REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Eight 'Survived Much Worse'

 REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Eight 'Survived Much Worse'

You wouldn't think there were too many similarities between Ryan (Javicia Leslie) and Alice (Rachel Skarsten). One's a loyal protector of Gotham, the other's a psychotic killer who murdered Ryan's own mother. On the face of it, they are two completely contrasting characters. 

And yet 'Survived Much Worse' manages to find parallels between them from the beginning. We see both of them writing notes to Kate which express their desires to find her. And yet their notes also deviate, showing their differing motives for tracking her down. Ryan sees Kate as a figure of inspiration and wants to reunite her with her friends, whilst Alice sees her as the sister who failed to rescue her from her kidnapping as a child and wants to exact her revenge by killing her. It makes for a eally effective way to establish the basis for the episode, as both sides race to find Kate. 

Only Alice's motivations suddenly become much more complex. As the episode goes along, we discover that deep down she doesn't want to kill Kate at all. She just wants to be reunited with her sister. The screenplay does such an amazing job at showing how Alice is a tortured soul, and avoids making it a simple case of good versus evil. It's also a smart choice to place Ryan/Batwoman in her cell, forcing Ryan to talk to the woman responsible for her mother's death.  There's a great sense of irony to the idea of Ryan finding herself sharing the cell with this woman she hates, and also to how she's the one to work out Alice's hidden reluctance to kill her sister. 

Ryan is not only there to find Kate,however. She's also looking to secure the Desert Rose, the plant which can cure her Kryptonite infection. Naturally, for a tale where the hero has two different objectives, Ryan is given the choice by Safiyah (Shivani Ghai), in return for Ryan informing her about Alice's deception regarding Ocean (Nathan Owens). Safiyah will give her either Kate or the Desert Rose. What's refreshing is that instead of taking the noble option, Ryan opts for self survival and picks the Desert Rose. It makes a change to see a hero put themselves first for once rather than another individual. Ryan's reasoning may be that she believes Alice doesn't want to kill Kate, and so Kate won't die anyway, but she doesn't know that for sure, and she's therefore still risking Kate Kane's life in order to try and guarantee her cure for the Kryptonite poisoning.

Alice is given her own choice by Safiyah: kill Kate, or kill Ocean for real. She opts for the latter, murdering Ocean only for Safiyah to reveal that she never had Kate in the first place.  Alice burns the Desert Rose in anger, meaning that Ryan doesn't get her side of the bargain with Safiyah either. There's a beautiful tragedy to all this, as both characters involved lose all sense of hope in the wake of disaster. Alice has failed to find her sister alive, whilst Ryan has lost her chance of a cure (well, until Luke (Camrus Johnson) later tells her they have found a cure in Gotham, in the form of Ryan's plant). They came to the island expecting to leave with what they wanted, and yet they both come away with neither. It's a poignant conclusion that fits into the dark world of Gotham nicely.

The supporting characters get involved in their own spot of bother this week. Jacob (Dougray Scott) and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) follow the tracker Batwoman placed on Alice's car, and end up taken captive by Safiyah's forces. They don't get a great deal to do, largely reduced to wandering aimlessly around the island upon escaping their cell, and it would have been nice to have seen them given a bigger role within the narrative. Sophie does at least get to lie by Batwoman/Ryan's side as Ryan resides herself to her death, but Jacob's inclusion in the island plot feels pointless. The most he contributes is finding a plane that they can use to fly off the island, and you kind of wonder why they couldn't have had him try to get his hands on the Desert Rose with Sophie, only to become embroiled in a plot with Safiyah's army. 

Luke and Mary (Nicole Kang) fare better, with their sub plot regarding their attempts to protect Ryan's plant whilst checking to see if Ryan's comms come back online. They're targeted by one of Safiyah's loyal soldiers, who knows they are tracking Ryan's progress on the island, and they get a neat action sequence where they're placed in a situation where they have to defend themselves with nothing but a plotted pant. Thankfully Julia (Christina Wolfe) comes to the rescue, a character I wish they'd utilise more within the series as she's one of the most interesting in the show by far. It would be nice to see her become a main reoccurring cast member rather than making the occasional guest appearance, and I hope they consider it for the third season. 

Overall, 'Survived Much Worse' is a real highlight within the Batwoman series. It offers perhaps one of the most tragic DC stories on television as Ryan and Alice both embark on a journey to this mythical island of Coryana with such hope and ambition, and yet return with absolutely nothing. It's just a shame that the episode spoils itself some somewhat by failing to give the characters of Jacob and Sophie much of a purpose within the narrative, as otherwise it would probably be the strongest episode of Batwoman yet.

What are your thoughts on episode eight of Batwoman's second season? Let me know in the comments.