REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Ten 'Time Off For Good Behaviour'

 REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Ten 'Time Off For Good Behaviour'

Last week Batwoman was inexplicably removed from the schedules by E4. It was a move that felt very sudden, with no rational explanation as to why it had suddenly disappeared from the channel's Sunday midnight slot. With the tenth episode in Season Two, however, it was back, and it was about time.

This episode in particular seems to be a good one for Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott), with the actor Dougray Scott being given a lot of material to work with. He's jumped by a member of the False Face Society, who injects him with snake bite, a drug that tampers with and allows its user to alter the outcome of past memories. Here we get to dive straight into Jacob's guilt over failing to rescue Alice (Ava Sleeth) when she was kidnapped as a child. You really get a sense of how this drug can offer an instant relief to those who blame themselves for past events. How these changed memories feel so realistic, to the point where it's like they have actually relived the moment and changed what happened. Of course, in this show changing the past is impossible, but it doesn't stop it feeling real for Jacob Kane. 

Dougray Scott gives a blinder of a performance too, as he expresses his guilt to doctor Evelyn Rhyme/Enigma (Laura Mennell). He's clearly never going to forgive himself for failing to save his daughter, even though his daughter's kidnapping is not his fault, and he did try to rescue her, and Dougray Scott really communicates that pain in his portrayal here. This scene was his moment to shine, and boy does he shine.

It's in this episode that Jordan Moore's (Keeya King) community centre is opened, after being teased in the previous episode, and this takes a tragic turn. The poor woman has her community hub who Ryan (Javicia Leslie) and Mary (Nicole Kang) helped to build destroyed on the same night as its grand opening, which kind of reflects the deep tragedy at the heart of Gotham. It's a city where people can't have nice things, because of its constant infestation of criminals on the streets. No matter how hard any Caped Crusader tries to rid the city of bad people, they just keep crawling out of the woodwork. 

It's a theme that was present in the Batman prequel series Gotham, and is also reoccurring here. Especially as we find out that the source of these community centre attacks is none other than the prison governor Ellis O'Brien (Derek Morrison), who has been deliberately letting criminals out under the excuse of parole for 'good behaviour', with the task of targeting these places designed to steer young people away from bad choice, so that the crime levels would continue to increase and keep the prison active. It speaks to the corruption at the heart of Gotham city, how there are always people in this iconic location who will seek to profit from criminality. Gotham is essentially like a Wild West, run by crime, by criminals for criminals. This episode is probably one that most captures the vibe of Gotham, in fact. 

Julia Pennyworth (Christina Wolfe) gets an interesting subplot here, where she discovers going through her expenses during the search for Kate Kane that she's gone to places she doesn't remember visiting. This leads to a team up with Alice (Rachel Skarsten), where she makes the discovery that Evelyn Rhyme/Enigma has been removing parts of her memory. Julia and Alice make for a great pairing, with Alice constantly pushing Julia's buttons and Julia clearly being less than enthused at working alongside this psychotic woman. Both have this disdain for each other, but both have been grudgingly forced to work together out of circumstance. It's a fun dynamic, and one that I'm glad we keep getting in the second season. 

Something else we get to see more of is the romance between Ryan and Angelique (Bevin Bru), who Ryan visits in prison after Angelique confessed to a murder she didn't commit in order to protect Ryan at the end of the previous episode. I really like the romance they have on display here. The two actors have so much chemistry, and they really use their complicated history, with Ryan having previously taken the rap in prison for Angelique. The fact that Angelique says that she now understands how Ryan felt, having had to be wrongly arrested for something she didn't do to protect Ryan from criminal goons who threatened to kill her, endears us to her more, as she feels genuine in saying that she's learnt her lesson. She does take a bit of an obvious 'damsel in distress' role when she's captured by the Half Face Society henchmen at the end  of the previous episode, but otherwise the Angelique and Ryan material here is very well done.

Overall, 'Time Off For Good Behaviour' is one of Season Two's strongest episodes. It dives into the corrupt side of Gotham society, whilst also offering us a deeper look into the psychology of Jacob Kane. This episode continues to offer some interesting developments into the relationships between certain characters, whilst also cutting for a tragic plot where a community centre is destroyed before even lasting a day. It's just a shame the cliffhanger is a little cliche and predictable, as it brings down an otherwise excellent episode of the show. 

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