So … let’s start with the big bombshell: Batwoman’s creative team has announced that Kate Kane is alive and will be returning, played by a different actor.
Whether that’s good or bad news will depend on the execution. What I’m bothered by is how poorly that reveal was handled in the show.
After being told that some of Kate’s body parts were found in the river, confirming that she is, in fact, dead, we cut to a horribly mangled body lying in a sewer, with a red stone necklace to identify it as Kate. This was undoubtedly meant to be a big “Psych! Kate’s still alive, after all!” twist ….
… except that body in the sewer didn’t really scream “alive” to me. Until I saw the news about Kate’s recasting, I had no idea that’s what they were going for. To me, that looked very much like a dead and decaying corpse, presented to us solely to cut off any “But we never saw the body – she could still be alive!” speculators. And the idea that the last we’ll of Kate is a gratuitous shot of her body left to rot in a sewer … it’s in such ridiculously poor taste, I had to laugh!
Our other two shows (Black Lightning is on hiatus) didn’t have any missteps quite that big this week. Though I wasn’t a fan of this pseudo-season opener for The Flash. I don’t know whether it’s the writing or the performance, but Abra Kadabra has never been as fun an antagonist as “high tech magician from the 64th Century” has every right to be.
Now, Caitlin and Frost splitting into two people? That was a fun as hell note to end the episode on. But I have every confidence that, after a couple eps of shenanigans with those two, it’ll turn out one of them needs to die for the other to live, and it’ll be a whole big Sophie’s Choice thing. That seems very on brand for The Flash.
As for Superman & Lois … it had a solid outing this week. Some good character beats, an awesome action scene, and the hilarious image of Superman’s archfoe trying to chase him down in an RV … and somehow succeeding. It was a good episode, just not the sort of big episode you’d normally want to head into a two month hiatus on.
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Oh, yeah, I should mention: Superman & Lois will be on hiatus for the next two months, as its timeslot is being taken over by the return of Supergirl! We finally have a promo for its final season, and, God, I forgot how much I loved seeing Jon Cryer ham it up as Lex.
Question of the Week: What’s the most ridiculous depiction of journalism in the Arrowverse?