Ryan finds herself questioning her own worth as the hero of Gotham as Black Mask and his goons run riot. Can Team Bat unite to defeat this new threat and rescue Kate before it’s too late?

I won’t lie, when I saw how things had played out by the end of the previous episode of Batwoman, I had assumed that we were set for several more weeks of intrigue, what with Roman Sionis having infiltrated the GCPD, found out who Batwoman was and got that bunch of goodies from the Batcave while his daughter ran around with the confiscated Bat-Suit. Then I found out that this week’s instalment would be the finale, so suddenly it seemed like there was an awful lot to do in one instalment.

And that’s the main issue here – with such an intriguing setup, it can’t help but feel like this finale is a little rushed, and that means none of the big things that happen here really lands with the impact that it should, while also ignoring some of the things previously set up.

For example, Sionis’ corruption of the GCPD, and his relentless quest for total power. Leaving aside that this incarnation’s motivations seem a little… confused, the jump from the reveal of his plan last week and his recruitment of ex-Crows to the execution this week seems too fast and a little ill-thought out. Tied up in that is the wasting of Tavaroff, who’s been built up as a villain we love to hate and here just gets… well, not what you might have hoped for/expected.

Then there’s Ryan, having another existential crisis about whether she really deserves to be Batwoman because all this bad stuff is happening on her watch. I feel like we’ve gone through this process with the character more times than was necessary, and I’ve made no secret of that, but it feels particularly galling here, given that the moral of the last episode seemed to be that the city absolutely needed her to be Batwoman. It doesn’t help that the episode decides to riff off Iron Man 3’s conundrum for its central character, as to whether the suit is what makes the hero, or what’s underneath it. The problem is, Ryan has always been the hero, from way before she put on the suit. She sacrificed her own freedom for the woman she loves. She’s a martial artist who can kick ass with the best of them. She’s full of self-confidence and poise whenever the script allows it. To have her, at this stage, still going ‘Well, but I’m not sure I’m really cut out for the gig’ is just infuriating.

Something else I have to bring up is the way that the show has been spoilered several times by its cast and crew via social media over the course of this season. Wallis Day couldn’t wait to reveal she’d be playing Kate Kane and Camrus Johnson’s over-excitement meant another ‘big reveal’ in this episode was nothing of the sort because he’d already spilt the beans via Twitter a couple of weeks ago. It’s not a massive deal, and I get that actors are excited by their projects (and with good reason) but it can’t help but lessen the impact of what should be big moments in a show when you’ve already had them telegraphed weeks prior.

Rachel Skarsten’s Alice gets a lot to do here though, and it’s good to see the character hasn’t lost any of her edge. Even in the moments when you think maybe she’s finally been humbled, she never quite agrees. And shows us accordingly. I think maybe the character might live to see even more development in season three.

As it rattles towards a fairly predictable (and too rushed) conclusion, it hits all the beats you’d expect in terms of accepting oneself, moving on and so forth. It just feels like they squandered what could have been a long-running and far more intriguing storyline in favour of a quick wrap, and that can’t help but feel a little disappointing. Still, it’s been a hell of a maiden season for Javicia Leslie, and I can only hope that she gets the opportunity to really build from that foundation from here.

Verdict: Ends up rushing itself and suffers as a result. Good, but good could have been great. 7/10

Greg D. Smith