Batwoman Review: A Mad Tea Party (Season 1 Episode 8)

On Batwoman Season 1 Episode 8, “A Mad Tea Party,” Kate finally comes to terms with the fact that Beth is gone, and now there’s only the monster that is Alice. It’s about time.

The “I know Beth’s in there” angle was getting old, and it would’ve been brutal to watch Kate attempt to reason with Alice any longer.

This switch in Kate comes after Alice kills Catherine, and honestly, it needed to be a big, horrible act like this in order for Kate’s new outlook on Alice to be believable.

Kate has looked the other way numerous times, even when Alice sliced people’s throats and staged them as if they were having a tea party. Kate couldn’t have just woken up one day and decided that Beth was gone. It wouldn’t have felt right.

So as disappointing as Catherine’s death is (more on that in a second), it is just the right tragedy to set off this change in Kate. Honestly, if Kate was able to brush this aside, it would’ve been hard to root for her as a hero.

Now, back to Catherine’s death. When you kill off a somewhat important character in the fall finale, you would expect that it’s going to be a devastating death. But, we barely know Catherine, so it’s hard to care that she’s gone. It’s not like she is this big presence on the show.

Mary: I’m going to ask you again, Kate. Is Alice worth it?

Kate: No.

We aren’t able to paint our own image of Catherine. All we have are Alice’s accusations that Catherine is a terrible person with some proof to back up her statements, and then there’s Mary’s insistence that her mother is good.

We needed to see more of Catherine before her death. Her exchanges with Mary and her apology to Alice give us a glimpse of who Catherine is, but that’s the most we’ve really seen of her without the influence of anyone else’s perceptions.

Catherine could have been a wonderfully complicated, morally gray character. Like I said in my review of Batwoman Season 1 Episode 4, “Who Are You?,” we are never really sure if Catherine is a villain or just the villain in Alice’s story, and now we may never really know.

Catherine: I’m a mother. When I saw Kate grieving, I saw my own daughter, I just wanted to take away her pain.

It would have been fascinating to see a different side of Catherine, one that shows that she is a good mother and a good person, and have to reconcile that with what Catherine did to Alice and Catherine’s work on some secret, deadly weapons.

There could have been some wonderful tension there, and we could have all drawn our own conclusions about Catherine. But, we don’t get that chance.

Mary is absolutely heartbreaking during the hour.

Despite the lack of feelings about Catherine, Mary is probably my favorite character of the series. So, it’s almost impossible not to feel for Mary during the hour.

Nicole Kang does a fantastic job of showcasing the depths of Mary’s grief and anger and how the two are intertwined. Mary’s confrontation with Kate is devastating. As much as I want the two of them to work it out quickly, Kate needs to put in the work and earn Mary’s friendship back.

What did you think of this episode of Batwoman? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Batwoman airs Sunday at 8/7c on The CW. Next up is “Crisis on Infinite Earths” which airs Sunday, December 8 at 8/7c on The CW.

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