January 2023

By Gianni Shamari



On January 17, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time CW (WPIX) premiered the highly-anticipated second season of Batwoman starring Javicia Leslie (Ryan Wilder) as the new Batwoman. It was a historic moment on television because Javicia became the first Black Batwoman, and it happened on the same week that Kamala Harris became the first Black female Vice President of the United States. The new season was fresh, dark, filled with twist and turns, and fun to watch. The casting of Javicia Leslie as Batwoman was a great choice because she fit the role well. I’m glad they created a new character for Javicia to make her own instead of doing a recast.

The episode started with a tragedy. Ryan Wilder, 25, was sleeping in her home, which was a van by Gotham’s harbor. Her sleep was interrupted by a nearby plane crash. As she surveyed the plane wreckage, she came across debris, a few lifeless bodies and an elderly African-American man whom she saved by performing CPR on him. Ryan also find Kate Kane’s Batsuit that she took back to her home.

The police were at the scene. Kate’s father, Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott), leader of the Crows arrived and was informed that Kate Kane’s body was not recovered, which gave him hope that his daughter was still alive. With Crows agent Sophie Moore (Meagan Tandy), they both searched the area for Kate’s body. Observing the scene from afar was the leader of the Wonderland gang Alice (Rachel Skarsten). She seemed to be livid about the plane crash.

Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson) and Mary Hamilton (Nicole Kang) soon realized that Kate Kane was on the plane that crashed. Her body and Batsuit was nowhere to be found. At Wayne Enterprises, they encountered “Brue Wayne” who had been missing for four years. They were both surprised to see him. Bruce showed concern over his missing cousin. Mary left to go meet up with her father while Luke stayed with Bruce. He found it odd that Bruce didn’t know how to enter the Batcave, which should have been a red flag that he might not be the real Bruce Wayne. However, Bruce Wayne convinced Luke to give him the kryptonite.

As the episode progressed, we found out that the man parading as Bruce Wayne was really Tommy Elliot a.k.a. Hush. He took full advantage of Bruce Wayne’s billionaire playboy lifestyle that Alice saw as a distraction. Alice transformed Tommy’s face to perfectly resembled Bruce Wayne. She gave Tommy Elliot Bruce’s face so he could procure kryptonite for her that she would then give to Jacob, who would kill Batwoman. Alice was distraught about Kate Kane’s apparent death because she wasn’t the person that did the job. Her plan for familial revenge was now ruined. Hush reminded Alice that she could have shot Kate months ago. Alice told him that she had it all planned out, calculated and precise. She also reminded Tommy that she’ll make him go from Bruce Wayne back to his disfigured self.

While speaking to her counselor, Susan Stevens, Ryan Wilder explained her troubled past. Her birth mom died in childbirth and her dad wasn’t around. She was raised in the system and experienced trauma early in her life. She and her foster mother moved to a nice apartment, but squatters attacked them, and her foster mother died. Ryan had been wrongfully imprisoned for 18 months by Jacob Kane’s Crows. Because of her criminal record, she couldn’t land a job or pay her court fees, which explained her being homeless.

Unbeknownst to Ryan, when she activated the Batsuit it triggered the GPS system. Therefore, Luke and Mary were able to tracked her down in a tunnel. To their surprise, it was not Kate, and the new Batwoman revealed that she saw Kate’s plane crashed. She also introduced herself as Ryan. Luke and Mark asked for the Batsuit back, Ryan refused and delivered this instant classic line, “I know I'm not a symbol — I'm the 327th baby of a Black woman died that year. I'm 20 a day check to a group home. I'm inmate 4075 serving 18 months. But to the mama who adopted me? I was her #1…You can have this damn suit back when her killer is dead.” Before she launched herself in the air and out of view.

News of Kate Kane’s plane crash went public. A front-page newspaper article asked the question, “What Happened to Kate Kane?”, which the episode was titled. Most believed she has gone missing due to the plane crash. Jacob Kane still felt his daughter was still alive even though a similar situation happened with his other daughter years ago. Luke also believed Kate was dead and blamed himself for her passing since he encouraged her to fly to National City to meet up with Supergirl about the shard of kryptonite in her possession. Mary was more hopeful and believed Kate could have survived the plane crash without wearing the Batsuit.

While Ryan read an article on Kate Kane in the Gotham City Gazette, Mary did research on her, and learned about Ryan’s trouble past. She discovered that Alice’s Wonderland gang was responsible for her mother’s death. Coincidentally, both of their mothers were killed by Alice and her gang. Mary came to the conclusion that Ryan was keeping the Batsuit to get revenge on Alice. She wants justice!

Julia informed Luke and Mary that Bruce was not Bruce, but was Hush because of the fingerprints she obtained at Crows Headquarters. The news shocked them. Meanwhile, Bruce was in the Batcave and noticed the Batsuit was activated. Once he finds the Batmobile, he hopped in and drove off just as Luke and Mary returned to the Batcave. Luke knows that Bruce wants Ryan for the suit. Therefore, he contacted Ryan and told her that Bruce wants the suit and if he gets it, he’ll become the most powerful person in Gotham City.

So, Bruce Wayne who wasn't Bruce Wayne was going after Batwoman who wasn't Batwoman in the Batmobile to get the Batwoman suit back to change it back into Batman suit so he can become Batman. I know it’s frightfully complexing. Ryan finally encountered Bruce and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Tommy shot Ryan with a kryptonite bullet in her shoulder, but she managed to survive and pounded him to a pulp that left him unrecognizable.

After the battle, Ryan returned the Batsuit and kryptonite to Luke and Mary at Wayne Enterprises. She said she was sorry about Kate and that she hopes they find her. The Batsuit is bigger than her, and she’s not a superhero like Kate.

Julia finally gave Sophie what Kate left in her safe. It was an envelope addressed to her. The letter confirmed that Kate was Batwoman, and she didn’t tell Sophie because she loved her and wanted to protect her. Jacob was distraught about learning that Kate Kane was Batwoman and she died knowing he hated her. He made one last attempt to contact Batwoman by illuminating the sky with the iconic Bat-Signal, but Batwoman never showed up.

As Alice roamed in the dark tunnels of Gotham City, she was still unsure of the person who’s responsible for Kate’s death. As if her prayers been answered, a paper plane flied near her and written on it read, “Consider us even, Safiyah,”. She lay down beside Mouse and began plotting her war on Gotham.

The final scene captured Ryan looking up at the sky and gazed at the Bat signal. She looked down and spoked to her plant because it was like talking to her mom since it's hers, and told it that she did the right thing and will try to continue to do so before looking down at her wound. It was green and seemed like it was traveling in her system.

The premiere was really good. The intertwining storylines and relationships were really well positioned to set up the new season. Javicia Leslie slayed as Ryan Wilder/Batwoman and I’m looking forward to her first interaction with Alice!