After making her debut in last year’s Arrowverse crossover event, Elseworlds, the first episode of Batwoman has released. As a fan of the character, especially the New 52 rendition, the newest CW series is off to a great start.
The Premise
After spending three years exploring the world and training with the best martial artists across the globe, Kate Kane, played by Australia’s very own Ruby Rose, returns to Gotham City; a city that has undergone a change of its own, and not for the better.
With the disappearance of Batman and coincidentally Gotham’s favourite son, Bruce Wayne, the city has become a much darker and violent place.
Kate’s father Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott) and his paramilitary security firm, the Crows, step up to fill the void left by the Dark Knight. Naturally, this will cause some conflict between the two.
Driven to find answers about what happened to her cousin, Bruce, and the introduction of a villain calling herself Alice, the leader of the mask-wearing gang inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Kate stumbles upon the Batcave. With the help of Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), the son of Batman’s tech-guru, Lucius Fox, she dons the cape and cowl and sets out to take down Alice.
The Pros and Cons
As the fifth series in the Arrowverse, Batwoman has a lot to live up to, and if the first episode is any indication, the series is set to meet those expectations.
Compared to other pilots in the Arrowverse family, in my opinion, it’s probably the third-best behind Flash and Arrow.
Pros
The acting was on point for the most part, with standout performances from Ruby Rose herself and Rachel Skarsten, who plays Alice. Despite having a small role in the pilot, Skarsten certainly leaves an impression.
There is a plot twist at the end of the episode that you no doubt would’ve realised early on. What I like about how that was presented was that it didn’t drag it out, for both the viewers and Kate herself.
The supporting cast of Kate’s stepsister, Mary (Nicole Kang), and her ex, Sophie (Meagan Tandy) were good as well.
Batwoman also has its own take on Gotham City, that’s a mix of Arrow’s Starling City and Tim Burton’s Gotham from the 1992 feature film, Batman Returns.
Cons
There are only two real criticisms I had about the series premiere.
The first being that it glossed over what Mary was doing in her make-shift hospital, and her role in Gotham’s underworld.
The second? The pilot did feel rushed with not a lot of time given to get a sense of the city itself and Kate’s character. It felt like the opening episode should’ve been at least half an hour longer.
Final thoughts
Despite my criticism of the pacing issue, I was left wanting more, especially since I’ve already seen what Kate Kane looks like when going full bat as the first episode takes place before last year’s crossover in which she played a large role.
I’m very much looking forward to more, seeing where her character goes and her interactions with the other heroes.
If you have an interest in the CW Arrowverse add this to your rotation of heroes for sure,. Alternatively, if you’re a Batman fan and missing Gotham or the Caped Crusader on the big screen, Batwoman is definitely worth checking out.