|
Post by fenris on Apr 15, 2020 21:08:12 GMT
The third episode of Batwoman delved more deeply into established Bat-mythology (with Tommy Elliot as the villain of the week, plus a brief reference to the Riddler) and was all the better for it. I particularly liked Batwoman's take on Elliot, depicting him as a spoilt, self-obsessed man-child, fixated on continuing his peevish, childish, boyhood feud with his lifelong best friend, desperate to prove to the whole world that he is somehow 'better' than Bruce Wayne, when the truth is that nobody but him actually cares.
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Apr 21, 2020 19:18:28 GMT
Thoughts on Batwoman episode #4. Magpie! I'd enjoyed seeing her appearance in Gotham (though it was much too brief, due to that show's shortened final season) and although I prefer Gotham's version of the character, it was still rewarding to see her here. I'd spotted the very similar-looking photographer in the background earlier in the episode, so Magpie's identity didn't come as much of a surprise. Other things I enjoyed: Mary quick-thinkingly posing as Alice (like the fact that the writers are making her so capable), and Kate realising that having a whole secret other life as a vigilante isn't as straightforward as she might have initially thought. It's lead to a subtle change in her relationship with Luke - originally it was very one-sided, with her doing pretty much whatever she liked and issuing out orders, and him having little choice but to go along with it. But it seems to be dawning on Kate that she still has a lot to learn and how much she needs him. Things between them are subtly starting to become more even-handed, with Luke becoming more assertive. Another episode, another major revelation, as Kate's stepmother was forced into admitting she faked the evidence of Beth's death. Can only assume all these rushed major plot points are due to the fact that American TV shows just aren't allowed any time to bed in and build any audience anymore - instead they've got to be highly successful ratings hits from the start. Batwoman's writers & producers are presumably making all these key revelations so early in the hope of keeping viewers hooked, instead of holding them back until later in the season (which would arguably work much better in a dramatic sense). I recently watched the first (and only) season of The Enemy Within on 5USA, and that show took a similar approach, with two major game-changing revelations at the end of the first episode and an important subplot that rightfully should have bubbled along all season instead being concluded after only a few episodes.
|
|
|
Post by fenris on May 16, 2020 15:57:50 GMT
Bit late in posting about this, but in the sixth episode of Batwoman it was confirmed (via a TV news report being watched by one of the characters) that Jack Napier is the Joker in Batwoman's world. Since the CW have a history of adapting key stories from the original comics (such as 'For The Man Who Has Everything' and 'Red Son' in Supergirl, plus the 'Invasion', 'Earth X' and 'Crisis' crossovers), I wonder if Batwoman's writers and producers are laying the groundwork for a 'White Knight' storyline?
|
|
|
Post by fenris on May 31, 2020 10:51:15 GMT
Following the news that Ruby Rose is leaving Batwoman and won't be appearing in the show's second sesaon, the CW have announced that they're going to cast an openly lesbian or bi-sexual actress in the role. But here's a thought - why not cast Rachel Skarsten instead? She's already playing Batwoman's twin sister, and while the characters are non-identical twins, if viewers are prepared to except an entirely new person playing Batwoman, then surely they'd accept Kate and Alice/Beth looking more alike? Yes, we all know that having characters who belong to a minority being played by actors outside that minority is a thorny issue, and god knows we don't want to go back to the days of white actors in blackface (over the last year Emmerdale and Neighbours have both introduced transgender characters who are played by transgender actors, and I regard that as a welcome and positive move). But if we start saying that gay or bi characters can only be played by gay/bi actors, then by the same token how long before we're saying that gay/bi actors can't play straight? When it comes to a character's sexuality, just cast the best actor in the role, regardless of their own personal sexuality.
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jun 8, 2020 19:10:06 GMT
Batwoman. Rachel Skarsten is completely stealing the entire series, isn't she. Of course, Alice is an absolute gift of a role, but in episodes #10 - 12 Skarsten utterly nailed it playing Beth as well. Speaking of which, last night's episode (#12): Beth! Though I think it would have been more powerful and worked better if the show's producers & writers had been gutsy enough to have Sophie as the one who took the shot. And I loved Alice's chilling cliffhanger resurrection. "You. Let. Me. DIE!!"
