Kate Kane, travelling the world to train to be good enough to join her father’s private security firm in a Batman-less Gotham, is drawn back home by an incident threatening those closest to her. But can she ever match up to her father’s expectations and overcome the ghosts of her past?

There’s an awful lot going on in this pilot, and not all of it is as well executed as it might be. By now, the CW has got this stuff down to a pretty fine art, setting up characters and their environments pretty organically, but there is a little bit of clunk to some of the exposition that the show feels it needs to do here to get things running.

That said, it’s a very enjoyable hour of TV and for all the minor things it could do better, it gets an awful lot of stuff absolutely spot on. The decision to have Bruce/Batman absent from Gotham for the last three years when we start makes complete sense of course – these shows work best when allowed to focus on the actual characters they’re about instead of distracting with other, bigger characters from the mythos. The way in which the episode sets out the complicated relationship Kate has with Gotham’s Dark Knight is interesting, though they might have been better served (and allowed things to breathe a little more) by extending that complexity a little further rather than raise it and then solve it in the opening instalment. That Kate is Bruce’s cousin only adds to that layering of course, as she inevitably discovers his secret (and honestly, you have to wonder why nobody worked it out when both Batman and Wayne vanished at the same time) and then goes on to make some decisions of her own.

In keeping with the general ethos of the Berlantiverse, there’s a great deal of diversity on display, and none of it – to the show’s credit – feels performative or artificial in the way it’s done. There’s more than one mixed-race couple, there’s one young Asian female character who is beautifully written, starting out as an apparently dismissable ditz and then revealing hidden (and surprising) depths and there is of course the central character’s sexuality. Kate Kane is, by comic book tradition, gay, and the show wastes no time in making it clear that’s the case here. Again, where another show might either wave a banner or make it prurient, Batwoman just gets it out there and treats it as any other relationship, even as some characters won’t, which forms the basis of a couple of important plot points I think will get developed as the show goes on.

In terms of cast, Ruby Rose has just about the perfect mix between raw, aggressive confidence and believable vulnerability. For all her physical training, being a costumed vigilante taking on psychopaths and trained killers isn’t going to be easy, and it’s actually nice to see that brought forth in terms of actual struggle for the character. I also like what it does within the limitations of a TV budget – both Batman (in the brief flashback glimpses we get) and Batwoman herself have costumes that look decent enough that they don’t make it feel like a simple cosplay of the characters. That fallibility which Rose brings to Kate is also hinted at having been there in her cousin as well, and it’s nice to think that this is a version of the character (albeit in the background) who isn’t perfect and infallibly capable – I hope (and expect) this theme to be developed further too.

Aside from Rose, Dougray Scott as her father Jacob gets to showcase an impressive American accent as well as some surprising vulnerability given his character. Rachel Skarsten as villain Alice gets to chew some scenery and Nicole Kang gets an absolute peach of a part, of which she is more than up to portraying each nuanced aspect. Meagan Tandy as Kate’s old flame Sophie doesn’t get much to do here but much is promised from her storyline.

All told, it’s a packed, occasionally slightly clunky, but never less than entertaining introduction to the character. I for one look forward to seeing how this one plays out when it has the confidence of a couple of episodes under its belt, because by these indications, it could be something really special.

Verdict: Genuinely surprising in a lot of ways, and with more than enough charm to counter the occasional bit of clunk. Rose has always been a leading lady in waiting and this feels like the perfect vehicle for her to showcase her talents. 8/10

Greg D. Smith