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Five Thoughts on Batwoman‘s “Rebirth”

By | June 15th, 2021
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome back to Gotham! After a difficult couple of weeks for the Batfamily, the team must deal with something more significant. From Black Mask and the False Face Society to Safiyah and the Desert Rose, the threats facing Ryan and her friends are growing. Hopefully, some familiar faces can help save the day! So don your cape, grab your magical plant, and join us as we give you five thoughts on season 2, episode 15, “Rebirth.”

1. A familiar face aids in Luke’s healing

Luke Fox didn’t want to be resurrected. That much is pretty certain when he chose to see his father instead of fighting to live. Luke has been distant from the team, choosing to be alone and wanting some space, but “Rebirth” shows that there is another thing consuming Luke, revenge. After the man who shot him got released on bond and likely won’t face any consequences, Luke goes to a bar to confront the former agent. Things get tense quickly as Tavaroff provokes Luke and Luke challenges him to a “friendly” poker game. A challenge observed by a visiting John Diggle.

I hadn’t watched the last couple of seasons of Arrow , so it was a treat seeing David Ramsey’s intensely calm energy in “Rebirth.” While he is not in the episode a lot, Diggle brings some sage advice (and needed protection) to Luke, that you need to be wiser about changing the world, that picking fights alone will lead you nowhere, that you need to be part of a team. Luke will be in the Batwing suit at some point this season, which is pretty exciting, but it was interesting seeing him struggle with the choices his friends made to save him. Healing is a difficult process, perhaps one that resolved a little too quickly, but the emotional scene between Luke and Ryan felt earned.

2. The power of a sibling’s love

At the end of “Armed and Dangerous,” Alice made an unlikely alliance with her father to save Kate. Jacob learns the hard truth that while his daughter is still alive, Enigma brainwashed her, and Ocean killed the only way to bring her back quickly. While the two initially have their tension, the fight to save their family brings the two closer together as they attempt to use items to get Kate back. While this is a bonding experience for the two, the bigger impact of “Rebirth” allows Jacob to see the humanity in his daughter.

Jacob learns a lot about his daughter in “Rebirth,” that she wasn’t Alice until manipulated by Enigma, that she can love, but most important is her bond with her sister. The connection of Alice and Kate is the only reason why bringing Kate Kane back isn’t TOTALLY insulting to the excellent work Javicia Leslie is doing this season. By investing so much time in Alice’s journey and bond with her sister, bringing Kate back creates hope that she might be redeemable. The fact that her love might be the key to getting Kate back makes it more compelling.

3. The power of hiding behind a mask

While Jacob and Alice are almost successful at saving Kate, the combined forces of the False Face Society and the assassins of Coryana capture Alice and Jacob, each with their bone to pick. Roman Sionis confront Jacob, and the two patriarchs have a tense confrontation, each making the other aware that they know about the black sheep of their respective families. While the scene is good, there’s something funny about the fact that Peter Outerbridge and Dougray Scott are giving almost identical performances. Both are gruff, gravely, and stoic, and while that works for Jacob, it makes Roman feel off. Black Mask feels like he should always be on the verge of snapping, and for whatever reason, Outerbridge doesn’t sell that to the same degree that other actors in the role were able to achieve.

The importance of these scenes, though, is just showing the extent of Roman’s criminal empire. While it’s been implied that False Face members come from everywhere, “Rebirth” confirms this notion by showing that Roman has members in all occupations, even the GCPD. The GCPD arrest Jacob after the information that he was aiding and abetting his daughter Alice was released and is being sent to Metropolis to stand trial. The False Face Society’s influence is everywhere now, and the true power of the mask is hiding in plain sight.

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4. Never assume you have beat Safiyah

While Jacob confronts Roman, Safiyah is now hellbent on revenge for what Alice did to her island paradise. The problem is that the rest of the team realized the importance of Alice in bringing Kate back, and so Ryan makes a difficult decision, trade her mother’s desert rose plant in exchange for Alice coming back and saving Kate. While the trade is successful, Alice is her usual grandiose self, bragging to Safiyah that she got everything she wanted. Her sister is back, her boyfriend is back, and she can finally be happy. But it’s never wise to play games with a Chessmaster like Safiyah.

Safiyah informs Alice that Ocean has been taken care of, sending Alice into a spiral that sends her on a revenger mission instead of saving her sister. In one moment, Alice went from having it all to nothing, all while betraying the trust the other members of the team put in her. While there is certainly fun watching Alice continue to be an agent of chaos, again, the show chooses to give her a redemptive moment to snatch it away at the last minute. While you can do this trick a few times successfully, “Rebirth” is another part of a long line of playing these kinds of games. Hopefully, it will pay off, but it’s difficult to say how.

5. The struggle to be Kate Kane

Much of “Rebirth” surrounds trying to recover Kate Kane from the manipulation of Enigma. In an interesting reversal of Alice’s story, Kate’s subconscious puts her in the same spot that Alice was in all those years ago, tapped and begging for help. Wallis Day already has done a lot of great physical acting in the role of Circe, with a bizarre, borderline inhuman movement, but Day does an impressive job balancing the struggle of Kate vs. Circe.

Wallis Day makes both facets of the personality feel unique while also using similar mannerisms between both performances. It helps show the struggle going on in Kate’s subconscious, but at the end of the day, there will always be aspects of Kate that Circe can’t control. While the “Rebirth” of the title refers to a new perfume that will feature Circe’s return from her “Malibu Rehab Retreat,” the real rebirth is the one going on in her subconscious.

So there you have it, teams are fracturing, essential players are taken off the board, and Coryana is back for revenge. What did you think of the episode? Sound off below, and see you next week!


//TAGS | Batwoman

Joe Skonce

Joe Skonce was born, raised, and currently resides in Ohio, but has been exploring fantastical and imaginary worlds for as long as he can remember. He loves big guys and barbarians, pirates and puppets, and is always down to find nerdy new things. Come say hi to him on twitter @tunabellgrande.

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