‘Batwoman’ S1E7 recap: “Tell Me the Truth”
The CW’s Batwoman took a needed break from Alice (Rachel Skarsten) and Kate’s (Ruby Rose) drama on last week’s episode. Don’t get us wrong, we love Skarsten’s villainous turn, but you don’t want to overplay your villain. Plus the episode gave us a chance to see Rose turn in a great performance sans her best scene partner.
Here’s a quick rundown on last week’s episode. Gotham’s new villain is the Executioner, a former prison executioner killing members of a secret cabal that are targeting poor people of color for jacked-up prisoner sentences.
The Executioner is killing these folks in the traditional methods of execution used in Gotham: electrocution, firing squad, and gas chamber. We also learned that Luke Fox’s (Camrus Johnson) father Lucius was murdered; no more Commissioner Gordon, and Joker’s name in the Arrowverse is Jack Napier.
Kate is able to save one of the members of the cabal as Batwoman, but gets locked with her father (Dougray Scott). Jacob admits that part of the reason he hates vigilantes is because he needs to blame someone else for what happened to his family. There’s also a lot of great commentary discussing if what Kate is doing as Batwoman is so different from what the bad guys are doing.
Sophie (Meagan Tandy), who remains a frustrating presence, knows Kate is Batwoman. Luckily, she gets injured so Kate takes her to Mary’s (Nicole Kang) clinic in order to buy more time. It turns out to be good for them because Mary takes Sophie to task on how she hurt Kate, and how revealing Batwoman’s identity just hurts more people. So, for now, Sophie’s keeping quiet.
Needless to say, a lot of balls were in the air going into last night’s episode. We don’t think Sophie’s going to keep quiet for long.
Loneliness of the superhero
Kate proves how big of a badass she is by taking out a sniper right before he gets the target. Sophie tracks her down in costume, saying that she needs to tell her father the truth. If not Kate, then Sophie will tell him the truth. Kate denies and denies, but tells Sophie she’ll find her.
Meanwhile, a woman makes a call and says that it was the Rifle. It turns out that the guy was targeting employees of Hamilton Dynamics and his latest target worked for the competitor. Kate also reveals there is no love lost between her and Catherine (Elizabeth Anweis), who Jacob is divorcing.
Luke encourages Kate to talk with Sophie and convince her not to tell. Sophie’s milquetoast husband Tyler (Greyston Holt) catches her in a lie about talking with Batwoman. He asks if she knows who Batwoman is, but Sophie denies.
Catherine and Mary leave the divorce proceedings, which Kate and Jacob did not show up at. Mary is still utterly pissed at her mother for her actions. Catherine says that when Mary is a mother, then she’ll understand. That is such bull. There is literally no excuse for Catherine’s actions and she’s a bland character. There, we said it. She also learns about the dead scientist from last week.
Mary just feels bad because she feels like she’s finally getting a sister in Kate and now nada. Mary is too good for the world and her family.
Kate goes after the Rifle again, who is out and about to be killed. There’s another vigilante there. It turns out she is Julia Pennyworth (Christina Wolfe), Alfred’s daughter. She’s supposed to be half-black as she is in the comics. So this is . . . not great. She also knows who Kate is.
There’s a snap.
Mouse & Alice take out the original target. It turns out the people the Rifle targeted know how to build the Anti-Batman gun. Alice putting out the hit on them makes the gun the only one in the world. The Rifle is working for someone else.
Julia & Kate reminisce about the old days. It turns out that they used to date, but Kate broke it off when she learned Bruce sent Julia to check on her. Julia wants to team up, but Kate doesn’t.
In the past, Sophie & Kate argue about denying their relationship or being honest. It turns out that Sophie’s parents are hugely homophobic, which explains some things. Kate thinks that they need to put up a united front. Sophie agrees to tell the board the truth. Kate asks Sophie to meet up for dinner. Tyler’s not thrilled, thinking she’s meeting Batwoman. That’s true, technically.
Before Kate & Sophie can get down to brass tacks about Batwoman. The restaurant owner tries to kick them out because he thinks they’re on the date. Kate epically shuts them down. It’s awesome.
