After months of delays related to covid-19, a new season of CWs Batwoman he is here with a new vigilante at the helm. Glad to confirm that Javicia Leslie is absolutely fantastic as Ryan Wilder, new Batwoman. If you skipped this show because of it Ruby Rose, or just because you have too much TV on your plate, it’s time to come back for a second look, because with Leslie at the helm, this show finally feels like the CW-verse you want.
Or at least I want to. I’m not here for one deadly serious Batman. Arrogance is inherently wild and stupid, and I want my bat shows to be inherently wild and stupid. Season one of Batwoman tried this and had absolutely ridiculous things, such as heads in the freezers, confrontations in the middle of brightly lit stadiums and Rachel Skarsten’s bastard Alice.
But Rose was terribly uneven as the lead role, and despite what some believe (mostly entertainment producers assume), you actually need a very good actor as the lead role of a TV show. Leslie is so good that she makes everyone around her better. There is a real energy in the scenes that he shares with the actors from the first season and, in the two episodes that I watched, I could really see the cast reuniting and clicking.
However, the biggest improvement for the superhero series could be having Ryan as the leader instead of Kate Kane. While Kate had a strong reason to wear the hood in Greg Rucka and JH Williams III Batwoman restart at DC Comics, the same could not be said for the show. He seemed to almost fall into the role; she took on cape and hood because the show needed it, rather than for any real reason based on character.
G / O Media may receive a commission
Ryan is different.
This new hero the story is also surprisingly completely intertwined with Kate’s. But we’ll get back to that. We must first discuss the most triumphant moment of the episode. Ryan has a lot of anger very easy to understand and believe that finally manifests itself in the premiere of season two (“What happened to Kate Kane?”) when Hush tries to kill her with a kryptonite bullet. She takes the shot like a champion, hops and then PUNCHES BRUCE WAYNE’S FACE OFF HUSH’S BODY.
Incredible. Amazing. Did you think the show would have a mess in Hush for half a season, pretending to be Bruce Wayne? Because no! Batwoman put that story to rest in over 40 years minutes. But let’s get back to the way we got to Batwoman by hitting a man in the face.
At the top of the premiere, Kate’s plane crosses the sky before crashing near where Ryan sleeps in a van. He immediately rushes to look for survivors, because he is a good person, and instead finding a green ring, finds the Batwoman costume – and no sign of Kate herself. The show makes it clear that there is no trace of Kate’s body and that means she can absolutely return to a later date (perhaps with little of the facial reconstruction operation that soap operas like to use when reforming actors). But the story also treats her as if Kate were dead.
Her family and friends mourn her. Sophie retires from a relationship with Alfred’s daughter, Julia, because of her pain. Kate Jacob’s father and her sister Alice both become more vicious. Step-sister Mary and close friend Luke Fox both cry in Batcave as they realize what the plane crash means. And then … Ryan suddenly puts on his cloak and takes out the bad guys and has a lot of fun.
The Batsuit on Batwoman it’s almost more like the Iron Man costume than the comic book Batsuits. Instead of Kevlar and silk, It’s okevlar and a few million dollars in luxury technology that Ryan must thwart by understanding as he uses it to get the bad guys out. During the premiere, we return to Ryanstory as well; she was a orphan who found a loving adoptive mother, and when the two tried to move into the apartment she was paying for with her new job, they found Alice’s gang crouched there. Her mother was killed, Ryan almost died, and all the great upward momentum she was making in life disappeared. Sophie and the rest of Jacob’s paramilitary police forces, Crows, can’t stand her because she previously had some connections to the law, but even then – a situation involving an ex-girlfriend – seems a little too jealous given who else runs around Gotham.
But it works for Ryan. Kate and, in fact, any billionaire who chooses to fight crime with a suit instead of their considerable wealth and influence, has always felt a bit stupid as a thorn in the side of crows. The first season wanted to emphasize how absolutely terrible it was that Gotham outsourced its police to a private company without supervision, but that rarely worked when everyone who cared worked there and had no desire to encourage them to find another job.
Ryan is aware of crows and how bad they are and has no personal attachments to stop her from taking them. He also has a bone to choose from that Alice feels won over – and hard to beat. Plus, it’s not loaded! And he looks pretty smart! Kate often felt like a stupid jock who decided to take over the world, because why not. Ryan feels like an intelligent woman who really wants to help improve the world and not just for herself. She has that sense of duty that makes Kate’s comic version so damn compelling. After a year of questions where the hell is Kate Kane, Batwoman he finally found her and her name is Ryan Wilder.
Assorted thoughts:
- Oh yes! Remember how Hush took Bruce Wayne’s face so he could steal kryptonite and do other bad things? Julia Pennyworth IMMEDIATELY views him as a fake and Ryan PUTS HIS FACE INTO the climax of the episode. They wasted zero time putting the story of that story. I’m still in shock. Incredible.
- Hush also shoots Ryan with kriptonitis and is largely OK despite the show that repeatedly said it would be a fatal blow. So … is there any chance she’ll be metahuman?
- Seriously, Leslie is having so much fun as Ryan that her joy is infectious. You will absolutely grin when he takes his first bad boys.
- Batmobile finally makes an appearance. Suck.
For more, be sure to follow us on Instagram @io9dotcom.