and left for dead. Ryan helps the thief, revealing that it’s Evan Blake. The reveal is not as strong as the episode seems to think it is, but it does create some fun action moments as Wolf Spider flips around. Wolf Spider is there, instead, to show how the team is struggling.
3. Poor teamwork and communication put everything at risk
This season has been one step forward, two steps back when it comes to Ryan’s relationship with the team. One week they seem on the same page, accepting Ryan and her role as Batwoman. The next, there’s anger and frustration and a lack of communication, only making things worse. “Gore on Canvas” is very much the latter, with Luke constantly getting under Ryan’s skin about things like her inability to get information out of the struggling assassin and her hesitation in working with the Crows. There’s an implication this might be because of some underlying feelings for Ryan, but if that’s the case, that’s just gross and not an excuse for the way he’s behaving.
Ryan is also not being forthcoming to the team. She still hasn’t revealed to Luke her possible blood poisoning (which this week impedes her ability to get the painting) and flies off the handle instead of communicating with the team about what went wrong. The conflict this week felt very forced, and only to further drive a wedge between the group. If there were consistency in this story beat, maybe it wouldn’t matter, but there hasn’t been, and that is a problem.
Continued below4. Fighting the system itself
When Batwoman agrees to work with the Crows, there are some caveats. Sophie has to hand-select the team, and they have to stay back unless needed to help. During the heist, the Crows full-on hit Wolf Spider with their humvee, leaving the thief for dead because they don’t want to be connected. While the one officer looks concerned, he doesn’t put up much of a fight. Ryan was right to be hesitant. The corruption in the Crows is still fully there.
Many moments in “Gore on Canvas” feel ripped from the headlines, but the conversation between Ryan and Sophie feels the most transparent. In a bid to keep Batwoman working with the Crows, Sophie says that the men responsible were forced to quit. That’s not enough for Ryan. In her mind, the only way she can trust Sophie is if she also leaves and fights to take down the Crows, to fight the system the Crows have created. Sophie gives some of the arguments bandied about during the last year, “a few bad apples,” “believing in the cause,” but she lacks some conviction in it. In any case, the Crows haven’t changed much, and Ryan is having none of these small gestures.
5. It’s ill advised to cross an Ocean
Alice is also on the hunt for Kate, though she is taking a slightly different approach to find Kate by tracking down Ocean, the man Safiyah wants her to kill. The problem is that Alice keeps having weird flashes to her time with Ocean, maybe on Coriana, and talks to him instead of killing him. Ocean, it turns out, is Safiyah’s brother, and it seems the two of them have had their mind erased. After saving each other from assassins, they drive off together, the real Napier in hand.
While the Kate stuff with the Crows and Ryan often seems forced, Alice’s angle is rather intriguing because it sends Alice in new and unique directions instead of spinning wheels and taking away character development from Ryan. There is a part of me that wishes Alice could have dealt with this in her spin-off, allowing them time to focus on telling Ryan’s stories, but as it stands, most of the Kate stuff should be left to Alice and start developing new things for Ryan to do. Now Alice has a new mission and a (potentially) old flame to find out what’s going on. That’s exciting, more exciting than seeing them force Ryan to care about what is up with Kate.
So there we have it, the hunt for Kate Kane continues. What did you think of the episode? Sound off below and we will see you next week!
