This article contains Batwoman spoilers.
Batwoman Season 3 Episode 13
This season of Batwoman gave us new twists on classic characters, after relics of Batman villains’ past washed up in Gotham. And while the Bat Team set off to secure the dangerous artifacts, the past caught up with Ryan when she discovered her birth mother was still alive. As the powerful pieces of villain paraphernalia put the team in peril—respect this wordplay—Ryan’s complicated reunion with her family proved to be more volatile than anyone could’ve prepared for.
Batwoman season 3 successfully introduced legendary Batman rogues to the Berlantiverse. While the existence of some famous comic book villains have been alluded to—an O. Cobblepot is currently detained in Arkham Asylum, for example— the show has mostly stayed away from the Dark Knight’s headliners.
Last season, after Circe liberated the trophies from the Batcave, Agent (of the devil) Tavaroff was Baneified. Similarly, this season, most of the trophies and their accompanying powers were co-opted by folks who stumbled upon them. We saw familiar weapons like Mad Hatter’s hat, and Mr. Freeze’s liquid nitrogen in the hands of unfamiliar foes. But in the case of Poison Ivy, we got a new interpretation of the character alongside the original.
THE NEW POISON IVY
We got our first glimpse of Poison Ivy when Mary came in contact with her vines and slowly took on her meta abilities… and temperament. Mary’s gradual transformation into a Bad Guy gave us a fun take on the iconic character, as she discovered and explored her newfound powers. Her turn as a villain was solidified when she went on the run with Alice, then joined forces with her creator, Pamela Isley.
We meet Pam in the flesh after Renee Montoya pulled the okey doke on the Bat Team and released her from her Batcave prison. Pam revived and, with the help of Mary, immediately resumed her plan to break the Gotham dam and flood the city, going zero to extreme violence in the way only a Gotham-bred villain could.
Mary didn’t fully succumb to her powers, and when she refused to help Pam, Pam drained her of all her energy. This seemingly returned Mary to normal, but things are rarely this cut and dry, and we may see her Ivy powers return. Being powerful in this specific way helped Mary find her inherent power over the course of this season, and she came away a more fully realized version of herself, completely informed by who she was in season one, but more assured, unapologetic.
BATWOMAN GETS A JOKER
When it comes to Gotham-bred, there is none more iconic than the Joker. And though Jack Napier of this universe was killed by Bruce, prompting Batman’s retirement, the spirit of the character is alive and well. When Ryan meets her birth mom, Jada Jet, she also meets her brother, Marquis. As it turns out, Marquis was electrocuted with the Joker’s joy buzzer when he was a kid, and has sociopathic tendencies, which Jada has been covering up and trying to cure all this time.
Jada enlisted Batwoman’s help to put Marquis on ice, Mr. Freezing him until she could find a cure. But when that plan failed, Marquis lost any modicum of chill he had, and escalated from charmingly menacing to chillingly maniacal. He beats the Bat Team to the joy buzzer they want to use to “fix” him.
Batwoman thwarts several of Marquis’ schemes, including the one where he abducts, tortures, and plans to kill Black Glove Society members, of which his mother is one. Alice decides she wants the joy buzzer for herself, tries to steal it from Marquis, and fails, complicating an already chaotic situation. Marquis shares his villain origin story which, it turns out, is Alice’s as well. Everything culminates in a season finale that is, pardon the pun, BATSHIT.
Ryan is able to get the buzzer from Marquis, but Mary asks Ryan to give it to Alice, and she does. Marquis lures everyone outside, broadcasting his promise to reveal Batwoman’s true identity. He steals the Batblimp—THE. BAT. BLIMP—and loads it up with explosives, and the Joker’s acid, so he can blow it up and make it rain acid on Gotham. But the Bat Team uses Penguin’s umbrella and hijacked satellites to hypnotize folks en masse, prompting them to take shelter.
Batwoman takes on Marquis, and their scuffle eventually leads to her hanging onto a ledge with one hand while holding Marquis in the other. A classic Batperson conundrum. Ryan doesn’t drop him, of course, and Alice comes through with the well-earned character growth moment and gives Ryan the buzzer back, allowing her to give him the ol’ zip zap. Luke has to plug his father’s AI into the blimp to control it, so he lets go of his father to save the city. The blimp explodes somewhere on the outskirts of the city, and Marquis wakes up seemingly cured.
The Bat Team wins! Except… something emerges from the wreckage of the Batblimp and immediately chooses violence. Again, things are rarely cut and dry. The Bat Team hoped using the joy buzzer on Marquis would reverse the damage it did, but he had it in his possession for a while. There’s no telling what he may have done to it, and what a second zap means for him. The rivalry may not be over for Batwoman and the Joker, and Ryan may be forced to confront the idea that her brother cannot be redeemed.
ALICE
Alice spent a large part of season one seeking acknowledgement. She unpacked her past, addressed her trauma, and began to re-conceptualize herself in season two. This season, she followed through with that, in part by building a relationship with Mary. Redemption for Alice doesn’t mean forgiveness, but being forgiven by Mary is essential in her wanting to be redeemed.
When Alice relinquishes the joy buzzer, she let’s go of the idea that things just happen to her. She embraces her power, accepts that she’s in control, and crucially, makes the choice to be better, thus regaining her agency. She can’t make up for all of the pain she’s caused, but accepting responsibility for it is one small part of her redemptive journey, as is dropping the Alice identity. Whether Beth can be fully redeemed is an open-ended question, but the path has been laid for that possibility.
BATWING
Luke also comes full circle from the reluctant man in the chair in season one to a full-blown hero. Last season, Luke was pushed to a breaking point, and he broke. This season, he reconciled his old feelings of abandonment. He tackled his fear and self-doubt. He came to peace with his father, and was able to let go of the AI in the Batwing armor because of that. And at the end of this season, he stands in his power, confidently, as Batwing.
SOPHIE
Sophie lost a big part of her identity when she left the Crows. She had to redefine herself outside of that. She found a way to “protect and serve” by aiding the Bat Team, and supporting her sister in her activism. But learning to work outside of the system was a challenge that she took on fully this season, along with fully embracing her queer identity. Sophie and Ryan are officially a thing! Outside of the gratification of watching their relationship develop over two seasons, Sophie’s exhibited enormous growth from who she was in season one, when she was still closeted.
RYAN WILDER
Ryan built herself up from nothing, and took every opportunity that came to her. She molded herself into a hero, and became the person she needed when she was growing up. She really took on all of the lessons from all of the wins and the failures from last season, and came into this season with confidence and authority.
If “We Having Fun, Yet?” is to be the last episode of Batwoman, it’ll be a satisfying conclusion to the series. Not only is the episode able to put a neat bow on all of the important plot in this season, but it resolves a lot of the long-term character development that began in season one. I would hate for this to be the end of her story—for any of their stories—but if this is it, it’s pretty damn good!