It was Halloween this past week, so Batwoman opting for a very sinister, dark, and chilling episode is the right move. Even though it could have felt forced, the development of the story is naturally getting more twisted as Kate goes further down the rabbit hole with Alice as her guide. Alice’s child-like euphemisms no longer feel like a tacky gimmick—instead, they are warping into the perverse reality Alice lives by and has been kept in for so long. While no one has to sympathize with Alice, this episode certainly shows how she has such a gnarled worldview in the present day.
“Mine Is A Long And Sad Tale” brings fans deeper than ever before into Alice’s tragic story. Young Beth was terrorized by a creepy, calm man with a skewed perception of how to make friends for his son. Alice has done some grisly crimes throughout four episodes so far, and while she doesn’t seem remorseful, her past is hard to overlook. She’s the poster child for being the product of your environment and managed, yet again, to steal the show this week.
Even though Alice says waking up in that strange house and being held hostage was the “first worst day of her life,” she did gain a brother there. The bond she forms with Mouse is secure and juxtaposed with her relationship with Kate at the end of the episode. Alice yells at her sister and says they have a fake twin bond, even though you can see that it almost made Kate find Beth in the basement as kids. Mouse and Alice share a deep connection through their isolated childhoods: hers as a prisoner, his as a societal outcast. Even though theirs is an almost a Stockholm Syndrome-type relationship, Alice In Wonderland gets Mouse and Alice through dark times and has an eerie effect on them as adults. The audience can especially feel Halloween’s impact on the episode in their scene through the witchy lighting and the bone-chilling closing lines of dialogue: “Are we mad?” “I’m afraid so.”
This episode finally shows Mary’s breaking point, and it’s just as meaningful and resolute as everything else this woman does. She has a very appropriate response to her mother’s lies and feels terrible for Kate and Jacob. Kate has clung to her grief over Beth’s perceived loss, and as shown in episode 2, “The Rabbit Hole,” it affects her relationship with Mary. Although they’ve been step-sisters for over a decade, Mary still strives for Kate’s affections. She’s a loving person who works to give back to others, traits that no doubt influenced her pursuit of a medical degree. Kate’s obliviousness to this has visibly hurt Mary, and this episode is the proverbial tipping point.
In episode 2, Mary gave a sad yet accepting response to Kate when she realized that she was a target of Alice’s jealousy. It was heartbreaking to see Mary succumb to the fact that she wasn’t a threat to Alice/Beth in Kate’s mind, even though she wanted to be. She wants Kate as a sister, and Catherine’s betrayal is another obstacle toward that reality. This episode shows Mary’s rejection has transformed into anger, and she’s beyond annoyed that Kate won’t pick her since, you know, she hasn’t killed anyone. Mary demands the love and acceptance she deserves, and if she doesn’t get that soon or at least by the end of the season, we riot. Just kidding about that last part (sort of).
According to Caroline Dries, the showrunner, Batwoman is all caught up with “Elseworlds” from last year, when The CW first introduced Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane to the world. At first, that was a little confusing, because it’s not that obvious in episode four. But in the wake of Dries’ tweet and episode four, Luke did mention the Arkham Asylum breakout that is a central part of the Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl’s visit to Gotham. Mary had no idea, though, so that means it was pretty well contained from the public.
Having Kate just getting into her role on Batwoman now makes greater sense, since Barry and Oliver hadn’t heard of her yet. While that was confusing last year, it all falls into place with “Mine Is A Sad And Long Tale.” It also explains the “urban legend” status of Batman, whose absence makes his active years seem sort of like a fever dream to anyone outside of Gotham. It does raise one question, though: how will Batwoman catch up to the timeline of the current crossover? All the other shows have had a year to do so. Will the Alice situation be handled by December 9, so a time jump can happen? Only time will tell. But this intriguing episode keeps audiences in Alice’s sinister grasp. It works very well despite having only one scene at the beginning that involved Batwoman. Batwoman’s absence shows that the actors are carrying these characters and can move the story along without the vigilante. Of course, she is the point of the show and a good superhero so far, but Kate Kane can be the hero of her own story without the cap, and that’s powerful in itself.
