Recap / Batwoman 2019 S2E1 "Whatever Happened to Kate Kane?"

The season 2 premiere of Batwoman. Kate is MIA and newcomer Ryan Wilder takes her place as Batwoman.

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Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: As noted by Screenrant, Alice's Evil Plan for Jacob bears some similarity to what happened to Dougray Scott's character in Mission: Impossible II.
• All for Nothing: Kate's trip to National City and back (which ends with her seeming death) to discuss destroying the kryptonite with Kara is rendered meaningless when by the episode's end Hush successfully gets his hands on it anyway and pierces the Batsuit with it, as intended. On the plus side, it doesn't work nearly as well as intended and he is quickly captured.
• Amusement Park of Doom: The episode's climactic Car Chase and ensuing battle between Ryan and Hush take place in an abandoned amusement park.
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: Jacob's initial reaction to Alice revealing that Kate was Batwoman is to scoff "And I'm the Joker."
• Answer Cut: After Luke wonders where the Batsuit is, we find that Ryan has removed it from the crash site.
• Antagonist in Mourning: Alice is not happy with Kate's apparent death, but that's mostly because it foiled her own plans for revenge.
• Anti-Climax: The last few episodes of season 1 were spent on Alice trying to figure out how to kill Batwoman for good; first by grabbing the journal, and then realizing that kryptonite can break the Batsuit. While Alice's revenge plans do seem quashed with the apparent death of Kate, this plot point still comes into play when Tommy finds the kryptonite and shoots Ryan (in the Batsuit) with it...only for her to survive with only a minor injury. However, The Stinger shows that the kryptonite may still be having a lingering impact on Ryan, possibly subverting this trope.
• Bed Trick: Tommy had a three-way with two women he brought back to Bruce's place. Since the two women believed he was the real Bruce Wayne due to the fake face and his lies, Tommy committed rape by fraud.
• Berserk Button: When Tommy smashes her mother's potted plant during their fight, Ryan snaps and beats him so savagely that his Bruce Wayne mask is peeled off.
• Black Comedy: Ryan accidentally shoots a batarang into a mook's leg, for which she sheepishly apologizes.
• Bluff the Imposter: Julia is able to catch on to Tommy's ruse by mentioning that Alfred lives in a log cabin in Glasgow, when it turns out he actually lives in a flat in London. Unlike when Mouse impersonated Jacob, Tommy seemingly does not figure out that the ruse is up when this happens.
• Call-Back:
  • Sophie mentions the threatening photos of her and Julia when speculating that Safiyah might have something to do with the plane crash.
  • Julia repeats the words from Sophie's Love Confession to Kate in "Tell Me The Truth", though she doesn't explain how she knows about it.
  • Mary raises how her mother faked the death of Beth as a reason why Kate might also be still alive.
• Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: While stalking Ryan with a shotgun, Tommy calls out: "Hellooo, I want my Batsuit!"
• Commonality Connection: Mary starts sympathizing with Ryan after learning of her history, specifically that Ryan's mother died in her arms because of Alice, just like Mary's did.
• Complexity Addiction: Alice's plan was to have her father kill her sister, instead of just doing it herself when she had the chance, as Tommy points out.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The newspaper featuring the article about Kate's disappearance also has an article about the Crows declaring war on Batwoman, which describes the final encounter with Tim "The Titan" Teslow in the season 1 finale.
  • Kate is killed returning from a flight to National City to ask Supergirl's permission to destroy the kryptonite, which Kate said she was going to do in the same episode.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Kate Kane was rich, white and lives in the Wayne Tower. Ryan Wilder is poor, black and lives in a van.
• Cool Car: The Batmobile makes its Arrowverse debut, as Tommy uses it to hunt down Ryan. And for whatever reason, Luke never knew of its presence in the Batcave before then.
