A horrifying discovery in a shed in Gotham indicates that a villain from Gotham’s – and Montoya’s – past is back. But can Team Bat deal with this new threat as it confronts divisions within its own ranks?

You know, if you’d have asked me what Batwoman needed more of as a show back at the end of the second season, ‘More dysfunction within Team Bat’ wouldn’t have been at the top of my list for various reasons. And yet, when it’s done this well, who wouldn’t want to see this all play out?

Putting Alice with the team always seemed like a bad idea – that’s a given. But what’s been interesting has been watching Rachel Skarsten’s character really make the most of her new posting, whether it’s gently agitating the tensions between Mary and Luke, winding up Sophie or obviously doing things that will serve her own ends, even if exactly how isn’t clear.

This week, having figured out for herself exactly what is likely to be ailing Mary at the moment, Alice is on top form as she worms her way into all the wrong places at the very worst of times. Knowing what she does about Montoya’s past with Poison Ivy, and knowing exactly how strung out the team is in general, it doesn’t take much for Gotham’s scariest supervillain to send things off in all the wrong directions.

As if that weren’t enough, there’s an internal trust issue between Sophie and Ryan – just last week it seemed like these two were well on the way to getting closer but now there’s an issue. Sophie is convinced that Jada Jet is responsible for the attacks which killed her sister’s friends and nearly took her sister too. She wants vengeance. Ryan, knowing the real truth about what’s going on, wants her to back off, but can’t tell her exactly why. It’s a beautifully acted series of scenes in which you really feel for both characters as they approach the same problem from opposite ends. Whereas you might, in a lesser show, be thinking ‘Just tell her!’, here, it just rachets up the tension in an already tense show.

And Mary, well. It’s long since been past the time that Nicole Kang’s character got something to do beyond being the team’s magic bullet whenever they need something science-y done, and the show is delivering on that in spades at last. Alice’s wheedling at Mary this season has been effective for both the character and the audience because it has the distinct ring of truth to it. Here, even Team Bat are forced to concede that they have tragically dropped the ball in relation to their MD friend – the question is, have they left it too late to fix it?

Verdict: The best dramas are forged in conflict, and there’s no shortage of it here. 9/10

Greg D. Smith