With the show that created the CWTVDCU flying off the screens for good this year and a TV version of Crisis happening later on (with appearances by characters from Superman Returns and Smallville announced), we have a new DC super-series, this one featuring the twenty-first century version of Batwoman.
Note: When they introduced Batwoman to the DCU, I wrote up a little bio of her at this site. As for that site, interested parties may enjoy this recent documentary, Geeks in Cyberspace, that examines Slashdot, Everything2, and related projects from the turn-of-the-millennium.
Title: Pilot
Cast and Crew
Directors: Marcos Siega
Writers: Caroline Dries
Ruby Rose as Kate Kane / Batwoman
Rachel Skarsten as Alice
Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore
Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton
Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox
Elizabeth Anweis as Catherine Hamilton-Kane
Dougray Scott as Colonel Jacob Kane
Greyston Holt as Tyler
Brendon Zub as Chuck Dodgson
Gray Horse Rider as Trope-y Trainer
Rachel Maddow as Vesper Fairchild
Chris Shields as Mayer Akins
Sandy Robson as Captain
Gracyn Shinyei as Young Kate
Ava Sleeth as Young Beth
Premise
Batman has been absent for three years, and some new villains muscle into his town. Fortunately, someone exists who can take up the mantle (and cowl) of the Bat.
High Point
The acting in the show is uneven, but Ruby Rose does a good job as Kate Kane, so I’ll overlook where her accent started to slip. Largely because of her, I’m willing to give the series a few more episodes, if only because I want to watch the forthcoming CWTVDCU COIE.
I also like how they used the Batman flashback, without making the show about Batman.
Low Point
I’ll buy Kate’s lack of a concussion, because we’re watching a superhero show, but Kate’s escape from Alice requires a lot more explanation than we get. It really makes no sense that Alice would let her go, and what follows make even less. That was not the time, in the first episode, for the writers to engage in wild hand-waving at a plot problem.
The Scores:
Originality: 3/6 I know this the TV take on Kate, but she’s already an imitation of Batman. She doesn’t also need to have Super-cousin Syndrome foisted on her, nor to inherit all of his actual accoutrements and properties—at least not right away. As this is breakthrough casting for a breakthrough lead on a superhero show, I’ve awarded it one extra point. They’ll have to work for their originality score after this, as the show right now is otherwise pretty derivative.
Effects: 5/6
Acting: 4/6 The lead gives a good performance, the villain belongs one of Legends of Tomorrow‘s campier episodes, and the quality of the remaining performances varies.
Story: 4/6
Emotional Response: 4/6
Production: 5/6
Overall: 5/6 It’s a first episode, so I’m cutting it the traditional Pilot Ep Slack.
In total, Batwoman, Episode One, receives 30/42
Kate definitely didn’t escape from Alice. She was definitely let go. Does it make sense? Probably not so much. There is an explanation at the end of the episode that doesn’t feel particularly satisfying but might make sense to someone as clearly deranged as Alice is.
“Escape” was definitely the wrong word, but I will want a really good explanation of the explanation in future episodes for that to make any sense.
The Alice origin is, of course, rooted in the comic, and they seem to be using a variation of the source character. In the comic, terrorists killed the mother and (we’re led to believe) the sister, who was in fact taken away and raised by the “Religion of Crime”).
It was definitely a pilot episode, but the show definitely has potential. My wife said she was thrilled to see a non-standard look to the lead female (a butch, tattooed lesbian as opposed to.. well… Black Canary, Felicity Smoak, Supergirl, etc.)