Stray observations:
- Praise be that the two best characters, Luke and Mary, met up this episode. Despite his outward display of annoyance, something is telling me this isn’t the last time they’ll share the screen.
- The absence of Batwoman action this episode was a nice reprieve from Vesper Fairchild’s narration. And Kate’s. I don’t seem to mind the voice-overs as much as a lot of you watching the show, but the lack of them in this episode was nice, I will admit. But they are useful in moving the story along.
- It was hard to watch that scene with Kate and Beth as kids, when Kate nearly stumbles upon her imprisoned sister. Beth’s expression when she wants to cry out but can’t because she’s trying to save her family is very moving. But it also shows her captor’s attempt at brainwashing has already taken effect—Beth’s efforts to keep her remaining family alive solidify her fate as a maniacal villain.
- It was very easy to predict that Alice would stab Jacob Kane. Even though she knows he believes she’s Beth now, or is at least starting to, she’s still all in on killing him. Revenge is a difficult thing to understand.
- Catherine isn’t acting like someone with evil cards up her sleeve. Instead, she’s very remorseful when Mary finds out. It’s looking like she genuinely did fake the bone fragments for selfish gain. But honestly, who knows.
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The kid playing Beth did one hell of a job, kudos to her. And I thought that mention of an Arkham breakout was an Elseworlds reference.
The two young actors playing Beth and Kate are both really great.
I wonder if they used the same casting people that found the young Danvers sisters.
For the love of god somebody on this show give Mary the attention and treat her the way she deserves!And the show continues to show more than I thought an 8pm network show could.
I certainly hope so, considering how people in Gotham seem to go full supervillain at the drop of a hat.
Haha yeah I was thinking during this episode, how long until Mary turns into a villain or gets taken advantage of by one just because they know how to text back.
I’m just glad that it didn’t turn out that the Joker had kidnapped Beth. Or Alt Universe Winn Schlott I guess. I’m amazed that the emotional beats in this episode actually hit considering how badly they tend to miss in Arrowverse shows.I’m glad that Mary and Luke finally met because they were indeed a great paring, hopefully we see more of them. Also apparently Luke isn’t the only person working at Wayne Enterprises at the moment.On that subject, yet another way Wayne Enterprises going out of business makes no sense is, it’s a weapons company. There’s no way anyone (Especially in this universe) wouldn’t have snapped it up immediately.
I thought Wayne Enterprises was still going and they only abandoned the building in Gotham because Gotham was generally being abandoned and no one cared about keeping it but Bruce and he was gone.
No apparently the company has gone out of business and Luke is just guarding an empty building.
That makes no Grodd damn sense.
Indeed, and yet here we are.
I don’t see it as Luke guarding an empty building, but all the cool stuff underneath it. And keeping the place warm for when “The Boss” comes back. Maybe we’ll learn more about Luke Fox, son of Lucius, and how he got to start working for Wayne in later episodes.
I would hope so since we know practically nothing about him now. And while it’s true that he’s guarding the cave he is also watching over an apparently empty building.
– I like that they’re not dragging out the storylines for dramatic effect. That might have been a good story device…40 years ago. Now it’s just tired, and these writers seem to have jettisoned it.
– I thought that Kate had said that they were nine when the accident occurred. Did I imagine that? Here she seemed to indicate that they were 13 at that time.
– Alice and Kate do seem to bicker like siblings.
– It looks like the people that want Luke and Mary together are going to get what they want.
– I’m impressed. Alice is two steps ahead of Kate.
– Alice has quite the network.
– Those AK-47s were crap. They should have been cutting through that truck. I realize there is suspension of disbelief, but there would be ways to achieve that. Have them have different guns.
– I wonder what…(Donovan’s?) story is. The class divide almost seems personal for him.
– For one horrible moment I thought that Beth was actually dead, and that Alice was Mouse wearing a Beth mask. That would have been effed up.
Dodgson, as in Lewis Carroll’s real name.
“Dodgson! WE GOT DODGSON HERE! See? Noone cares.”Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
You shouldn’t resist – as I recently learned, Lewis Carrol real is Charle Louis Dodgson. The character in Jurassic Park is Lewis Dodgson. 99% sure this was not a coincidence.
You’re not the only one who had that last thought there.
