Batwoman’s “Rule #1” is a bit of a letdown, but at least Ryan Wilder is coming into her own
TV Reviews Ryan Wilder
Following the explosive action of “Survived Much Worse,” “Rule #1,” the ninth episode of Batwoman season two, comes across as a bit choppy. The momentum is ultimately gone, and it seems like this episode’s vibe is very much “life is back to normal.” It’s an abrupt change, and there’s still a lot of unresolved drama and tension. But with a cured Ryan back in Gotham and Coryana entirely in the rearview mirror, it does reflect the “new normal” of Batwoman. And this week, we meet a new face: Jordan Moore.
ACAB doesn’t stand for “All Cops Are Bastards” in the CWverse, but rather “All Crows Are Bastards.” However, the sentiment is still similar, with Jordan advocating against an over-funded police department and fighting for more funding toward community services. As her last name hints, Jordan is Sophie’s sister, which fits that trope of polar opposite siblings. However, Sophie defies part of that dynamic by being all-in for her sister, despite their different political views on the Crows.
Speaking of Sophie, her love story with Kate didn’t end well. They had a lot of issues, and Sophie couldn’t commit to Kate the way she needed. Plus, they just weren’t meant to be. But Ryan’s love life takes center stage this week, and it’s a lot different. It’s been a long road full of awful circumstances, with one of them landing Ryan in jail. Her former girlfriend Angelique insists she’s changed, although the people she’s connected to haven’t. And unfortunately, leaving them isn’t easy nor possible. Angelique has made a few appearances already, but things come to a head this episode.
And while things get gory, messy, and quite close for Batwoman with Black Mask, the end of “Rule #1’ also underlines a critical difference between Ryan and Kate’s love life. While Sophie was never a very consistent presence in Kate’s life for various reasons, Angelique keeps coming back to Ryan, for better or worse. Angelique not only fights for Ryan, but she ends up choosing Ryan’s life over her freedom by taking the fall for Black Mask.
Moving on to Alice, she’s on a trip. Now, she’s never in a “right” state of mind—this is Alice we’re talking about—but she’s still more mad than usual this episode. Granted, she went through a lot of dredged-up trauma last week. Not only did she feel forced to “kill” a man she felt more connected to than anyone in a while, but Safiyah also nailed the coffin on her hopes and dreams of Kate being alive.
So it’s no wonder that her mind conjures up baby Kate from season one to be a spirit guide of sorts. She walks Alice through some of her issues, kind of coaxing her into how to deal with her problems. With young Kate having an entire, lucid conversation with Alice, along with a dead kitten coming to life—foreshadowing for Kate’s return?—young Kate convinces Alice that she can imagine anything.
This is definitely going to have repercussions down the line. Will Alice imagine that “perfect” world where Kate never existed? Will Alice still be evil in this existence? And what will this mean once Kate does return? Alice was one of the strongest elements of season one, and even though she hasn’t had the same kind of impact this season, it would be hard to see her take an even bigger back seat in her villain role.
Who am I in the suit, who am I out of it? This is something Ryan is working through while being Batwoman, as she tells Luke and Mary near the end of the episode. It’s been a sort of recurring theme throughout this season, although it was a little bit of what Kate Kane dealt with as well. Kate had to look at why she remained Batwoman, outside of just wanting to save Beth/Alice from herself or personal gain. This goes into her becoming the Paragon of Courage and fighting to be a symbol of hope for Gotham. As for Ryan, she donned the cowl and cape and then had to figure out her motivations. Ryan putting this into words is her way of coming into her own and stepping outside of Kate’s shadow.
That’s the unfortunate thing about having a second season where another new person is getting the hang of being a superhero. But this season has handled Ryan’s journey in a different manner Kate’s, and as Ryan says again and again, they are two completely different people. This scene, where Ryan introduces three rules with Luke and Mary, along with just their team dynamic as a whole, shows that as well. They present a strong front; they’ll surely need it going into the final half of the season.
Stray observations
- A programming note: This is our midseason check-in, and I’ll be back for the season-two finale. It’s been a bit, but thank you for coming back and revisiting Ryan Wilder, Mary, and Luke with me.
- It would be remiss of me to not mention Ryan’s lovely use of “Bruce Lame” yet again. A great nickname.
- It’s hard not to compare Roman Sionis (Peter Outerbridge) to the most recent iteration in Birds of Prey, especially since he was played in such a different way by Ewan McGregor.
- Thank the heavens that Julia is back. Although it’s very intriguing that someone was doing her investigation for her; what are we going to find out involving that later?
- Jordan and Sophie’s dynamic is really sweet. Jordan is a character I would personally like to see more of, although I can also see that not happening. Regardless, it was nice to see that Sophie has a support system within her family for her queerness, which I think we see she really appreciates and is moved by as well.
- Enigma pops up in the last scene. In the comics, she’s typically The Riddler’s (maybe) daughter. We’ve already had hints of the Joker with Jack Napier and his painting, although neither of those bigwigs will probably ever show up on the show. But still another cool connection.
- It’s easy to see that Kate’s accident messed up her face beyond recognition, and it provides a good excuse to have someone who resembles Kate Kane, without bringing Ruby Rose back. But I also can’t help but remember that scene from Bolt where they recast Penny’s role in her show because of aliens (or something). Silly, yet I can’t shake it.
23 Comments
I thought Rule #1 was no poofters.
At least it wasn’t Rule #34
it is my understanding that Rule #1 is, was, and always will be; ‘don’t stick your dick in crazy’.
