Team Bat are once again in crisis as Batwoman’s identity is at risk of being revealed. Ryan and Sophie clash. Alice and Mary reach out to a former associate of the Joker for help with the Joy Buzzer.

How do you solve a problem like Batwoman? Seriously, she’s lost access to her secret lair and all its resources, she’s lost access to the unlimited wealth of Wayne Enterprises, she’s in danger of pushing away the woman she’s clearly into and once again someone out there knows who she is and can’t wait to tell the world.

First things first – I’m still not happy with the apparent trajectory the writers have decided to take with Mary. The team’s most overlooked and undervalued member finally demanding something for herself was an arc I was all too invested in, and Nicole Kang played the Poison Ivy-esque version of Mary to perfection. Now though, with the Poison Ivy gubbins removed, she’s back to being the same as she ever was. There’s not even a hint of the grudge that she clearly nurtured at her treatment by her friends. Instead, she’s consumed by guilt at the innocent man she killed. This at least offers the interesting spectacle of Mary approaching Alice of all people for advice, but again it feels inconsistent. Mary feels guilty, but not guilty enough to actually turn herself in. Her friends simply gloss over the fact she killed a man because she ‘wasn’t herself’. In a show that’s always prided itself on consequences, this feels off.

Anyway, Marquis is loose (again) and thanks to Mary, is fully aware of who Batwoman is and also has something very important to Luke. So the team need to get the Joy Buzzer fixed, retrieve Luke’s property from Wayne Tower and protect Ryan’s secret at all costs. Only one small issue – Ryan is not letting Sophie do anything, which is understandably pissing her off. When Sophie takes matters into her own hands and goes on a mission with Luke anyway, fireworks ensue.

Meanwhile, it’s left to Mary and Alice to track down the toymaker who worked on the Joy Buzzer as well as various other of Joker’s deadly gadgets. This quiet, retiring woman seems determined to make a new start for herself, having left her horrific past behind, but is there more than meets the eye to her? Alice – a self-confessed ‘fan’ of her work – is quickly able to sniff her out when she initially tries to hide her identity, but how fine-tuned is Alice’s radar these days? Is it possible that Gotham’s most infamous (current) psychopath is actually going soft?

As for Ryan, she goes to confront Jada and ends up with more than either of them had bargained for when Victor Zsasz turns up on Marcus’ orders looking for the very thing Ryan is after to try to stop her brother’s plans and then execute them unless Batwoman shows up to save the day. This is actually the most entertaining part of the show as Alex Moff steals every scene with his interpretation of the character. Cruel, lethal but also charming and even witty, Zsasz is definitely one of the better villains the show has given us, and it’s a joy to see him here, revelling in the painful exchanges between Jada and her daughter about their shared past (which in itself is interesting stuff).

By the time the credits are set to roll, the show has given Mary yet another moral dilemma, but at least satisfies on some other fronts, providing a couple of resolutions to storylines which were starting to wear. It remains to be seen whether this means the quality will once again uptick on the show.

Verdict: Better than the previous couple of episodes, mostly by dint of the Zsasz factor, but still making the oddest choices in too many ways. 6/10

Greg D. Smith