Ryan and Sophie attend dinner with Jada but neither is prepared for what will unfold. Alice looks into a gruesome murder which may relate to one of the missing trophies, but figures out something else entirely about Montoya’s motivations.

Every time I think I might have this season of Batwoman figured out, it goes and does something else to surprise me. This week, having cratered Wayne Enterprises stock in an apparent attempt to lash out at her daughter for being seen with her son, Jada Jet has invited Ryan to dinner. Ryan, never one to turn down an opportunity to get in more trouble, accepts, and takes Sophie with her as a ‘cover’ date – yeah right!

Before she can attend this delightful little gathering, Ryan must take Alice to investigate a murder scene Montoya believes may link to another Batman Villain Trophy. The murder is gruesome if a little mundane by Gotham standards but something doesn’t add up. Ryan leaves Alice to handle it while she attends her dinner date, and that means Alice getting her little invasive thought processes all up in Montoya’s business. What she finds is a little surprising, revealing a bit more about Montoya’s precise motivations in the quest to recover all the trophies, which may not be as altruistic as it first appeared.

But Alice’s problems extend far beyond boredom at being expected to actually work and teasing everyone around her as usual. Alice is not as improved as everyone had assumed she would be when she was taken out of Arkham and given proper meds. This might indicate some deeper issue, one that she would normally be able to get Mary’s help with. But Mary is a little out of it herself after her adventures in the park. It really drives home the fact that nobody on Team Bat really pays attention to arguably their MVP, that it’s now been nearly three weeks, and it’s only Alice that seems to notice that something is a little off. That something may well turn out to be a big thing though – hold on tight!

Back with Ryan and Sophie, the dinner party goes about as horribly as you might imagine, especially after Marquis decides to gatecrash with his own girlfriend. Tempers flare as Marquis assumes that Ryan is scheming behind his back with their mother, and then things take a turn for the worse still. A maniac in the house and some really bad wine combine to make the evening from hell even more hellish, but that’s as nothing compared to the positively astounding revelations that end up coming out by the end of it all. Forget everything you thought you understood about what’s going on – this episode turns it all on its head…

Verdict: Funny, scary and always surprising. Just the Batwoman show we were looking for. 9/10

Greg D. Smith