Skip to main content

Batwoman CW TV Series (2019- ) - The Best Batman (without Batman) TV Show So Far?

Batwoman Season 2
On multiple occasions I've written about my desire for a live action Batman TV series including this post, The Bat Suit and CSI Batman, and this post, Batman Television Series Reboot - It's About Time. Unfortunately (and fortunately depending on my mood) Batman on the big screen has pretty much killed any chance of a Batman TV series for the time being.

That said, there have been a few shows in recent time circling around Batman such as, Gotham, Pennyworth, and Titans. I also hear director of The Batman, Matt Reeves, is doing one too.

Gotham started out promising in its first season but lost me due to awkward scheduling (I think when it started I was watching it week to week on free to air TV). Plus the focus on the bad guys didn't really do it for me. I like Batman's rogue gallery more when Batman is the one going after them.

Pennyworth I've yet to check out but the idea of a prequel for Bruce Wayne's Dad's butler doesn't sound appealing to me regardless of which version they choose. From what I've heard it's the ex military persona. Again I like Alfred because of his relationship to Batman. It's just kind of awkward without Bruce.

For me the best Batman without Batman show has been Titans, largely because it has at least three Robins, all cast and performed so exceptionally well, it makes you wonder why they find the character so problematic for the big screen. Add to that some other really interesting characters, Hawk, Dove, the Doom Patrol, Super Boy, Krypto, (I particularly liked Wonder Girl's episodes), and more of a continuing story arc through the seasons, less than 'freak of the week', I've been very engaged.

I'm also a big fan of their recently introduced Bruce Wayne, who many people have been completely bemused by. However, it's a clear homage to Adam West's Bruce Wayne only with much better fighting skills (if only in a dream sequence with Dick Grayson on season 2 of the show so far). It may not be for everyone but doing something interesting with Bruce Wayne that references the '66 version is cool to me.

Ruby Rose as Batwoman
Ruby Rose as Batwoman.
All this is a long preamble into the Batwoman TV series which has taken me quite a while to catch up with because it wasn't on any of the streaming services available to me until recently.

Initially, when Ruby Rose was announced for the title role, I was excited to see what she did with the role. Obviously, she's a fellow Aussie and, while I haven't seen a lot of her previous work, she has a reputation for being more than capable as an actor in dramatic roles. I thought she'd do well as Batwoman.

Then I started to hear all the feedback on the first season, and it wasn't favorable. While some of it could easily be attributed to the LGBTQ and SJW themes of the show that your average internet troll pounces on for no other reason than anything that can be labelled with either must be bad, after more than a year, general consensus seemed to be season one was bad and season two wasn't much better.

Undeterred, I decided to dive in anyway. I mean, it's the closest show to a Batman TV series yet. It has literally got everything Batman has, it just doesn't have Bruce Wayne/Batman himself.

The Batmobile - Batwoman season 2
I know it's basically a sports car but
it still makes more sense to me as
the Batmobile than those tanks.
I'm also going to say this... second best live action Batmobile of all time after the '66 Batmobile. I know it's basically just a beefed up sports car but, to me, that makes more sense than the tanks and long phalluses you see in the movies. Anyway... prefacing this with, I've never read a Batwoman comic in my life...

Batwoman Season 1 (Minor spoilers ahead)

Honestly, this was a tough watch for me. Unfortunately Ruby's Kate Kane and Batwoman just didn't get me excited for the series as it went on. It's not that Ruby wasn't trying. I read comments that her performance was wooden but I disagree (not least because that's a standard criticism I've seen given to actors just because people don't like them).

Ruby seemed to be playing Kate as broody, introspective, journal writing, and unassuming, which is all very appropriate when you consider Bruce Wayne is often depicted similarly. But the character was also supposed to be rebellious, and I think that aspect didn't quite come across in how the scripts were written.

Not helping was the overall story arc, with Alice and the Wonderland gang, following the tired trope of the villain being a consequence of the hero.

Which would have been fine, perhaps, if the show was a little more 'freak of the week'. It may have helped but, with Alice being a major character and story arc, across two seasons now, if that story line isn't for you there's very few breaks from it. 