• Contrast Montage: Between Ryan reading a newspaper article on Kate Kane, and Mary researching Ryan's Dark and Troubled Past on the internet.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Ryan's mother died giving birth to her. She later had to serve eighteen months in prison for drug possession after being framed by Crow Security, which has left her unable to get a job and forced to live in her van since she can't afford rent. On top of all that, her adoptive mother was killed by Alice's gang, leaving her with no known family.
• Dead Man Writing: Kate left a letter behind for Sophie in case of her death, in which she confesses to being Batwoman and still being in love with her.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Ryan gives the trope verbatim when she starts using the Batsuit with no idea of what it's equipped with or how to use it. She accidentally triggers a couple of gadgets while fighting a couple of thugs, one of whom easily manhandles her onto the ground, then when she uses the Grappling-Hook Pistol to escape ends up swinging back-and-forth above their heads while they empty their guns into her, and it's only then that she discovers the suit is bulletproof.
  • Alice points out that Jacob should have realised Batwoman's Secret Identity earlier, given that she's a known lesbian who has avoided killing her despite several opportunities.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Or rather, let her crash in a plane, in Kate's case. Though since they Never Found the Body, it is not yet definitive.
• Dynamic Akimbo: Ryan the first time she puts on the Batsuit.
  "Time to be powerful."
• Early-Bird Cameo: Ryan encounters members of the False Face Society in an early outing in the suit, and a package of Snakebite, the drug the Society deals, is also seen. Neither are named or become relevant to the story until after this episode.
• "Eureka!" Moment: When meeting Luke and Mary, Ryan relates that finding Batwoman's suit in Kate Kane's plane meant only one logical conclusion.
• Evil Plan: It's finally revealed that Alice's plan was to arrange for Jacob to find the kryptonite, using it to shoot Batwoman and then Jacob would be overwhelmed with horror, realizing he just murdered his own daughter on doing a Dramatic Unmask of the corpse. Even Hush thinks this is a bit much.
• Evil vs. Evil: Alice intends to go to war with Safiyah over the revenge Safiyah denied her by supposedly killing Kate.
• Facial Horror: Ryan's beatdown on Tommy is severe enough to dislodge his Bruce Wayne disguise, exposing Tommy's flayed face.
• Five Stages of Grief: Kate's loved ones are at various stages throughout the episode. Mary is in denial, refusing to believe that Kate is dead, Jacob and Sophie are bargaining (refusing to forsake the hunt for Kate), Alice is angry (albeit over not getting to kill Kate herself), and Luke is despairing, feeling responsible for Kate's fate.
• Flashback: There are bits throughout the episode, detailing Ryan's past.
• For the Evulz: After having sex with a couple of models, Tommy goes downstairs and runs into Alice, who then kills one of the models when she walks in on them not because You Know Too Much, but simply because she can. It's implied she may have killed the second woman there as well off screen.
• Heroic BSoD: Jacob is so shocked by Alice's revelation of Batwoman's identity that he doesn't resist her stealing his gun and walking away.
• Heroic Wannabe: Lampshaded by the criminals Ryan attacks when it's becomes obvious this masked woman in a Batsuit has no idea what she's doing.
• History Repeats: One of Jacob Kane's daughters is lost in a vehicle over water and her body can't be found. Ironically, Alice has no problem giving Kate up for dead, unlike Kate's lifelong insistence that Beth survived.
• Hope Spot: When Tommy shoots Ryan with the piece of kryptonite, it doesn’t even break through all the way, so it seems like the kryptonite wasn’t strong enough to kill anyone who wears the suit. But Ryan’s wound at the end is shown with what appears to be kryptonite poisoning.
• How We Got Here: The episode opens with Ryan bringing her adoptive mother to her new apartment before we Smash Cut to the present as Ryan is woken by the debris from the plane crash falling around the van she's living in now. It's only gradually through flashbacks that we discover that her mother was beaten to death along with the landlord when they opened the door to find the Wonderland gang hiding there.
