What TV show did you last watch a season of on DVD/Blu-ray?
Jul 25, 2024 21:28:09 GMT
taylorfirst1 and HirundoRustica like this
Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Jul 25, 2024 21:28:09 GMT
Most recently finished Season 1 of Batwoman on Blu-ray.
I’d bought this ages ago when it was released here, like I did with most seasons of most of the ‘Arrowverse’ shows, but watching them all (and in the right order) seemed like such a monumental task that I just kept procrastinating/putting off doing so. However, after being disappointed in several shows I’ve most recently watched on DVD/Blu-ray, I decided it was time to watch something I had been eager to see/was most curious about...which was this show. I’d heard all the negativity surrounding this first season, but since I don’t give a fig what others say about something and will always judge for myself, I really anticipated watching this because I was fairly certain it wouldn’t be as ‘bad’ as everyone made it out to be.
Sure enough, I was proven right. I mean, was there awkwardly-inserted ‘messages’ via the dialogue at times? Sure. Was Ruby Rose the best actress? Not exactly, but nor did I think she was as 'terrible' as she was made out to be. Firstly, not every character can be some smug, snarky a-hole type who constantly spouts one-liners. Some are more reserved/stoic and don’t show as much emotion. And secondly, I saw no difference in Ruby Rose’s performance and that of Stephen Amell's in Season 1 of Arrow. For me, he was pretty ‘blank’/emotionless for most of the first season of that show (the only real emotion I can recall him giving was anger), and it was only in the Season 1 final did I realise he was actually capable of showing other emotions (during the scene where he sobbed over his best friend dying). So while people were criticising RR for not showing emotions, being ‘stiff’, etc...I was just remembering that’s how I found Amell's Oliver Queen to be, yet everyone seemed fine with him.
I think one can excuse her lack of emotion due to the type of character Kate Kane is. She doesn’t seem like the type who’s going to be manic or wacky or anything like that. She plays things pretty calm/cool most of the time, especially when she’s in Batwoman mode. And, really, has any live-action version we’ve seen of Batman ever shown that much emotion when in the cowl? I don’t think so. It’s usually reserved for when Bruce Wayne is out of it that he shows emotion, so I had no problem with Kate being pretty stoic when she donned the suit. Speaking of, I was surprised the first two eps had her being mistaken for Batman and as such there was NO red wig. When I’d seen pictures of her with it, I'd thought that got added to the suit pretty quickly, but instead they left it until she realised she had to set herself apart from Batman and she finally added the wig to it in the third episode. I liked that Batwoman’s look was different to that of Batgirl. With the latter, her hair sticks out the back of her cowl and it’s her natural red hair. But with Batwoman it’s a wig and it’s more flowing down like normal hair would from a person’s head. I thought she looked great in it. Not everyone has the 'right' face to make a cowl work...but RR did. Also, I think the wig was kinda needed, as prior to the cowl having that added, I found it 'stuck out' a bit at the sides and made her head look an odd shape, but with the hair down the sides it helped conceal that. I found it interesting how the suit started fully covering her neck and then somewhere along the line they must've realised the issue Michael Keaton's Batman faced with his suit and they obviously took notes from Christian Bale's Batman ("You wanna be able to turn your head"), as they reduced the neck part of the suit to just being a high collar and we could now see her bare neck.
One good thing with when she'd remove the cowl was at least she was wearing eyeliner and it didn't mysteriously disappear like it would when most of the actors who played Batman would do the same thing. It was neat that they found a way to work in the 'white eyes' that Batman always used to be limited to only having in animation until The Dark Knight finally gave him them in live-action, and like in that movie...they actual served a *purpose* here. I also liked that they gave a reason for her choosing the red of the wig and the Bat symbol (which she spray-painted on the front of the all-black suit): it was the red of hers and her sister’s birthstone, which proved pretty important to the story since it was what clued Kate in on the resident bad guy, Alice, actually being her long-thought-dead sister, Beth (as she used the birthstone from their matching necklaces in a knife she’d thrown at Batwoman in the first episode).
Speaking of Alice, she made quite the impression from her very first appearance in the show thanks to Rachel Skarsten's performance, as she was clearly relishing playing such a fun/complex character. I’ve been a fan of hers ever since Lost Girl introduced me to her in its third season. I knew she’d be good in the role of a villain (her Elizabeth in Reign was enjoyable), but I didn’t realise just how much fun she’d be until actually watching this show. She was obviously having a ball portraying this damaged-sister-of-Kate-turned-Alice-in Wonderland-quoting-theatrical-villainess. I saw some comment saying she was like a poor man’s Harley Quinn, but I didn’t really see that much Harley-ness in her. To me she was her own unique character and was easily the most fun part of this show right from the start (and kudos to Skarsten for mastering the art of the butterfly knife-flipping).
For me, the central relationship in this show was that of the two Kane sisters and them being on opposing sides. It allowed for such an interesting dynamic, as it actually explained WHY they were hesitant to kill each other (whereas there's less reason for heroes to be so lenient when it comes to bad guys who they have no personal relationship with). It was more than just Alice being Batwoman's version of the Joker. She clearly *felt* things for her sister (despite acting at times like she didn't), and because she wasn't exactly the most sane person, she could flip-flop between 'hating' her sister one second, then claiming she 'loved' her and wanting her to join the Wonderland Gang the next. I thought it was understandable that Kate was looking for the 'good' in her sister and I liked all their scenes together. Whatever 'shortcomings' RR may have had as an actress, RS brought out the 'best' in her performances, I thought, especially later into the season. They certainly had a twisted relationship...but I found it endlessly fascinating due to all the complexities/conflicting emotions each felt for the other.