Mary and Luke were predictably fun together. I loved that she took charge & barged into his office, made herself a drink and said her piece, and somehow ended up with the pizza that she (disgustingly) wanted too. Also he shared intel with her almost like he knew she was going to be part of the team…
A couple of scenes and they already have such great chemistry.
Perhaps my favorite Mary bit: being briefly horrified and wondering if her mother also murdered the deer whose bones they found
This still had a couple lousy Kate voice overs.Lots of driving this episode.With Batwoman being an even more direct legacy character than in the comics, it feel asymmetrical that Mad Hatter wasn’t involved in Alice’s origin.
With Alice’s Alice in Wonderland affinity seemingly organically developed, it does bug me that Mad Hatter has nothing to do with this. Still, there’s years in Alice’s development where she might have connected with Mr Tech – now instead of molding her insanity, maybe they fed off each other – two superfans of the same book hooking up as though fate brought them together – at least, I’m holding out hope they do something like this.
I’m glad they didn’t go that route.
Yeah, I don’t know how the reviewer missed the narration at the end of the episode.
I’ve been noticing a trend amongst a LOT of the AvClub reviewers where they talk about something that didn’t happen in the episode. Maybe the review episode they’re given is different from the one that ends up airing.
They also somehow missed the scene of Kate suited up as Batwoman dishing out beatdowns like Halloween candy.
Yeah, I mean, didn’t Tech START the Wonderland Gang?
I found it strange that Kate’s internal monologue at the end was interrupted by her dad arriving on the bridge with her…. she acknowledges him, then goes back to staring out over the water and her narration continues rather than her actually talking to him!
John Emmet Tracy plays Beth’s captor, whose name she implausibly says she doesn’t know (imdb lists his character as “Jonathan Cartwright.”) He also played Enzo, the French inspector on iZombie, who was the final season’s big bad I guess. I did not like that character either.
I knew I recognized him from somewhere.
That dude is typecast as creepy bad guy
Mercury in the Hammer of the Gods episode of Supernatural, for a third example.
Ahhh early Lucifer. Good times.
Did they say who the creepy dad is suppose to be? I got a Professor Pym vibe off him.
Is Cartwright still alive? If so, I hope we see him again… so that Batwoman and/or Alice can give him the payback he so richly deserves. I’m also wondering what his tragic backstory is.
I am guessing that Alice has already killed CartwrightEnzo on iZombie stayed around way too long so I hope that his character on Batwoman does not similarly outstay his welcome
The first time we see grown-up Mouse in this episode it kinda seems like he is wearing his dad’s face, which would point to his dad NOT being alive
Catching up on Supernatural and he’s on my TV again now!
This week in Mary is the Best: Drunkenly barging in to Wayne Tower to unload on Luke. They have great banter, and I eagerly look forward to her joining the team.This week in I Really Don’t Care: Sophie and Kate, up close, against a wall, sharing a longing look.The flashbacks in this were really effective. And heartbreaking to see how close they came to finding Beth without realizing it. With the whole setup, in another tv show or movie, then Beth would’ve called out to Kate anyway, or one of them would’ve figured it out and managed a rescue. Knowing they already failed made it even more gut-wrenching.It bears worth repeating that Rachel Skarsten is absolutely killing it in this role.Also, a break out at Arkham two weeks ago? Due to an assortment of out-of-town superheroes perhaps?
Breakout was definitely connected to Elseworlds.
Mary may not have killed a person, but she sure as hell killed that pizza!
Hey you did the Ravi thingies!!
No, that was JaneSays.
If I understand correctly, Jacob now knows that Catherine not only faked Beth’s death, but tried to kill her by blowing up the bridge. And they might have been able to rescue Beth in the flashback, except the cops thought Beth was dead and so didn’t help them, which also was Catherine’s fault. Jacob told Sophie he and Catherine were having a “rough patch” but that seems like it would be a bit worse than that. (Walter never got back with Moira after finding out that she had been hiding knowing about the sabotage of the Queen’s Gambit from him, did he?)
I sense Walter has a bit more of a spine than Jacob.
Not exactly a good trait in someone who’s supposed to be leading a Private Police Force.