• Hypocrite: After an entire season of railing at her father for giving up on her survival after the car accident, Alice has zero qualms about giving Kate up for dead under near-identical circumstances.
• I Just Want to Be You: Taking on Bruce's face isn't good enough for Tommy; he goes looking for the Batsuit can he can take over for Bruce as Batman as well. True to form, he doesn't measure up.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Despite knowing about Alice's false face trick, Luke takes the seeming return of Bruce Wayne at face value, disregards "Bruce" knowing things he shouldn't (and not knowing things he should), and even hands "Bruce" the kryptonite. Mary points out they were all distracted by Kate's disappearance and had leapt on the good news that Bruce Wayne had returned to make things right.
  • Jacob also falls for it and has no problem accepting a tip about Alice from "Bruce", though Hush makes sure to keep their meeting short. He tries to cut short his meeting with Julia Pennyworth as well, but that only rouses her suspicions.
  • After learning that Alice is squatting in Wayne Manor, Jacob goes to arrest her alone.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Mary and Luke's initial impression of Ryan (not surprising, given that she stole the Batsuit and is more interested in avenging her adoptive mother than taking up the heroic mantle), and Ryan's impression of herself as Batwoman after researching Kate and realizing that she was more than a mere Socialite.
• Instant Expert: Hush seems to figure out how to use the Batmobile's weapons very easily.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Alice tells Jacob of Kate's identity as Batwoman and rubs Kate's seeming death in his face.
  • Sophie also discovers Kate's identity via a letter she'd written in case of her death.
• It's All My Fault:
  • Luke blames himself for Kate's apparent death, on the grounds that if he hadn't been so insistent about destroying the kryptonite, she wouldn't have flown to National City to talk with Kara about it.
  • He also blames himself for not immediately recognizing Tommy to be posing as Bruce.
• Kick the Dog: Alice rubbing it in Jacob's face that he almost killed Kate as Batwoman.
  Alice: Did you spend your last precious moments together firing a gun at her? You got your wish, Daddy. Batwoman is dead. And she died knowing her father hated her.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Kate's plane is brought down by a faulty part, and given that Alice isn't responsible it's not clear if this was an accident until Safiyah claims responsibility.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Jacob's reaction when it sinks in that Alice is telling the truth and he nearly killed his own daughter.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The episode title comes from Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?
  • In Batwoman: Elegy, Batwoman's battle with Alice ends with Alice falling from a plane into Gotham River, where she's presumed dead. Here, Kate's plane crashes and she's presumed to have fallen into a river.
  • This episode establishes that the Batsuit's cowl has thermal vision and that the gauntlet fins can be launched, which are both features of Batwoman's suit in the comics.
• Never Found the Body: Kate's Batsuit is found after the plane crash, but Kate herself is nowhere to be found. The authorities tell Jacob that her body likely wound up in the river. Both Alice and Safiyah have written Kate off as dead, but Jacob, Mary, and Luke aren't convinced.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Even with the knowledge that their enemies use face swap trickery and realizing something is clearly amiss with Bruce, Luke still fails to notice it's an impostor, and both brings him into the Batcave and gives him the kryptonite.
• The Nicknamer: Alice calls Tommy "Bruce Lame", while Tommy calls Luke "Mini Fox".
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Ryan's beatdown of Tommy is so bad that she punches off his face.
• No Honor Among Thieves: With Kate gone, Alice and Hush have no qualms about throwing each other under the bus; she threatens to expose his facade as Bruce Wayne, while he goes to Jacob and sells out her location to get her off his back.
• Non-Answer: When Luke calls out "Bruce" for not returning his numerous messages, Tommy fobs him off with one.
  Luke: It's been four years, Bruce. Where have you been?
  Tommy: If only the answer were as simple as the question, Mini Fox.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever happened between Alice and Safiyah, the latter apparently feels that shooting down Kate's plane makes them even.