I do think people were rather harsh in blaming Kate for any murders Alice committed because she didn't immediately kill her sister. Sure, that'd be the quickest way to end Alice's terrorising of Gothamites, but what about the fact that Batman only ever sends villains to Arkham Asylum knowing full-well they constantly escape from there with ease? One could say he's to blame for all they do because he doesn't simply off them (though there was one reference late into the season that he had killed the Joker in this version - it wasn't stated outright/explicitly, but was heavily implied). So, really, if people are criticising Kate for not killing Alice, then they should do the same for Bruce/Batman with him not killing any of his enemies. It wasn't until after another version of Alice turned up who was 'Beth' (ie. what Alice would've turned out to be like had she not been in a car accident as a kid that Kate failed to rescue her from - nor did Batman - and she'd wound up in a river with her dead mother's decapitated head floating on by and then wound up being held by a psycho and his disfigured son which eventually led to her suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and turning into the unhinged Alice) that Kate realised what she needed to do with Alice.
It was so great to see RS getting to portray the non-crazed/completely normal Beth and how these sisters could've had a proper relationship if not for that car accident. I enjoyed Beth SO much...but I knew she was doomed even before we were informed that the reason she and Alice were both suffering from splitting headaches was because the universe didn't like two of the same person being in the same place (apparently this isn't an issue on the other Arrowverse shows...but I guess the writers of the different shows didn't really coordinate with this plot development post-Crisis of Infinite Earths - which was the one episode I didn't watch of this season, as I'm saving it for when I catch up to those crossover eps in the other Arrowverse shows and once I do, I'll watch all those eps in the right order so the crossover actually makes sense). I'd thought for sure that Alice would wind up offing poor Beth, but instead she met her end at the hands (well...gunshot from a sniper rifle, more accurately) of the nutter who'd held Alice captive. I was surprised to see Kate actually go through with letting Alice die, but it would've required too much suspension of disbelief if she'd allowed the actually nice/innocent version of her sister to die in Alice's place. This was one instance where RR's acting showed she'd improved from the early eps (not that I thought she was that bad in them, but there was some clear growth in her acting throughout the season), she shed tears and cradled her psycho sis as she slowly carked it. However, due to Beth being shot dead, this meant Alice miraculously sprang back to life - and you can bet she was not too happy about Kate letting her (for all intents and purposes) die.
Of course, this wasn’t yet the end for Kate and Alice’s relationship as they sort-of teamed up on a couple of occasions. I think at times Kate believed she was managing to sway Alice to her side (and vice versa), but in the end they'd always 'go too far' and say something that made the other no longer want to listen. RS deserves a LOT of praise for not only being the most entertaining part of this show, but also for actually making it possible to feel sympathy for Alice in her vulnerable moments. We've seen 'sympathetic villains' time and time again, sometimes I *do* feel sympathy for them and other times I don't, but what RS did was make it clear Alice/Beth was just that poor girl who thought her sister would save her, had to endure the sight of her decapitated mother, then got held prisoner by a psycho and his offspring who warped her mind to the point where she snapped and took on an alter-ego to cope with it but all she ever really wanted was her real family to rescue her (yes, she had the opportunity to call out to Kate who was on the other side of the wall she was behind when her and her dad managed to find where they thought Alice was being held, but since her psycho kidnapper had threatened to off them if she called for help, it made sense that a child would take this threat seriously and keep her mouth shut).
It was good to see Alice get revenge on the mother of her captor, who contributed to making her childhood a living Hell - especially once she discovered the old bitch had stolen earrings from the decapitated head of her mother that was found when she was, but she hadn't known about it until she opened a locked fridge and found her mum's frozen head in there. It was cathartic seeing Alice roast the hag with her own oxygen tank which she turned into a makeshift flamethrower.
I liked that the show had Kate make the tough decisions like finally allowing Alice to die (in order to save the other version of her), it's just that something happened which meant Alice continued to live, but what mattered was Kate made the *choice* to let Alice die (which came back to haunt her). Another choice that had ramifications was her making Alice think she was helping her only to finally lock her up, which ended with both her sister and her dad abandoning her as she begged them not to (which was obviously like reliving her past trauma all over again). Although Kate thought Alice was locked up for good, naturally she managed to escape her prison and this was what set her on her path to no longer wanting to try to turn Kate to her side, but instead ruin her and their father.
Speaking of dear ol' dad, I've seen Dougray Scott (who played Jacob Kane in this show) in quite a few other things and while he's been adequate in most of them, I've never ever been 'blown away' by his performances. I'll forever be grateful to M:I 2 for ensuring he wasn't able to play Wolverine and thus Hugh Jackman got the role, as I doubt he would've been as impactful as the character in Jackman's place. He seemed to be doing his best Batman voice here as Kate and Alice gruff cop dad who was the leader of a group of law enforcement calling themselves The Crows, and while there have been cop dads on a lot of the Arrowverse shows, I have to say Jake Kane was the least impressive. He seemed to growl his way through most scenes and like all the cops in these shows, had a vendetta against the hero...but unlike those others, he never seemed to come around to seeing reason. On numerous occasions Kate-as-Batwoman tried to make peace with him and call a truce, but every time he slapped away the hand she offered in partnership to bring down criminals since he viewed her as one herself.
