Ryan questions her place as the city's hero as she, Luke, Mary and Sophie must join forces when Roman Sionis instigates chaos in the Gotham streets. Meanwhile, Alice's attempt to rescue her sister means another encounter with Circe. In an epic standoff, unexpected alliances and transformations will upend Gotham as we know it.
Tropes:
- Bad Boss: Sionis immediately has his men dump Tavaroff into the trash once it seems that the Snakebite/Venom combo killed him. His ultimate plan also involves having a minion of his put on his mask so he can shoot him to portray himself as a hero.
- Big Blackout: Black Mask kills all power to the city after his announcement.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Just as Mary is thrown off a building by the Venom-jacked Tavaroff, Luke arrives in the Batwing armor to catch her and fight off Tavaroff.
- Alice appears just in time to help Ryan take down Circe and save Kate.
- Big Damn Kiss: Kate and Sophie share one just before the latter heads out.
- Bitch Slap: Ryan slaps Alice when the latter brings up Ryan's birth mother dying in childbirth.
- The Bus Came Back: Mayor Michael Akins is Back for the Finale.
- But Now I Must Go: Kate leaves Gotham in search of Bruce, figuring if she can find him, it'll make up for her not finding Beth.
- Chekhov's Gun: In the previous episode, Roman Sionis had Circe steal several villain trophies from the Batcave, one of which ends up being used by Alice to disable him.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mary and Luke fill Kate in on the events of "I'll Give You a Clue".
- Kate tells the group that she's going to visit her father (who was imprisoned and transported to Metropolis a few episodes ago) and then delve into where Bruce is and why he disappeared.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Luke in the Batwing suit puts Tavaroff down in a single swing.
- Deader than Dead: Alice reveals that, after stabbing Safiyah, she took her body to a junkyard, tossed it in a random junked car, and then had the entire thing crushed, just to make sure Safiyah couldn't be revived.
- Dead Person Conversation: Snakebite gives Alice a chance to say goodbye to Ocean.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: Black Mask takes over the airwaves to rant about corruption in the city and extend an offer to the citizens to burn down the institutions responsible for it.
- Dragon Their Feet: Circe ends up becoming the season's Final Boss after she and Black Mask split up, with him being beaten by Alice before her, and Ryan and Alice teaming up to take her down and free Kate from her mind.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Ryan is finally released from parole.
- Enemy Mine: Ryan and Alice team up in order to take down Black Mask and Circe and free Kate once and for all.
- Engineered Heroics: Black Mask intends to let Gotham experience chaos for a day, then kill his alter ego as himself (having one of his goons wear the mask) so the city will be grateful for him.
- Every Man Has His Price: Ryan pays one of the Arkham orderlies to let her see Alice.
- Evil Costume Switch: Circe puts on the Batsuit, alongside a Black Mask mask.
- Facial Horror: Alice sprays acid onto Black Mask's face using Joker's flower, then sticks his mask back on his head so he can't get it off.
- Heroic Rematch: This time, Ryan fares much better against Kate, though she still needs Alice's help.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- The aerosolized Snakebite, developed in an attempt to control the roid rage effect of Venom, proves instrumental in bringing Kate's consciousness back.
- The Black Mask masks are used by the saner citizens of Gotham to make miniature Bat Signals.
- Internal Reveal: Mary and Luke tell Kate about all the adventures they've had with Ryan, among them stopping Cluemaster.
- Irony: As Kate notes to Mary and Luke, she spend all of last season trying to bring Beth back from Alice, and in the end it was Alice that brought Kate back from Circe.
- Kick the Dog: Alice bringing up Ryan "killing" her mother in childbirth after Ryan rejects her apology for killing Cora. Ryan answers with a Bitch Slap.
- Meaningful Echo: Kate and Alice end up falling off a bridge and into the river below though this time Alice is the one who drags her sister out and saves her from drowning.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Kate sees finding Bruce as this, as she wants to make up for not finding her sister.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Alice's biggest regret with Ocean. In a near-death, Snakebite-induced hallucination, she gets to correct this.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mary pulls the Snakebite from Tavaroff's Venom injector so she can use it to bring Kate back. Unsurprisingly, Tavaroff wakes up in a Venom rage a few minutes later and starts smashing up the clinic looking for it.
- Passing the Torch: Kate officially gives Ryan the title of Batwoman, letting her have the title and keep going.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Alice begs Kate to come back alive when it seems that the CPR she and Ryan are administering isn't working. Fortunately, Kate does.
- Put on a Bus: Kate leaves to visit her dad and then to truly search for what happened to Bruce. Not long after this episode aired, it was announced Wallis Day would not return for Season 3.
- Powered Armor: Luke finds the Batwing armor while going through his father's old lab.
- Psycho Serum: Venom is used, so of course. This time around, it's Tavaroff who is 'roided up. Sionis tries to use Snakebite to mitigate the effects, but that nearly kills Tavaroff.
- Sanity Slippage: Sionis in Arkham is shown to be a babbling mess, after his mask gets stuck on his face.
- Season Finale: For Season 2.
- Special Edition Title: The opening titles play right after Black Mask cuts off the power to all of Gotham, and in the Gotham skyline that appears behind the Batwoman logo, the lights flicker and go out.
- Starcrossed Lovers: Kate and Sophie share one last kiss before Kate leaves Gotham, with Kate remarking that maybe in a different universe they were meant to be together, but now they both deserve something easier.
- The Stinger: After Ryan is told that her birth mother is still alive, the scene cuts to the river. The Mad Hatter's top hat and the Penguin's umbrella float by before the camera pans to the shore, where the bag full of Batman's trophies from past villains has washed up. The container holding Poison Ivy's vines has broken open, and the vines begin to rapidly spread.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite feeling sorry and helping to rescue Kate, Ryan still cannot forgive Alice for killing her mother and is glad that she is locked up in Arkham.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Arkham, as usual. It doesn't take much for Ryan to see Alice there, even without the Batsuit.
- Title Drop: Black Mask says the word "Power" during his announcement. Ryan also says that she has found her power during her speech to the parole board.
- Unstoppable Rage: Tavaroff, while hopped up on Venom, is so powerful that the heroes need Powered Armor in order to take him down.
- Villain Ball: Black Mask is still holding his from last episode. Given that he is in complete control of both the GCPD and Gotham's Underworld, plus his biggest enemies are crippled, he could easily rule from the shadows, like most mob bosses in previous Batman stories do. Instead, he decides to cause a miniature Purge, which would only serve to bring attention from the Supers, the Flash, and the US government.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Ryan visits Arkham, she sees that Black Mask has gone crazy from Alice's attack, clutching his head while repeating "Janus" over and over again.
- Villain with Good Publicity: What Black Mask's ultimate goal is. He wants to cause a massive riot in Gotham, which will result in lots of chaos and damage, eventually leading to the Mayor Akins' death. Then, as Roman Sionis, he will come down and help rebuild Gotham, with the citizens seeing him as their glorious savior.
- Wham Line: "Your mother didn't die in childbirth, Ry-Ry. Mummy dearest is still very much alive."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Jacob is still in jail in Metropolis despite his arrest being on orders from Black Mask.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Sophie and Mary assure Ryan that she can be useful without the Batsuit.
