Team Bat must race against time to stop Marquis’ plans, and make a decision as to who exactly will get the sanity-saving jolt the Joy Buzzer can allegedly provide.

As finales go, this is about as uneven as the latter half of this season of Batwoman has been. Added to that it feels rushed, and has an unfortunate habit of employing a bit of handwavium here and there to try to paper over the logic cracks. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel invested in the thing, even as it infuriated me in certain ways.

Marquis now has access to the Batcave. All that technology, all those secrets, in the hands of a madman essentially leaning into his self-perceived role as the Joker’s inheritor. What devious, maniacal, evil things might he do with this new boon? Well, I guess we won’t find out, because having made a big deal of him having gotten into the Batcave last time out, the show pretty much just treats it as a roadblock to Team Bat having access to it, and that’s about it.

What Marquis is planning is… pitiful, I’m afraid. I was annoyed enough by the fact that the show suddenly veered hard right last time out and decided to concoct this connection between Alice and Marquis by having him have his childhood encounter with the Joker on the same bus which hit the Kanes’ car and set off the events which created Alice. Narrative contrivance taken a little too far. But here, Marquis essentially resolves to finish an evil plan of the Joker’s, which the Clown Prince of Crime himself confided to him on that bus all those years ago just before shocking him. The writers don’t feel the need to address why the Joker might have done this, or why Marquis would want to see it through, but here we are.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the way in which Marquis chooses to try to implement this plan involves… well, let’s just say something which the Joker never had access to, and basically the sole reason the writers seem to have given him access to the Batcave. Oh, and it’s a thing which I see no logical reason for Batman ever to have had.

Anyway, Team Bat is split because Ryan (and everyone else) wants to give the Joy Buzzer’s final jolt to Marquis and Mary wants to give it to Alice. Alice isn’t doing too well in Arkham, and so Ryan goes to confront her and see for herself whether Alice might be deserving. Making things further awkward, Jada decides to open her wallet and get super helpful to the team, assuming their decision as to who gets the buzz has been made. I don’t want to spoil the eventual resolution, but I will say it feels a little cowardly, even if it does give us one nice bit of character development.

So, dastardly plan, ticking time clock, the secret identity of Batwoman on the line – all the usual tropes for a finale which feels like its hurtling towards the finish line having been written with five minutes to go before the deadline. What saves it from being utterly unwatchable is, once again, the commitment of a cast I’ve grown to like, and the smaller, emotional moments between the characters. That said, I’ll not soon forgive how quickly Mary has been put back in her box, nor how cheaply the show tries to leverage that in one scene here.

The pre credits sting suggests plans are afoot for another season, yet to be confirmed. I hope it gets at least one more because I feel these characters and this cast have much more left to give. But I also hope that if it does come back, they do better next time.

Verdict: Rushed, uneven and trope-heavy A poor finale. 5/10

Greg D. Smith