Welcome back to Gotham! After saving the city from copycat criminals utilizing Batman’s trophy case to wreck havoc, Ryan and the team just might have met their match with Marquis Jet. After weeks of fighting the new Joker with limited resources, it’s time for the final standoff, and the threat is about as dire as the team has faced. Will Ryan be able to reunite her family? So don your cape, grab your grappling hook, and join us as we give you five thoughts on Batwoman’s season 3 finale, episode 13, “We Having Fun Yet?”
1. A big, slow-moving threat gently hovers over Gotham
After getting the keys to the Batcave, Marquis Jet is finally ready to put his plan in place. Having access to Bat-tech and Joker gas means that Marquis has the one advantage his predecessor never had, a chance to do some damage. “We Having Fun Yet?” really takes its time building the tension of what Marquis has up his sleeve. At first, it’s a simple “outing the hero” plot, which, sure, is acceptable. It’s just not something you would expect from the new suave clown prince of crime. But as the episode progresses and the team gets access to better tech thanks to Jada, the episode builds to Marquis’s master plan. The result is pure comic book nerd joy.
In a superhero media world that tends to shy away from the over-the-top and silly, “We Having Fun Yet?” pulls out all the stops as Marquis Jet is threatening Gotham in the BAT BLIMP! Yes, Marquis’s plan to out his sister as the Scarlet Knight is just a ruse to get Gotham to look at the sky and get blasted with Joker toxin, killing half the city and maiming the survivors. Yet, while it is genuinely an over-the-top set piece, Batwoman does an excellent job of making the whole situation feel threatening. The countdown combined with the slow-moving vehicle adds some major stakes as Ryan, and the team struggles to get it away from populated city centers. It’s kind of what you want out of any superhero final confrontation, really, a ridiculous situation with serious tension.
2. Family secrets save the day while raising the stakes
While there were some weeks that Ryan’s family drama overstayed its welcome, “We Having Fun Yet?” found a way to create a satisfying narrative payoff by really putting Jada Jet’s feet to the fire and truly confronting her family’s dark past. A lot of the third season of Batwoman dealt with how the super-rich tends to bury their problems and the consequences they face for putting their reputation above their loved ones. From the Black Glove society to abandoning her daughter to the system, Jada has a lot of skeletons in her closet and only made these situations go from bad to worst. Finally, in an attempt to bring Marquis down, she reveals the truth about his past, ruining Marquis. While presented as brave, it seemed a bit shallow (especially as the blimp hovered over Gotham), but in any case, it did have one consequence, pissing Marquis off.
Family seemed to be a central guiding mission to the third season, one that Marquis uses to taunt his sister until the end. “We Having Fun Yet?” ends with the two siblings fighting on the roofs of Gotham as Marquis calls Ryan out for her desperate hope that she can have a family. While Ryan can successfully use the joy buzzer on Marquis and get her family back, their final confrontation was well executed and very intense. It was a good final showdown for a well-developed rivalry.
3. A fun payoff to Batman’s trophy case
While Batman’s trophy case didn’t necessarily disappear, it certainly started to play second fiddle as Poison Ivy and Marquis became the more significant threats. While it created a good “monster of the week” setup for the first half, “We Having Fun Yet?” found a way to bring the trophy case back in a fun way, letting the heroes use a little mischief.
While Ryan and the team struggled to find a way to stop the blimp, they also needed a way to get Gotham’s citizens off the street and land on utilizing the villain trophies as possible ways to save Gotham’s citizens. They ultimately land on the Penguin’s hypno-umbrella and convince people to get to safety. While it’s certainly possible that the heroes using villain’s tools is a one-off to resolve the trophy case, “We Having Fun Yet?” established a fun possibility for future seasons. Maybe you can use your foe’s tricks for good, not evil.
Continued below4. Alice’s strength creates a potential fond farwell
Alice went through quite the journey in the third season, going from reluctant ally to villain teacher to full mental breakdown. While it was a bit all over the place, Rachel Skarsten continued to bring exactly what the role needed on a week-to-week basis. “We Having Fun Yet?” took that to the next level, as she and Ryan had one final confrontation, trying to determine why she was worthy of being saved over Marquis. Skarsten and Javicia Leslie have always had good on-screen chemistry, and their confrontation in Arkham was a great reminder of why she was so good in that role. She can go from funny, to pathetic, to threatening at the drop of a hat, plus she always keeps you guessing.
In the episode’s final twist, it’s revealed that Alice gave Marquis the keys to the kingdom as a setup to ultimately take him down, giving Ryan the joy buzzer to correct the Joker’s damage. The episode shows that Alice is strong enough to save herself and ready to put in the work to fix her trauma and become Beth Kane again. While “We Having Fun Yet?” might be the last we see of Alice, it was an excellent reminder of what made the character great.
5.Heroes ready to be heroic
Over the past two seasons, Batwoman has routinely returned to the well of “worthiness” in being a superhero. While there’s nothing wrong with this, necessarily, you do reach a point where you just want to watch the heroes being, well, heroic. “We Having Fun Yet?” gives Luke and Ryan moments to let them be the heroes they were meant to be and creates a solid footing to start a new season. Finally, the team is ready to keep Gotham safe, and now they are confident in their abilities to be the heroes they were always worthy of being.
So there we have it. Ryan and her team are back on top and ready to face whatever challenges come their way, even if it’s a possible radiation mutant. This was a great finale to a very solid season, and it’s exciting to see what will happen next. What did you think? Sound off below, and see you next season!