For the record I didn't not like Alice and her gang as the key villains. The actor playing Alice, Rachel Skarsten, is extremely great in the role. It's a little bit female, Joker with shades of Harley Quinn, but more purposeful. Alice is definitely not about chaos, she has goals. I have come to enjoy the character.

I do struggle with Kate Kane's Dad, Jacob Kane, and his security firm 'The Crows', which seems more like a 'rent a cop' police force and it's unclear as to who actually hired them? Gotham PD still exists, yet The Crows aren't just security, they're also doing detective work? Not to mention Jacob is such a stereo typical hard ass it's hard to feel any sympathy for him, even when he finally sees he could be doing things with a little more empathy.

Number one irritation of the show is the TV News reporter voice overs. Sadly these continue into season two. I guess they're supposed to be a litmus test of community opinion over current events but they don't really add anything to the story. As a viewer I don't really care what the people of Gotham are thinking about Batwoman unless it is critical to the story.

Action on the show is fine. It's pretty much the same standard as most of the CW shows (and I've watched quite a few seasons of several at this point). You get these amazing sequences where Batwoman takes down a small army of goons single handed then, later, somehow gets bested by one person in similar hand to hand combat, where surprise was not an advantage. Happens all the time in CW shows. Goons for hire are kind of like Stormtroopers in the CW, no chance against anyone with a even a line of dialogue.

Batwoman Season 2 (a new Batwoman)

When Ruby Rose announced she wasn't returning I was kind of disappointed (though I still hadn't watched the show at that point). Having now seen her season, I still would've liked to see her continue but I do think having to recast the lead ultimately benefited the show. Particularly because they didn't just look for a new actor to play Kate Kane.

I feel like casting Javicia Leslie as Batwoman/Ryan Wilder forced a shake up among the writing team that fundamentally changed season two's story arcs. Unfortunately they did link Ryan's Story back to Alice (and Sophie, Kate's ex), which initially made me roll my eyes, but it kind of works for the relationship Alice has with Batwoman later on.

I do feel Javicia is enjoying the role a little more than Ruby but that may just be the difference in their characters. This new Batwoman doesn't have to contend with her Dad, her ex-girlfriend, and her murderous sister all coming after her, though all the same people are, she's just not related to them, so she doesn't quite have the entire weight of this world on her shoulders (and technically she's coming after Alice where it was the other way around in season one).

Again, I found season two a tough watch up until episode nine because it's essentially a continuation of season one, and it's trying to shoe horn a new Batwoman into the mix. It's all a bit clunky to me, and I'm not entirely sure where Ryan learned her fighting skills to the point she can take out a small army of goons and then, later, get bested by a single person in hand to hand combat where surprise is not an advantage?

However, if you've not yet watched Batwoman, and all the bad reviews have put you off but you're still thinking 'it can't be all bad, right?' I would recommend starting at season two, episode nine.

While there is still some carry over of storyline from season one I think you get enough in the exposition to know what those threads are about (basically everyone is either still looking for Kate Kane or believe her to be dead).

In episode nine we get a completely new main villain, Black Mask, and, for the first time, the show feels like the Batwoman show you were probably hoping to see. I even got two genuine laughs from the dialogue at different places.

While the Black Mask storyline isn't particularly original, with him being a drug kingpin and all, it's a welcome change from the Kane family saga that's been playing out, and continues to play out over two seasons.

Later episodes do, very clumsily, dive into 'black lives matter' territory, which will no doubt fuel the SJW haters. I think it's a valid storyline to follow given both Batwoman and her Tech guy, Luke Fox, are black, but it was done so badly. It should've been an ongoing issue that could've been telegraphed more in earlier episodes before dealing with it head on.

That aside season two, episode nine onward has shown promise for me. I'm really hoping the whole Kate Kane/Alice story arc can come to a close before season three. While I fully expect Alice is probably never going to go away, she's almost an anti-hero at this point, it would be great to get away from villains that have any immediate relationship to the heroes.

Final Thoughts...

