Batwoman recap (S1E5): “Mine is a Long and a Sad Tale”
Batwoman remains a pretty solid performer over at The CW. Four episodes in, we feel like we’re on steady ground. Or at least the series has started to find its voice. Last week, we caught up to where Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) was in “Elseworlds” last year.
Will they mention the crossover in episode five? Will there be escapees from Arkham running amok? Or will it just be forgotten about and never really answered again? We’ll surely find out in the coming weeks.
Just to refresh your memory, here’s what happened last week. Kate learned that not every superhero gets to have a social life. While she and Reagan (Brianne Howey) like each other, Kate has secrets she needs to keep. They’ve called it quits for now. Meanwhile, Sophie (Meagan Tandy) definitely suspects Kate is Batwoman and Kate knows she suspects it.
When thief Magpie (Rachel Matthews) calls Kate out for her privilege as a member of Gotham’s upper class, she decides to start a real estate firm to help the underprivileged of Gotham – even though she and Luke (Camrus Johnson) have no idea how to do so.
Kate also learns more pieces of Alice’s (Rachel Skarsten) plan from a near-dead Chuck Dodgson (Brendon Zub), who in a drugged state mentions someone named “Mouse” to Mary (Nicole Kang). Catherine (Elizabeth Anweis) confesses to Jacob (Dougray Scott) that she faked the DNA test on the skull fragments believed to be Beth’s. Now she’s being blackmailed by Alice/Beth. Great decision-making, Catherine.
With all that in mind, we’re about to learn a lot of horrifying things that turned Beth into Alice. Let’s settle in for her long, sad tale.
The mystery of Alice
As Kate ruminates over the mystery of her sister, Alice breaks into the morgue and takes a slice of skin. Luke tells Kate how three morgues were broken into by the “Skin Pirate”. A quick look at Wayne’s closed-circuit cameras reveal it’s Alice.
While Luke wants to wait as he tracks any possible plans Alice may have, Kate wants to go after her. She has the tracker in Chuck, who has gone back to Alice as predicted. Alice looks over him and promises she will kill him if he told Kate anything. She also promises that it’s only a matter of time before Kate “gets hers” . . . sisterly love and affection running real strong here.
Batwoman knocks out the lights and is able to knock out Alice. Alice awakes tied up in Kate’s little interrogation dungeon. Kate presses for the information that Chuck gave Mary and offers to help her sister. Alice says that Mouse found her after the crash.
Kate calls Jacob, tells him she’s with Alice, and hangs up. With Jacob tracking her phone, Kate tells Alice to tell her what she wants to know. Alice promises to tell her the long, sad tale, but she needs to show Kate some things first. Tick, tock.
Once upon a time
Kate and Alice go on a road trip and Alice tells her about Catherine’s fake DNA. She then pushes Kate to ask her why she is like this. Beth wakes up on a couch in a living room in a house with a kid and his father. She asks about her mom, but the man just goes to make her sandwich.
Jacob calls Sophie in to help track Kate and Alice. Catherine tells Mary about her lie regarding Beth. She apologizes to Mary for what she did. The whole family is pissed at Catherine – and rightly so.
Kate and Alice stop at a diner where Kate asks for more of the story. She recalls how Mouse, who went by “Johnny”, who will be Mouse, could imitate any voice. Beth sees a news report, but when she tries to leave, the man grabs her and drags her to the basement. There she finds a sink with a face in it.
You can see why she’s encouraging Kate to drink now, right?
Down, down, down the rabbit hole
Mary goes to Wayne Enterprises, where security escorts her to Luke. She’s upset and a little day-drunk. He offers to take a message for Mary, who word-vomits everything to Luke and pushes her way inside.
Sophie asks if Jacob is alright, who tells her he’s going through a “rough patch” with Catherine. He tells Sophie what Catherine did. Now he wants to take Alice in. He plans to have her DNA tested in order to confirm whether or not she’s Beth.
Kate, meanwhile, downs a beer and asks about the face in the sink. Beth, in the past, begs the man to let her go, but he wants her to be a friend for his son. This is her home now. The face in the sink was an experiment to help Mouse look normal.
Kate gets woozy, having been drugged by Alice. That’s what you get for trusting someone who really shouldn’t be trusted.
Between one breath and the next
It turns out that the people at the diner are all part of Alice’s Wonderland gang. When Sophie and Jacob arrive, they unleash an assault. Jacob finds Chuck, demanding where his daughter is.
He tells Jacob that he only made sure the wealthy are safe and taunts her about not saving Alice. While Luke tries to do research over the skin thefts, Mary drinks a lot and unloads on him. She just wants Kate to see her as her real sister too.
Kate wakes up shackled to a pipe, with Alice staring at her. The skin thefts were meant to draw Kate after her in order for Mouse and Alice to enact their plan for Gotham. Kate wants to go free, but Alice wants to tell her the story.
She was able to free herself from a room and get to the phone, calling Jacob. The man takes the phone and tells her that she will kill whoever comes to look for her. It will all be her fault. Kate tells what she remembers about that day, that they tracked the call.
The GCPD wouldn’t help them but she and Jacob arrive at the house. The man tells him that the call was a prank and blames it on Johnny. He forces Johnny to show him what he can do with vocal mimicry. Kate enters the house after Jacob and goes look, heading down to the basement, where Beth is.
Beth, remembering what the man said, keeps very quiet. She doesn’t even answer when Kate calls her name. She was so, so close to being rescued! Alice blames Kate for not sensing that she was there.
She then leaves Kate in the room where she spent so much time in the basement of that little house of horrors.
In medias res
Jacob and Sophie continues the hunt for Alice and Kate. Jacob remembers exactly where they are. Luke tries to contact Kate and Mary sees the research he did on the Skin Pirate. It turns out that they are remembering the Arkham breakout and that Mouse (who is named Jonathan Cartwright) escaped during this time.
Sophie and Jacob arrive on the property while Kate works to free herself. Alice corners Jacob, who asks where Kate is. She pushes Jacob, saying that he gave up on her. He finally calls her Beth, which is all she wanted to hear. She then stabs him in the gut, which is what she always wanted to do. Mouse (Sam Littlefield), meanwhile, uses Kate’s voice to lure out Sophie and attacks her.
Kate is able to pick a lock with a nail from her boot. Sophie pulls off Mouse’s face, which comes out. Kate, now free, runs into Sophie. Jacob tries to escape, but Alice stops him. Kate threatens to kill Mouse, asking Alice what she cares about more. Alice and Mouse leave while Kate goes to Jacob, who finally agrees that Alice is Beth.
Chariot awaits
Mary drunkenly eats pizza while Luke gets her Uber. She asks Luke to tell Kate to return her calls. Kate watches Gotham’s river and blames herself for not realizing that Beth is there.
Jacob, looking remarkable well for someone who got stabbed in the stomach, joins her. Alice and Mouse have some alone time together. As a boy, he was the one who brought Beth Alice in Wonderland. As an adult, he presents it to her again. She presents him with a new face, reaffirming they are brother and sister.
This was such a good episode. Rachel Skarsten is honestly one of the best Arrowverse villains we have ever seen. We can’t wait to see what happens next.
