Batwoman recap (S1E6): “I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury”
Batwoman returns into its solid freshman run. Five episodes in, it’s probably time to crown Alice (Rachel Skarsten) as the best villain the Arrowverse has yet produced. Or if not the best, then tied with the likes of Deathstroke (Manu Bennett), Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh/Matt Letscher), and Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer).
Kate (Ruby Rose) continues to try to save her sister. At this point, however, we’re left to wonder if Alice even wants to be saved. Last week, Alice told Kate what happened to her after the accident. The Man, who remains nameless, holds her captive after rescuing Beth the river. He wants her to be a friend for his disfigured son, Johnny. The one time Beth tries to escape, when her family is so close, it ends up failing.
Now Alice and Mouse (Sam Littlefield) have some plans for Gotham. It looks as if Alice considers Mouse more her family than Kate. Will Kate keep trying to save her sister? Hopefully she realizes that Mary (Nicole Kang) actually wants to be there for Kate, especially after learning Catherine’s (Elizabeth Anweis) lies regarding finding Beth’s “body”. If only Kate put in the effort for their relationship.
Meet the judge
Prosecutor Angus Stanton heads to his car arguing about a court case on his phone. Someone shows up in an executioner’s hood and kills him via electrocution – though he gives him a chance to escape.
Kate and Jacob (Dougray Scott) argue about what to do about Beth now that Jacob believes Kate. News about Stanton’s death hits with GCPD firing up the Bat Signal. Sophie seizes the opportunity to prove her whole “Kate is Batwoman” theory. We’re sure that will go over real well with Jacob there, Sophie (Meagan Tandy). One daughter has gone over the edge and the other one is a vigilante that he hates.
Alice and Mouse have family bonding time by putting a human face mask over Mouse’s deformity. It doesn’t look that bad, actually. We were thinking full-on Phantom of the Opera. The face Mouse wears belongs to Dean Deveraux, who’s still alive. Mouse is worried about Kate affecting Alice, but will go along with her plan. (Mouse is going to try to kill Kate at some point – we call it now.)
Luke and Kate talk about GCPD’s firing up of the Bat Signal. In the conversation, we learn that there’s a new commissioner (Forbes) and Lucius Fox is dead. He was murdered when going out for ice during Luke’s graduation party. Jacob and Kate, in their own command centers, narrow the suspect for Stanton’s murder down to someone named the Fist, who paroled recently.
Someone claiming to be the Executioner has barricaded himself out of town. The Crows arrive with Sophie tailing Kate in Batwoman garb. It turns out to be a setup for the lead cop on the scene, Donnelly. With Sophie hit, Kate promises to get her help. She uses the moment to reveals that she knows it’s Kate.
(We also learn the identity of the Joker used in the Arrowverse. 1989 Batman fans will be pleased it’s Jack Napier.)
Guilty or not guilty? They’ll be the judge.
Kate brings Sophie to Mary (Nicole Kang). While Sophie can afford a legit hospital, Kate needs to keep her somewhere else until she figures out what to do with her. Mouse heads to Hamilton Dynamics to get the weapon that Alice requires, but finds a bunch of people there applauding “the man of the hour”. It turns out the weapon that Dean made can burn through the Batsuit. Why does everyone want to kill Batwoman?
Luke and Kate put a pin on the whole Sophie situation to handle the Executioner, who changes his tactic. It turns out he’s using methods of execution used in Gotham: electrocution, firing squad (apparently Penguin was Mayor), and gas chamber. Kate heads to the warehouse where they store the chemicals used for the gas chamber.
The Crows continue their hunt for the Fist, taking him into custody. Kate’s prepared to head in for the night when the Executioner breaks into the warehouse, drives into Kate with their car, and steals the chemicals they need.
Meet the jury
It turns out Kate being hit by a car is a good thing. Due to the way the suit absorbs and records damage, they’re able to get a partial license plate. The Executioner turns out to be an actual executioner for Blackgate Prison for 20 years. Or, that’s what the license plate traces back to.
Sophie wakes up in Mary’s makeshift hospital, handcuffed to a bed. She tells Mary that she knows who Batwoman is and that’s why Batwoman won’t let her leave. Kate breaks into the executioner’s apartment where she finds the canister on the table. In it, there’s a flash drive.
There’s a video from the Executioner, who believes that the same three law enforcement officials were sending poor people of color to his executioner’s chair. He talks about how this cabal turned him into a killer, which includes Judge Calverig.
Luke is afraid that news of Stanton, the prosecutor’s possible dirty deeds, will turn him into a killer. The Crows deliver the first to GCPD, but Kate as Batwoman nabs him from under their noses. She leaves the confession for Jacob to find.
Trial by fire
Poor Dean is in the most intense checkers game of his life when Mouse tricks Alice into revealing Kate’s secret identity. Mouse is very jealous of Alice’s affections toward Kate, only wanting her for himself. He kills Dean with the Batwoman, telling Alice to deal with it.
Jacob goes full on baby boomer when Kate goes to visit him about the tape. He plans the “social justice warrior” of Batwoman. He blames Batman for destroying their family. Kate, however, says that the blame falls on them, not vigilantes, for giving up. Nice use of that “ok, Boomer” mentality, Kate.
Sophie breaks free from her cuffs and heads out. Mary doesn’t stop her, but tells her not to add Batwoman to the list of people she’s hurt. While she doesn’t know what went on between Sophie and Kate, she saw the aftermath of Sophie’s betrayal. Mary continues to the best, purest cinnamon roll in the show and Kate needs to wise about how good a sister she is.
Meet the Executioner
Kate, as Batwoman, goes to visit Calverig in his offices, where he’s burning evidence. The Executioner arrives to kill the judge, who Kate sends away. He’s shocked that Kate will protect the judge, but she refuses to let him rewrite the law in blood. Jacob arrives and knocks the Executioner out.
Jacob calls Kate out for hiding behind a mask as Batwoman. He’s held accountable to his actions, but who is she held accountable to? That’s when the dead man’s switch of the Executioner is triggered, turning the room into a gas chamber.
Kate can burn off the gas but it needs to hit six percent saturation. Why? It comes down to science and dramatic narrative, mainly. Jacob admits that if he can’t blame the symbol for what happened to his family, then he’ll have to blame himself. After he admits that, Kate is able to burn off the gas.
With Vesper Fairchild (Rachel Maddow) singing Batwoman’s praises again, Luke looks into his dad’s case. Kate arrives in Batwoman gear to find Mary working, who gives her a head’s up about Sophie.
Kate realizes in her letter to Bruce that she’s been blaming her dad. The blame for what happened to her sister falls on Kate. Jacob swears to Kate that this time he won’t ever give up. Both father and daughter share a teary-eyed hug. Therapy continues to be needed for the Kane family. Sophie, seeing the scene, decides to do the decent thing and not tell Jacob about Kate’s identity.
Alice and Mouse continue to argue over Kate. Mouse doesn’t want to share Kate with Alice, but Alice needs Kate to be whole. She promises that they both will be sharing Kate. If she doesn’t want to play? Well, they still have the gun!
