Welcome back to Gotham! The city’s own paragon of courage Kate Kane defends Gotham as Batwoman, but her life has been difficult. While this week she might not be trying to stop her evil twin, she IS helping her break her number one minion out of Arkham Asylum. So don’t don your cape! Instead, grab a mask from one of your sister’s henchpeople, and join us as we give you five thoughts on Batwoman season 1, episode 16 “Through the Looking Glass.”
1. The fear of becoming your darkest self.
At the end of “Off With Her Head,” Kate has been pushed to her breaking point, killing Dr. Cartwright, the man who was responsible for destroying her sister and her family. “Through the Looking Glass” begins with Kate, Alice, and Jacob burying his body, Kate looking visibly shaken by what she did. Alice, meanwhile, is her usual deranged peppiness seems excited about the moment of family bonding, but assuring Jacob and Kate that she will get away clean. If not, she can alert the authorities to a dead body that is covered in the DNA of her father and sister.
The actions clearly have taken a toll on Kate, as she spends the rest of the episode dealing with flashbacks and a new level of aggression as the Caped Crusader. She is intentionally breaking bones and taking criminals to the brink of death. Throughout the episode, she talks about how the only thing she feels guilty about is her lack of guilt for murdering Cartwright. While Alice wants to pursue these new emotions, Kate does her best to distance herself from them. But it seems clear throughout the episode that Kate is struggling, which puts an interesting spin on not only her relationships but her role as Gotham’s hero.
2. Sisterly bonding, break-in style.
There is a lot of Kate and Alice as a unit in “Through the Looking Glass,” and it works quite well. As usual, the relationship between Ruby Rose and Rachel Skarsten is incredibly strong throughout the episode, with the two really feeling like sisters. (Y’know, if one was the leader of a gang of psychopaths.) Continuing to leverage Kate’s murder of Cartwright, Alice convinces Kate to help her find Mouse. Not only does Alice want her little brother back, but there is a safety concern as well. When Mouse was a patient at Arkham Asylum, the head of Arkham used Mouse to test fear toxin. Now that Mouse has been exposed to days worth of the chemical, he’s going after his old nurses and generally proving to be a threat to Gotham’s safety.
After he’s picked up by the Crows, Alice and Kate stage a break-in of Arkham, all while Alice is trying to convince Kate that she can be trusted by not killing. To her credit, Alice holds up her end of the deal. The break-in is where we get the majority of this week’s action, and as per usual it’s fine. In fact, this action sequence was one of the strongest of the season. But overall, the time they spent together just shows how well these two actresses work together, putting them on screen is always exciting and fun to watch.
3. Luke’s world begins to unravel as he faces hard truths.
Early on in “Through the Looking Glass,” there’s a pretty shocking moment. Kate lies to Luke about Cartwright. While in the grand scheme of the crazy things that happen in the episode it doesn’t seem that intense, it’s hard to see their growing bond put into jeopardy. But Luke has a bit more on his mind than the fate of Dr. Cartwright. Reggie Harris, the man who killed his father, has the possibility of having a retrial. Luke attends the court hearing, with Mary for support. (Which is a lovely gesture. Once again, the bond that these two have is incredible and make Mary part of the Bat Fam already!) Luke is sure that it is still an open and shut case but has to deal with the reality that Reggie is going (temporarily) free due to complications with the original case.
This episode had the potential of being dark for everyone, as Luke goes to confront Reggie where he lives, to find out why Reggie killed his dad. Reggie assures Luke he didn’t do it. He remembered going into the store for chips, hearing Lucius talking about how proud he was of his son going to MIT, and then woke up with a gun in his hand and covered in blood. Reggie insists he’s the perfect fall guy. He’s large, black, tattooed, has dreadlocks, and a previous record, which makes him a perfect candidate to be a fall-guy. The episode takes some of the decision making out of Luke’s hands though, as Reggie is shot in front of him. It’s a pretty shocking moment all things considered. There was a moment I was worried that Luke would be falsely accused of trying to get vengeance, but Luke is able to go free. In any case, truths he thought he knew are being questioned, and it seems to be having an impact.
Continued below4. A growing conspiracy brings everyone into the fold.
While Sophie isn’t officially on the Crows’ payroll anymore, she is doing some secret reconnaissance for Jacob. The Reggie case specifically made Jacob begin to question his crime-fighting organization. There was missing evidence, coercive methods to get confessions, and mysterious charges to cover something up. A few weeks ago, I complained that it all seemed too convenient, but it’s actually developed in interesting ways. There now seems to be orchestrated hits out on Sophie, Jacob, Reggie, and the owner of the convenient store where Lucius Fox was killed. The conspiracy even brings back a familiar face, Julia Pennyworth, to protect Sophie.
It seems like there has always been some bigger conspiracy that the show keeps teasing and then pulling back from. But there have always been elements of Kate’s life that haven’t 100% added up, starting with the mysterious circumstances of the crash and Batman’s ability to save the day. This week ramped up some big conspiracy with the Crows, but it seems likely that it will all connect to something bigger.
5. Kate gets some payback, but at what cost?
Throughout “Through the Looking Glass,” Kate talks about her fears of becoming Alice. After murdering Cartwright she realized there was some darkness in there. This week, she was working with Alice, all while Alice taunted her for that dark side. But at the end of the episode, after Alice proves herself to be good with not murdering people, Kate betrays her sister. It’s the right call, but it still has some shock value to it as Alice pleads to Kate to free her.
The thing is, this betrayal doesn’t seem like it’s calmed any of Kat’s anxieties about who she became last week. While she gets assurances from her friend Julia, it seems to not help all that much. (Although it does lead to some making out on Wayne Tower roof.) Who knows what will happen next to Kate, but it seems clear that her betrayal has done one thing, made Alice more intense than she already was.
So there we have it. Alice and Mouse are in Arkham (historically known for keeping their patients safe) and a conspiracy grows. What did you think? Sound off below.
