Batwoman 1x11 : An Un-Birthday Present review

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

Batwoman returns once again and after last week's ending which saw Beth re-enter Kate's life completely out of left field this episode does have a lot of explaining to do. The episode begins with more flashbacks of a young Beth and her whole ordeal of being held captive by a man who really we know little about really. Also present in the house is Mouse who we see give Beth a gift on her birthday. It's a kitten which Beth immediately takes a shine to. She has to hide it however whenever her captor enters the room much to her and Mouse's sadness. Her captor enters the room and offers her a candle to blow out on her small birthday cake and asks Beth to wish for something. Beth says her wish a loud which is to see her family again but it won't come true now as saying wishes out loud doesn't make them come through according to her captor. As the episode goes on we get some more scenes of young Beth one scene stands out however and it is the day Alice is born. After taking a shine to the Alice In Wonderland book we see Beth and Mouse having a tea party as all hope of ever seeing her family leaves Beth's body as her captor had earlier shown her a paper clipping of her dad having moved on and married Catherine basically becoming Kate's new mom. It's all making sense ever so slowly and I really did like this. The Alice In Wonderland names for various people given by Beth was accurate as her mind slowly slips into insanity.

That was young Beth but the other Beth that we saw show up at the end of last week's episode turns out to be a Crisis side effect. She was literally thrown into Earth-Prime when the new universe was formed. This version of Beth tells Kate who soon after the episode begins meet at their childhood location that nobody even notices her around this place as even Kate tried to attack her. Beth is taken back by a lot of things one main thing is Kate's tattoos which she eagerly tries to know more about. But the main thing that is different from this Earth and Beth's is that Kate saved Beth from the car crash that ''killed'' her sister on this earth. In general both Kate and Beth are a lot closer on whatever Earth this Beth is from. The bond almost right away which was really good to see was a real positive as things have been pretty bleak for Kate all season. She went from having no sister to having a psychotic sister to now having 2 sisters. It's confusing on paper but it's somehow managing to work out here. As the sisters bond Luke rings Kate to ask her to turn on the TV which she does. What she and everyone else sees is Mouse who offers Gotham an ultimatum. Hand over Alice who is still in custody or watch as 2 high profile citizens of Gotham perish. The GCPD refuse to turn on the bat-signal for Batwoman which is not really surprising to Kate given her public statement that she is gay in last week's episode. Batwoman is essentially too political for Gotham now but the Commissioner says it's got nothing to do with politics. Kate rushes off to find the two kidnapped people but ends up getting knocked completely off her bike by Mouse who kidnaps her also placing her in the same car as the two young men. Mouse's offer still stands. Sophie back at the Crow's base let's Alice go or everyone dies. Kate uses a sort of morse code that her and Sophie used to use before in their Academy days and tells Sophie to not let Alice go and that she should be kept in custody. 

The episode draws to a close back at Wayne Enterprises where Beth meets Luke for the first time. Beth comes up with a plan to imitate Alice and take her place going to see Mouse in the process. Getting all dressed up by Mary, Beth looks perfect as the Alice replacement given she is actually her..but when she does arrive she is almost right away outed by Mouse thanks to her not being able to answer one of his questions. Beth ends up getting thrown into the booth of the car where Kate and the others are as Mouse sets the entire car ablaze. With time running out second by second Kate frees herself, the two young men and eventually Beth before making her escape as Mouse gets a spike driven through him. Back at Kate's place the group gather to celebrate both Beth and Kate's birthday as Mary funnily enough questions the thought of multiple universes being a possibility. Kate's reaction says it all really. While everyone is having a good time the news comes on again this time showing a protest outside the GCPD. It's the people of Gotham finally rallying behind Batwoman 100% as they call for the GCPD to turn on the bat-signal again. Batwoman soon swoops in landing on the top of the building to greet the people as this scene truly is a feel good moment. But the episode doesn't end there. There's one more big issue and that is one of Beth and Alice start to suffer from severe headaches. First we see Beth cling onto her head with her hand as she blows out her birthday candle while we see Alice flinch and stand up against a fence as the episode ends. Presumably this is the cause of there being two versions of Beth on Earth-Prime. Two version with two memories that are beginning to merge together until there will only be one. Who is that gonna be?? well we have to wait until February 16th to see what happens next as Batwoman takes a hiatus until then. Overall though this episode was really good story wise. It wasn't as prefect flow wise as last week but there was enough here for another really enjoyable episode of Batwoman. Long may it continue.

★★★