Batwoman 1x8 : A Mad Tea-Party review

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

Batwoman's mid season finale has come and gone and with it we got big reveals, revelations and even had to bid farewell to someone. The episode once again begins with Kate narrating over the opening scene. She says how she has chosen hope over darkness in her ongoing war to clean up Gotham. Next thing we see is Kate who is hunting down another member of the Wonderland Gang. She nabs his coat which he says is vintage before grappling away just as the GCPD arrive. Back at the bat-cave and with Luke's help Kate uses the coat as a way to track down Alice and it is successful. Alice is seen in an abandoned warehouse sorting through clothes. She can't decide on what to wear as Kate walks in and once again pleads with her to stop all of this. Alice refutes and tells her that it was her who stopped the rifle from killing Batwoman as she swapped out the piece of tech for the Hamilton tech gun that we saw a few weeks back. Kate says that Beth is still inside of Alice even if Alice herself refuses to believe it. After all she does still have the picture of the two when they were younger. In the last episode we saw that Mouse was pretending to be Jacob Kane. Well that continues on here as the real Jacob ends up getting kidnapped by the Wonderland Gang and brought to Alice who has him tied up. Mouse fills in the role of Jacob unknown to everyone else at the Crow's HQ. 

Mary shows up at Kate's new digs and invites her along to a special presentation for her mom Catherine. She is to be presented with the Humanitarian of the year award at a Gala later that night. Kate refuses to go and she is still fixated on Alice. This only leads to her and Mary's relationship growing further and further apart and by the time the episode ends? well let's just say it's completely beyond repair. Kate goes to meet her dad to inform him of Alice's plan which she does find out has something to do with the Gala later that evening. She notices something is off about him however as she mentions something about him and Catherine's marriage. Immediately she cops on and texts Sophie to let her know but just as she does get the text her and her husband are hit with darts to the neck by Mouse as Jacob knocking them out. Upon awaking they cut themselves loose and really dig deep into their relationship. Her husband is still hung up on the fact that he only recently found out that Kate and Sophie were a thing. And a thing for a long time. In short he basically tells Sophie that he wants kids, a dog and a family that have their own traditions. Sophie clearly isn't on the same page as him as he gives her an ultimatum. He gives her back her ring and says to think things over and if she wants what he wants he will be there, if not then he won't. I fully expected something along these lines to happen as Sophie's love for Kate has always been there to see. 

The episode draws to a close at the Humanitarian Gala and after getting a fine introduction Catherine steps up to claim her reward. She starts off by giving a pretty standard speech about herself, family company etc. But things soon take a turn for the worse as the teleprompter she is reading off of shows completely different words to what she was supposed to say. The next thing she sees is Alice standing in the middle of the room who does look really nice hear I must admit. Catherine follows along and continues to read the teleprompter which reads of how Joker, Riddler and more aren't the real criminals of Gotham. The real criminals are her and Jacob and the Crows who pocket money and use it for their own gain and well being. As she is about to finish her nose begins to bleed and she collapses on stage leading to mass panic and hysteria throughout the building. What happened to her?? well it turns out not only did Alice poison the champagne that both Catherine and Mary drank but there is only enough antidote for one of them leaving the mother and daughter with a decision to make. Mary takes the antidote as her mom slowly slips away as the toxin inside of her liquidates her organs and her body shuts down. Absolutely devastated by the events Mary is left motherless as Alice's plan to end Catherine for stopping Jacob and Kate from looking for her when she was younger has come to fruition. Back at Kate's place Mary shows up and basically tells her that she is the one person in the world who cannot comfort her now. Kate could've just went against Alice but didn't. The episode doesn't end there as there is even more. Jacob wakes up in his car after being drugged, beaten and spoken to by Alice. The GCPD rush in and say he is under arrest for the death of Catherine Hamilton. The cops search him and find the vial of poison emptied. Obviously planted again by Alice and Mouse. He's taken into custody where later Kate shows up and says that next time she sees Alice he won't stop Jacob from ending her. That she hates her so much for what she's done. And that's how it ends. This ongoing story will pick up in 2020 because next week is the beginning of this year's biggest crossover yet in Crisis On Infinite Earths. There's even a tease at the ending to Wells becoming Pariah much like last year's mid season finales had Earth-90's Flash. This episode overall was really, really good. A great mid season finale in truth. It had everything. Suspense, drama and good storytelling. Alice's plan fell perfectly into place and shattered countless lives. Kate's unwillingness to fully trust Mary cost her mom's life and Jacob?? well he no longer sees Beth in Alice only the murdered who killed his wife and who also now has him falsely imprisoned. This was a great episode that only falls short of being the best episode this season. That title still belongs to episode 5 in my opinion. Crisis begins next week which is shaping up to be something truly special. The regular storyline for Batwoman will resume in 2020. Until then Ms Kane!

★★★★