Welcome back to Gotham! The city’s own paragon of courage Kate Kane defends her city as Batwoman, but her life has been difficult. Not only does she have to try and stop her evil twin, but she has to save Gotham’s influencers from a face slashing villain. So don your cape, grab your upgraded cowl (now featuring Cowl Cam!), and join us as we give you five thoughts on Batwoman season 1, episode 14 “Grinning From Ear to Ear.”
1. Jacob Kane (and his legacy) caught between a rock and a hard place
At the beginning of “Grinning From Ear to Ear,” Jacob finds himself with a big problem. His past is coming back to haunt him. As an inmate, Jacob’s life was saved by Reggie Harris who demanded payment. Harris’ case was one of the cases that is being retried after “The Executioner” exposed Gotham’s corrupt justice system back in “I’ll be Judge, I’ll be Jury.” Because Jacob knows the new judge (and because he owes Reggie his life,) his lawyer is demanding that Jacob advance the case. The lawyer promises Jacob that if his client doesn’t get his way, he will expose The Crows corruption, opening even more cases. After some investigation, Jacob discovers that there might be truth to the claim.
After the abrupt ending of the prison storyline, it’s good to see them hit the ground running with the fallout of the ease of his offscreen freedom. It was also nice to see the actions of The Executioner having an actual impact on the fabric of the world. The problem, though, is that the corruption of the Crows is linked to the original case. It would have been more interesting if the Reggie case was really as open and shut as Jacob implied. There could still be corruption in The Crows, but if it was linked to another case, it would put Jacob in a even more difficult position. Would he overturn a good case, to free a guilty man, all to protect his legacy? A question like this would be more interesting going forward.
2. Relationships and vigilante justice just don’t mix
After sharing a steamy kiss on a rooftop in Gotham, Sophie and Kate are both happy. But as Luke is quick to remind Kate, being a vigilante and being in a relationship don’t often work out. The problem is, Sophie is ok with the danger (and the two of them work rather well together!) Kate even uses Sophie’s connections and ability to fight crime during the day to her advantage, getting information on the face slasher they’re after. In the end, though, Batwoman and Sophie realize that it won’t work. Sophie is dating a symbol and realizes that dating someone in a mask is safe and keeping her in a mask herself. There’s a certain amount of security in dating a masked figure, no worries of being seen together in the day time.
The other half of Sophie’s story is her dealing with her overbearing mother, coming to check in on her daughter after her recent troubles. At the end of the episode, Sophie comes out to her mother. Her mother also asks why she’s only learning about who her daughter is now. There’s a disappointment, but it seems to be ambiguous. Sophie coming out to her mother is a huge step in her character’s progression, one that shows she is accepting herself.
3. Fixing the outside, while neglecting the inside, creates a vulnerable villain
The villain of the week is referred throughout as “The Slashonista,” a mysterious figure who is targeting Gotham’s social media influencers and cutting their faces. As Kate looks for a commonality of the victims, Mary points her into the direction of Dr. Campbell. There’s talk of it maybe being another jealous patient, angry that these social media influencers steal one another’s procedures for likes and follows. That’s not the case. The slasher is Duela Dent.
The episode begins with Dent putting makeup on her face as a sinister voice tells her how to hide her imperfections. In a fit of anger, she decides to cut a smile into her face, using the shards of the broken mirror. Against her will, her mother took her to Dr. Campbell to fix the scarring, which only made Duela become more upset and amplified her mental illness. Her current victim is a former friend from school who changed her name, her face, and has become a beauty icon. Duela doesn’t find it fair that when she changed her face she was institutionalized, but when Victoria did it she became famous. The thing, though, is that the actress who plays Duela approaches the role with a lot of vulnerability, she is clearly very disturbed, buckling to the pressures of society and her mother and getting no help for it. She’s a deranged killer, sure, but only because people are trying to fix her outside and not inside.
Continued below4. On the outside of the Bat Cave, looking in
Last week, Mary all but figured out Kate’s secret identity. This seems initially to be played for laughs, as Mary casually hints to her sister about her extracurricular activities, but as the episode progresses it gets more serious. Mary tries to prove to both Kate and Batwoman that she can be useful. She has medical skills and a secret clinic in which to help, but unsurprisingly Kate is unmoved. Near the end of “Grinning From Ear to Ear,” Mary confronts Alice who all but confirms her suspicions while also forcing Mary to doubt her growing relationship with Kate. At the end of the episode, Mary tells Kate straight up that the reason she never worried about Kate telling her parents about the clinic was that she knew she could be trusted. Mary hopes Kate will think of her in the same way.
It seems all but confirmed this week that Mary will be joining Batwoman’s Batfam. It would have been nice just to go for it and not make us wait another week. Mary would make a great addition to the team and has basically been an unofficial member since the Crisis crossover. At this point, I just want to see her interacting with Luke. It seems like their dynamic in the cave will be a fun one.
5. Alice’s world continues to unravel
Alice has lost Mouse, her sister, and what’s even worse is that her death is going unnoticed! But in reality, it all stems to the reveal that her tormentor, Dr. Cartwright is alive again. In many ways, it’s making Alice revert to the scared little girl she was. She even kidnaps a therapist to help her rationalize what she’s feeling. (Which, good self-care Alice. Not cool presumably killing him though.) At the end of the episode, she steals Duela’s face (with Duela’s permission, in one of the grizzliest images in the show thus far, the bleeding Duela claiming to be “perfect.”) This allows her access to Cartwright and she demands Mouse back. The problem is that Cartwright is turning Mouse against her, with a healthy dose of Fear Toxin. Alice seems to be losing control, but the question is, how will she handle this larger threat?
So there we have it. Things are getting more complicated for both twins, but how will this all play out? Does Cartwright have bigger plans than Alice? Is Hamilton Industry’s role in all this truly done? Will Duela join Alice’s entourage? Sound off below!
