Batwoman 1x2 : The Rabbit Hole review

Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it. 

The second ever episode of Batwoman begins with more flashbacks to the accident that caused the seemingly death of Kate Kane's mother and sister Beth. Kate narrates over the scene as she can't believe how Batman who had all the tech and money in the world still couldn't find Beth or her mom. On the streets of Gotham we see more men working for Alice. They're now known as the Wonderland Gang and as they attempt to commit even more crimes Kate Kane in her Bat suit shows up and after learning that the suit is bulletproof proceeds to pummel the men. She eventually has to escape cause she is so surrounded but this was a good way to start the episode. In the news and media everyone thinks that The Batman has returned after last week's ending where Kate showed up wearing the suit as she stopped Alice's plan and saved Sophie. The media outcry for help continues throughout as the mysterious Bat like figure doesn't seem to show up throughout as Kate struggles with her own life problems and crime shows no real sign of stopping. At her dad's place Kate has breakfast with her step mom and step sister along with her father. She says how she got Alice's knife and how it has the same ruby in it that she has. The slightest mention of Alice that is Beth proves too much to bear for her father who condemns Kate for even getting the knife and not joining up with The Crows. Kate says that all she needs is DNA to prove that she is right and sets off about doing something. Kate who earlier had been in the bat cave sporting Batman's cape and cowl is told by Luke Fox that she needs to change her plans and overall identity as she isn't Batman and she never will be. Kate agrees but for the time being needs to continue using the bat suit to distill fear into her enemies. While looking over various gadgets Luke says that they weren't made for Kate, for him or anyone. They were made for Batman and Batman only. Kate responds by saying that Luke is nothing like his dad Lucius who at least was useful. Finally some proper banter between the two which was nice.

During this episode flashback's to Kate's past remain heavily throughout. Not only do we see what happened to her mom and Beth again but we also get to see the aftermath of it all. We see that Kate and her dad searched and searched for Beth. The toll heavily on a young Kate who blamed herself for what happened. She tells her dad that it's her fault what happened, she says she could have saved Beth and her mom or even going as far as to say that she should've perished with them. These scenes were a nice welcome as it helped explore and show off more of Kate's past. In present day Kate goes to see Sophie and the two get jumped by Alice's Wonderland gang who end up getting her knife back. Sophie jumps in front of the trying to escape jeep and saves Kate. Back at the main Crow HQ Sophie questions Kate on just who was the mysterious person that saved her last week. Kate says it wasn't her and even if it was she would've dressed as Wonder Woman which was genuinely funny. With the dagger now back in The Wonderlang Gang's possession Kate gets further scolded by her dad who says she needs to stop getting involved and let him the GCPD and The Crows do their job. Again Kate doesn't listen and goes to see Mary who has her own clinic that we saw last week. Inside Mary is treating one of the Wonderland Gang members who just so happens to have a batarang inside his leg. Mary keeps it for herself and as she tends to someone else Kate lets the guy go but not before sending him off with a message. Waffles. Not what anyone expected but Kate says Alice will know what it means and she sure does as the two estranged sisters finally meet face to face at their favorite spot growing up. 

The episode comes to a close as Kate and Alice meet for the first time face to face with no bat suit. Alice questions why Kate and their dad left her to die after the car went off that bridge. She says she saw her own mother's head on the other side of the wind screen. She also mentions how she fought for her life as air become less and less. Kate says she hasn't slept a proper night since she went missing but it's all cut short as The Crows rush in and threaten to kill Alice. Kate steps in front of her and says that this is your daughter to her dad which leaves him with the decision of taking Alice to Arkham. With Alice going to Arkham at the bat cave we see Luke who manages to get the communications online which he uses to help Kate. Of course everything doesn't go so smoothly as while driving to Arkham the vehicle which is transporting Alice gets blown up leading to it falling over into the Gotham river. Batwoman comes to the rescue however and using Batman's re-breather gadget she saves Alice from certain drowning. This moment was the best of the episode for me and showed that their relationship while different on each side was still a form of sisterly love. While underwater The Crows begin their assault into the river and cause both Batwoman and Alice to be washed away in opposite directions. Kate almost ends up getting caught by the GCPD but Luke comes to her rescue thanks to the suit's built in defibrillator which saves Kate in the nick of time. Back at the bat cave Kate questions just who or what happened to cause the explosion on the bridge? well skip to somewhere else and we see Kate's step mom talking to a guy. And it turn out she is involved with everything. There's always an underlying family issue in these shows huh?? the episode finally ends with Kate out in Gotham. She gets two gifts from Alice. One is a bat in a box and the other is a message which reads that ''your eyes are a lot like our father'' the bat flys away up into the air as the final thing we see is Kate looking up at Wayne Enterprises. And that was episode 2. Not entirely great but not so bad either. It's probably on par with last week's in terms of quality. Ruby Rose continues to be the driving force of this show which is no surprise. Beth's transformation into Alice will surely be interesting to see explained. Luke Fox is a breath of fresh air whenever he's on screen and in total this show is nowhere near as bad as some people think and say. Until next week then Ms Kane!

★★★