Batwoman Review: Do Not Resuscitate (Season 2 Episode 6)

The effects of Ryan’s Kryptonite wound begin to fully impact her life on Batwoman Season 2 Episode 6 “Do Not Resuscitate.”

As we move past Ryan’s introduction, this episode is a transition into the story arc of the season. Though we don’t get answers or reveals, we do get a lot of emotionally complex, honest conversations that needed to be had.

For weeks now, Ryan has been hiding how serious her Kryptonite bullet wound really is. However, the last episode showed the injury is causing an infection to develop, and now it’s interfering with her Batwoman duties.

Based on her symptoms, it appears she’s dealing with radiation poisoning from the Kryptonite, which there’s no cure for.

Ryan has lived most of her life on her own, so we get why she’s reluctant to rely on Luke and Mary, but it’s time for her to really embrace being part of a team. She’s smart enough to know this isn’t a normal bullet wound, and she needs special treatment for it.

She has the added pressure of constantly being compared to Kate. Ryan feels that she can’t show weakness, because it would prove that she’s not as good at protecting the city as Kate.

Her insecurity where Kate is concerned is authentic, so it’s good that the show continues to have her battling those fears. If she jumped into the suit and immediately felt comfortable, it would be unrealistic. Keeping things true to life is one of the series’ best elements.

As if dying isn’t enough, Ryan also has plenty of relationship drama to handle. To save her girlfriend from being arrested, Ryan bugs Angelique’s phone. Unfortunately, Angelique finds out and they have another nasty breakup.

Heartbreaking as this may be for Ryan, it’s for the best. Angelique always felt forced into Ryan’s story. When we met Ryan she was desperate to get her life back. It never rang true that the woman she served time for would stroll back in with a quick “I’m sorry,” and all is forgiven.

We don’t expect Ryan to have every aspect of her life figured out, but we also don’t think she’s the type to repeat such a huge mistake.

And let’s be honest, Angelique isn’t good enough for Ryan.

We know Alice is a psychopathic killer, but we’re captivated by everything Rachel Skarsten does with the character, so we’re keeping an open mind about her remembering her life on Coryana.

The show is really going out of its way to make us care about Alice’s past with Ocean. In fact, it’s trying so hard, it forgot about chemistry. Something these two characters don’t have.

Ocean is too bland, and he’s overshadowed by Alice in every scene. Other than being attractive, there’s nothing about him that makes us think Alice would risk betraying Safiyah to be with him.

His connection to the Desert Rose is the only reason we need to keep him around, because we know Alice can do better than this wet blanket.

Let’s talk about the map to Coryana, the Desert Rose, and how literally everyone is after them.

The Desert Rose is a flower with properties that can cure anything, so obviously, a shady doctor from Hamilton Dynamics is after it. He uses one of his mental patients with uncontrollable rage issues to kidnap Jacob and Mary, and find out how to get more of the magic antidote.

During their hostage situation, the pair have a long-overdue talk about their father/daughter relationship. Mary finally confesses about the clinic, and lets Jacob know he’s basically ignored her for years.

Mary is truly the unsung hero of Batwoman, so it’s great to see her have such an honest moment with Jacob, who’s well established as a horrible father. Further proving his awfulness, he unceremoniously shuts down Mary’s clinic.

Yes, she’s breaking several laws, but she’s also helping people who have no place else to go. He doesn’t try to find legal ways to keep things going, he just uses his rigid set of morals to decide her good intentions will eventually take her down the same questionable road as her mother.

The problem is Jacob’s been built into a completely unlikeable character. This latest falling out with another one of his daughters has made him pretty much irredeemable.

Dougray Scott makes us want to hold out hope that some good part of Jacob will break through the jerk shell he has up at all times, but honestly, we’ve got more important things to worry about.

With Kate possibly being held on Coryana, Ryan needing the Desert Rose to heal, and Alice wanting answers about her past. Getting to the mysterious island has become No. 1 on everyone’s to do list.

If this island is so essential to the story, we need to know more about it and Safiyah. It’s time for Batwoman to give us more insight into Safiyah, her plans, and motivations. Until we know more, this race to Coryana becomes quicksand pulling the show down.

The only way to free it and the audience is to provide a few answers and move forward with the characters.

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.

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