Even his other other daughter (Kate's step-sister, Mary) tried begging him to listen to Batwoman and give her a chance...and how'd he respond? By having his Crows open fire on her after she was surrounded by them (once they'd put a stop to a machete-wielding escaped inmate) and shooting at her *himself* (his own daughter - not that he knew it was her). This really hurt Kate (not so much physically, since her suit was impervious to bullets, but emotionally - as you can imagine having your own father try to kill you would). I really felt for Kate here, as it clearly wasn't easy coping with knowing her father hated her (even if it was an alternate persona of her). In the end, Jacob really was just *there* and didn't leave much of an impact at all. Dougray Scott only really got to show off his acting ability when he broke down at one point (I forget what it was in relation to - probably Alice/Beth, but I can't remember for sure). He didn't feel particularly necessary (though I guess these Arrowverse shows *always* need someone on the side of law enforcement to pursue the vigilante hero), but the biggest disappointment was him not getting to learn that Kate was Batwoman this season. We were ROBBED of seeing his reaction to this big revelation and then seeing his interaction with Kate following it. A MASSIVE shame.
His second-in-command in The Crows, Sophie Moore, wasn't much better a character than him. She was someone who wanted to be in the Military Academy, but was canoodling with Kate until they got discovered snogging and they gave them an ultimatum which involved signing a document and swearing they'd not get up to anymore of that stuff. Kate was all about sticking it to them and leaving with Sophie, but she chose the military over Kate and this wasn't exactly a great start to the character, since it felt like she was just playing with Kate's emotions and never truly loved her (even saying she didn't to her face when she point-blank asked her). And then when Kate eventually started to move on from Sophie and got herself much BETTER potential love interests in the form of a bartender named Reagan (who she eventually had to break up with because she was being too secretive about her extracurricular activities - though, irony of ironies, it later turned out Reagan herself was keeping a secret as she was the sister of a bird-themed criminal by the name of Magpie) and then a former flame, Alfred Pennyworth's DAUGHTER, Julia, and she too had secrets - yet *both* of these women seemed like better partners for Kate than Sophie (I thought they had better chemistry with RR as well). It's a shame the show felt the need to give these characters such 'flaws' that were clearly designed in an effort to 'prop up' Sophie as the 'best' of the three. I just didn't like how Sophie betrayed Kate on more than one occasion (even ratting out Kate's secret identity to her father - though, luckily he didn't believe her and thanks to Julia taking part in the old superhero switcheroo whereby someone else dressed up in the Batwoman costume so that Kate could be there and say, "See? I'm not Batwoman! SEE?!"). Yes, the others 'betrayed' Kate as well, but with Sophie it was much more personal. Can't say I was fussed on when she and Batwoman finally got it on, as they just didn't have that 'sizzle' between them that I thought Kate had with her other potential love interests. I was amused at Gothamites 'shipping' Batwoman with some Captain America-like male cop and her reaction to trying to make that happen was a resounding "NOPE." - I also thought they handled Batwoman's 'coming out' to the public reasonably well.
Unlike Jacob Kane and Sophie Moore, who were the two least interesting characters in the show/I really could've done without, the character of Mary was one I actually didn't mind. Unfortunately, like a lot of characters in these shows who remain in the dark about the superhero's real identity, there was a lot of frustration from her character in regards to her knowing something was up with Kate/she was keeping secrets, but not knowing exactly what that entailed. She seemed eager to bond with her sister who apparently had kept her at arm's length for most of the time their parents were together, and this created some tension between the step-sisters. However, once the reveal finally happened, it wasn't long before Mary was all-in as far as Team Batwoman was concerned. And, sure, there were some kinks to work out in how she could best serve the team, but what mattered was they were finally able to be like proper sisters together. Prior to that, Mary's mum (who was the least-developed 'regular' in the show - so much so that she hardly even felt like a 'regular' and I wasn't at all surprised when she ended up being the one to bite the dust partway through the season since she was little more than just a shady woman who had lied about Beth still being alive and thus Alice blamed her for Kate and her dad not finding/rescuing her and she offed Mary's mum as a result when she poisoned both and only offered enough cure for one of them) was someone who Kate-as-Batwoman throttled Alice for killing...but she couldn't go through with it. However, later in the season Kate *did* go through with killing someone - the sick bastard who had held Beth hostage from childhood to adulthood. Although he definitely deserved it (other characters said as much, including Alice herself who actually thanked Kate for avenging her lost childhood that whacko took from her), this taking of a life deeply affected Kate and she felt guilty over it (or, according to her, she felt guilty that she didn't feel bad about taking his life). Considering Kate was regularly writing 'Dear Bruce' letters to her cousin whose suit she'd repurposed, I imagine at least part of her guilt stemmed from the fact that Batman had a 'no kill' rule and she'd broken that whilst filling in during his absence, which probably made her feel like she'd betrayed all that he stood for.
Of course, if he *did* indeed end up killing the Joker like the son of Lucius Fox, Luke, had strongly hinted at...then Kate really shouldn't have felt as bad as she did, since he'd broken his own code first. Speaking of Luke...I can't say I was that fond of his character. Like the 'cop' character, a 'tech guy' character seems to be required in every Arrowverse show, but while the others seem as though they at least *want* to help the hero, the feeling I got from Luke was that of someone who only tolerated Kate rather than someone who'd actually befriended her. Yes, part of their dynamic was their arguing, and there was some fun stuff in regards to that on occasion (I liked one scene where Batwoman was forced to hold her breath as to avoid breathing in lethal gas and we could only see her expressing her frustration/annoyance with Luke via her expressions rather than any dialogue - RR might've been somewhat stiff in some of her line-deliveries early in the season, but she was certainly able to bring it when it came to conveying her feelings with only the lower half of her face visible), but more often than not I didn't really feel that 'bond' between them that I've seen on almost every other Arrowverse show I've watched between the hero who is out there in the field and the person who is back at the base and communicating with them/helping them out with their mad computer skills.
