Batwoman 1x19 : A Secret Kept From All the Rest review

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

The penultimate episode of Batwoman's first season kicks off in a big way as we see the villainous Tommy Elliott who the press have named Hush on a rampage in Gotham's library. He is there to kidnap a professor whom he Alice and Mouse believe can decade Lucius's journal which at the end of last week's episode is written entirely in code. Speaking of the journal and after being totally fooled by Regan last week Kate pays her a visit and learns that not only does she not have the journal anymore but she gave it to her sister who also just so happens to be Magpie as we know. Regan isn't seen anymore after this scene but she does mention two things. First is that Magpie traded the journal with someone for her freedom from Arkham and secondly after everything that happened when she took the journal last week she got payed a visit from Julia who put a knife to her throat threatening her. Just what is her angle?. Kate goes full on detective mode as she tries to get to the bottom of things. She goes to visit Julia whom she questions intently. Sophie soon interrupts as the situation between all three grows more intense with Sophie and Julia now dating. Kate tells Julia that nobody can be trusted not even her when it comes to the journal and their intent upon claiming it's contents. Back at Arkham and the process of decoding the journal begins as Alice, Mouse and Hush interrogate not only the professor earlier kidnapped but also more including a man named Tony Kim. Alice however risks exposing everyone as she kills professor and Tony Kim when they fail to deliver on decoding the journal. 

Remember Parker Torres from earlier in the season?? Kate helped her earlier in the season with the issue of her coming out as gay. Well she's back but almost instantly ends up getting kidnapped by Hush who now is fully known to The Crows who are on the hunt. He's sporting his comic accurate jacket and dual pistols and is entirely on point for the most part. At Kate's office she ends up getting a call on her landline (Mary notes that Kate has a landline?!!) and it's the girlfriend of Parker Torres who is extremely upset. She mentions how Parker has been kidnapped but before she disappeared she called out for her to call Kate Kane which she did. This leads to a chase / fight scene between Batwoman and Hush on the motorway as Batwoman saves Parker while injuring Hush. Back at Arkham and Alice's true intentions of decoding the journal get put into place as she wants Luke Fox's help with the journal. Speaking of Luke he shows up at The Crow's HQ and begins questioning Julia. Turns out he has done some digging on her and learns of her being blacklisted from all organisations in Europe including some of the biggest ones. The two meet in a plaza where Luke ends up getting tricked by Mouse who using Kate's voice over the phone gets him to give his location where moments later Hush turns up. He takes not only Luke but Julia also back to Arkham where Julia gets placed under shock therapy protocols as Luke is given no choice but to decode his dad's journal. 

The episode draws to a close as Kate brings Parker Torres to the batcave much to Mary's surprise and confusion. Why did Kate just out herself like that?? now that Parker knows however she steps in for Luke as the tech support so to speak as she uses her ways to unravel the location of Luke and it turns out to be Arkham Asylum as we know. While Parker gets to work Mary goes through a box of Lucius Fox's belongings and finds a photo of Luke as a baby. That's not all she finds though as she finds a pair of glasses that when put on clearly decode the journal. This ends up being Kate's bargaining chip to get Luke and Julia back as Batwoman heads to Arkham Asylum where upon arrival she gets the better of some guards. This makes noise though and The Crows are soon in pursuit. Batwoman eventually finds the location where everything is going down as Alice's frustrations only grow more and more with Luke and Julia who have decoded the journal thanks to Luke's smart sense. They refuse to give up the contents inside however but as Batwoman arrives she offers Alice the glasses in return for Luke and Julia's safety. Luke says he would rather die than give away the journal's contents which are instructions on how to kill Batwoman. Her offer still stands however and Batwoman hands over the glasses to Alice who now knows the secrets of the journal. Luke and Julia are soon told to leave by Batwoman who goes back for Alice but things don't exactly go as planned as Alice ends up letting out all the inmates inside the Asylum. This leads to chaos on the inside as Batwoman has to battle her way out as The Crows surround the outside. She does make her escape and later confronts Jacob Kane who tells her to leave, get out of the city. She refuses but he tells her that if he sees her again there will be war. A bit much perhaps?? maybe not as the episode ends with a further revelation that could very well lead into season 2's big bad. As Kate talks to Julia again about the journal and why she wants it Julia mentions a woman by the name of Safiyah Sohail who was the person behind the shooter in Gotham earlier in the season. Julia convinced her to not kill Batwoman in exchange for the journal which Kate says is just another way to kill her. This is why Julia pulled the plug on the deal as she didn't want anything to happen to Kate. Could this Sohail be season 2's big bad villain?? it seems plausible after this reveal by Julia. The episode ends as we see Alice and Mouse hiding in the sewers all cold and damp. We get one final revelation before the episode ends and that is that Alice wants Kryptonite of all things. Why does she want the green rock?? one can only imagine for now as the episode ends on that note. I did enjoy this episode. It was vastly better narrative wise than last week's episode and just flowed a lot better. Hush wasn't mind blowing but he was a nice change of pace from Alice which was good. Jacob Kane's war threat against Batwoman was expected and the possible reveal of season 2's big bad was incredibly interesting. This isn't Batwoman back at top form but it's pretty close. Roll on next week's season finale.

★★★★