Batwoman Episode 1: "Pilot" (SPOILERS)

[O'Haire]

Watching now. Holy hell Ruby Rose is a terrible actress.

 

[SV Fan]

For the most part I liked the pilot but given this is the CW I am not a fan of the former (and one can only assume future) love interest being married. I also am not a fan of the sister being the villain

 

[famicommander]

I figure the A-list villains are off limits. And then, just need to figure out which bat villains Arrow hasn't already used...

Some possible candidates:
Gangsters and corporate villains like Rupert Thorne, Bruno Mannheim, Roland Dagget, Carmine Falcone, Sal Maroni, Tony Zucco, etc
Hugo Strange
Killer Moth
Ventriloquist and Scarface
Maxie Zeus

And of course there's no reason they can't re-use the ones Arrow didn't kill off.

Maybe re-imagine some Batman 1966 villains in honor of Burt Ward's guest spot.

 

[antsman41]

Seeing Chicago as Gotham again was easily the highlight. I'm so sick of Vancouver being so over-used on these Arrowverse shows.

Also, the little newspaper article shouting out to Batman acquiring the giant penny was a delight.

 

[flickchick85]

Seeing Chicago as Gotham again was easily the highlight. I'm so sick of Vancouver being so over-used on these Arrowverse shows.

Agreed, but I have to wonder - is the rest of the series being filmed in Chicago, or was that just for the pilot? I'm not gonna get too attached to that aesthetic just yet, because I think the show's being filmed in Vancouver now like the others. Hopefully they can at least keep shooting some 2nd unit in Chicago, though.

 

[Snow Queen]

Agreed, but I have to wonder - is the rest of the series being filmed in Chicago, or was that just for the pilot? I'm not gonna get too attached to that aesthetic just yet, because I think the show's being filmed in Vancouver now like the others. Hopefully they can at least keep shooting some 2nd unit in Chicago, though.

WhatsFilming, which has been reliable in my experience, has it listed as in production up here. They had two Vancouver-shot scenes in the pilot, but get ready for all the Vancouver aesthetic.


I guess at least the skies being grey for this one makes sense.

 

[WhoMani]

Watching now. Holy hell Ruby Rose is a terrible actress.

The guy who plays her father is no better.

 

[Batmannerism]

I give it a solid 8/10. Has all the marks of a CW Arrowverse show particularly the fight scenes.

Ruby Rose wasn't bad in the lead, she'll probably grow into the role a bit more with time. I liked the twist with the sister, although they probably revealed it a bit too early.

 

[flickchick85]

The guy who plays her father is no better.

Well he's at least doing a better job of hiding his accent.

 

[Dr.]

I can't see the show addressing Joker or any of Batman's rogue gallery unless one of them will actually appear on the show.

Well, Joker was sorta “addressed” - in that an old newspaper headline identified him as responsible for the bus attacks (one of which killed Kate’s Mom). But, yeah, the likelihood of Joker being continually referenced is probably slim. (I.e., if a character is off-limits, it’s not wise to tease said character.)

 

[WhoMani]

Well, Joker was sorta “addressed” - in that an old newspaper headline identified him as responsible for the bus attacks (one of which killed Kate’s Mom). But, yeah, the likelihood of Joker being continually referenced is probably slim. (I.e., if a character is off-limits, it’s not wise to tease said character.)

Really? There was really no point since the character is off limits and that he will probably never appear on the show.

 

[Flash525]

Far too much narrative for a pilot episode, especially when the lead can’t narrate to save her life; still not entirely convinced on her acting either, but willing to give her a few more episodes.

Really? There was really no point since the character is off limits and that he will probably never appear on the show.

The same was once said of Superman on the CW. Batman, the Joker, Riddler, etc, it all has the potential to be unlocked in time.

I’m not expecting it to be anytime soon either, but I’d like to think we’ll get an actual reason for Bruce leaving the scene for over three years. Speaking of, BatMANs suit looked a bit naff too.

 

[Dr.]

Really? There was really no point since the character is off limits and that he will probably never appear on the show.

Probably a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation. A one-off reference to Joker at least acknowledges his prior existence. As to his current circumstances… Dead? Missing like Batman? Did he have something to do with young Beth (“Alice”) surviving?

 

[Dr.]