There were times that Luke gave Kate a pep talk/encouragement...but I didn't entirely buy it from him, as to me he felt like someone who thought she wasn't 'worthy' of filling in for Batman/Bruce. I dunno, I just didn't *feel* the 'friendship' between them that the show was trying to tell us they'd developed. On the plus side, it was nice that he served as Kate's 'Q' to her 'Bond' with all the gadgets and stuff, but what I really liked seeing was there were kinks to work out with them (one such instance being a mishap with a Batarang due to her not having the same length arms as Bruce did and so she missed catching it on its return and consequently a presumably priceless vase got smashed). I appreciated that the show took its time with Kate learning how to operate out in the field. She wasn't instantly an expert at crimefighting (like so many superheroes seem to be) and she made mistakes...but learned from them (which is probably just as well, because if she *hadn't* she'd have likely been labelled 'too perfect' or whatever). As Kate got more comfortable being Batwoman, her fighting seemed to improve and I did notice the fight scenes appeared to get better in the latter half of the season. I thought this show did a good job of catching that 'Gotham feel' with its dark grittiness (though not Snyder levels of grimdark, thankfully). I also enjoyed the show's theme that would play as the title card appeared on the screen each episode (as well as the Batarang effect going on with it). It had a good Batman-like tone, I thought.
One of the 'minuses' from this season (that I haven't already mentioned) was the woman who provided the voiceover as some radio talk show host who regularly offered her commentary regarding the goings on in Gotham City. I couldn't stand her. It sounded so 'put on' and fake/forced. It's like they were drawing attention to the fact that some well-known celebrity was voicing this part...but I haven't the foggiest who this woman is, nor do I care since I found her SUPER-ANNOYING. Not only were her 'quips' painfully unfunny, but she'd also be snarky at inappropriate times (which is fine if you're a villain like Alice, but this woman was supposed to be a 'professional' and she's making insensitive comments about Gothamites - I'm not sure how she kept her job). I really could've done without this character/voiceover. Meanwhile, unlike others, I didn't have a problem with Kate's voiceover as we heard what she was writing to Bruce.
Another character I wasn't fond of was Mouse, who was the disfigured son of Alice's captor. He was a creep, no doubt about it, but I never really cared about his and Alice's weird relationship they had. He seemed to try to reason with her at times, but that was basically the pot calling the kettle black since he was pretty unhinged himself. I also wasn't fond of all the face-removal in this show. Facial violence (especially faces coming OFF) are one category of violence I really try to avoid seeing (ironically, the movie Face/Off was tolerable for me since they didn't really linger on that stuff too long/in gratuitous detail, for which I was thankful). The worst was probably when we saw yet another whackjob (in this case played by Alessandra Torresani, who I know from the BSG spin-off, Caprica, and have only seen in one or two other things), who liked to cut her own face, was persuaded by Alice to give up her face so Alice could trick someone and we got a real good look at faceless Alessandra Torresani - which was pretty nasty (the cop who found her reacted somewhat realistically given his being confronted by such a grisly sight...though I personally would've added a few expletives). This show almost seemed to have an obsession with removing/swapping faces - and I already know that plays into next season with the recast of Kate Kane.
In regards to that, I know that Ruby Rose supposedly 'chose' to leave the show for various reasons (she suffered an injury, she'd been overwhelmed by the workload of making a series, etc), but I get the feeling the show-makers were secretly just looking for an excuse to change the lead character of the show (for reasons that aren't too hard to figure out) and I can't help but think they pressured her into leaving the show. What they should've done was just recast Kate Kane with Wallis Day and proceeded with Season 2 like everything was normal (soap operas do this ALL the time - they don't explain recastings, they just pretend like nothing's different). Instead of doing the sensible thing, they decided to toss away all that character development Kate had in Season 1, as well as all her relationships/dynamics with the other characters, just so they could 'start anew' with a totally random new character who, as far as I know, had no connection to Bruce Wayne (which was one of the main things behind the whole inception of Batwoman) or Alice (whose relationship to Kate/Batwoman was basically CENTRAL to the show). What a waste it was to toss all these things aside to make way for someone who had *nothing* to do with ANY of them. Then to add insult to the injury, they wound up recasting Kate Kane with Wallis Day after all (she'd seemed the most logical choice back when they were debating who to recast her with, as I'd remembered her from Krypton and she bore some similarities to Ruby Rose), only for her to appear partway through the second season and relegated to being just a guest-star, when she really should've been taking over as the lead. There was some clear manipulation going on from the show-makers and, annoyingly, Wallis Day's version of the character got the short end of the stick, as the writers pretty much fucked over Kate Kane as a character - who'd been the MAIN REASON many people (including myself) had tuned into this show to start with. It's the biggest 'F.'U.' to a show's original lead I've seen and so I return the sentiment: FUCK YOU, SHOW!
I have no desire to watch Seasons 2 & 3, since I know they probably won't even bother addressing the major cliffhanger this first season ended on with Alice giving Bruce Wayne's face to a friend-turned-rival of his (who briefly became the villain Hush...which amounted to little more than him telling people to 'hush' and shooting his twin guns whilst looking like Mr. Negative from Doom Patrol), played by Gabriel Mann who I know mainly from Revenge and the first two Bourne movies, and he was going to help Alice get her revenge by posing as Bruce (who's current whereabouts are Who-the-Hell-Knows) - a pretty great setup for Season 2...which, sadly, will get no payoff, I'm guessing. SUCH A WASTE. For this reason, among others, I am boycotting the remaining seasons of this show and will just pretend the series ended on this cliffhanger (like so many shows that get cancelled do), even though I would like to have seen Wallis Day's version of Kate Kane. Also, I didn’t have a problem with Kate borrowing her cousin’s suit/gear or filling in during his absence...but that was because at least she and Bruce were family. What business have Luke and Mary got handing over Bruce's (and then Kate's) stuff to some complete stranger and telling her that Kate/Bruce would be totally cool with it? You don't just give someone's stuff to a stranger without asking them first. Fuck that, and fuck this show too! It was ended up being a pretty decent first season...but now all I have left to look forward to from it is Kate's guest-star eps in the other Arrowverse shows she appeared in and the one ep from this season of this show I haven't yet watched (the 'Crisis of Infinite Earths' crossover). But it's Alice/Rachel Skarsten who I'll miss most of all.