If there one thing the Crows seem to excel at, it’s being inept and clueless. Every security detail they’ve mounted so far has been a disaster both for personnel and property. For a supposed elite security force they seem to employ a staff that wouldn’t be hired for a minimum wage, mall cop job.
Mind you they’re also apparently an international organization, so they’re not just doing it here.
Mind you, neither of them turned their wives in after finding out how corrupt they were.
I think faking the bone fragments happened well after the flashbacks here. Catherine said she did that after Beth had been missing for something life fourteen months; Beth made her escape attempt after being locked up for only a matter of weeks. The police didn’t respond, supposedly, because they’d had a bunch of false leads by then and didn’t think it was worth their time.
Actually, I believe the show has said that the cops had given up long before “Beth’s” skull fragments were found
I liked how they shown parallels with both sisters having replacement sibling. Only Kate doesn’t really appreciates hers as much as she should. It also looks like Alice’s followers are true believers. She may be in it for personal reasons but it explains why they die for her without question.
I think maybe Kate feels inadequate herself as a sister having lost Beth.
I was thinking that weird guy was supposed to be Dollmaker until I remembered that Arrow already used him. Maybe False-Face? I guess Mouse could be False-Face.
Is John Cartwright a Rule 63 of Jane Cartwright/Jane Doe?
That’s a good catch, I think you’ve got it.
Seriously show, the middle of a action filled standoff while Kate’s dad is bleeding on the ground is not the time to shove in another Kate/Sophie moment where they stare at each other.Jesus I hope they resolve that plot soon.
I know they basically did the same thing in The Dark Knight, but I like Batwoman’s night vision basically giving her the same completely white eyeholes as the comic versions of Bat-characters.
What happened to all the patrons in that diner when the shooting started?
I’m guessing all of them were plants by Alice. Or they just ducked and hid when they heard gun shots.
And why wasn’t the diner basically leveled when the huge propane tank exploded?
I can’t be the only one who really wants to give Mary a hug right now.
So is Alice already the best Arrowverse villain. Slade and Adrian chase from Arrow were fantastic. Reverse flash season 1 was amazing. Zoom was the greatest for like 1 episode. Can’t think of any more. Tobias whale on Black lighting is great too.
Lex Luthor and Reign from Supergirl were also quality villains. But I agree that Alice is up there, very creepy and compelling
Lex was fantastic but short-lived . I liked Reign but I thought they could have made better use of her as a psychological threat to Supergirl. Although she seemed slightly stronger than Supergirl she never really got under her skin.
I’m sort of certain they did a course correction on Reign, and dropped Serena in her place as the overall season big bad.
I think the biggest problem with Reign is that for her to work, the viewer had to buy into Sam’s character and her relationship with Kara amd Lena and they completly botched that. For starters, it’s hard to sell “struggling single-mom” when said single mom is also acting CEO of Lexcorp.
I tell you, it was a bold choice to go costumeless this early in its freshman season. This would’ve been a very boring episode on a lesser show, but it worked here.
Praise be that the two best characters, Luke and Mary, met up this episode. Despite his outward display of annoyance, something is telling me this isn’t the last time they’ll share the screen.In a previous episode, Luke complained about being too busy to date. In a different previous episode, Mary referenced looking for a man at med school. In this episode, they met up and did a whole lot of banter. O.o I’m watching you.-Kate, call your sister! The nice one! It’s interesting to watch Batwoman back-to-back with Supergirl because they place such different emphasis on non-blood sisters.-Kind of hoped they’d go for it and off Jacob. Some of the flashbacks scenes were better, but he’s a real negative weight.
Ooh I did not think about how Kate & Mary could eventually become real sisters like Kara & AlexAlso Kate & Alice could be like Sara & Laurel, real sisters who were separated by circumstances & lost their bond but had to find a way to re-form it The ArrowVerse has some very interesting sister relationships
Kate really needs to notice make the next move here. Confiding about being Batwoman- after all, Kate knows Mary’s a secret illegal doctor- could be a big step.
Kate is overdue to try to make things right with Mary & make it clear that she sees her as her sister. I get that Kate has a lot on her plate & it is very Batman-like that she struggles to express her feelings. Still though Mary is worth it & deserves this & I feel that Kate knows this
It’d be weirder if Supergirl and The Flash were airing back-to-back, as they have some VERY different views on adopted sibling relationships.
