Alice joins Ryan in the Batmobile and yet again, Rachel Skarsten understood the assignment. She’s messing around with the controls as Ryan disables the rockets and demands she keep her hands at 10-2. They compromise on putting on music but instead of the sounds of Fletcher blasting from the speaker, they tap into comms at The Hold Up, and hear every bit of Renee and Sophie’s conversation.
Comedy gold, I swear.
Ryan tries to turn it off, but Alice is so into it and slaps Ry Ry’s hands away. Renee and Sophie talk about that night and Renee admits that she knows she wasn’t Sophie’s first choice because she wouldn’t stop talking about Ryan the whole night. Alice pipes in with a “hey, that’s you!” and Ryan replies with a “shut up” that felt so much like Rachel and Javicia just clowning around. Alice starts to turn off the comms, but this time Ryan stops her.
Alice is delighted that Sophie likes Ryan back, but Ryan is still in the land of delusion where she denies liking Sophie at all. Alice reads Ryan for filth and informs her that every person with eyeballs can see what’s going on with the two of them, but she also understands why Ryan’s keeping her cards close. It’s the same thing Sophie said last week; Ryan is so afraid of losing anything good that comes along, she acts like it means nothing to her. Not one to be alone in a read, Ryan asks Alice if that’s what’s going on with her and Mary.
Before they can get into that conversation, they spot Mary’s ambulance, that refuses to pull over despite literal Batwoman asking them to. Ryan jumps onto the ambulance and ends up getting Mary out of the back. Good news: she’s not dead. Bad news: she’s in a coma and also, she killed a guy. Alice covers Mary’s coma ears as she tells Ryan about the murder and it’s honestly hilarious and very sweet. She knows that once their Mary is back, this information will destroy her.
“Shhhh! She still hasn’t seen the Yellowjackets finale!”
Somehow, they get Mary from the gurney to the Batmobile and then to The Hold Up (I’ve seen some discussions on Twitter about the logistics of this and y’all are hilarious). As they lay Mary down, Renee tells them about Mary becoming Pam’s sporeling and despite how it sounds, Pam isn’t actually a parasite; she cares about Mary. Sophie puts two and two together and realizes that if Mary is this tapped out, it means Pam is hella strong right now. Renee, suddenly a wealth of information, tells them Pam is at the dam to finish what she’s started, and that if they want a chance to take her on, they’re going to need Mary. I resent the idea that just because Batman needed help, that Batwoman will also need help, but I also love a teamup, so FINE.
“Bitch, do you know who I am?!”
Meanwhile, Pam and her vines are getting to work to take down the dam.
Back at The Hold Up, Mary comes to and is confused about why she’s with her former friends. They (quite ironically) tell her that Pam’s been using her, but Mary doesn’t believe them. She goes off about how they can’t fathom the idea that someone might actually value her, and then Alice chimes in, sounding so broken, as she tells Mary that she’s basically a battery. She gives her my own remedy for sadness which is to listen to a Kelly Clarkson song and move on. (Fun fact about me, I’ve seen Kelly in concert 7 times and I’m obsessed with watching the rest of the world fall in love with her too.)
Keeping true to the cliche that hurt people hurt people, Mary goes in on Alice, on Ryan, on Luke, and even on Sophie despite the fact that she has said nothing during this entire exchange. This is the second week in a row Sophie has been roasted while minding her business and it honestly might be my new favorite bit.
“Literally just standing here, y’all.”
Before Mary leaves, Ryan tells her that she killed a guy. At first, Mary doesn’t believe her because she would obviously remember something like that, but one look at Alice’s face tells her that it’s the truth.
Things are starting to look very very bad at the dam; Pam’s killed a worker, cracks are forming, and there’s not a child in sight to plug them with their finger. (Yes, I know this analogy is broken, leave me alone.)
This is just the power of Bridget Regan.
It’s too much power for Pam on her own, and to her surprise, Mary shows up to offer a boost. We then learn that this is all part of the Bat Team’s plan to defeat Pam. Renee fills them in about the pheromone blocker she’d been ingesting, which Alice finds incredibly sweet, and figures that if Mary drinks it before Pam siphons her, it’ll weaken the OG and she won’t see it coming.
The better news is that doing this should also bring back the old Mary. That is, if it doesn’t kill her first. But Mary knows she’s stronger than Pam and will be able to pull away before Pam kills her.
Turns out, the Kelly Clarkson song Mary listened to was “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Back at the dam, we see that the plan works! Pam stumbles as she realizes what’s happening, Batwoman shows up, and the two fight in a match up I, for one, have been waiting for! It’s very Step Up 2 (the streets) meets that one scene in Birds of Prey, and what can I say? Every choreo sequence is better with water; it’s just science.
“Let’s dance.”
Luke drops in as Batwing, and as the vines start to squeeze the air and life out of him, he flashes back to getting shot and the events that followed. He realizes that the only voice he needs to hear is his own, which is enough to get the suit operating again. While Luke gets the dam stable, Ryan takes down Pam, and they carry a barely breathing Mary home.
