Despite having some of its detractors, I’d say the new Batwoman TV series is off to a decent start. The pilot episode may not have been perfect, but it was far from being terrible, at least in my view. And if last night’s episode, “The Rabbit Hole,” proved anything, it’s that this show is starting to hit its stride. At the very least, it confirmed that Wonder Woman exists in the Arrowverse.
So, even while we await Hush’s arrival in the next episode to air, it certainly won’t hurt us to look beyond that. As you may have heard, yet another familiar Batman villain, Magpie, will pop up in the adventure to follow. And though she was entirely absent from the gallery of images promoting “Who Are You?,” the femme fatale will most certainly be showing up.
Strangely enough, Magpie is merely hinted at in the official synopsis, but here it is:
ALL THAT GLITTERS – A new villain with an eye for all things that sparkle drops in on the city. Kate (Ruby Rose) attempts to find a balance between her personal life and her new role as Gotham’s guardian. Catherine (Elizabeth Anweis) has an uncomfortable encounter with Alice (Rachel Skarsten) who always seems to be one step ahead of the Kane family. Batwoman pays fangirl Mary (Nicole Kang) a visit to ask for a favor.
Meanwhile, Jacob (Dougray Scott) and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) try to piece together who was after their prisoner. Luke (Camrus Johnson) continues to finetune Batwoman’s arsenal of weapons as the pair track their unwelcome visitor and discover she has more sinister plans than snatching shiny objects. Holly Dale directed the episode written by Nancy Kiu and Denise Harkavy (#104). Original airdate 10/27/2019. Every episode of BATWOMAN will be available to stream on CWTV.com and The CW App the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required.
Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?
In addition to Magpie being the freak of the week, it appears as though the ongoing situation with Alice will get ample screentime as well. The producers sure didn’t waste much time in confirming that she’s Kate’s long lost and thought dead sister, Beth, so I’m waiting to see how Jacob copes with it once he comes to grips.
Still, I can’t help wondering how they’re going to stretch this across what we can only assume will be a 22-episode arc, when the inspiration, Batwoman: Elegy, spanned only seven issues. Perhaps it’s time that superhero shows do away with the whole “big bad” formula, but that’s a discussion best left for another day.
Batwoman airs on Sunday nights on The CW, with “Who Are You?” scheduled for October 27th.