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jun 16, 2020 7:32:42 GMT
New villains are constantly being introduced in the various Batman comics, but only a select few prove popular enough to join the classic rogues gallery (Ra's Al Ghul in the Seventies, Killer Croc and the KGBeast in the Eighties, Bane and the Ventriloquist in the Nineties, etc) and all the others tend to fade into obscurity after only a couple of appearances. I grew up in the 70s and have fond memories of the short lived Bat-villains of that era, such as Dr. Phosphorus, The Spook, Black Spider, and the double act of Night Slayer and Nocturna, so I got a particular kick out of seeing the latter turn up in last night's episode of Batwoman (#13). It seems the show's producers are concentrating on Gotham's female supervillains, so surely it can't be long before Witch or the Mime make an appearance.
Couple of other random thoughts: so Jacob has somehow been completely cleared of killing Catherine? How? The scriptwriters didn't even bother trying to explain it. And I'm really enjoying what the show is doing with Mary. In any other series she'd just be the spoilt, air-headed, self-centred, like-obsessed socialite that the rest of the world thinks she is. Now that she's finally worked out what her step-sister does at nights, will she let Kate know that she knows, and become a full member of Team Bat? I'm guessing not - that would be too simplistic and expected. But i'm fully prepared to be proved wrong.
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jun 17, 2020 18:55:01 GMT
Ruby Rose is leaving Batwoman and won't be appearing in the show's second sesaon. Instead of recasting the role of Kate Kane, it's been announced she's going to be replaced by an all-new character reportedly named 'Ryan Wilder'. Hmm. Well, this is definitely going to shake up the show. With the exception of Luke, Kate is closely entwined with all the other main characters: she's Jacob's daughter, Alice's sister, Mary's step-sister, and Sophie's ex. With 'Ryan' taking her place as Batwoman, all those connections will be lost. And there's a danger that season 2 will end up just repeating the major developmental story arc of season 1: Kate learning the ropes of how to be a superheroic vigilante and how to maintain a secret identity, while (initially) being mistaken as Batman. Surely season 2 will inevitably centre on Ryan learning the ropes of how to be a superheroic vigilante and how to maintain a secret identity, while being mistaken as the original Batwoman?
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jun 23, 2020 18:31:21 GMT
Batwoman episode #14: Duella Dent!! I've been a fan since she was introduced in the Seventies as Harlequin, a mysterious sometimes-ally of the Teen Titans. In the Eighties she faded away somewhat, becoming one of those characters that major comic book companies like DC and Marvel keep on a shelf somewhere, occasionally remembering to dust off and make use of every now & again. In the Nineties - no doubt due to the arrival of Harley Quinn - Duella was effectively forgotten, seemingly deemed surplus to requirements. She was revived in the 2000s, re-branded 'Joker's Daughter', finally given an origin (she was a displaced inhabitant of Earth Three) and then - most annoyingly - killed off by the Monitors for being on the wrong Earth. She returned due to Rebirth's continuity-reset, and while I initially wasn't too fond of the new sewn-on-face version of the character, she's grown on me. So it was a thrill to see her finally make her live-action debut. Interesting that the Arrowverse's Duella is definitely related to Harvey (he's her uncle), and did anyone else notice that Luke stated her father's identity is unknown...? Hope we haven't seen the last of her.
Speaking of Luke, he got the best line of the episode - "Dog ate my break-up?" - cutting through Kate's avoidance crap. And I smiled at the Scarecrow reference in the final shot.
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jul 6, 2020 21:17:12 GMT
Well, Batwoman's gotten surprisingly darker (never expected Kate to murder anyone!) and personally I consider it a welcome move. Nice to see Julia return as well. Speaking of which; With the exception of Luke, Kate is closely entwined with all the other main characters: she's Jacob's daughter, Alice's sister, Mary's step-sister, and Sophie's ex. With 'Ryan' taking her place as Batwoman, all those connections will be lost. And there's a danger that season 2 will end up just repeating the major developmental story arc of season 1: Kate learning the ropes of how to be a superheroic vigilante and how to maintain a secret identity, while (initially) being mistaken as Batman. Surely season 2 will inevitably centre on Ryan learning the ropes of how to be a superheroic vigilante and how to maintain a secret identity, while being mistaken as the original Batwoman? Here's a thought - instead of introducing a brand new character to replace Kate, why don't the producers make Julia the new Batwoman? As a Pennyworth she's literally part of Bruce Wayne's extended family, so she already has a connection to the Kanes and Luke (I liked the concern she voiced for him in Episode #16 last night). And as a highly trained British Intelligence operative, not only would she be able to bypass the whole 'novice crimefighter' arc, but she's already previously worn the cowl and substituted for Kate. I'm not on Twitter, but if I was, I'd be hashtagging MakeJuliaBatwoman like crazy.
