While the execution on her muddled storyline could have been better (it seemed to go from a body dysmorphia plotline to lashing out in response to a hyper-perfectionist mother), the fact that her mother made her get corrective surgery for the scars against her will is the strongest argument in her favor. It’s not so much the women who enjoy influencing or plastic surgery as it is the pressure they may feel to do so, or to only do so in a certain way.
It’s also worth noting how many of the villains – and main characters generally – are women. It feels natural, but on many other shows, including those named after a wonderful bold woman character, there’s a Smurfette Syndrome in place so she’s surrounded by men. Instead, on Batwoman, Kate has her “smart and perceptive” sister Mary, her delightfully unhinged sister Alice, her one-time (and now hopefully again?) love (former) Sophie who tries to follow the rules, and a whole slew of villains, some of whom have been more villainous than others.
It turns out the incarcerated man who helped out Jake Kane wasn’t just anybody – he’s the man convicted of killing Luke’s father, Lucius Fox. This adds a great layer to the favor he promised to come calling for, since it will eventually pull in Luke. Luke has been slowly opening up more to those around him, especially Kate, but it’s painful to watch this knowing how devastating it will be. While Mary is the beating heart of the show, Luke is it’s moral center. He wouldn’t want an innocent man in prison, but that won’t make it any easier to relive his father’s death. And why do the circumstances around Lucius’s death seem so fishy?
Batwoman continues to complicate the concept of justice – is the legal system providing it? Are the Crows really a fair player in it, or are they just an unchecked military contractor? What’s Batwoman’s role in it, as someone who actively breaks the law, while trying to protect people and fight back against the failures of both the legal system and the Crows? Arrow held itself increasingly accountable by first having Oliver stop murdering people and then examining the role of vigilantes and even attempt to integrate them into some kind of system with oversight. But it still feels unusual for a superhero show to push back on so many different forms of injustice without exempting itself from that conversation.
Jake’s look into Reggie’s arrest and conviction for killing Lucius Fox is the latest version of this, and shows that he’s still fundamentally a man of principle, but it’s also important to remember that the reason Sophie has time to team-up with Batwoman this week is that he suspended her for pointing out the way the Crows have abused their power – and the fundamental rights of everyone in Gotham.