REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Fourteen 'And Justice For All'

 REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Fourteen 'And Justice For All'

With the crazy number of projects involving the walking dead over the years, there's something audiences clearly find appealing about zombie stories. These kind of narratives are found everywhere across film and television, from family sci-fi dramas such as Doctor Who to horror films such as Army Of The Dead. Even the MCU is getting in on the act, with an episode of the upcoming animated series What If.

It's perhaps no surprise then that Batwoman decided to devote an entire episode to a zombie apocalypse. It's not the most bizarre event to befall Gotham, after all. This is the city that only an episode ago saw a crazed former quiz show host try to kill his own daughter for being able to solve his riddles, for instance. These zombie scenes are fantastically shot and directed here though; they really convey the brutal cannibalism of it, and how this behaviour removes all traces of humanity. I kind of wonder how E4 would have approached cutting this episode had they stuck to the 8pm airtime, as there are one or two shots I spotted in the episode that probably wouldn't have been allowed pre-watershed. 

It's a smart move also to place Ryan Wilder in a position where she is initially unable to help as Batwoman. Early into the episode she is arrested by a copper with racial bias who visits her bar, just as the zombie invasion breaks out and the Bat signal is lit in the sky. This creates some real extra stakes to the narrative which otherwise would be absent, as we dread just what chaos may happen in the midst of this crisis without Batwoman around. The link to a topical issue with Black Lives Matter creates a more grounded feel to proceedings too, placing these exaggerated events very much in the real world, and demonstrating the racist attitudes that the black community face daily.

I do find the resolution to the zombie crisis a little unbelievable however. Luke (Camrus Johnson) and Mary (Nicole Kang) give Ryan a serum that she must inject into each zombified person one at a time, and this just seems wildly impracticable. You're telling me that Ryan is going to approach potentially thousands of people, one at a time, and inject them with the cure? I know this is a show about a vigilante who dresses as a bat and so is not exactly true to life, but I just find that a little too far-fetched to take seriously. As others have said, why didn't they at least just call Barry Allen/The Flash to inject them quicker?

The best part of the episode is undoubtedly its shock ending. Luke finds the man from the prison cell, when Ryan, Luke and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) were arrested, attempting to steal a car, and in an altercation is shot by Crows team leader Eli (Kaiden Berge). It's a surprising and gripping end to the episode, as it is so unexpected given our knowledge that he's in the rest of the season. It's amazing how much of an impact it holds despite it being clear that he features in the rest of the season, as I still found myself gasping despite knowing that he must survive.

Elsewhere, Jacob (Dougray Scott) helps Mary deal with her patients from the zombie crisis at her clinic, and this forms some great character scenes between these two people. It's great seeing Jacob finally come to terms with what Mary does, and realise how her actions help those who come to her for medical treatment. It's about time these two had something of a reconcilement with their differences, and it's certainly taken us long enough to see Jacob see the good that Mary's private unlicensed clinic does; the episode progresses the character arc in a natural way here, and it works extremely well for the arc of Jacob and Mary's relationship.

The B-plot of this episode concerns Alice (Rachel Skarsten) seeking help from Evelyn Rhyme (Laura Mennell) to bring back her sister Kate's (Wallis Day) memories. I really like how this character has developed into something of an anti-hero. It has given us a fresh, new slant on Beth, without it feeling like a totally different character. Alice is finally acknowledging that she cares about her sister and that her desire is to have her sister back, and it really shows how her character has progressed from the totally deranged and violently unstable Alice we met in the first season. The tragedy of this scene is how her boyfriend Ocean (Nathan Owens) comes in and kills Rhyme before she can help unlock Kate's memories, effectively destroying Alice's wish for her sister to return. Of course, we know that she will get Kate back, but it doesn't lessen the dramatic impact of Ocean's actions, as it suggests big potential ramifications for future episodes. Could we see Alice kill Ocean for real in an episode or two's time?

Overall, 'And Justice For All' gives us a highly entertaining take on a Gotham zombie apocalypse. Featuring some real stakes and effective commentary on Black Lives Matter, this is a very good instalment within the show's second season, and shows plenty of promise for the rest of the episodes to follow.

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