In an emotionally gripping episode of “Batwoman,” Kate Kane and her twin sister, Beth (Alice) are forced to reconcile with demons of their past. Welcome back to Cat’s Corner.
Cat’s Corner will be a regular entertainment column where we review all your favorite shows and movies. We’ll try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. The columns are all written under a pen name.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
I was prepared to go into this review with my cat claws fully protruded but “Batwoman’s” 11th episode of their maiden season had me on the edge of my seat, emotionally, for the entire episode. Just like every episode thus far, “An Un-Birthday Present” was shot beautifully well.
Let’s review “An Un-Birthday Present.”
During the close-out of last week’s “Batwoman,” Kate found herself coming face to face with her sister Beth from an alternate earth. Her reaction was less than joyous when Alternate-Beth wished her twin sister a happy birthday.
I’d like to just say that all of this doppelgänger crap used to be extremely overwhelming. Alternate versions of characters running rampant was always something that seemed to overcomplicate the story. Yet, in this weeks “Batwoman,” the story of Beth from another universe was refreshing.
All Kate ever wanted was her sister Beth back and now that this alternate version showed up, the emotional turmoil that followed added a stark twist of drama to the show.
Rachel Skarsten shimmered in her roles as both the tortured Alice of earth prime and parallel Beth who found herself stranded in the last remaining post-crisis earth. Her performance’s were so uniquely individualized from one another it was easy to tell the two Beth doppelgängers apart.
This is seen while Alice is reliving past traumatic events with Crow’s Agent, Sophie Moore. During Alice’s recollection we learn more about what took place while she was held captive as a child by August Cartright. Alice’s state is that of a person whose witnessed so much trauma and the actors performance is utterly convincing.
“Just like that little kitten, Beth never made it out of the basement.”
Alice
Alice’s tales of woe really swayed me to sympathize with Alice and urged me not to hate this fairy tale themed villain. I loved that.
When it came to alternate-Beth, Skarsten indoctrinated such an aura of perplexity for the character as she coped with her emergence on this new earth. We watched and learned along with the character as she walked through a whole new world.
One thing this show lacks on is Kate’s response time during a crisis. In my opinion, she needs to improve her reaction when it comes to emergency situations. Her delays constantly had me stressed out.
Elsewhere, a sense of homophobia shrouded the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) in this episode. This upsetting detail about the small minded police force follows in the wake of Batwoman’s coming out article being published by Kara Danvers of CatCo.
This reflected bad on the police department as the citizens of Gotham protested the forces reluctance to shine the bat-signal in the closing scene.
This weeks Batwoman was emotionally driven and contained an excellent message of tolerance. Watch the full episode here.
Featured photo courtesy The CW