If this got a C+ on AVClub, despite all the inclusivity boxes it checks, imagine what anyone else will give it.
kill yourself
Why did an an enraged Safiyah not kill Jacob, Sophie, & Alice to protect Coryana’s whereabouts? How did they get Ryan all the way back to Gotham in time for her to get the desert rose antidote for the radiation eroding her brain before it killed her? We don’t know because the cliffhanger immediately leads into Kate’s “internment.” (Were Mary’s boots too sexy for the occasion?) It feels like they skipped a whole episode.
Peter Outerbridge as Black Mask is unexpectedly great casting. He had a saw mill trap!
Why use Enigma instead of Spellbinder as the super-hypnotist?
I’m really not looking forward to brainwashed Kate battling Ryan. This is just gonna divide fans even more. Why not begin the season with recast Kate welcoming Ryan as her partner?
I think the implication is that Safiyah and Enigma hypnotized Julia & she doesn’t remember things she was doing under their control, like her previous investigation of Kate’s plane crash I love Sophie’s sister trying to fix up Sophie and Ryan. I don’t hate it I think Alice has been on fire this season but her storyline with ghost kid Kate this episode was disappointing, but hopefully it sets up something interesting and (I assume) crazy
Oh, this makes a lot of sense, I completely missed this! Interesting that they only blocked Julia’s memories and not… everyone else who was on Coryana though. Thank you for pointing that out.
I am not 100% sure about Julia having been hypnotized and manipulated, but it seemed to be what she assumed happened
So…I’ve enjoyed this season thus far, but this last episode felt off. I was fighting with my TV minutes before the episode started, and it had started by the time I went to another room. I didn’t think I missed that much, but it threw everything off for me.I’m probably gonna rewatch it in a few days, but it just felt weird to me.
Whenever Sophie has to deliver exposition she should do it whilst tearing off her sleeves & flexing.
The sawmill thing is definitely a reference to a similar (cliffhanger) scene in an episode of the 1966 Batman show, right? It’s not just me?
Yes, which was itself a reference to a tradition of sawmill deathtraps.
I’m always amused whenever the GCPD is mentioned. The Crows seem to have taken over all the policing duties for Gotham, so what are the actual cops doing?
I think Outerbridge is a better Black Mask than Ewan, but I thought Ewan was a better Sionis, if that makes sense.Also, can we not couple up Ryan & Sophie? Not every show has to have a coupling!
Apparently fans are supposed to fill in the gap after last week’s cliffhanger for themselves:
That is not a good public response by the show-runner.
I’m glad the team is expanding beyond pure vigilantism and the show is exploring the cop-vigilante-security force dynamics. Also, loved Mary’s display of google-fu.
I assume Sophie will run for Police Commissioner or Police Chief or whatever was the position of the dead guy, who said it was elected. And, I guess she’ll run against the MAGA/Blue Lives makeup company executive which will allow for some rhetoric and positioning about the future of policing issue.I hope while all that is going on, Julia does some kind of Karate Kid thing with Ryan because if she’s busy being Police Something, she might not be able to save Ryan so many times. This was at least the third time out of nine episodes.
Definitely not the worst episode in a series riddled with bullshit coincidences (when they revealed Ryan’s plant was actually a desert rose I yelled “Oh, fuck off” at the screen haha). I really like this version of Black Mask, and I’m pleased the writers have found an interesting way/reason to keep Alice around by making her reckon with her guilt. I sincerely hope Safiyah never makes another appearance, and we can move away from tedious conversations involving Ryan being in Kate’s shadow.Until “Kate” returns, anyway. Recasting her and setting up her return as, effectively, a different character, feels like the writer’s trying to have their cake and eat it and I really, really hope it leads to interesting themes of identity and, yes, legacy.
While I rolled my eyes at the end of the previous episode where they revealed that Ryan’s plan was a Desert Rose, I did buy the explanation that she gave in her voiceover at the start of this episode: Ocean stole that plant when he left the island, he gave it to Angelique, and Angelique didn’t know it was special so she gave it to Ryan. It kinda works out.
For the first 10 minutes I was convinced I had missed an episode. Last episode ended with Ryan, Sophie, Kate’s dad still on the island (and seemingly trapped there), with Luke and Mary discovering that Ryan’s plant is a Desert Rose. Then suddenly this episode starts with (a) everyone off the island and back in Gotham, and (b) Ryan completely cured. If this was a season finale and the next season’s premiere then that would work. But two subsequent episodes in the middle of a season – that’s just bad storytelling and pacing.Don’t put Ryan and Sophie together as a couple! This really feels like the show thought “Hey, these 2 characters are lesbians, why not make them a couple?” It’s like they forget that, although Ryan now trusts Sophie as an ally, she is still the person who just looked at her as another troubled kid and sent her to prison without giving the evidence a second look. There’s no way Ryan should ever forgive Sophie for this, and therefore no way she would ever see her as a potential romantic partner.Alice’s adventure this week is definitely part of their plan to turn Alice from a villain to an anti-hero that will eventually work with Batwoman. See Venom (from Spider-Man comics) and Cosima (from Orphan Black) for examples of this.I did admire the fakeout of Ryan telling Angelique “This is gonna sound crazy but …” and I’m yelling “Don’t tell her you’re Batwoman! Are you crazy? You can’t trust her!” and she instead said “I know Batwoman.” I am all in for the trope of the hero in their civilian identity telling people that they know/work with themselves as the hero. Most of Peter Parker’s history in the comics is based on this.The recasting of Kate is very annoying, since the show spent most of last summer (between season 1 and 2) saying publicly that they weren’t going to recast the role and would instead create a new character and leave Kate Kane behind. And here we go, recasting the role and using a perfectly valid excuse as to why she would look different. Why not do that from the start of season 2. I kind of like Ryan but I feel like it was a step backward having to watch someone “become” Batwoman again when we already did that last season.
So did you guys just stop covering half of the Arrowverse lineup or am I missing something?