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jul 27, 2020 18:50:30 GMT
And in last night's episode of Batwoman (#19) Julia was strapped down and tortured again, for - I think - the third time this season? I'm starting to wonder if actress Christina Wolfe hasn't got some secret fetish and is asking the scriptwriters to include those scenes. I've enjoyed the last few episodes, with the 'villain of the week' storylines being (mostly) put aside and instead the show concentrating on advancing and bringing together the various season-long sub-plots and story arcs in preparation for the finale. Amongst other things, this has meant the welcome return of characters such as Tommy Elliot (who'd have thought - based on his appearance earlier in the season - that he'd turn out to be the show's first Big Bad?), Parker, Magpie and Reagan. Speaking of which, I wonder if it was always planned that the latter two were secretly working together after they were both introduced in the same episode, or was it something the writers only thought up subsequently?
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Aug 3, 2020 19:01:47 GMT
Although not intended to act as the season finale (production ceased with two episodes left unfilmed, due to the coronavirus outbreak), episode #20 of Batwoman provided at least one truly surprising twist - I really wasn't expecting Alice to kill Mouse! - and ended with an accidentally suitable cliffhanger, with Alice transforming Tommy Elliot into Bruce Wayne. I'm assuming Batwoman's producers & scriptwriters were originally planning to bring Tommy's storyline to a conclusion in the two unfilmed episodes, but with Ruby Rose leaving the show, this opens up new possibilities. The main reason I initially assumed when Tommy appeared earlier in the season that he was merely going to be a disposable Villain of the Week is because his key defining characteristic is his obsession with Bruce Wayne, and the whole point of Batwoman is that Bruce isn't around anymore. And so I thought Tommy's debut appearance - which ended with him being dragged away in handcuffs by the GCPD, unable to accept that Bruce/Batman hadn't returned to Gotham, and pathetically yelling for Bruce to come out and face him - was designed to emphasis and underline that fact (note also that Kate addressing her journal entries to an absent Bruce was also phased out mid-season). However, following Ruby Rose's departure, here's my prediction as to how the second season may start (and I stress this is 100% speculation on my part, and will almost certainly turn out to be completely incorrect): it's several months after the conclusion of Season One and Kate has gone missing. Tommy has assumed Bruce's identity, taken control of Wayne Industries, and sacked Luke. Unable to gain access to the Batcave under the Wayne Industries Building, Luke, Mary and Julia have moved operations to the original Batcave under Wayne Manor while searching for Kate, with Julia making occasional appearances in the costume so Gotham's inhabitants don't lose hope and the city's criminals don't realise that Batwoman has gone. Speaking of which, Alice is recruiting for a new version of the Wonderland Gang. And so on... I've enjoyed the first season, though I see it's attracted mostly negative reviews. This may be because I've seen only a few episodes of all the other Arrowverse shows, so to me Batwoman still seems fresh. I've been regarding it as the natural successor to Gotham, instead of 'just another CW show'. I also really like how Julia keeps calling everyone "Love."
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Dec 13, 2020 13:00:28 GMT
When Disney paid out a humongous amount of coin to purchase Lucasfilm, I told all my friends that in order to get their monies worth, the House of Mouse was going to shove Star Wars down people's throats, until everyone was thoroughly sick of the franchise. And that seemed to happen sooner than expected, when Solo underperformed at the box office and Disney executives publicly admitted it had been a mistake to release a new Star Wars film every year. But one Mandalorian-sized hit later, and they seem to have totally forgotten their concerns of taking too many trips to the well. Those who don't remember the mistakes of the past, etc. www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55269531
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Jul 25, 2021 17:17:28 GMT
Have been watching the second season of Batwoman and would have posted about it earlier, but I've recently had a two month period where I wasn't able to go on-line (long story short - my computer broke down, proved to be unfixable, and it took me two months to source a replacement and get the contents of my hard drive transferred over. And no. I don't own a smartphone or tablet). So here are some random thoughts on the episodes we've seen so far;
The Tommy Elliot storyline was wrapped up surprisingly quickly.