Outside the restaurant, Sophie tells Kate that Jacob talked her the day of her hearing. It turns out that Jacob convinced Sophie into denying her relationship with Kate. To be fair, he was very real & honest with her about her chances without graduating. Sophie was in tricky spot. The internal turmoil does make her a more interesting character versus her being weird, clingy, and jealous and trying to ferret out Batwoman’s identity.
Kate is stoic, but upset. While Sophie will do anything for Jacob and credits him with her success, she’s lost Kate in the process. Tt’s a very raw situation experienced by those in the LGBT+ community. Tandy sells it – we just wish she had more to work with.
Honesty is the best policy (sometimes).
Sophie tells Tyler the truth about her and Kate. Tyler’s not thrilled that his wife kept a huge part of her identity from him. He does understand when Sophie brings up her mother. He’s not as understanding when Sophie hesitates over a question about her feelings for Kate.
Luke & Julia have Chinese food and talk about her and Kate’s past. Kate moves on to plan C, but Mary arrives just as they’re about to go into the Batcave. Kate tries to get her out, but Mary calls her out. As she should.
Catherine goes to tell Jacob about her dead scientists. When Jacob tries to brush off the search for the gun, Sophie tells him that Kate is Batwoman. Oh Sophie, you have good intentions. But gurrrrll . . . why you ga’ be like this? Prediction: Julia is gonna pose as Batwoman.
Deals made
Alice and the Rifle exchange the gun for what she was promised. She tells him to give “her” her regards. Sophie reflects on the ending of her and Kate’s romance. She watches as Kate’s memory is erased from the school, and defends Kate’s memory to a commanding officer.
Catherine tries to have a moment with Jacob, saying that they need to turn the pain into power. They need to do it – together.
Sophie sees Batwoman, who she believes to be Kate, and tries to get her to leave. Sophie, still thinking Batwoman is Kate, apologizes to her and tells Batwoman that she told Jacob that Batwoman is Kate. It’s not Kate in the Batwoman costume, though. Kate arrives to find Sophie & Batwoman there. It confuses the heck out of Sophie – not us though, because it’s Julia Pennyworth as we predicted.
Then Batwoman gets shot and knocked out of the apartment to the ground below.
Truth & consequences
The Crows converge on Batwoman to take her into custody. Sophie tells Kate about the gun that can kill Batwoman. It turns out that Julia is in the Batwoman suit. We called it, again.
Kate goes to handle the situation and save Julia before her father can get his hands on her. Kate blows out a tire on the Crows van, crashing it, and takes out the guards.
The Rifle arrives to figure out why the gun didn’t work. He says that she (Saviya? Safiya? Either way her name sets Alice off, but Rifle needs enunciate more) is going to be pissed. It turns out that Alice removed a key part in order to protect her sister. With the scientists dead, then there is no way to replicate it. Apparently, no one involved kept any notes on how to create this special firearm. Either way, it’s part of Alice’s plan to manipulate Kate.
There’s no one worth trusting.
Julia apologizes to Kate for lying to her when they originally met – she understands now that she’s seen Sophie in action. Luke informs Kate about Alice’s latest moves. Julia announces that she needs to go. Before she leaves, she tells Kate that she shouldn’t be like Bruce. Bruce was gone for four years without anyone missing him.
Sophie knows that Kate took out the Crows van. She also retracted her statement to Jacob over Batwoman’s identity.
At her first real estate acquisition, Kate is real with Sophie, saying she still has feelings for her. From now on, she is going to keep her distance. She won’t be a homewrecker between Sophie & Tyler. Kate’s a good egg – even if it means she’s sobbing over a sharpshooter medal that Sophie saved from their Academy days.
Sophie goes to Tyler and tells him that he’s the only one she loves. Milquetoast Tyler doesn’t look like he entirely believes it.
Kate & Mary are teaming up to turn the building into a gay bar. Coincidentally, the building is across the street from the homophobic restaurant owner. Jacob takes a call as he drives back from chasing down a lead. It turns out that Mouse was Jacob the whole time. He has something set with the Crows & Catherine. Alice calls it her “tea party”.
Oh. Damn.