For the second time in this episode, Mary wakes up at The Hold Up, but this time she realizes that she’s back to being herself. The team is so happy to see her and the first thing Ryan does is apologize for sidelining her in the past. I swear, I could feel the hug that Ryan gave Mary. Now, when I invoked Emily Fields’ name last week, I had no idea that we’d practically get one of her quotes this week, but Mary confesses that she remembers everything that happened, including the fact that she killed a guy.
Big Danvers sister energy.
Ryan tries to get Mary to see that it wasn’t her who did that, and while I see Ryan’s point, it might not be the healthiest thing for Mary to just brush this away as a thing that happened when she wasn’t herself. That kind of trauma can have long reaching effects and there’s got to be ONE (1) therapist left in Gotham, right? LOL what am I saying, Ryan doesn’t do Feelings, this reaction makes perfect sense for her.
Meanwhile, Alice is sipping on a blue drink, probably wondering if she and Mary will still have a relationship now that she’s back to herself, when Ryan comes over and returns the favor of a read. She knows Alice cares about Mary and feels bad for attempting to make her more like herself. It’s Alice’s turn to avoid feelings though, because she reminds Ryan that they missed Jada’s deadline (like Ryan, I completely forgot about that).
“As if you were getting away without a read of your own.”
And now, the most dramatic lesbian scene I maybe have ever witnessed? Pam wakes up on a military-style plane and she is furious that Renee sold her out yet again. She’s tired of explaining and fighting and is ready to be done with the relationship. So in a completely sane move, Renee opens the airplane door and is like, well, if you’d rather destroy Gotham and everyone in it, feel free to jump; or you can stay here and make this work. Pam looks at Renee and goes, “I’ll 100% die” and sorry not sorry, I will absolutely be using this moment every single time I want to be dramatic.
“They didn’t even get this drama on ‘The L Word’!”
Listen, it’s very sweet that Renee negotiated a deal for Pam’s freedom, and even Pamela is impressed with Renee. But the lesbian urge to give your girlfriend the choice between you and jumping out of a plane?!?! Absolutely incredible, show. 10/10 for drama.
Not only did Renee negotiate for Pam’s freedom, but the two are headed on an all-expenses paid trip to the Isle of Lesbos! Just kidding, kinda. Sophie told them about Coryana, a magical land where plants are worshiped and there’s nary a factory in sight. I don’t know who’s reading this, but if it’s someone with TV power…GIMME THE SPINOFF PLEASE!
Okay, I’d stay too if Renee gave me this face.
Back at The Hold Up, Mary is looking at articles about the man she killed (see, Ryan…therapy!), and Sophie offers her help to Ryan for the Jada situation. And Sophie does something here that feels important to call out. She can tell that Ryan isn’t ready to talk about what happened with them, but rather than push the issue, she simply makes sure Ryan knows she’s there for her, and walks away to give her space.
“Wait…is this happening?”
Ryan doesn’t let her get far though. She thanks her for getting Renee to talk and informs her that kissing her didn’t work to get her out of her head. It just got her more in it. Ryan quips “no, you’re not” to Sophie’s “I’m sorry” and dammit this is exactly how I flirt. Read me, show. READ ME. Ugh, I’m obsessed.
“Yes, Moore. I’m FEELING. Just let it happen.”
The team tunes in to a news report where Jada blames Batwoman for all of the Batman villains resurfacing. She demands Batwoman turn herself in…or else?? We see the results of the flooding in Gotham, including in the clinic where a desiccated Marquis has been chillin’. Not for long though, because a drop of water is enough to awaken Joker 2.0 and that can’t be good for anyone.
Next week, Sophie’s hair is half up in a high pony!
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This recap perfectly captures how the show is filled with moments of comedic gold even when the dramatic stakes are at a 10. How did we get the heartbreaking moment of Mary finding out she killed someone and “not trying to be a Renee-sayer” in the same episode?? The Batwoman writers are magic
As always I love your recaps as you capture each moment perfectly. My favorite scene between Ryan and Sophie was them addressing the kiss hopefully they will express themselves more next week. Love the last comment that Sophie hair will be up next week lol always good to know.
This season just keeps on delivering and your recaps are perfect.
This episode was perfect and so was the recap. I may have squealed, “I already did!” at the recommendation that we rewatch the Sophie-Alice-Renee “interrogation” scene. I had to rewind and watch again as soon as it happened. Alice was being incredible as always and then the Sophie-Renee response was so good, too.
I hope the cast and crew are having as much fun making this as I am watching it.
Wait, so that’s it? No more Pamela?
This episode was absolutely incredible. I would like to personally congratulate Poison Pam and Poison Mary for inventing a new kind of lesbian sex – the forehead-clasp-and-writhe.
It’s not a lesbian ship unless they’re sweet angsty moments get interrupted …the drama of it all has me hooked
A jewel! Batwoman has surprised, the way she reinvents herself, but, let’s be honest, I see more chemistry between Sophie and Alice or Sophie and Renee than Sophie and Ryan. That kiss was so squashed that even being fortuitous looked awkward and weird…. I hope this gets better. I’m also sad that Renee will be gone.
I wasn’t sure I saw the chemistry between Sophie and Ryan until the end of the panic room episode. I feel like they’re at their most believable when Ryan pulls some top energy out of nowhere. Hoping to see more of that.