Welcome back to Gotham! Hope is on the rise after some recent Batsightings as Gotham looks for their returned Dark Knight. But you and I both know this is no Bruce Wayne, it’s Kate Kane and she’s not here to play by the rules as she tries to keep her secret identity safe. So don your cape, grab your coil gun, and join us as we give you five thoughts on Batwoman season 1 episode 7, “Tell Me the Truth.”
1. An new ally (and old flame) energizes the episode
The villain of “Tell Me the Truth” is The Rifle, a killer for hire who seems to be hunting Hamilton Dynamics employees. Early in the episode, Kate tracks down The Rifle but is soon attacked by another person with a hidden identity. This mystery figure immediately knows that Batwoman is Kate based on her fighting style, she was Kate’s Krav Maga teacher Julia Pennyworth. She was easily the best part of the episode.
Over the course of the episode, we learn that Julia is Alfred’s daughter, friends with Luke, and an ex-lover of Kate (they dated after Kate was kicked out of the academy as a way to get over Sophie.) Christina Wolfe takes full advantage of the character’s history with the rest of the cast, presenting Julia as charming, snarky, and full of life. She also kicks a fair amount of ass. I’m hoping she becomes a permanent cast member because of what she added to the team dynamic. She certainly left an impression and the episode felt improved because of it.
2. Struggling to keep her identity secret
Secret identities are important and this week Kate faces her biggest struggle of keeping her’s secret. While Alice knows and Mary keeps almost finding out, this week’s threat to Kate’s secret is Sophie. Sophie threatens to tell Kate’s big secret to Jacob, not because of some loyalty to the crows but rather to protect Kate. Oh, and also there is a coil gun that can piece the Bat Armor that has been stolen.
Kate struggles to convince Sophie that she isn’t the Batwoman and not to tell her father, even going to far as to have Julia wear the armor so that Kate and Batwoman can be in the same place as Sophie. It doesn’t go well. While Sophie no longer thinks that Kate is Batwoman, Julia is attacked and captured by the Crows, forcing Kate to rescue her without her tools.
The episode also ends with Julia giving advice to Kate about her secret identity. Bruce did too good a job at keeping his role secret. Julia doesn’t think it’s healthy that Bruce has been gone for four years and no one seems to notice or be working hard to find him. Secret identities build walls, which Julia thinks Kate should avoid. While you shouldn’t let just anyone in, it’s important to have people you can trust who will look out for you.
3. Sophie’s lies come back to haunt her
Sophie has been lying, a lot. She lied to Kate. She lied to her husband. But most importantly, she’s been lying to herself. This week her lies are beginning to catch up to her. We are again shown flashbacks to the fateful week before Kate’s expulsion from Point Rock, though this week more context is given. Sophie originally was full of Kate’s fire to fight the rules of the school and combat the archaic and cruel rule prohibiting homosexual relationships at the school. Jacob convinces Sophie otherwise. While he knows that Kate will never be swayed, he thinks that Sophie should consider her future. Sophie lied to Kate in a hope that it would soften the blow, but it only caused resentment and hurting.
Sophie’s lies to her husband also have been building up. She lied to him about her relationship with Kate and her dealings with Batwoman, which leads him to start questioning other aspects of their relationship. In the end, Sophie tells Tyler that her relationship with Kate ended the moment she put her future before Kate, that she only loves him. Tyler seems appeased by this answer, but it sets a dangerous precedent, Sophie is only looking out for herself.
Continued below4. What exactly is Alice’s plan?
The Rifle was hired by Alice to kill the three engineers who developed the Bat killing coil gun. Hired really isn’t the right word, though. Rifle seems to be working for yet another mystery villain who is bargaining with Alice. They keep talking about a vague deal, the details of which were hard to understand. Alice had something that Rifle’s employer wanted, but Alice wanted Rifle’s employer to provide her with something in return.
It all ends up being moot, though, when Alice replaced the deadly round for the coil gun with a nonlethal round. She will do anything to keep her sister safe. Rifle is concerned that Alice broke the agreement, (seemingly the blame will be on his head as well as Alices.) But, at least at the moment, Alice killed the only people who worked on the coil gun, making it a one of a kind. Who knows, this might keep her safe.
The vagueness of Alice’s plans works well for her unhinged villain persona. We don’t know what her next step will be, what her motivations behind her actions are, or why she’s doing any of this. It keeps us guessing and keeps us coming back to find out what the next steps are for her “Mad Tea Party.”
5. Representation and Batwoman
The major theme of “Tell Me the Truth” is the difficulty of being a member of the LGBT+ community. While the episode is hard on Sophie, she does talk about how her family would never understand her identity. Her father gags at the sight of rainbow flags and her mother would never understand. Not only would Sophie be losing her future by coming out, but she would also potentially be losing her family as well. You can feel the weight in her decision, the difficulty of having to lead a double life with your family.
The episode goes further to show Kate confronting a homophobic restauranteur in Gotham. The irony is that the owner is grateful to Batwoman, offering to give her a free meal, but kicking out Kate for being herself. Kate fights back against his decision to remove her “wearing sneakers” against the dress code, hiding behind rules as to not appear bigoted. In retaliation, Kate begins plans to open up an LGBT bar across from the restaurant. Batwoman does a good job balancing a strong queer protagonist with the difficult realities of the LGBT+ community. It’s a good thing to see on TV, celebrating successes without ignoring the challenges that still exist.
[break]So there we have it! We’re getting geared up for a Mad Tea Party and I for one am intrigued. What did you think? Sound off below!
