Batwoman and Sophie’s newfound romance takes a back seat when a new, vindictive villain with a penchant for targeting beautiful young ‘influencers’ hits Gotham. Mary tries to subtly hint to Kate that she is available to help in all her activities. Alice is out for a very specific bit of revenge.

It’s been a feature of Batwoman to date that the ‘villain of the week’ is never really as important as the actual central characters and their relationships to one another. This much I can accept, but when the villain the show decides to use is one that’s a little bit of an icon in the source material, it starts to feel like a bit of a waste.

That said, there is good stuff here in terms of that central character focus. Sophie and Kate are both feeling all of a flutter after their kiss last time out (not that Sophie knows it was Kate, obviously) and both are brought crashing back to harsh reality not only by the appearance of the new slasher, but by people in their respective lives reminding them why romance can’t necessarily conquer all. For Kate, it’s Lucas reminding her that any love interest of Batwoman becomes someone of interest to every bad guy in Gotham. For Sophie it’s a visit from the deeply religious mother from whom she remains tightly closeted. It’s an interesting duality that reminds us the issues of superheroes aren’t always a million miles removed from those of everyday folk, and the show does it without feeling unsubtle in the message it’s conveying.

Back at Crows HQ, Jacob has a problem when the lawyer of his prison saviour turns up to call in the favour. What’s interesting here is that the issue this throws up isn’t the one you might automatically expect. Instead, Jacob starts finding things he really doesn’t like, pointing him to conclusions that could be devastating both for himself personally as well as for Gotham generally.

Mary does a lot of hanging around looking wistful in this one. Nicole Kang has always been good value from episode 1, helped by some great writing and a nice twist on the archetype of character she represents, but the writers do slightly leave her hanging here, as she waits for Kate to share the secret she’s already guessed at. It feels off – the Mary we’ve known so far wouldn’t take no for an answer and wouldn’t wait for Kate to spill. Hopefully it goes somewhere interesting as time goes on.

As for Alice, she’s still the most interesting character in the whole thing, the show wilfully refusing to allow her to a simple caricature. She’s a victim of abuse, but she’s also a savage, often cruel killer. She clearly has affection for Mouse and even for Kate, but she’s also capable of callous acts towards anyone who gets in her way. Here, she’s hell bent on retrieving Mouse and thinks she has a fairly good idea of how to get to him.

As for that villain of the week? Unfortunately as with last week, mostly they appear as a useful plot device to make certain events happen. They get very little of their own arc and it’s a desperate shame given who the character is and the hints that the show does drop for them. Here’s hoping they reappear at a later date.

Verdict: Does very interesting things with its core cast as usual, but can’t help but feel like it wastes its villain of the week a little. 7/10

Greg D. Smith