A new version of Snakebite turns those who take it into cannibals.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Ocean makes Alice question herself for wanting to bring Kate back, as he points out (by asking her) how many times Kate "abandoned" her.
- Autocannibalism: Richard Monaghan bites off a few of his fingers to escape his restraints.
- Bait-and-Switch: Richard Monaghan, suddenly finding himself craving human flesh after a shot of Snakebite, corners a young woman in an alley, but maintains enough self-control to release her and tell her to run. Then a man comes up behind him, and we think his self-control is going to run out, only for two more "zombies" to come jumping out of nowhere and attack the man instead, while Richard runs like hell.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Eli, the carjacker, initially just seems like a relatively harmless guy who's in for grand theft auto. At the end of the episode, Luke finds him breaking into another car and tries to stop him, only for Eli to quickly blame him for the carjacking when the Crows show up.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Mary does this to Jacob after discovering he's using Snakebite to live in a fantasy world where he saved Kate and Beth, reminding him that she lost the same people he did, but she's learning to accept reality rather than seeking an escape.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Alice barely keeps herself from killing Enigma, only refraining from doing so because she needs her.
- The Chains of Commanding: Tavaroff and the other Crows defy Sophie's orders by killing the afflicted junkies instead of trying to subdue them, deeming them a lost cause.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Luke tries to intervene all by himself when he sees Eli carjacking instead of calling someone about it, despite possessing no physical skills or weapons he could use to make Eli stop.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Alice accuses Ocean of being this for not wanting her to reunite with Kate, but he argues that Kate is toxic for Alice because she gave up on her sister and locked her in Arkham for being too hard to fix.
- Curse Cut Short: Ryan was going to say "ass" but she remembers that she's in a church (even if it's an abandoned one), so she says "booty" instead.
- Exact Words: When Mary asks Jacob about his Snakebite usage, Jacob honestly tells her about the incident where he was forcibly injected by a False Face member as a warning, without saying how long ago that was. Mary immediately points out that he has at least 16 track marks, indicating that he's been using it long after that happened.
- Fighting from the Inside: Richard Monaghan is uncharacteristically self-controlled for a victim of the new Snakebite, managing to mostly keep himself from attacking others and remaining lucid throughout. Everyone else devolves into mindless animals.
- Hidden Depths: Jacob, during his military service, has learned some basic medical stuff, assisting Mary.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Thanks to the False Face Society trying to replicate Snakebite without the recipe, they instead create a version that causes insatiable hunger for human flesh.
- Immediate Sequel: This episode picks up at the end of the last one, with Alice realizing Circe is Kate.
- Internal Reformist: Sophie once again reaffirms her motivation to be this for the Crows. Though by the end, she has given up on it.
- Internal Reveal:
- Ocean learns about Kate being alive, and Enigma learns about Alice knowing it.
- Jacob tells Mary how the False Face Society hooked him on Snakebite.
- Irony: The GCPD needs Ryan's help as Batwoman. She's unable to help at first, being in a cell after one of their officers arrested her over BS. For greater irony, the officer who arrested her later expresses gratitude for her help after she gets out (due to his bogus arrest not holding up), oblivious to the fact that she's Batwoman.
- Killed Off for Real: Ocean kills Enigma to stop her from telling Alice the trigger word that will give Kate her memories back.
- The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Ryan starts to brush up against this as she's started dating Imani.
- Neck Snap: The way Ocean kills Enigma.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: At the end, Luke tries to stop a carjacking incident. He gets shot for it.
- Our Zombies Are Different: People under the influence of the new, incomplete snakebite act like zombies.
- Pet the Dog: Sionis lets Alice go after she fixes "Circe's" face. Though he also makes it clear that he'll kill her if she tells anybody about what happened.
- Police Brutality: One of the major themes of the episode. Ryan and Luke are first manhandled and arrested by a cop who tries to shut down a fundraiser at The Hold Up for a "noise violation". A group of Crows agents, led by Tavaroff, open fire and kill a number of out-of-control Snakebite users without trying to subdue them non-lethally. And the episode ends with Luke being shot by Tavaroff who mistakes him for a car thief while reaching for his phone.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Tavaroff and other Crows agents defy her orders and open fire on Snakebite users, Sophie decides to leave the Crows, having realized that the corruption and apathy within the organization is too much for her to fix.
- Ship Tease: Between Ryan and Imani, who are dating. Though at the end of the episode, Ryan admits to Imani that she hasn't been entirely honest with her and can't tell her who she really is, breaking things off to keep her safe.
- Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: After Eli accuses Luke of trying to steal the car he was breaking into, Luke pulls out his phone to show the Crows proof. Russell assumes it's a gun and shoots him three times.
- Shown Their Work: Mary accurately describes various compounds during her assessment of Richard, such as giving a reasonable list of effects of methedrone and stating that Fear Toxin contains diethylamide, short for lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD. She also mentions that Richard's high blood sugar could possibly be causing his hunger, which is true if blood sugar gets too high.
- Skewed Priorities: Ryan points this out to the two cops who are shutting down their fundraiser for supposed noise complaints, as Gotham City has far more pressing issues. It gets her arrested.
- Super-Strength: Aside from giving its victims a hunger for human flesh, the new Snakebite also apparently enhances their strength, as apparent by Richard Monaghan punching a dent into a trash container.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- In-universe, both Ocean and Engima warn Alice that if she gives Kate her memories back, Kate will just remember why she sent her to Arkham in the first place.
- Luke attempts to intervene in a carjacking, only to be shot by the Crows because they're more inclined to believe the white guy.
- In a more humourous example, Ryan cannot use her One Phone Call because neither she nor Luke, being used to having phone numbers programmed in, know Mary's exact number.
Ryan: Who actually knows people's numbers by heart anymore?! - Tongue Trauma: Roman threatens to remove Alice's tongue if she tells anyone what she knows about him.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- The officer who must know that there's a zombie plague in the city sees an obvious victim of it and thinks he can reason with the man. It nearly gets him eaten, if not for Batwoman.
- Enigma comes close to this while Alice has her at her mercy by going on about how difficult it will be to fix Kate, to the point where Alice lampshades it by shouting at her to give Alice a reason not to kill her.
- Very Special Episode: While systematic racism and police corruption have been themes all season, this is the first episode built almost entirely around them.
- Wham Episode: Ocean kills Enigma, Sophie resigns from Crows Security, and Luke is shot by Agent Tavaroff.
