Seemingly, by people’s reactions, Batwoman is not a popular show. I mean, it never was overly popular during season 1 but it seemed to be worse during the second season.
I think with Ruby’s exit, and The CW bringing in a new character instead of just recasting Ruby Rose didn’t go down well with a lot of people. Even despite the fact that Javicia Leslie is a very solid Batwoman.
Now, I said it in my season 2 review which you can read here; the first half of the season was terrible, but it did pick up in a positive way in the second half.
The story began to progress, the characters were developed properly, the fighting scenes got better and overall it felt like a far cry away from the show we all began to hate during the first half.
However, it still needs to improve. A lot.
We know now the show will continue with Ryan Wilder as our Batwoman, and that is okay. There are a few things that it needs to improve on in the upcoming season.
First things first, the villain. Alice was great in season 1, but Black Mask in season 2 was trash. I’m not going to sit here and be nice about it, he was one of the most boring and useless villains in the entire Arrowverse history. So, for me personally, this is where the show needs to look at.
We need a villain that is brutal and will go out of their way to do what’s necessary. Looking at you Reverse Flash, Prometheus, Malcolm Merlyn, Zoom, etc. The potential for The CW to create fantastic villains is there, but they also have a tendency to create some awful villains. Looking at you The Thinker, Black Mask, Damian Darhk, and Agent of Liberty.
DC doesn’t lack villains, and it never has to be one specifically connected to Batwoman in the comics, but it needs to be someone that can push the show forward.
Second on my list for improvement is teamwork. Most of The CW’s shows have teams, and it works well for the formula they go for, and I prefer it. The only one without a full proper team yet is Superman, but we’re still in season 1 for that.
We got Batwing in the season 2 finale, but they also need to properly bring Sophie into the fold as well. I don’t believe they should overdo it, and stick with the 4 for now but it could work much better. After all, Ryan Wilder is not as trained as Bruce, or even Kate, so her having backup out on the field makes sense.
Let’s look at the third improvement for me. The useless characters that get too much screen time. I’m more on the side of Angelique, Enigma, and Safiyah. In my own opinion, these were the most wasted and useless characters of the season.
Angelique didn’t do anything other than boost Ryan’s backstory, and for anything, it kind of made it worse. Enigma did nothing on screen despite her doing so much, and Safiyah was built up to be this nasty villain and just miserably failed in every department of being a villain.
The writing needs to be improved. Most of the time it’s fine, but occasionally it’s cringe or does nothing for a character. Jacob Kane becoming a junkie did nothing for his character or the story, it just wasn’t interesting at all, and this is an example I’m using.
The cringe lines before a fight need to be written better or stop. This isn’t The Flash. This is Batwoman, in one of the worst crime-ridden cities in the world. Just stop it. Or be better.
Also, stop with the false narratives. This is a huge one for me. Stop giving us a story of Bruce Wayne being missing, then casting someone with Bruce’s face to do NOTHING with the story in general. It gives us hope of that going somewhere, but in reality, it won’t. You have the actor, make it happen. I saw no complaints with the casting choice so push with it, or leave it alone moving forward until a decision has been made.
However, I did say the same about Superman in Supergirl and I was proven wrong, so hopefully, it is. But it just needs to stop focusing on all of the side stories, and get to the actual story it’s trying to tell.
I know I have gone in on the show in this article, and it comes across that I dislike the show which isn’t right. I do enjoy the show, I just know for a fact it can be better. Especially now that we have moved on from the dragged-out Kate Kane story.
The season can begin with a fresh slate, and a fresh story so just make it happen.
