Batwoman Review: Survived Much Worse (Season 2 Episode 8)

On Batwoman Season 2 Episode 8, “Survived Much Worse,” the search for Kate and the Desert Rose leads to a revealing confrontation on Coryana.

After last week’s emotional roller coaster, we didn’t know how Batwoman was going to serve all its storylines heading into the showdown on Coryana. Turns out, we had nothing to be worried about, as this was an edge of your seat, don’t blink, thrilling hour.

With this episode, Batwoman establishes itself as the most thoughtful show in the Arrowverse. The action had a captivating, psychological thriller aspect to it that we don’t normally get from network comic book shows.

Let’s start with the biggest reveal. Kate is alive!

Since the Season 2 premiere, every character we care about, and one we don’t, has been obsessed with rescuing Kate from Safiyah. We finally get an answer about her fate when Julia confirms that Kate died in the plane crash.

This means, to the surprise of no one, Safiyah has been manipulating Alice all along. This all boils down to an elaborate revenge plan because Alice and Ocean wanted to leave Coryana for a regular life.

However, in the episode’s final scene, we saw a bandaged, injured woman wearing Kate’s distinctive necklace, very much alive, but being held captive.

So, Kate Kane is returning to Batwoman, but the recast role will now be played by Wallis Day (Krypton), as reported by TVLine.

Our desire to see Mary, Luke, Sophie, and even Jacob move on from the limbo they’ve been stuck in had us waiting for the show to deliver closure on Kate’s disappearance. By that standard, we’re ok with the idea that they all believe Kate is dead.

The not knowing keeps the characters from actually grieving, which means their story possibilities are frozen. With Kate’s death confirmed for her family and friends, they can open up to story avenues that don’t involve the search for Kate.

As everyone converges on Coryana, we expect to finally see the Safiyah we’ve been hearing about all season. She was built into a fearsome adversary with limitless resources and a loyal army at her disposal. Her name was whispered like she was Voldemort.

Unfortunately in the last two episodes, she’s portrayed as a spurned woman who’s really just out for revenge against Alice and Ocean, the two people who reject her. Yes, she’s vengeful and clever, but nothing we’ve seen matches the villain we were told about.

Alice retaliates against Safiyah by burning down the island, including all of the Desert Rose. We imagine she won’t take that well, so maybe when she comes to Gotham for revenge we’ll get the extinction-level big bad we were promised.

Following her time on Coryana, Alice is left with nothing. She doesn’t have Kate or Ocean, plus, she killed Mouse as part of her misguided plot against her sister. We’re fascinated to see where the character goes from here.

Our love for everything Alice does is no secret. We expect that being on her own, and starting over will make her more dangerous than ever. However, we also need to see her character evolve now that she knows it was Safiyah who made her the psychopath she is.

Will this new information make her rethink her life, or will she cling to the madness, because it’s all she knows? For us, this is the most interesting story of Season two’s second half.

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

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Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.

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