• One Size Fits All: Ryan has no problem getting the Batsuit to fit her, despite not having a Mini Fox on hand to help resize it.
• Offing the Offspring: Alice's evil plan involved giving her father the kryptonite and duping him into killing Batwoman, a plan foiled by Safiyah blowing up Kate's plane.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Luke and Mary on realising the plane that just fell out of the sky was Kate's.
  • Ryan, when she finds the Batsuit in the plane wreck.
  • Later also, when she realizes that the Batmobile is chasing her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Since his debut, Jacob has been vocal about his hatred for vigilantes, Batman and Batwoman in particular, as well as decrying the Bat-Signal. After finding out that Kate is Batwoman, however, he goes to the Bat-Signal and personally turns it on, desperately hoping that Kate will see it.
• Parting-Words Regret: Alice makes sure to rub it in that Jacob's last interaction with his daughter was double-crossing her and trying to shoot her.
• Poisoned Weapons: Tommy loads the kryptonite shard into a shotgun shell and shoots Ryan with it. It barely penetrates the suit, probably because of his poor choice of delivery method, but still goes deep enough to cause a wound and leave Ryan with kryptonite slowly spreading through her veins from the point of impact.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Tommy isn't exactly opposed to Alice killing the woman he slept with out of moral reasons, but because she has a friend upstairs who might call the police.
• Present Absence: Kate is, at minimum, missing, never appearing in the flesh during the episode, but her absence is a major factor in the plot, and she's heavy on the minds of everyone who knew her.
• Refusal of the Call: Despite wanting to use the suit for justice for her adoptive mother's murder, the episode ends with Ryan returning it to Luke, saying she's not right for it.
• The Reveal:
  • It's shown early on that Ryan's adoptive mother was killed, but what we learn later is that it was by Alice's gang, who were squatting in the pair's new apartment.
  • Alfred is confirmed to be alive and well, and living in London since the real Bruce's disappearance.
  • While Sophie strongly suspects it early on, the end of the episode basically confirms that it was Safiyah who shot down the plane.
• Revenge:
  • Turns out Ryan is after Alice, due to her being responsible for the death of her adopted mom.
  • Alice also swears revenge on Safiyah for shooting down her sister's plane.
• Revenge by Proxy: Safiyah shoots down Kate's plane then drops Alice a message reading "Consider us even." And given that she wanted Batwoman assassinated last season, Safiyah may have succeeded getting under Alice's skin more than the former realizes.
• Saying Too Much: "Bruce" lets it slip that he knows that Beth became Alice, which Luke picks up on. Tommy covers up by claiming to have figured it out for himself (which, given Batman's reputation, wouldn't be implausible for the real Bruce).
• Shown Their Work: Tommy uses a shotgun to fire the kryptonite shard at Ryan. Since shotgun shells can be hand-loaded with basically anything that will fit inside, it's a reasonable choice on the fly.
• Spot the Imposter: It doesn't take Luke and Julia long to realize something is up with "Bruce." Luke notes how Bruce seemed to not know how to activate the entrance to the Batcave and let him do it instead while Julia senses something off when Bruce doesn't recognize the "Eagle" as Alfred's nickname and pulls a Bluff the Imposter question.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Tommy points out that Alice could have simply shot Kate any number of times when she wasn't wearing the Batsuit. Alice didn't because she wanted Kate's death to come at Jacob's hands, punishing both in the same stroke.
• Stress Vomit: Ryan pukes just after saving a homeless man using CPR, after he was injured by debris in the opening plane crash, while experiencing a flashback of failing to save her adoptive mother with CPR.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • As a former inmate, it's unsurprising that no martial arts schools want to hire Ryan. Martial arts teachers are meant to be people one can trust and feel safe around, especially when they have to deal with children.