Some people, I feel, are just hating on the show because they think it's being too 'woke' and pandering to left wing ideas, or maybe they don't like lesbians (probably, I don't know). Either way, I found the first season and a half difficult to get through, and I'm pretty easy to please (as one of the few that likes the movie Batman and Robin). The bad reviews are definitely warranted.

To me, if they could do more episodes like season two, episode nine, it could be the best Batman (without Batman) TV series we've had so far. I mean, Titans is pretty great but Batwoman has all Batman's toys.

Batwoman Season 2
In this kind of shot is it 'Wigwoman' or
'Batwoman'?
If there's one minor thing I would change, it's the Bat wigs... or maybe the length of the ears on the cowl? either way the wigs hide the profile of the iconic Bat Ears. It's not 'Wig Woman' it's 'Batwoman'. I'm not saying the wigs aren't cool, I'd just like to be able to see the Bat ears in the silhouette. 


Comments

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) *No Spoilers*

T his is another film that I would have liked to have seen in a theatre but, for whatever reason, didn't get to. Having now seen  Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga  (2024) almost a year later I'm glad I didn't. Which is not to say it's bad. Like its predecessor Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), which I enjoyed in a cinema immensely, this film would definitely benefit from being on a big screen for the spectacle and epic visuals of it all.  However unlike its predecessor there is so much going on, with back and forth between the waring parties, and Furiosa's story as well, you can't just sit back and kind of enjoy the ride. It's like writer/director, George Miller, wanted to cram in as many of his ideas as possible for the post apocalyptic world of Mad Max, because it's not likely he'll make another one, but whoever does, has a rich, detailed world of on screen source material to draw upon. The story begins with young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) and her journey from the ...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Second Sunday Skateboard Session Episode 3, 4, and 5 - Definitely Seeing Progress

TET, Episode 5 Heelflip attempt. C ontinuing my ten part series of Second Sunday Skateboard sessions , the series where I'm attempting to master all seven basic skateboarding tricks in Braille Skateboarding's Skateboarding Made Simple Volume One , over twenty weeks (or ten fortnights).  Each episode is a short Sunday check in to show where I'm at after each two week period of practicing. Generally I aim for at least an hour practice session every second day if weather or my work schedule permits. These are the links to Episode One and Episode Two  should you feel the need to see where I started.  I'm not a complete newbie, having been a relatively hardcore skater through the late eighties and early nineties, however I was mostly a mini ramp and curb skater, and never really maintained my skills beyond riding and ollies.  The explosion of council built concrete parks came a decade too late for me to maintain my mini ramp skills. Once we closed our own skate park in ...

Boom Crash Opera Born Classic But Not Again

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured). At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop , Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self . As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside . Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme , was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2 , because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below. My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went now...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - Highlighting Some Minor Parties and Independents

W hile I am all for voting for minor parties and independent candidates, it can be concerning if too many of them win their seats. When independents hold the balance of power it gives them a lot of leverage to get their own policy ideas inserted into the mix. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing but it can slow everything down, and even sabotage policies and promises, that the government won the election with. It requires the government to work harder, and possibly make compromises, to get their policies implemented. Essentially they do what Australian pollical legend, and founder of The Australian Democrats, Senator Don Chipp, expounded in such simple terms, "keep the bastards honest." While I can't list and write about every independent and minor party candidate I can highlight a few, who already hold seats in parliament, and will no doubt be looking to hold onto them in 2025. The Conservatives Bob Katter - Katter's Australian Party There's a joke in the ...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - The Australian Democrats (Please Like Us Again) and The Greens

Image: Reve AI T here's not much to be said about the current Australian Democrats other than in 2025 Australian election, in May, they'll be out there hoping they win a seat... any seat... 'please like us again!' The Australian Democrats For just over two decades, from the late seventies onward, the Australian Democrats were the third most important party in the Federal government (if you don't count the National party since they've been on that coalition ticket with the Liberals for as long as I can remember). In fact, once I moved away from the Labor party, they were my top pick until the party slowly imploded in the early 2000's from a series of unfortunate events like leaders defecting to other parties, and a highly publicised incident of drunkenness, bullying, and abuse from a male party leader to a female colleague. It's been two decades since then (and that guy's with the Greens now)... please like us again! That aside, the party is still t...