NEVER FORGET KARA BROUGHT ALEX TO THEIR WEDDING
Kara brought Alex to Barry and Iris’s wedding so she’d meet Sara, because that’s what good sisters do, facilitate hookups with sexy, time traveling bisexual assassins.
And, storywise, I thought it made more sense to not bring Superman, because if word got around in Earth-38 that they were both off-planet (let alone another universe), everybody from two-bit thugs to intergalactic warlords would step up their game.
Wingwoman of the year right there.
SUPERwingwoman! Able to casually introduce friends to cute strangers faster than a speeding bullet*. Can talk up your achievements in a single bound. A tireless defender of truth, justice, and not going home alone tonight.*Admittedly, bullets are a very bad way to meet people.
Barry was never legally adopted.
The scene of Batwoman single-highhandedly taking out the whole Wonderland Gang in the dark was badass. This should be the baseline for her competence & skills.
If Alice’s crony didn’t have a diner shift when she came in, her trap would’ve been foiled.
Would have been an entirely different episode if Kate had decided to keep driving past that diner and stopped at the next Denny’s.
I’m having a hard time getting into this. It has so much potential, but Ruby Rose just isn’t meant to carry a show. In my opinion RR is not a good actor. All of the characters around her are growing into their roles, but RR is just wooden. I really hope she can step up her game. I want to love this show!
I hope we see more Luke and Mary pair-ups. Even though he’s very much a quip-happy/socially-awkward ‘guy in the chair’ a la Cisco/Curtis, his laconic demeanor is a refreshing change. And I could see Mary tipping over into annoying, but she always manages to balance her behaviour out with a lot of charm. I hope Kate tells her she’s Batwoman before too long.I love that this first season is moving fast; hopefully the extra episodes they were given are used for a new plotline, because we all know stretching a villain (even one as entertaining as Alice) over twenty-odd episodes is tiring.
I hate to say this, because I want the best for this show, but Rachel Skarsten is just acting circles around Ruby Rose. I just want Rose to give me so much more than she is. :/
It is not a competition! (Luckily for Ruby Rose, because she would be losing for sure)
Though I’m loathe to paraphrase Frank Miller, I feel this episode absolutely merits it: There’s nothing wrong with Alice that Sophie couldn’t have solved with some buckshot to her shoulder.
Am I the only one who hates the Batwoman wig?And fuck your autoplay videos. I scroll down to get to the comments (which never load the first time, I always have to refresh to load the comments), and the video in the autoscroll article below (autoscrolling is bullshit too) starts to autoplay.Hey VC assholes, you’re doing a great job killing every corner of this network. How does killing the network earn you money?
I’m still waiting to see how they handle Kate’s Judaism, if at all, and if it seems to be handled well, I’ll start watching the show.
Fiction is getting better at handling LGBTQIA issues, but I almost feel like we’re going backwards when it comes to non-Christian religious representation. You’ll see a character in a hijab here and there, but you’ll rarely see how Islam affects her life. And where there used to be a bunch of Jewish characters, there’s none (even with characters for whom their Judaism used to be a big part of their character, i.e. Kitty Pryde).It just sort of sucks, especially since we’ve seen a resurgence of Islamophobic and anti-Semitic attacks. We need these characters now more than ever.
I guess they mentioned Hanukkah this episode?Yeah, I’m not hopeful.
Oof. I’ll give it a bit longer, but I’m not hopeful, either.
I think even though it’s an alternate universe, Bombshells was just a gold standard for me in Jewish representation. Seeing Kate crack Nazi skulls, asking Miriam Marvel for help with embracing her religion more, and Miriam then becoming Shazam and liberating a concentration camp was wish fulfillment for me.
Really solid episode, but did anyone else feel like the green screen during the car driving scenes was really bad? I know these shows don’t always have the best budget, but those felt bad even by CW standards.
Solid show so far. Like it more than I thought I would
The thing that kept taking me out of this episode was everytime the dad said that Beth/Alice needed to stay there because Mouse needs a friend I wanted her to say, “Dude, I don’t have to live here to be his friend. I can, like, come over and visit.” Not that I think it would have worked on the guy, but it seems like an obvious thing to point out.