Sure enough, I was proven right. I mean, was there awkwardly-inserted ‘messages’ via the dialogue at times? Sure. Was Ruby Rose the best actress? Not exactly, but nor did I think she was as 'terrible' as she was made out to be. Firstly, not every character can be some smug, snarky a-hole type who constantly spouts one-liners. Some are more reserved/stoic and don’t show as much emotion. And secondly, I saw no difference in Ruby Rose’s performance and that of Stephen Amell's in Season 1 of Arrow. For me, he was pretty ‘blank’/emotionless for most of the first season of that show (the only real emotion I can recall him giving was anger), and it was only in the Season 1 final did I realise he was actually capable of showing other emotions (during the scene where he sobbed over his best friend dying). So while people were criticising RR for not showing emotions, being ‘stiff’, etc...I was just remembering that’s how I found Amell's Oliver Queen to be, yet everyone seemed fine with him.
I think one can excuse her lack of emotion due to the type of character Kate Kane is. She doesn’t seem like the type who’s going to be manic or wacky or anything like that. She plays things pretty calm/cool most of the time, especially when she’s in Batwoman mode. And, really, has any live-action version we’ve seen of Batman ever shown that much emotion when in the cowl? I don’t think so. It’s usually reserved for when Bruce Wayne is out of it that he shows emotion, so I had no problem with Kate being pretty stoic when she donned the suit. Speaking of, I was surprised the first two eps had her being mistaken for Batman and as such there was NO red wig. When I’d seen pictures of her with it, I'd thought that got added to the suit pretty quickly, but instead they left it until she realised she had to set herself apart from Batman and she finally added the wig to it in the third episode. I liked that Batwoman’s look was different to that of Batgirl. With the latter, her hair sticks out the back of her cowl and it’s her natural red hair. But with Batwoman it’s a wig and it’s more flowing down like normal hair would from a person’s head. I thought she looked great in it. Not everyone has the 'right' face to make a cowl work...but RR did. Also, I think the wig was kinda needed, as prior to the cowl having that added, I found it 'stuck out' a bit at the sides and made her head look an odd shape, but with the hair down the sides it helped conceal that. I found it interesting how the suit started fully covering her neck and then somewhere along the line they must've realised the issue Michael Keaton's Batman faced with his suit and they obviously took notes from Christian Bale's Batman ("You wanna be able to turn your head"), as they reduced the neck part of the suit to just being a high collar and we could now see her bare neck.
One good thing with when she'd remove the cowl was at least she was wearing eyeliner and it didn't mysteriously disappear like it would when most of the actors who played Batman would do the same thing. It was neat that they found a way to work in the 'white eyes' that Batman always used to be limited to only having in animation until The Dark Knight finally gave him them in live-action, and like in that movie...they actual served a *purpose* here. I also liked that they gave a reason for her choosing the red of the wig and the Bat symbol (which she spray-painted on the front of the all-black suit): it was the red of hers and her sister’s birthstone, which proved pretty important to the story since it was what clued Kate in on the resident bad guy, Alice, actually being her long-thought-dead sister, Beth (as she used the birthstone from their matching necklaces in a knife she’d thrown at Batwoman in the first episode).
Speaking of Alice, she made quite the impression from her very first appearance in the show thanks to Rachel Skarsten's performance, as she was clearly relishing playing such a fun/complex character. I’ve been a fan of hers ever since Lost Girl introduced me to her in its third season. I knew she’d be good in the role of a villain (her Elizabeth in Reign was enjoyable), but I didn’t realise just how much fun she’d be until actually watching this show. She was obviously having a ball portraying this damaged-sister-of-Kate-turned-Alice-in Wonderland-quoting-theatrical-villainess. I saw some comment saying she was like a poor man’s Harley Quinn, but I didn’t really see that much Harley-ness in her. To me she was her own unique character and was easily the most fun part of this show right from the start (and kudos to Skarsten for mastering the art of the butterfly knife-flipping).
For me, the central relationship in this show was that of the two Kane sisters and them being on opposing sides. It allowed for such an interesting dynamic, as it actually explained WHY they were hesitant to kill each other (whereas there's less reason for heroes to be so lenient when it comes to bad guys who they have no personal relationship with). It was more than just Alice being Batwoman's version of the Joker. She clearly *felt* things for her sister (despite acting at times like she didn't), and because she wasn't exactly the most sane person, she could flip-flop between 'hating' her sister one second, then claiming she 'loved' her and wanting her to join the Wonderland Gang the next. I thought it was understandable that Kate was looking for the 'good' in her sister and I liked all their scenes together. Whatever 'shortcomings' RR may have had as an actress, RS brought out the 'best' in her performances, I thought, especially later into the season. They certainly had a twisted relationship...but I found it endlessly fascinating due to all the complexities/conflicting emotions each felt for the other.
