Thread by @shengokai

Alright, here's my thread for for #BatwomanCW & #crusadingingcolor with @JulianChambliss @JMarieBrowning @SilasLapham @Cruz_CritCom @plcphd @CACovi715

Sophie needs to stop beating around the bush and just come out and say she knows Ryan is Batwoman. My prediction: Sophie is going to compromise herself to prevent Ryan from being outed and lose her job in the process.

Luke is worried about the "future of the symbol" and not necessarily Ryan per-se. I wonder if this is saying something about what Ryan represents as a Black woman and Batwoman, how that changes the nature of the "Bat legacy."

@plcphd, any thoughts about this re: Luke?

And of course we run into Alice. Ryan's observation that she's "still the bitch who killed (her) mom" makes their semi-alliance just weird. Again, I'm not really following the Alice thread here as it intersects with Ryan's narrative at the series' attempt at social commentary.

I'm never going to be able to take that C6 with a body kit seriously as the Batmobile. Never.

They're really building towards Sophie doing something that saves Ryan's status as Batwoman at some personal cost to herself.

Honestly? This show struggles from too many intersecting threads. It's hard to follow (or lose) the plot when there's just so many different things.

Another thing I'd note is the inconsistency in characterization. At some points, Ryan seems extremely competent in her actions as Batwoman, in others she's only slightly better than some of her colleagues. I'm not sure what to make of this narratively.

If I'm tracking this, Mary is going to distract her father so that Sophie can get into the computer? I mean that's an interesting plan and I wonder if it will lead to an interesting conversation between Mary and her father.

It's interesting that Alice can pull at some of the similarities between Kate's concern with Alice and Ryan's concern with Angelique. Specifically her positioning Ryan's need to save Angelique not out of love but out of guilt.

Also, I'm sure cuffing Alice will work really well.

This is something else that the show has been ambiguous about: Ryan's relationship with Angelique. That is, the narrative is unclear about what message the relationship is meant to communicate and in what way it wants to communicate it. Alice's observation doesn't help ether.

Why does the snakebite look like cherry cough syrup? I'm also really curious about what Sophie's second idea is.

Ah, I think this distraction might clue Mary into her father's drug addiction. That said, there's something interesting about her father "compromising" on the regulations where Mary's underground clinic is concerned. Again, inconsistent messaging here.

Also, I guess this is our first introduction to Not!Kate after her brainwashing by Enigma. If all of this was just an elaborate lead to introduce Not!Kate as Ryan's foil, with Enigma pulling the strings, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. Again, too many threads.

Right, so now Sophie has to delete her "digital footprint" before Jacob catches up with her. Somehow I doubt this will go as she plans.

Again, this show is really inconsistent with Ryan's skill level. It makes little sense that she wouldn't be able to hold her own against someone with less reach than she has, nor does it make sense that Ryan rarely uses those collapsible batons in combat situations.

I point this out because characters with similar training (Oliver Queen, Sarah Lance, Jimmy Olsen) don't seem to have the same kinds of inconsistency. Not sure what accounts for it, but it really takes me out of the "Bat" narrative. She seems barely more skilled than henchmen.

But also, Ryan's abandoning to Alice to her fate without trying to take down Not!Kate? I mean, I see shades of Nolan's Batman Begins re: Henri Ducard, but narratively it strikes me as a little off kilter. Again, inconsistent messaging.

Ah, and I thought it would be Mary who discovered Jacob's addiction, but it is Sophie. This is a twist I did not see coming. Then again, Sophie turning the snakebite over to Mary is par for the course re: CW narratives.

Ryan's not going to go into Witness Protection because she wants to remain as Batwoman, which will tie off the Ryan/Angelique narrative. Interesting that Ryan uses the community center as her justification, which leads me to ask how Ryan views her self as Batwoman.

Welp, I guess we're back to Alice being a hostage of Not!Kate and Black Mask. C'mon now.