Overall I’ve really enjoyed this show up until this point. Other than the obligatory, secrets are the key to a good relationship mantra that permeates every Arrowverse offering, this show has avoid having too many story lines going at once. They have also had relatively good writing and not too many obvious setups, until this episode.
After the second commercial break I turned to my wife and said, “This is just lazy writing.” The flashback sequences were good for giving more context for the relationship that Sophie and Kate had at the academy and why Sophie chose to not admit to their relationship. This provides a backdrop for present day as Sophie is desperate to either have Kate give up the cowl or reveal her secret to Kate’s father. This is where the lazy writing begins to show up.
Luke, Kate, and Julia Pennyworth (From The CW)
All of a sudden another female with excellent fighting skills, and with a very similar body type as Kate shows up and guess what she already knows all about the Batman. Alfred Pennyworth’s daughter shows up in the Batcave revealing that she already know all about Bruce and his alter ego.
This of course provides the perfect opportunity to misdirect Sophie by allowing her to see Kate and Batwoman in the same place at the same time. I felt like a lot of the foreshadowing in this show felt a little too convenient, e.g. a flashback of Sophie railing on a superior at the academy about how Kate set a school marksmanship record while hungover on tequila occurs just before Kate shoots out the tire of a moving van from the back of a motorcycle from about 30 yards.
The best scene of this episode occurred when Kate confronted a bigoted restaurant owner for attempting to kick her and Sophie out of his restaurant for being lesbians. This was the first time sexuality was treated anything but normal and acceptable. It was a nice scene, but not quite enough to redeem what otherwise felt like perhaps the weakest episode of the season.
