While Ryan pursues Angelique’s location with the strangest of allies, the rest of Team Bat try to prevent the identity of Batwoman becoming known to the whole world, and Sophie’s loyalties are put to the test.

Oddly, now that the show has actually started to ‘bring back’ Kate Kane, it feels more focused on Ryan Wilder being the star of the show than ever. That’s good, although some of the choices that she makes still leave something to be desired.

Intent on tracking down Angelique before anything bad can happen to her at the hands of Black Mask (having had to let him walk away last week), Ryan finds herself teaming up with the last person you might expect when it becomes clear that they have a shared interest. The enemy of my enemy is my friend isn’t exactly a concept that’s new in Batwoman, or the genre in general, but given Ryan’s personal conflict with this person it’s particularly significant.

Meanwhile, The Crows have Batwoman’s DNA in the form of the blood she left at the scene and are on the verge of uncovering her identity given that Ryan is ‘on the system’. Of course, the revelation of her identity would be bad, but given Ryan is distracted by a need to find Angelique, it’s down to Luke and Mary to sort this one out, with a little help from the inside.

Because of course, Sophie worked out last week who Batwoman is, and for some reason she doesn’t feel inclined to let that secret out. Given the fairly complicated relationship Sophie has with Ryan, not to mention the conflict she has with Batwoman and the fact that she’s always been loyal to Jacob Kane, it’s interesting that she makes the choices she does here. At least when Kate was Batwoman we could excuse Sophie’s divided loyalties for obvious reasons. Here? Maybe there’s more going on between her and Ryan than we might have guessed.

As for Kate herself, we finally start getting some idea of what Black Mask’s plan for her is, and it’s… weird. Even by the standards of this show and the comic book genre as a whole, it’s well out there, though given who they’ve cast and the nature of the show, I suspect it’s a thread that will play out fairly quickly.

And as for Jacob Kane, well his Snakebite habit isn’t getting any better. His mood swings are getting worse, he’s unfocused and not himself and people are starting to notice. How will it play out if the commander of The Crows is revealed to the world to be a drug addict, enslaved by the very narcotic on which he and his organisation have declared war?

While it’s mostly excellent, I am puzzled somewhat by some of Ryan’s choices, as I mentioned. One in particular feels not very Batwoman, but crucially also not very Ryan either. She can be vengeful for sure, and there’s no question that she has personal reasons, but even so, I can’t help but wonder if this is just a bit of a narrative shortcut or whether it will turn out to be a key character growth moment. Time will tell, I guess.

Verdict: Nothing amazingly new here but all of it well-executed and fun to watch. It’s good to Javicia Leslie finally getting to hold the limelight fully. 8/10

Greg D. Smith