I do think people were rather harsh in blaming Kate for any murders Alice committed because she didn't immediately kill her sister. Sure, that'd be the quickest way to end Alice's terrorising of Gothamites, but what about the fact that Batman only ever sends villains to Arkham Asylum knowing full-well they constantly escape from there with ease? One could say he's to blame for all they do because he doesn't simply off them (though there was one reference late into the season that he had killed the Joker in this version - it wasn't stated outright/explicitly, but was heavily implied). So, really, if people are criticising Kate for not killing Alice, then they should do the same for Bruce/Batman with him not killing any of his enemies. It wasn't until after another version of Alice turned up who was 'Beth' (ie. what Alice would've turned out to be like had she not been in a car accident as a kid that Kate failed to rescue her from - nor did Batman - and she'd wound up in a river with her dead mother's decapitated head floating on by and then wound up being held by a psycho and his disfigured son which eventually led to her suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and turning into the unhinged Alice) that Kate realised what she needed to do with Alice.
It was so great to see RS getting to portray the non-crazed/completely normal Beth and how these sisters could've had a proper relationship if not for that car accident. I enjoyed Beth SO much...but I knew she was doomed even before we were informed that the reason she and Alice were both suffering from splitting headaches was because the universe didn't like two of the same person being in the same place (apparently this isn't an issue on the other Arrowverse shows...but I guess the writers of the different shows didn't really coordinate with this plot development post-Crisis of Infinite Earths - which was the one episode I didn't watch of this season, as I'm saving it for when I catch up to those crossover eps in the other Arrowverse shows and once I do, I'll watch all those eps in the right order so the crossover actually makes sense). I'd thought for sure that Alice would wind up offing poor Beth, but instead she met her end at the hands (well...gunshot from a sniper rifle, more accurately) of the nutter who'd held Alice captive. I was surprised to see Kate actually go through with letting Alice die, but it would've required too much suspension of disbelief if she'd allowed the actually nice/innocent version of her sister to die in Alice's place. This was one instance where RR's acting showed she'd improved from the early eps (not that I thought she was that bad in them, but there was some clear growth in her acting throughout the season), she shed tears and cradled her psycho sis as she slowly carked it. However, due to Beth being shot dead, this meant Alice miraculously sprang back to life - and you can bet she was not too happy about Kate letting her (for all intents and purposes) die.
Of course, this wasn’t yet the end for Kate and Alice’s relationship as they sort-of teamed up on a couple of occasions. I think at times Kate believed she was managing to sway Alice to her side (and vice versa), but in the end they'd always 'go too far' and say something that made the other no longer want to listen. RS deserves a LOT of praise for not only being the most entertaining part of this show, but also for actually making it possible to feel sympathy for Alice in her vulnerable moments. We've seen 'sympathetic villains' time and time again, sometimes I *do* feel sympathy for them and other times I don't, but what RS did was make it clear Alice/Beth was just that poor girl who thought her sister would save her, had to endure the sight of her decapitated mother, then got held prisoner by a psycho and his offspring who warped her mind to the point where she snapped and took on an alter-ego to cope with it but all she ever really wanted was her real family to rescue her (yes, she had the opportunity to call out to Kate who was on the other side of the wall she was behind when her and her dad managed to find where they thought Alice was being held, but since her psycho kidnapper had threatened to off them if she called for help, it made sense that a child would take this threat seriously and keep her mouth shut).
It was good to see Alice get revenge on the mother of her captor, who contributed to making her childhood a living Hell - especially once she discovered the old bitch had stolen earrings from the decapitated head of her mother that was found when she was, but she hadn't known about it until she opened a locked fridge and found her mum's frozen head in there. It was cathartic seeing Alice roast the hag with her own oxygen tank which she turned into a makeshift flamethrower.
I liked that the show had Kate make the tough decisions like finally allowing Alice to die (in order to save the other version of her), it's just that something happened which meant Alice continued to live, but what mattered was Kate made the *choice* to let Alice die (which came back to haunt her). Another choice that had ramifications was her making Alice think she was helping her only to finally lock her up, which ended with both her sister and her dad abandoning her as she begged them not to (which was obviously like reliving her past trauma all over again). Although Kate thought Alice was locked up for good, naturally she managed to escape her prison and this was what set her on her path to no longer wanting to try to turn Kate to her side, but instead ruin her and their father.
Speaking of dear ol' dad, I've seen Dougray Scott (who played Jacob Kane in this show) in quite a few other things and while he's been adequate in most of them, I've never ever been 'blown away' by his performances. I'll forever be grateful to M:I 2 for ensuring he wasn't able to play Wolverine and thus Hugh Jackman got the role, as I doubt he would've been as impactful as the character in Jackman's place. He seemed to be doing his best Batman voice here as Kate and Alice gruff cop dad who was the leader of a group of law enforcement calling themselves The Crows, and while there have been cop dads on a lot of the Arrowverse shows, I have to say Jake Kane was the least impressive. He seemed to growl his way through most scenes and like all the cops in these shows, had a vendetta against the hero...but unlike those others, he never seemed to come around to seeing reason. On numerous occasions Kate-as-Batwoman tried to make peace with him and call a truce, but every time he slapped away the hand she offered in partnership to bring down criminals since he viewed her as one herself.
Even his other other daughter (Kate's step-sister, Mary) tried begging him to listen to Batwoman and give her a chance...and how'd he respond? By having his Crows open fire on her after she was surrounded by them (once they'd put a stop to a machete-wielding escaped inmate) and shooting at her *himself* (his own daughter - not that he knew it was her). This really hurt Kate (not so much physically, since her suit was impervious to bullets, but emotionally - as you can imagine having your own father try to kill you would). I really felt for Kate here, as it clearly wasn't easy coping with knowing her father hated her (even if it was an alternate persona of her). In the end, Jacob really was just *there* and didn't leave much of an impact at all. Dougray Scott only really got to show off his acting ability when he broke down at one point (I forget what it was in relation to - probably Alice/Beth, but I can't remember for sure). He didn't feel particularly necessary (though I guess these Arrowverse shows *always* need someone on the side of law enforcement to pursue the vigilante hero), but the biggest disappointment was him not getting to learn that Kate was Batwoman this season. We were ROBBED of seeing his reaction to this big revelation and then seeing his interaction with Kate following it. A MASSIVE shame.
