Batwoman Season 2 Review

Overview

In a nutshell. Season 2 was trash for the first half and picked up in a big way in the second. That’s literally the best way I can describe this season in one sentence. After Ruby’s unexpected exit at the end of season 1, Javicia Leslie had to step in to keep the show alive. She was brought in under Ryan Wilder, a never-seen character anywhere which gave The CW the freedom to work on her backstory, development, and character.

The problem the show had, was that it still focused too much on Kate. I get it, it had to in order to end the story. I think during the first portions of the season, The CW had no idea how to actually end it. So they brought in Wallis Day as Kate Kane in order to do just that. This is when the show started to heat up because we knew this was finally going to see its day.

I can’t fault Javicia’s performances in the first half because it would have been tough to be the starring character, but still not the starring character if that makes sense? Whilst Ryan Wilder did have plenty of development, it still wasn’t as strong as it could have been had the story just purely focused on Ryan from the beginning. Including a villain that is somewhat linked to her.

Once the story got going, to be fair it got going. I had ridiculed the show for weeks because it was boring, but then out of absolutely nowhere, it just got good. It got interesting, the story had a proper plot, and we actually saw some incredible development for the characters. The fight scenes went from looking like 2 10-year-olds pretending to do WWE moves on a trampoline, to looking realistic, and choreographed correctly.

We got to see the team improve in Batwing, which is a fantastic addition to the show itself. Despite the finale being quite poor for Batwing, I truly hope The CW capitalize on this, and it’s good for the story now knowing that Batwoman has back up. Considering Batman had Robin, Nightwing, etc.

Whilst I do see people’s complaints about the show, I do believe people should stick with it because it is about to reach its untapped potential. This season was proof. I hated it. I truly despised the direction it went, but then I became attached to the show. Like, now, I cannot wait for season 3. It’s going to be amazing how it can truly focus on Ryan Wilder.

Characters

There’s a lot of characters to look at here, both in a negative and positive light. So, let me get the worst out of the way and discuss the negatives. Black Mask is first up here, let’s be honest, he was one of the most mediocre villains in the entire Arrowverse. He brought nothing to the table, and everything he did was exceptionally predictable. He never had a proper plan in place, and compared to the DCEU counterpart it’s nearly embarrassing.

A couple of other negatives to mention is Enigma. She was supposed to be a prodigy from The Riddler, and everything we saw from her was poor. Jacob was also poor in parts, constantly losing fights or being kidnapped, being addicted to Snake Bite, and other ridiculous arcs. He was poor this season, and I’m not surprised he won’t be playing a part in the show moving forward. Perhaps one of the most pointless characters this season was Angelique. She brought nothing to Ryan’s character development, nothing to the story, and I wasn’t once interested in her character. If I’m being brutally honest, I forgot about that character until this review, so that says something.

However, despite the odd few characters that never lived up, let’s discuss some of the standouts. First off, Sophie, she was fantastic, as explained below. Luke was great this season, and I am EXPECTING huge things from him next season now he’s become Batwing. Tavaroff was fantastic and let down by shady writing in the finale, and most of all – Ryan Wilder. She did great bringing a star character to life when the story was focused elsewhere. Bravo to Javicia for keeping on with the character. After all, it’s better to have someone under the suit who actually appreciates the role.

Standout Character

This is a character that was a nightmare to watch during season 2, so much to my surprise that she’s on here as our official standout is Sophie. She was fantastic this season, and the writing direction where the character went was a pleasant change. She became helpful, and one of the teams should have happened a lot earlier. She turned from being arrogant to be a vital part of taking down Black Mask.

Favourite Episode

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, in this instance, the episode with the highest rating is the winner here. Episode 15, after Luke, is shot by Tavaroff and ends up in a coma. He visits Bruce, and see’s his father again. It was such a deep, emotional episode for Luke and stands out as one of the more memorable episodes for Batwoman.

Worst Episode

Surprisingly, despite Episode 10 receiving the lowest rating of the season with a 3.8, the finale was the worst episode of the season. The hype surrounding the entire story with Luke becoming Batwing, Tavaroff into Bane, and more – it was a huge letdown. I expected huge things to come from the final episode, but in the end, it just let down what was an incredible run from Episode 11 onwards.

Episodes & Their Ratings

Episode 1: What Happened To Kate Kane? – 8.9/10
Episode 2: Prior Criminal History – 8/10
Episode 3: Bat Girl Magic! – 8.5/10
Episode 4: Fair Skin, Blue Eyes – 9.4/10
Episode 5: Gore on Canvas – 5.8/10
Episode 6: Do Not Resuscitate – 8.6/10
Episode 7: It’s Best You Stop Digging – 6.5/10
Episode 8: Survived Much Worse – 9/10
Episode 9: Rule #1 – 7.9/10
Episode 10: Time Off for Good Behaviour – 3.8/10
Episode: 11: Arrive Alive – 8.4/10
Episode: 12: Initiate Self-Destruct – 9/10
Episode: 13: I’ll Give You A Clue – 8.8/10
Episode: 14: And Justice For All – 9.4/10
Episode: 15: Armed and Dangerous – 9.9/10
Episode: 16: Rebirth – 9/10
Episode: 17: Kane, Kate – 9.6/10
Episode: 18: Power – 5.5/10 (Finale)

Average rating – 8.1/10

Our Overall Rating 5.7/10

As you can see by the average and overall, there’s a big drop. When you review individual episodes, they can be great – but ultimately as a season whole, this was bang average. As explained earlier, the first half of the season in general was pretty poor. Despite some episodes being rated highly, it’s in regards to the overall picture that was a letdown.

Does It Deserve Another Season?

Yes. It has been confirmed for a season 3 anyway, but I feel like it definitely deserves it. The reason why is because this season was still focused on Kate Kane, despite Ryan Wilder being the main character. She never got a proper chance to shine with the story centered around Kate. Now, this arc has completely ended, I believe season 3 will be stronger for us viewers and Ryan’s character.