Nerdy question for Batman/Batwoman experts :

What’s the familial relationship between the Waynes and the Kanes? In Pennyworth, I discovered that Martha’s maiden name is Kane (though I don’t know if this is canon). This would mean that Jacob Kane and Martha are/were siblings. So far, so good. But from whom does Kate get her Jewish heritage? From her father’s side? Of course, if Jacob is Jewish then so was Martha. But traditionally, Bruce Wayne is assumed to be of Catholic (or maybe Episcopalian) heritage. And representations of the Waynes’ tombs are usually adorned with the Christian cross. Did Martha convert? Or was it Kate’s deceased mother who was Jewish?

 

[Slick]

I don’t know about which side Kate’s Jewish heritage comes from but as far as I know about Martha and the Kane’s is that Jacob is her brother I believe.

 

[Holy Slapper]

Caity Lotz grew more than anybody as the Arrowverse went along. She was extremely rough early on too. Her background was in stunt work and it showed when she popped up on Arrow, but years later she's capably holding things down as lead on Legends.

She also looks to be doing most of the fight scenes herself, except maybe Amell. It's really noticeable on "group fights", her face is clearly shown doing moves much more than the others.

About the pilot. I thought it was ok. Not as bad as I feared but I'll give it time to iron out the quirks. I liked the visual and didn't find it dark at all, though my "tv setting" is set fairly bright.

 

[Snow Queen]

Nerdy question for Batman/Batwoman experts :

What’s the familial relationship between the Waynes and the Kanes? In Pennyworth, I discovered that Martha’s maiden name is Kane (though I don’t know if this is canon). This would mean that Jacob Kane and Martha are/were siblings. So far, so good. But from whom does Kate get her Jewish heritage? From her father’s side? Of course, if Jacob is Jewish then so was Martha. But traditionally, Bruce Wayne is assumed to be of Catholic (or maybe Episcopalian) heritage. And representations of the Waynes’ tombs are usually adorned with the Christian cross. Did Martha convert? Or was it Kate’s deceased mother who was Jewish?

Her dad's Jewish and they are siblings, so yep, Batman's logically involved in that by extension. However I don't know if any Batman writer's actually addressed that, so I chalk the cross thing up to comic book consistency. I may be a little off here if it popped up in some other book first as I don't go back to those so much, but I want to say the first issue to introduce the cousin stuff is 25 of the New 52 run, which has her go to his house. I want to say that's about right because the earlier Batman POV issue never brings up them being related as he tries to figure out if she's Batwoman so I'm inclined to say it was a retcon when the new writer hopped in. That issue has her and Bruce go to the Wayne grave with the cross in it, despite making them cousins in the same issue. Like I said, maybe it's explained somewhere, but I don't really read much of recent Batman runs.

 

[Travesty]

Ruby Rose wasn't bad in the lead, she'll probably grow into the role a bit more with time. I liked the twist with the sister, although they probably revealed it a bit too early.

 

[O'Haire]

The guy who plays her father is no better.

That one of my main problems and worries for the series. The other Arrowverse shows always had someone to elevate the show like Tom Cavanagh, Jessie Martin, John Barrowman, and Paul Blackthorne if the others couldn't pull their weight. Batwoman has none of that from what I've seen. Everyone was pretty damn bad in the pilot.

 

[Sithborg]

shrug

I liked the supporting cast. Them and Alice were all better than Ruby Rose.

 

[Lencho01]

I thought this episode was just really boring. Nothing about the characters, their relationship dynamics, or history was interesting to me. But, I guess the only thing of interest was just the idea of Gotham pretty much being like big ghost town. At least, that’s how it feels. Something also felt off about how it was filmed.

 

[Dr.]

Based on Elseworlds and the pilot, I’ll stick with the assessment that Rose’s performance is (at the very least) serviceable. Sure, one might speculate that the stoicism of the character is a pretext to disguise Rose’s limited range. And by that measure, she falls into the Stephen Amell/Chuck Norris/et. al. category of acting. But if it’s valid for the character to be stoic anyway, I don’t much care about the real-world pretext.

As for the rest of the cast, I found them to be - likewise - adequate.

In any case, I don’t think a typical viewer watches these shows for thespian tours de force. I mean, it’s nice that Benoist can deliver an impressive performance. See Supergirl’s season premier. But her talents - good as they are - didn't really rescue the episode (which, I thought, was rather mediocre).

 

[Thome216]

I find myself not too overly critical of things such as an accent slip or a little rough delivery. I watch and see if I am entertained and pretty much just take it as it is. I watched when they played it again last night, and still enjoyed it so, unless it gets worse, I'm going to be tuning in. Which makes it three CW shows I'm watching, Supergirl, Flash and Batwoman.

 

[Thome216]

Dangy dangy!

 

[vantheman77]

The replay of the Batwoman pilot drew 1.1 million viewers.