Episode 15, “Off with Her Head”

—>>> back to: Batwoman, Season 1, Episodes 13 – 20 <<<—

[SPOILERS ahead, I recommend that you watch the episode before you continue!]

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“General”:

A rather…..shocking…. episode with flashbacks from Alice’s past and a major turning point!

My highlights from this episode (without particular order):

1 – Kate killing Cartwright in rage mode! Well, that was a shocking scene! I totally understand Kate as this man took Beth away from her, made her into Alice. He also killed the new Beth from another earth and decapitated her (already dead?) mother! For some seconds she totally lost it and strangled him blind with rage and passion. In my opinion, he totally deserved it, even it wasn’t the right thing to do for Kate. She will struggle with his death.

2 – The fantastic score! I really liked it in the past already, but this evil-fairytale score was perfect! From the moment Mabel Cartwright arrived and slowly pulled that oxygen tank towards the house of evil…

3 – Fear toxin nightmares! Wow, that stuff is really something 😉 . The scenes with Alice hallucinating while being strapped to that chair and being gassed with fear toxin…were intense and showed us her deepest fears. Quite the horror!

4 – Jacob and his daughters! Finally, Jacob got some serious screentime in all these scenes with Alice, Kate, and Batwoman.

5 – Mary and Luke! Again Mary and Luke are forming a witty and hilarious duo! The lines they are throwing at each other are just hilarious. And the scene where Mary was searching for the entrance to the Batcave by pulling out random books from the shelves….EPIC!

Finally, the Jewish background of the Kane family was shown in a long scene! So far there were only short remarks in that direction.

Also, the origin of the matching red necklaces was shown. These were and are very important to the Kane sisters.

And for the first time, we do see Gabi Kane, the mother of Beth and Kate.

Sophie wasn’t in the episode at all. Well, I guess she wouldn’t have fit in. The only hint of her is the short scene where a desperate Kate starts to reach out for her but stops it as Alice shows up.

The scene where Batwoman saves the woman from the thug/rapist is pretty cool. Even she was pretty sloppy as she turns her back to him, not anticipating he might have a gun. Ok, her suit is bulletproof, but she has several “weak spots” that aren’t protected (lower face, neck). Also, I don’t know if that cowl/mask is bulletproof as it wasn’t mentioned so far. I would have expected that she throws a Batarang to disarm him, rather than storming at him, while he is still shooting at her. But it was pretty cool that she knocked him out with his own gun.

The stunt where Batwoman lands on the rooftop near the batsignal was pretty cool in my opinion!

Mouse really doesn’t have much luck lately…the crows grab him, his father kidnaps him, he gets gassed with fear toxin.

The scenes with the Queen of Hearts were very sinister as they involve child abuse. August has kidnapped here, but he never laid hands on Beth/Alice in the flashbacks we got so far. His mother Maple is even worse and a big reason for Alice’s insanity.

I loved Mary’s outfit in this episode! The skirt, these boots, and a sexy pantyhose….a great combo.

The scene with Batwoman and Jacob was only their second encounter so far. It was only a fear-toxin nightmare of Alice…but I’m looking forward to seeing more meetings of these two. Would love to see a scene where Jacob would try to unmask Batwoman! That would be a nightmare for Batwoman/Kate.

The locked-up refrigerator in that barn….oh DAMN! That was quite a shocker as Alice opened it and we saw the head of Alice’s and Kate’s mother. OK, it was a little weird that August still had it, as he seemingly never planned to fulfill the wish of his mother to get that….face. But perhaps he kept that as a trophy?!?

What is really interesting….among other things…..is how the relationship between Kate and Alice is affected by the events from this episode. Alice’s plan worked, Kate is now a “killer” too. But still, they aren’t anywhere near similar to each other. Judging from the trailer for the next episode….Alice will blackmail(?) Kate into helping her to free Mouse from Arkham Asylum. She wants to pull Kate on her level….but in the end that won’t work as Batwoman will continue to fight crime and make a difference in Gotham.

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>>> Rating “General:” <<<

(4,5 out of 5 – What an EPISODE! A great horror-drama with a lot of intense scenes. I would have wished for more Batwoman screentime.)

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“Mask”:

Batwoman screen time: 02:59 (long cut)

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“Mask action” (highlighted if yes): – attempted unmasking (to check if there is a face mask) – forced unmaskings (incl. a witness) – self unmaskings (without witness) – self unmaskings (with a witness) – unmaskings – mask damage – “mask talk” (incl. “secret identity talk”) – additional masked women – close calls with opportunities to unmask Batwoman

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Who knows her secret identity by now?:

For sure: 7 – 3 of these are villains

Luke Fox as her “tech guy” who equips her – (since ep1) – Ally

Julia Pennyworth (since ep7) – Ally

Parker Torres (since ep10) – possible Ally

Mary (since episode 13) – Ally – knows it (without certain proof), but so far no one knows that she knows it

~~Sophie~~ (doesn’t think that Kate is under Batwoman’s cowl anymore)

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+ Alice (recognised her sister’s eyes under the Batwoman cowl) – (since ep2)

+ two of Alice’s crew: Mouse (since episode 6) + Chuck (mentions it in ep5)

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