Batwoman Roundtable: An Un-Birthday Present

Batwoman episode 11: An Un-Birthday Present

On the Kane sisters’ birthday, Kate and Alice contend with demons from the past, and an unexpected guest makes a surprise appearance in Gotham.

Join NiceGirls Lisa and Cay as they discuss the episode using our feature SASSY: S(tupid), A(wesome), S(o) S(o) and Y(our Thoughts):

STUPID

Cay: I feel like we already have a pretty good idea of what turned Beth into Alice. Please stop showing this to us!

Lisa: Yes please stop! It’s disturbing. We get the point of her awful childhood.

AWESOME

Lisa: Anytime Luke is on screen it’s pretty awesome. Also I liked seeing Kate and Mary working together again. I hope they can mend their relationship.

Cay: So nice to see Kate (and Mary) happy! Although you pretty much know that it is not going to last. If the Batperson (male or female) isn’t brooding, then it doesn’t work, I guess.

SO SO

Cay:  Crossing my fingers that Mouse dies…although it seemed to be the kind of wound that is probably not going to be fatal.

I’d love to get other thoughts on this, but I wonder if the show having a plotline this week that the police won’t ask for Batwoman’s help because she’s gay wasn’t a bit too much. First, did it seriously never cross anyone’s mind in Gotham that she might be? It had to have and it didn’t bother them then. And, two, is it better representation to just have her come out and make it a non-issue (or maybe the media start shipping her with women) rather than make a big deal that she’s being discriminated against? How many parents would really refuse to have a gay person rescue their kidnapped child, regardless of their personal feelings? Again, I’m not sure and I’m straight, but should we model what we want the world to be, or what it is at its worst? Although pretty much everything in Gotham is the world at its worst…

Lisa: Please let Mouse die! I’ve never wanted a character gone so fast! Cay, you make a lot of great thinking points and I have to agree it would have been nice for Batwoman to come out and it not be an issue. It would have been a great example of how we wish the world was. However, I think shining a light on the fact that discrimination is still a big problem for LGBTQ people and unfortunately the route they chose to portray is more realistic to the world we live in. Sure most people wouldn’t care who rescued their kid, but there are still racists, homophobes and ignorant jerks who won’t shake the hand of someone different from them, let alone let them touch their child. Doing it this way by showing the support of the people was a triumph in the face of the discrimination she faced. And as you said, everything in Gotham is the world at its worst so it was fitting.

YOUR THOUGHTS

Cay: Now that we have “good Beth” from Earth whatever, maybe we can just kill off Alice, get Daddy out of jail and move onto to other plotlines? However, it seems unlikely that everything would get tied up that nicely (and happily!).

This is probably the kind of question that shouldn’t be asked and it’s a bigger Crisis question, but why did only some people from other Earths all get tossed onto the same one but others didn’t? Why Beth and not others? Seems rather convenient! Why doesn’t anyone but the main characters happen to notice that new people have shown up? I’m all for having all the Arrowverse  characters on the same Earth as it make things a lot simpler in terms of the narrative and then you don’t need contrived ways to get them all together (yes, Barry Allen, I’m talking about all your playing in the Speed Force!)

Lisa: Yes to all of that. Can we kill Alice and Mouse and get Daddy out of jail and have a happy Gotham city? lol I know that won’t happen easily but I am looking forward to see which Beth survives and how that will effect Batwoman. And who knows? maybe a few other folks from other earths will show up and shake it up!

Batwoman airs Sunday nights at 8pm/7c on The CW and is available on the CW App the next day.