Batwoman S01E03 Review: Billionaire Dick-Measuring Contest

Batwoman, Season 1, Episode 3: Down Down Down

So while the Alice storyline is still obviously going to be the show's primary focus and emotional anchor point, this episode, "Down Down Down", does show that we're going to at least be covering a fair amount of the original Bat-family's rogues, with Tommy "Hush" Elliot becoming the antagonist of this episode... even if he hasn't gone full-out costumed maniac just yet, and is basically an evil psychotic billionaire.

The series is also surpsingly taking Kate Kane taking over the Batwoman identity and persona surprisingly slowly, particularly considering how the other CW shows tended to have all their lead characters jump two feet into vigilante superheroing from the very first episode. Kate views Batwoman more like a tool to get what she wants in her hunt for Alice, that she's just borrowing Bruce's toys for a while... but media spotlight and the fact that the existence of Batman in Gotham City is such a game-changer ends up with some interesting consequences -- the city (well, Vesper Fairchild) is continually asking what the superhero's doing, and old enemies resurface from where they've been hiding all this while, leaving creepy disfigured mannequins and shit. It's just as well that Kate donning the Bat-cowl didn't dredge up the Joker or Bane or someone significantly more dangerous than Tommy Elliot.

It's kind of a basic story that you expect from superhero material, with the reluctant hero finally realizing just how much her presence inspires hope, and how she has to move away from her predecessor's shadow and carve her own path as Batwoman. Ruby Rose does a pretty great job at displaying her internal conflict and her guilt without going over-the-top. Throw in the B-plot, where Kate continues to try to reach out to her supervillain sister Alice, and poor Kate's going through a lot right now.

That said, though, the Kate/Alice storyline in this episode does kind of feel like it's just a delaying tactic, to allow the Alice bit to have a presence in the show while the episode still mostly focuses on the villain of the week. It's a tactic that many of these superhero shows use, but it's kind of obvious in this one. Kate's bizarre "don't kill for 24 hours, please please please" deal with Alice is genuinely odd, and of course Alice reneges on the deal. I guess the show just wants to hammer home how Alice is pretty much off her rocker, but also wants to show that kate's at least actively trying to get her back on the side of sanity? Alice/Beth has been giving hints that Kate is getting through, ever so slightly, even if it's undercut by the possibility that it's all just a sick, sick act on Alice's part. It's pretty neat, but I didn't feel like this episode had the emotional punch like the previous two episodes. Anyway, Kate sort of kidnaps Agent Dodgson, but Alice ends up not being to hold herself in and goes around snooping around Jacob's penthouse, killing a guard and leaving a cryptic message for Catherine.

Speaking of the villain-of-the-week plot, Gabriel Mann is the perfect fit for this show's incarnation of Tommy Elliot. While still someone who's obsessed with getting revenge on Bruce Wayne over an implied slight, Tommy Elliot has been upgraded from just being "Bruce's best pal who's hiding a vendetta" into Douchebag Maximus, swaggering and throwing gender and sexuality-related slurs at Kate the very moment they meet each other, boasting about the size of his massive tower (it's bigger than Bruce's, which is a hilarious dick-waving contest), and later on goes straight supervillain as he manipulates the elevator systems in his tower to kill 'people that the city won't miss', the workers and waiters, just to prove a point and threaten Kate. He's just so smarmy and kind of over-the-top for such a mundane villain, I kind of like him. Oh, also, all this is so that he can use the Anti-Batsuit Gun (which is such a Batman thing to build) to kill Batman when he arrives to his summons -- it's standard comic book fare, pretty straightforward.

Of course, Batwoman decides to suit up and stop all of this, showing off a bunch of neat new gadgets that are basically the Bat-Line and Disruptor from the Arkham games. There's some odd pacing where we get all of this "oh no the supervillain's got us on a timer" but Kate takes the time to spray-paint the bat signal on her suit. It's a cool moment, sure, but I felt like the pacing could've bene a bit better so it doesn't look like Kate's ignoring the supervillain's threats. The eventual fight isn't particularly tense since Tommy's quite literally just a regular dude, but it's still a well-done moment as we build up to Kate accepting that this is her life now, that she's Batwoman, and she finally gets to show off that bright-red wig for all of Gotham to see.

The B-plots and supporting characters in this episode are... they're there. Luke's a fun guy-in-the-chair and a neat foil for Kate. Mary is awesome, and while the show doesn't quite do much with her she's clearly being a nice, energetic little sister to Kate, and her snarking around about Sophie is pretty fun. Not much to say there -- it's neat character interaction stuff and I enjoyed it. I wasn't too invested in the 'trapped in an elevator' awkwardness because I honestly don't really care all that much about Sophie's relationship with her husband. Also, Kate seems to get a new love interest in Reagan the bartender, who claims to be very good at reading people. Okay?

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Tommy Elliot is best-known in the comics as the alter-ego of Hush, and while the specifics of his confrontation with Batman varies wildly between the comics and this show, Tommy being Bruce's few childhood friends and fellow billionaire-born is kept, as is his resentment towards the Wayne family for saving his parents from an accident that he himself perpetrated in order to get inheritance money. This version of Hush hasn't quite gone into full-blown supervillainy, though. 
• Like the original comic-book miniseries that he appeared in, Tommy is implied to have obtained Batman's secret identity from the Riddler.
• Alice getting Batwoman's attention by shining the Batsignal on Wayne Tower seems to be a homage to one of the modern Batwoman's first storylines in 52, where the Question does the same thing to draw out Batwoman. 
• "Candy Kane" was Kate Kane's cadet nickname in the comics. Here it's a condescending nickname from Tommy.