Batwoman S01 EP01 spoiler review

It seems like with every year the CW adds another superhero show to their Arrowverse and this year is no exception (with next year also confirmed to have another hero joining the ranks). Now we have Batwoman who we were actually intruded to in last year's big crossover. That set big expectations for her eventual show, and I don't think the CW disappointed.
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I really enjoyed the first episode of this new show and while it didn't completely blow me away I had fun with it and can see it going on to be one of the greats of the Arrowverse. It introduced us to a new cast of characters and a new story location, and Gotham is very different from Central City on the Flash. I think that the story of the first episode, with a former love interest of Kate Kane being kidnapped was a great way to simply bring our main character back to Gotham and also to establish relationships. Especially the relationships as I'm talking about it, because as we learn through flashbacks Kate was discharged from the police academy due to her romance with Sophie, which is what lead to her being shipped off to train for the Crows security force. Sophie also wasn't kidnapped as a specified hit against Kane, but against her father, the leader of the Crows, who idolized Sophie as an exceptional member of the force. This also set up the conflict between Kate and her father, as he never saw her as being a part of the Crows like he did Sophie. Whew, a lot to cover, but hopefully, I managed to convey that the show used an expertly simple plot to introduce the characters and their relationships.

Speaking of character,s before I get into the story, I feel a bit iffy so far about them. When Flash started and we were introduced to our characters I felt like each one really stood out and characters like Cisco and Harrison Wells were characters that were overflowing with personality. The characters of this show are interesting, but I'm usually very good with names and this show hasn't had the names stick with me yet. I do like Kate, she has a lot of anger and disregard for the rules who can make her an interesting protagonist. Her father is gruff, tough, and definitely feels like he has a story to play in becoming a better father, and will be tightly entwined to the story as he is the leader of the task force the main villain was targeting. I like the nerdy, nervous energy of Luke Fox but so far his character hasn't gotten much to do, and that goes along with Kate's step sibling Mary who was thrust into a huge backstory of running a secret medical hospital which seemed inconsequential in the long run. Maybe they'll do more with it eventually. Sophie played little more than a damsel in distress role this time and hopefully we'll see more of that top notch officer attitude she was touted for. Her husband was introduced at the last second, so I can't say much about him. But for introductions to our main cast, I'm feeling more hit or miss at the moment.

Talking about the story, which I already have a little bit, we're given a lot of flashbacks to explain things that happened with the characters. One of the most interesting was Kate's backstory in which Batman attempted but failed to safe her sister and mother in a car crash, which might be the best look at Batman we get on this show for a long time. Like I mentioned before, Kate returns to Gotham to aid her captured former love interest and in the end does save her from capture, all while discovering Bruce Wayne's secret as Batman and beginning to take it for her own. I thought the manner in which she found out was good as well, as the search for Sophie was what brought Kate to Wayne industries in order to use Bruce's private security system, which then snowballed into her discovering the Batcave beneath the building. There was a lot of tracking down the villain, who got away after a scuffle at the end of the episode, which in the end made for a simple but effective pilot episode. I'll mention that I loved the scuffles in this show. They felt very powerful and visceral, and Kate herself took a few blows and was even defeated at one point; she wasn't an invincible hero who made thugs look like children, she had to actually fight and I thought that was very realistic and awesome of the show to do.

I didn't mention the villain before while discussing characters because I wanted to do it here. I'm a bit iffy on Alice right now, sometimes she seems to play the insanity bit a tad much to the point of goofiness, but other times I feel like it works and it'll be interesting to see her balance of sanity and insanity the actress had hinted towards. The biggest talking about of the episode comes at the end when it is revealed that Alive is Kate's long lost sister, Beth, who vanished after the car crash. What caused Beth to go mad and become this super villain who only just now is making her appearance? It'll certainly be an interesting story to tell, and I can't wait to see the eventual confrontation when Alice learns that her sister is the new Bat vigilante (name and official costume pending).

Overall, I feel like it was a pretty good start to the show! I enjoyed some of the new characters, while others I'm sure will be fleshed out over the next couple of episodes. There's a lot of mystery and intrigue to be found in the main story line, and the show jumping in the first episode to reveal Alice's identity hopefully means a fast paced show with a lot of ground covered to make the show feel as alive and action packed as possible, while still fitting in the detective cues the Bat family is known for. The next episode looks to further the fight between Kate and the Wonderland gang, and I'm all here for it.