His second-in-command in The Crows, Sophie Moore, wasn't much better a character than him. She was someone who wanted to be in the Military Academy, but was canoodling with Kate until they got discovered snogging and they gave them an ultimatum which involved signing a document and swearing they'd not get up to anymore of that stuff. Kate was all about sticking it to them and leaving with Sophie, but she chose the military over Kate and this wasn't exactly a great start to the character, since it felt like she was just playing with Kate's emotions and never truly loved her (even saying she didn't to her face when she point-blank asked her). And then when Kate eventually started to move on from Sophie and got herself much BETTER potential love interests in the form of a bartender named Reagan (who she eventually had to break up with because she was being too secretive about her extracurricular activities - though, irony of ironies, it later turned out Reagan herself was keeping a secret as she was the sister of a bird-themed criminal by the name of Magpie) and then a former flame, Alfred Pennyworth's DAUGHTER, Julia, and she too had secrets - yet *both* of these women seemed like better partners for Kate than Sophie (I thought they had better chemistry with RR as well). It's a shame the show felt the need to give these characters such 'flaws' that were clearly designed in an effort to 'prop up' Sophie as the 'best' of the three. I just didn't like how Sophie betrayed Kate on more than one occasion (even ratting out Kate's secret identity to her father - though, luckily he didn't believe her and thanks to Julia taking part in the old superhero switcheroo whereby someone else dressed up in the Batwoman costume so that Kate could be there and say, "See? I'm not Batwoman! SEE?!"). Yes, the others 'betrayed' Kate as well, but with Sophie it was much more personal. Can't say I was fussed on when she and Batwoman finally got it on, as they just didn't have that 'sizzle' between them that I thought Kate had with her other potential love interests. I was amused at Gothamites 'shipping' Batwoman with some Captain America-like male cop and her reaction to trying to make that happen was a resounding "NOPE." - I also thought they handled Batwoman's 'coming out' to the public reasonably well.
Unlike Jacob Kane and Sophie Moore, who were the two least interesting characters in the show/I really could've done without, the character of Mary was one I actually didn't mind. Unfortunately, like a lot of characters in these shows who remain in the dark about the superhero's real identity, there was a lot of frustration from her character in regards to her knowing something was up with Kate/she was keeping secrets, but not knowing exactly what that entailed. She seemed eager to bond with her sister who apparently had kept her at arm's length for most of the time their parents were together, and this created some tension between the step-sisters. However, once the reveal finally happened, it wasn't long before Mary was all-in as far as Team Batwoman was concerned. And, sure, there were some kinks to work out in how she could best serve the team, but what mattered was they were finally able to be like proper sisters together. Prior to that, Mary's mum (who was the least-developed 'regular' in the show - so much so that she hardly even felt like a 'regular' and I wasn't at all surprised when she ended up being the one to bite the dust partway through the season since she was little more than just a shady woman who had lied about Beth still being alive and thus Alice blamed her for Kate and her dad not finding/rescuing her and she offed Mary's mum as a result when she poisoned both and only offered enough cure for one of them) was someone who Kate-as-Batwoman throttled Alice for killing...but she couldn't go through with it. However, later in the season Kate *did* go through with killing someone - the sick bastard who had held Beth hostage from childhood to adulthood. Although he definitely deserved it (other characters said as much, including Alice herself who actually thanked Kate for avenging her lost childhood that whacko took from her), this taking of a life deeply affected Kate and she felt guilty over it (or, according to her, she felt guilty that she didn't feel bad about taking his life). Considering Kate was regularly writing 'Dear Bruce' letters to her cousin whose suit she'd repurposed, I imagine at least part of her guilt stemmed from the fact that Batman had a 'no kill' rule and she'd broken that whilst filling in during his absence, which probably made her feel like she'd betrayed all that he stood for.
Of course, if he *did* indeed end up killing the Joker like the son of Lucius Fox, Luke, had strongly hinted at...then Kate really shouldn't have felt as bad as she did, since he'd broken his own code first. Speaking of Luke...I can't say I was that fond of his character. Like the 'cop' character, a 'tech guy' character seems to be required in every Arrowverse show, but while the others seem as though they at least *want* to help the hero, the feeling I got from Luke was that of someone who only tolerated Kate rather than someone who'd actually befriended her. Yes, part of their dynamic was their arguing, and there was some fun stuff in regards to that on occasion (I liked one scene where Batwoman was forced to hold her breath as to avoid breathing in lethal gas and we could only see her expressing her frustration/annoyance with Luke via her expressions rather than any dialogue - RR might've been somewhat stiff in some of her line-deliveries early in the season, but she was certainly able to bring it when it came to conveying her feelings with only the lower half of her face visible), but more often than not I didn't really feel that 'bond' between them that I've seen on almost every other Arrowverse show I've watched between the hero who is out there in the field and the person who is back at the base and communicating with them/helping them out with their mad computer skills.
There were times that Luke gave Kate a pep talk/encouragement...but I didn't entirely buy it from him, as to me he felt like someone who thought she wasn't 'worthy' of filling in for Batman/Bruce. I dunno, I just didn't *feel* the 'friendship' between them that the show was trying to tell us they'd developed. On the plus side, it was nice that he served as Kate's 'Q' to her 'Bond' with all the gadgets and stuff, but what I really liked seeing was there were kinks to work out with them (one such instance being a mishap with a Batarang due to her not having the same length arms as Bruce did and so she missed catching it on its return and consequently a presumably priceless vase got smashed). I appreciated that the show took its time with Kate learning how to operate out in the field. She wasn't instantly an expert at crimefighting (like so many superheroes seem to be) and she made mistakes...but learned from them (which is probably just as well, because if she *hadn't* she'd have likely been labelled 'too perfect' or whatever). As Kate got more comfortable being Batwoman, her fighting seemed to improve and I did notice the fight scenes appeared to get better in the latter half of the season. I thought this show did a good job of catching that 'Gotham feel' with its dark grittiness (though not Snyder levels of grimdark, thankfully). I also enjoyed the show's theme that would play as the title card appeared on the screen each episode (as well as the Batarang effect going on with it). It had a good Batman-like tone, I thought.