Batmobile!
While the character of Ryan was getting herself established in the early episodes, the other regular characters carried the show, with Alice and Mary doing most of the heavy lifting. Really like what the writers have done with Mary throughout both seasons. She's the heart of the show. Ryan having a personal vendetta against Alice ('You killed my adoptive mother!') feels like an unnecessary gimmick.
Should have kept the red wig.
Mary's secret underground clinic has a CT scanner?! It's been mentioned she's now independently wealthy due to the inheritance she received from her mother, and it's possible she could have picked a second-hand scanner from a hospital that was either closing down or upgrading it's equipment, but even so...
The CW shows have become increasingly criticized (to put it mildly) by some viewers for being 'woke', but personally I don't have a problem with TV series putting across a message, provided they don't beat the audience around the head with it, and/or let the message overwhelm the show and get in the way of telling good and entertaining stories. Batwoman has only briefly fallen into that trap a couple of times, the best example being when Ryan (in costume) met Lucas and Mary for the first time and proceeded to give a monologue quoting lots of figures and statistics about the black community and crime levels. It wasn't dialogue, it was a lecture. Real people don't talk like that.
After all the build-up in the first season, both Safiyah and the storyline focusing on her were very disappointing. Did like Alice spitefully setting fire to her poppy fields though, with Safiyah realising too late the consequences of creating a monster worse than herself.
The reveal of Alice and Ocean's relationship means that Alice is only straight female regular character (since there's never been any mention of Mary's private life or her showing any personal interest in anyone, she seems to be asexual as far as the writers are concerned).
Julia's back! And now she's gone again (Berlin?!). I love Julia. my favourite semi-regular/recurring character.
I'm afraid I just don't like Ryan. Her constantly pining over her unrepentant drug-dealing ex (who also let Ryan take the fall and spend three years in prison for her) is the main negative.
Originally was annoyed by the show leaving a huge question mark over Kate's fate. Just resolve it one way or another. So I then admired the writers and producers for having the courage to apparently kill her off (when Julia reported that her remains had been found). Subsequent developments - she's alive, brainwashed, new face, new actress - are a shameless scripting gimmick... but a gimmick that's working really well so far.
Jacob getting addicted to Snakebite feels as though it's happening just to give Dougray Scott something to do.
Hope that leaving Alice to die comes back to bite Ryan. If you want to be a hero and make things better for the city, you have to save everybody - you don't get to pick and choose. It's also hugely hypocritical: how many people has Ryan's drug-dealing ex (whom she was so desperate to save) deliberately gotten hooked? How many of her clients have fatally OD'ed or otherwise had their lives ruined?
Stephanie Brown! When Cluemaster turned up, I hoped she wouldn't be too far behind. Anyone else spot that her outfit had a purple hood?
|
|
|
Post by fenris on Aug 24, 2021 17:44:45 GMT
Random thoughts on Batwoman's second season finale;
Black Mask's scheme would have had more impact if it wasn't too similar to the movie version of V For Vendetta, a couple of Jerome's plots in Gotham, and The Purge franchise.
Batwing! But at the risk of being nitpicky, as Lucius must have built the suit when Luke was quite young, how come it was a perfect fit?
Batmobile vs Batbike! But I must have missed something, because where was Kate rushing off to when Ryan intercepted her? And since Kate (at that time) only had Circe's personality and memories, how (being nitpicky again) did she know how to operate the Batbike's weapons systems?
Everyone (including the writers) is acting as though Kate's new face is permanent, but she's basically wearing a mask of dead flesh over her actual badly-burnt features. In a day or two it will start to decay and rot. That's the reason Alice had to routinely create new faces for Mouse. She even warned Black Mask that Circe's face would require regular 'touch ups' (I really am being nitpicky, aren't I).
Ryan's speech to the parole board convinces them to end her probation. Really? In the real world it would almost certainly have had the exact opposite effect.
Judging by the final scene, Poison Ivy seems poised to be the third season's Big Bad, but whether E4 screens it seems highly unlikely, seeing as how audience figures collapsed. Even if Warner Bros. sold them the UK rights to Season 2 as part of a 'handcuffs deal' (when the buyer is contractually obliged to purchase the following season as well), the third season will probably follow The Good Place, Supernatural and the Charmed reboot by being dumped without fanfare onto 4Music.
|
|