Batwoman 3x11 : Broken Toys review

 

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

Y'know I thought Batwoman was getting better. Slowly but surely but boy was I wrong as this episode was an overly complicated mess of a Joker wannabe and deep family emotions that while not horrible just don't come across as genuine given the disconnect between the characters and who they truly are. The episode begins as Batwoman and Mary who is now fully herself again learn that Marquis has escaped and is now back loose in Gotham City. Turns out he was actually in Mary's clinic which is where he escaped from as the water and destruction left behind by Ivy is still pretty prevalent. Speaking of Ivy and last weeks episode we learn from the radio that the city of Gotham is pretty much against Batwoman now after she was exposed by Jada last week as the one behind these new ''villains'' arriving in the city. She does have some time to turn it around though and it can begin with Marquis. We're soon back at the new base where Mary blames herself for all that happened. Marquis knows that Ryan is Batwoman thanks to her and he also has the AI of Lucius Fox that was in the Batwing suit. Mary gave it to him at the party a few episodes back. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong but there is slight glimmer of hope when Luke manages to track down who made the joy buzzer that turned Marquis into the Joker wannabe he has become. It's a woman named Kiki Roulette and not only did she create the joy buzzer but she created pretty much all of The Joker's toys, gadgets and nick knacks. Mary takes it upon herself to track her down and even brings Alice along with her. More on what happens in a bit. 

With Mary and Alice hunting down Roulette to get help with the joy buzzer Ryan remembers that her mom has some sort of dirt on Marquis as she had mentioned it before. This comes into her mind when Marquis reappears on the TV via a press conference. He says that he is going to be pumping money in Arkham Asylum which of course is just a side ploy for his own evil doings. And evil doings it is as his plan is to use inmates as his own personal security and it begins as he recruits none other than Victor Zsasz whom he tasks with not only killing his mom but also destroying any and all evidence she has against him. Zsasz agrees and goes to Jada's main building which is just where Ryan is also heading. The two converge there with Jada and what follows is a pretty dull and boring exchange. The acting was pretty great here however I can't argue about that aspect. Jada and Ryan's relationship has been so up and down that it's been hard to follow but here we learn more about Jada and why she left Ryan after giving birth. She even praises Ryan for making something out of her life as basically she had nothing while Marquis had everything and turned out to be a monster. The interaction with Zsasz is also a bit disappointing as it basically just comes down to him signalling for Batwoman who doesn't turn up because she's technically already in the room. And in the room she is as when the timer hits zero Ryan fights back thus revealing herself as Batwoman to Jada in the process. While there relationship now change for the better or get even more confusing? I'm hoping for the former. 

The episode draws to a close as Alice and Mary find Roulette who seems to have atoned for all of her sins but of course once the joy buzzer is fixed she begins to laugh and act deranged all over again in a predictable manner. She was working for Marquis all along and fixes the joy buzzer but it does only have 1 charge left as it has been severely damaged. While that is going on and Batwoman attempts to get the buzzer back we have Sophie and Batwing sneaking into Wayne Enterprises where Luke gets his father's AI back. They attempt to get into his laptop which is where the find out about his Arkham Asylum plan. Marquis himself turns up and interrupts them leading to a confrontation. Team Batwoman ends up fighting back in a big way including Batwing and Sophie fighting the Arkham thugs while Batwoman fights off the thugs surrounding Roulette. Speaking of Roulette the episode ends back with her and Marquis who is at the Joker's old work shop where Roulette developed and created almost all of Joker's killer weapons and gadgets. We actually see the crowbar that Joker used to kill Robin (Jason Todd) hanging in one of the rooms as Marquis just laughs and laughs. The episode ends with two final things. Firstly Alice tells Mary that she wants to use the buzzer on herself which she thinks will cure her, could it? and if so will Ryan let that happen as after all there is only one charge in the buzzer left that is solely left for Marquis. The final thing before the episode ends is Ryan and Sophie finally hooking up and sleeping together in a scene that went on for a bit too long in my opinion. Maddening to say I know given what is going on but it just felt uncomfortable as both get semi naked as the episode ends with Sophie going down on Ryan. And that's the direction once again that this show is going, down, down and down. It's not atrocious but it's pretty close which is beyond frustrating. Batwoman deserves better, Ryan deserves better and overall this show just should be better.

★★