One of the 'minuses' from this season (that I haven't already mentioned) was the woman who provided the voiceover as some radio talk show host who regularly offered her commentary regarding the goings on in Gotham City. I couldn't stand her. It sounded so 'put on' and fake/forced. It's like they were drawing attention to the fact that some well-known celebrity was voicing this part...but I haven't the foggiest who this woman is, nor do I care since I found her SUPER-ANNOYING. Not only were her 'quips' painfully unfunny, but she'd also be snarky at inappropriate times (which is fine if you're a villain like Alice, but this woman was supposed to be a 'professional' and she's making insensitive comments about Gothamites - I'm not sure how she kept her job). I really could've done without this character/voiceover. Meanwhile, unlike others, I didn't have a problem with Kate's voiceover as we heard what she was writing to Bruce.
Another character I wasn't fond of was Mouse, who was the disfigured son of Alice's captor. He was a creep, no doubt about it, but I never really cared about his and Alice's weird relationship they had. He seemed to try to reason with her at times, but that was basically the pot calling the kettle black since he was pretty unhinged himself. I also wasn't fond of all the face-removal in this show. Facial violence (especially faces coming OFF) are one category of violence I really try to avoid seeing (ironically, the movie Face/Off was tolerable for me since they didn't really linger on that stuff too long/in gratuitous detail, for which I was thankful). The worst was probably when we saw yet another whackjob (in this case played by Alessandra Torresani, who I know from the BSG spin-off, Caprica, and have only seen in one or two other things), who liked to cut her own face, was persuaded by Alice to give up her face so Alice could trick someone and we got a real good look at faceless Alessandra Torresani - which was pretty nasty (the cop who found her reacted somewhat realistically given his being confronted by such a grisly sight...though I personally would've added a few expletives). This show almost seemed to have an obsession with removing/swapping faces - and I already know that plays into next season with the recast of Kate Kane.
In regards to that, I know that Ruby Rose supposedly 'chose' to leave the show for various reasons (she suffered an injury, she'd been overwhelmed by the workload of making a series, etc), but I get the feeling the show-makers were secretly just looking for an excuse to change the lead character of the show (for reasons that aren't too hard to figure out) and I can't help but think they pressured her into leaving the show. What they should've done was just recast Kate Kane with Wallis Day and proceeded with Season 2 like everything was normal (soap operas do this ALL the time - they don't explain recastings, they just pretend like nothing's different). Instead of doing the sensible thing, they decided to toss away all that character development Kate had in Season 1, as well as all her relationships/dynamics with the other characters, just so they could 'start anew' with a totally random new character who, as far as I know, had no connection to Bruce Wayne (which was one of the main things behind the whole inception of Batwoman) or Alice (whose relationship to Kate/Batwoman was basically CENTRAL to the show). What a waste it was to toss all these things aside to make way for someone who had *nothing* to do with ANY of them. Then to add insult to the injury, they wound up recasting Kate Kane with Wallis Day after all (she'd seemed the most logical choice back when they were debating who to recast her with, as I'd remembered her from Krypton and she bore some similarities to Ruby Rose), only for her to appear partway through the second season and relegated to being just a guest-star, when she really should've been taking over as the lead. There was some clear manipulation going on from the show-makers and, annoyingly, Wallis Day's version of the character got the short end of the stick, as the writers pretty much fucked over Kate Kane as a character - who'd been the MAIN REASON many people (including myself) had tuned into this show to start with. It's the biggest 'F.'U.' to a show's original lead I've seen and so I return the sentiment: FUCK YOU, SHOW!
I have no desire to watch Seasons 2 & 3, since I know they probably won't even bother addressing the major cliffhanger this first season ended on with Alice giving Bruce Wayne's face to a friend-turned-rival of his (who briefly became the villain Hush...which amounted to little more than him telling people to 'hush' and shooting his twin guns whilst looking like Mr. Negative from Doom Patrol), played by Gabriel Mann who I know mainly from Revenge and the first two Bourne movies, and he was going to help Alice get her revenge by posing as Bruce (who's current whereabouts are Who-the-Hell-Knows) - a pretty great setup for Season 2...which, sadly, will get no payoff, I'm guessing. SUCH A WASTE. For this reason, among others, I am boycotting the remaining seasons of this show and will just pretend the series ended on this cliffhanger (like so many shows that get cancelled do), even though I would like to have seen Wallis Day's version of Kate Kane. Also, I didn’t have a problem with Kate borrowing her cousin’s suit/gear or filling in during his absence...but that was because at least she and Bruce were family. What business have Luke and Mary got handing over Bruce's (and then Kate's) stuff to some complete stranger and telling her that Kate/Bruce would be totally cool with it? You don't just give someone's stuff to a stranger without asking them first. Fuck that, and fuck this show too! It was ended up being a pretty decent first season...but now all I have left to look forward to from it is Kate's guest-star eps in the other Arrowverse shows she appeared in and the one ep from this season of this show I haven't yet watched (the 'Crisis of Infinite Earths' crossover). But it's Alice/Rachel Skarsten who I'll miss most of all.