Batwoman 1x03 "Down Down Down" Episode Review.

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

While the exposition is lighter and not in the beginning of the episode, Batwoman continues to stagger behind the rest of the Arrowverse shows. While the characters—Alice, Kate, and Mary—are well-written and entertaining, the plot side of things is basically retreading familiar ground done on Arrow. However, Kate (Ruby Rose) has started wearing the red wig, giving birth to the persona she had in Elseworlds.

Tommy Elliot (Revenge’s Gabriel Mann) is introduced in this episode as villain of the week. The character is based on classic Batwoman villain, Hush, but on his own merits, made a great villain to Kate’s Batwoman. He has the potential to return for more, and having him share a history with Bruce Wayne helped push Kate into accepting her role as the newest Dark Knight.

Speaking of Bruce Wayne, Kate’s voice-over letters to him are getting more annoying. I think the Arrowverse writers are loving the legal right to use the Batman references, but they’re overdoing it and it’s only episode three. I understand it’s a decent way to dump information on us regarding her inner struggles, but… exposition overload is not really popular anymore.

Alice is starting to become an anti-hero more than the main antagonist of the season. I think whoever raised Alice after the accident will be the villain—the bigger threat that the Kane family has to worry about. This is one of the few positives about the show. Her flashback was a weird opener, the flashbacks in this show have issues, but it did give us new information on what actually happened to Beth post-accident. Alice didn’t survive “not killing” for twenty-four hours per Kate’s request, but how she chose to try first was showing her “Beth” is not totally gone yet.

Mary Hamilton and Sophie shared their scenes in this episode. Sophie is coming off more unlikable, predictably, but Mary’s knowledge of Sophie and Kate is promising. I’m excited to see if Mary and Kate will ever talk about it. If you’ve read first two episode reviews, you know how I kept bragging about this breakout character.

Overall, all the characters are getting into position as the next part of the story unfolds. Hopefully, we’re past the origin story part of the season as Sophie coined “Batwoman”, name-dropping the hero’s name. I’m ready to dive into what happened to Alice/Beth. Also, money’s on Catherine having something to do with the accident and didn’t plan Kate’s survival type conspiracy.