Welcome back to Gotham! Now that all the pieces have come together and the conspiracy of Snakebite has become unmasked (or, Black Masked as the case might be), things are heating those trying to keep the city safe. Gotham is becoming a warzone from Snake Bite and the False Face Gang, corrupt prisons, and laser guns. So don your cape, grab your reporter’s pad, and join us as we give you five thoughts on season 2, episode 10, “Time Off For Good Behavior.”
1. Dangers to those making a difference
“Time Off For Good Behavior” makes good on Ryan’s promise from “Rule #1” of trying to improve the community by creating spaces that help at-risk youth. Places where they can build a community and not slip through the cracks. The episode begins with a gala celebrating the opening of a new youth center. Still, Gotham being Gotham, the festivities don’t last long as the event is attacked by “Kilowatt,” a new gun for hire using a laser weapon and attacking not only the youth center but also the reporter trying to unearth the conspiracy.
The attack is yet another in a long line of similar events, and while the motives and techniques differ, the targets are all the same, at-risk programs. The threat goes to the top of Gotham’s private prison company. The director promises convicts the opportunity to get early bail if they attack youth programming and prevent kids from the benefits of organized sports of community centers. By creating the cracks that these kids often fall through, the prison has the opportunity to continue earning profits. While indeed an interesting idea, the execution is a little sloppy, a simple solution to a much larger problem. Still, it’s again interesting to see a show like Batwoman tackle these ideas, certainly in a city where wealth is queen when it comes to fighting crime.
2. The impact and temptation of Snake Bite
After an entire half-season of establishing the narcotic Snake Bite threat, the show finally reveals what the drug does and just why it’s so tempting for the users. It gives you the chance to fix past wrongs. This season still isn’t quite sure what to do with Jacob Kane, but “Time Off For Good Behavior” takes him in a direction I certainly wasn’t expecting and puts him at the heart of the Snake Bite story. A False Face Gang member attacks and injects Jacob with the drug, where he relives a chance to save Beth instead of leaving her to rot in Cartwright’s basement.
Jacob enlists the help of Dr. Evelyn Rhyme, the Crows authority on Snake Bite to help, who suggests trying to patch things up with Mary to ease the guilt of his failure with Beth and Kate. While we as the audience know the Rhyme is the mysterious Enigma, it SHOULD seem pretty clear to Jacob that perhaps she doesn’t have his best interest at heart. In any case, by the end of the episode, Jacob succumbs to the temptation of Snake Bite left him by his client Roman Sionis (aka, Black Mask) and took another hit of the drug to save Beth again. Who knows how this story will play out, but making Jacob Kane a drug addict certainly changes the second season’s landscape.
3. The mystery of Enigma
The common thread between all of the stories in season two of Batwoman is Dr. Evelyn Rhyme or Enigma. Rhyme wiped Alice and Ocean’s minds for Safiya, aiding Black Mask and brainwashing Kate Kane to sew seeds of chaos in Gotham, as well as manipulating the Crows. While she is involved in so many storylines, we don’t know much about her. The thing is, you feel her impact throughout “Time Off For Good Behavior.” Laura Mennell does an admirable job balancing Rhyme’s seemingly innocent and good-natured advice with a sinister bend.
While each member of the team is dealing with the meddling of Enigma, it seems that Julia is getting the worse end of it. Rhyme has manipulated Julia multiple times, making her forget destinations, missions, and even previous meetings with the Crows on-call psychologist. At the end of the episode, she is globetrotting off to Berlin, once again after an appointment with the good Doctor. It will be interesting to see how Rhyme plays into the larger story. It seems like our time with Coryana is not yet behind us, but who knows what role Rhyme plays in the larger plot. Maybe she is a pawn, but she could just as easily be a mastermind.
Continued below4. The desire to forget
While much of the conspiracy of “Time Off For Good Behavior” is about trying to remember what Enigma made you forget, for Alice, forgetting is the whole mission. It’s still not 100% clear what Alice’s goal in all of this is if her desire to cut herself off from her memories and start anew is a genuine desire or yet another point in her journey of revenge against Safiyah. In any case, Alice is on the hunt for Enigma to disconnect herself from her past.
The thing is that during season 2, many people have been cutting away at what they think makes Alice Alice. While many of these plots are starting to get a little tired, for whatever reason, Alice keeps it all compelling. Perhaps it is because Rachel Skarsten does a good job elevating the show from week to week. In any case, she’s doing a lot with a little, and that alone is keeping the season going.
5. The danger of being known in an anonymous gang
After Ocean’s disappearance and Angelique’s arrest, the Black Mask is without his supply and, because of this, he fears losing his hold on the city. “Time Off For Good Behavior” continues the trend of “Rule #1” of not doing much to hide Black Mask’s true identity. Yet, there is a particular impact of making this information pretty transparently clear to the audience. It shows just how blind anonymity can make a person to those in charge. Roman Sionis and Dr. Rhyme don’t fit the “profile” of criminal or gang leader, and because of this, they are below the radar of The Crows and the GCPD. Hell, Roman is even a client of The Crows, yet someone like Angelique or Ryan is constantly profiled, harassed, and taken in for a past beyond their control. It makes the more important ideas of season 2 stronger.
But the problem is that even if an anonymous gang, standing out is dangerous. After convincing Angelique to reveal the shooters’ identities in “Rule #1” to the Crows, she is escorted to a safe house and attacked by False Face gang thugs. While Ryan believes she might be dead, Angelique is being brought back into a life she desperately tries to leave, making Snake Bite sell to others. Even trying to leave an anonymous gang is difficult when you have the skills no one else has.
So there you have it, The False Face society is still on the loose, Black Mask’s power grows, and Batwoman needs to stop him. What did you think of the episode? Sound off below!