  • Ryan's first time in the Batsuit is a near-disaster due to having no idea what the buttons on the suit do, much less bothering to test it out before she went hunting. She misjudges the angle and force of the grapple gun when she fires it at an incoming goon at point-blank range, leading to her being pulled up and swinging like a pendulum as the thugs repeatedly shoot at her overhead, and accidentally activates the special goggles and weapons after fall-rolling back to the ground; this even leads to the criminals musing if they are being accosted by a copy-cat Batwoman and not the real deal. Amazingly, Ryan actually uses that to intimidate one of them into talking ("I have no idea what this button does. Shall we find out together?") but it's a miracle she's not badly injured.
  • Naturally, Mary and Luke are not happy about a total stranger stealing the suit from the wreck and both are wary of trusting Ryan.
  • Tommy may be able to look and sound like Bruce but he is not a good actor. Tommy also mistakes Bruce's "playboy" persona for what he's like with others and that makes those who knew Bruce like Luke and Julia instantly suspicious. Throw in Tommy's failure to even research the role for details like where Alfred is and the failure to also fix his fingerprints and it's not long until he's exposed.
  • Despite kryptonite being able to pierce the Batsuit, the suit doesn't completely lose its stopping power, and Ryan taking a shot isn't an Instant Death Bullet. Tommy also didn't bother to properly weaponize the kryptonite, just sticking the shard in a shotgun shell, which would make it less effective than it might have been as a custom tip for a bullet.
• Tainted Veins: A big deal is made over how a kryptonite bullet is the only thing that can penetrate the Batsuit, but when Tommy shoots Ryan with one, she's still able to get to her feet again and kick his ass. At the end of the episode however, Ryan removes her bandage to examine the injury and finds green pulsating veins are slowly working their way out from the wound.
• Talking to Plants: Ryan uses her adoptive mother's potted plant as a Companion Cube.
• Talking to the Dead: Alice ends the episode talking to Mouse's corpse.
• This Means War!: At the end of the episode, Alice states that a war is coming to Gotham.
• A Threesome Is Hot: Tommy becomes "the meat in a top model sandwich", as Alice puts it.
• Uncertain Doom: Did Kate survive the plane crash? We still don't know by the episode's end, as her body can't be found.
• Villain Has a Point: When Jacob says that Kate would have told him if she was Batwoman, Alice points out that Jacob made no secret of his utter loathing for Batwoman, and even closed their last interaction by ordering Kate shot. Alice takes an unseemly pleasure in pointing it out, but Jacob can't counter her point, and the audience is aware that she's dead-on about Kate's reasons for keeping her identity secret.
• Villainous Breakdown: Alice is going through one on account of her plan to eliminate Kate getting foiled, even though Kate is still out of the picture.
• Weaponized Car: Tommy finds the Batmobile hidden behind a false wall in the Batcave. He tries using its missiles on Ryan's van, until Luke performs a remote override and shuts it down, forcing Tommy to go after the person in possession of the Batsuit on foot.
• Wham Shot: The green Tainted Veins of Ryan's gunshot injury.
• What Does This Button Do?: Weaponized as a threat by Ryan, who tells a mook she's interrogating that she has no idea what a button on the Batsuit does and that if he doesn't cooperate, they're going to find out together.
• Widow's Weeds: Alice has changed her Alice in Wonderland outfit from white to black after Kate's death, and is introduced downing a bottle of liquor.
• The Worf Barrage: The kryptonite that Alice and Tommy were hell-bent on finding last season to pierce the batsuit ends up doing exactly that... but leaving the wearer with only a minor injury because the suit still absorbed most of the energy. However, The Stinger implies Ryan might have a form of kryptonite poisoning.
• You Are Number 6: Ryan gives a speech to Luke and Mary about how her life has been defined by statistics, from mortality rates to her prisoner number. Unlike the dehumanizing effect normally associated with the trope, Ryan's speech is meant to show why she feels she's worthy of the Batsuit.
• You Killed My Mother: Alice's gang killed Ryan's adopted mom when they stumbled upon the group squatting in their new apartment.

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