Batwoman 1x17 : A Narrow Escape review

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

Batwoman returns from it's extended hiatus due to everything that's going on in the world right now. Last time we saw Batwoman it was on quite the role churning great episode after great episode post Crisis On Infinite Earths. Now that it's back can it keep it up?? the episode begins oddly enough with Alice and Kate bonding together. We see them playing a video game and drinking wine together. The lights being to flicker in the apartment which is instantly a signal that this is far from reality. And it's soon revealed so as we soon see Alice pleading to be left in her own happy place with Kate. Alice is far from being in her happy place as it's revealed that she's in Arkham receiving what looks like shock therapy. This is her reality now as her doctor says so. We're then shown that Gotham has a new or should I say old serial killer on their hands in The Detonator. We see a GCPD officer in his car with a bomb strapped to his chest. A tape is in front of him with the words ''Play me'' on it. He plays it and a voice can be heard stating that this officer has a choice to make. Save himself or save an entire bank building full of people. It's his choice to be a hero or not. The cop actually saves his own skin which I didn't expect which in turn blows up the entire Gotham international bank building. The following day we learn that Gotham now has various imposters of Batwoman due to the OG Batwoman being nowhere to be found in quite some time. One woman in particular shows up at Mary's hospital after getting hurt. So where has Kate gone to?? well she hasn't fully hung up the Bat-suit as first time we see her in this episode we see her taking down a guy. She kicks him down a flight of stairs and he hits his head on the way down. Kate immediately gets flashbacks to her killing of August Cartwright. She panics and begins to breathe heavily as she thinks that the same fate has fallen this guy. He isn't dead however but Kate still struggles with her breath as she goes to the roof of the building. She takes off her cowl as across the way we see the Batwoman signal shining high into the night sky. 

One week passes and it's revealed that Gotham has been feeling ghosted by Batwoman as she hasn't been seen for over a week. This of course is due to Kate's battle with what is seemingly PTSD over crossing the line and killing August Cartwright. Her battle is played throughout this episode and to be honest it's really captivating at points. Not wanting to be the hero of Gotham because she feels like she crossed a line is something comic accurate for not only Batwoman but especially Batman. Back at Arkham Alice is struggling with her now home as a share group takes place. In this share group is a collective of all the villains so far this season with people like Magpie and Tommy Elliott present. Tommy Elliott's obsession with Bruce Wayne is showcased highly here as he seems to have totally lost his mind. He mentions that his fortune has been frozen and that Bruce is his best friend still. Alice states that she can't live like this as she along with Mouse come up with a plan of escape. In short Alice gets stabbed by Tommy Elliott and gets fixed up. She manages to get the knife used on her in the process and gives it to Mouse who later kills the doctor who did all kinds of research on both him and Alice. 

The episode draws to a close as we the identity of Lucius Fox's killer finally gets revealed. First though we see Luke Fox in the bat-cave boxing. Kate comes to visit him as we learn more about The Detonator. It turns out he was active 7 years ago in Gotham and Bruce Wayne was obsessed with exposing him. Luke goes through various clues to The Detonator like Military codes and old setups. It leads to Kate going to see a man named George Adler as Kate Kane rather than Batwoman as her PTSD kicks in again as Luke wonders why she isn't suiting up. At George Adler's apartment it turns out that he isn't The Detonator rather that his dad George Adler Sr was the man in all the various data and clues that Luke had been going through in the bat-cave. As the scene goes on another bomb attack is taking place in the city with the Defense Attorney this time being the target. It's either his life or the entire building where Mary's hospital is that will be blown to pieces. Kate races to the hospital as The Crows rush to evacuate the surrounding area and help the Defense Attorney. As Kate arrives she is met by one of the imposter Batwomen and almost instantly her PTSD kicks in again as the entire building gets blown to bits with rubble everywhere and bodies scattered. Kate goes to leave but Mary is behind her and blurts out that she knows her secret. That it's obvious that she is Batwoman. Kate's reaction isn't exactly mind blowing rather it's pretty somber. But this fails in comparison to the reveal that Lucius Fox's killer is infact someone from inside of The Crows. Sophie and Julia crack the case together as they work really rather well together. The killer turns out to be Agent Miguel of The Crows who was brought into the fold around the time of Lucius's murder. They go and inform Luke of their findings and later as the episode draws to it's end Luke confronts Miguel who it turns out has also been planting the bombs around the city. And one such bomb is now strapped to the chest of Jacob Kane and a bunch of bombs are placed under Wayne Enterprises. Luckily Lucius planned for something like this and built in a lockdown programme for the entire building. Luke confronts his father's killer who tells him why he did what he did. He killed his father for 10 grand after Tommy Elliott of all people offered it to him. Elliott wanted Lucius's journal which is packed full of Wayne technology plans and the sort. Luke points a gun at his father's killer but doesn't pull the trigger rather gets talked around by Kate who is now fully suited up as Batwoman again. The reveal of Lucius's killer wasn't exactly surprising but what was is the fact that Tommy Elliott was involved. Certainly interesting that's to say the least. The episode has one final scene before ending and that is involving Alice who we see again at Arkham. After killing their doctor Mouse has taken his face for himself as the two agree to run the entire building rather than just escape. Alice slams down some chess pieces as the episode ends. And that's that. Another episode under Batwoman's belt and again it was extremely solid and enthralling. Kate's dealings with PTSD was captivating. Tommy Elliott's involvement in Lucius Fox's murder is interesting and Alice and Mouse taking over Arkham is sure to be fun. Mary being in on Kate and Luke's Bat dealings is sure to be interesting also going forward. Luke's reaction to her knowing Kate's secret was well done and going forward it's sure to get better as we now have 3 on Team Batwoman. 

★★★★