On The Air: Batwoman mid-season report (2019-20)

When we first reviewed Batwoman back in October, we thought it was fresh, hip, and happening.

A lot has changed in four months.
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Batwoman:

Season: 1st.
When: Sundays, 8 pm ET.
Previous rating: A.

Where we are: To use an early episode title, Batwoman has, from a creative standpoint, fallen down the rabbit hole. At first, Greg Berlanti seemed to have the show he'd wanted all along, as Batwoman (Ruby Rose, ex-Orange is The New Black) was the first openly gay heroine to headline her own book, and now had a CW series to match.

Unfortunately, the network's obsession with focusing on family drama, which is a factor in virtually every CW drama, save maybe for the recently launched Katy Keene, the latest entry from the Berlanti camp, coupled with creative focusing on just one villain, has dragged this show down.

Alice, aka Beth Kane (Rachel Skarsten, ex-Lost Girl, Birds of Prey), isn't going away, and it's upsetting commentators online, who feel she needs to be shunted off stage for at least one, maybe two or more, episodes, so that there can be other stories to be told. Batwoman doesn't have a deep rogues' gallery, unlike cousin Batman, and while much of what we've seen has been loosely adapted from the comics, the writers don't see a need to bring any other enemies into the mix until perhaps next year. The idea, though, is that Alice is meant to be to Kate what the Joker is to the Batman. The one arch-nemesis that will always be there, although Joker tends to be overexposed himself in some media for long periods of time.

Alice, meanwhile, is a bit of a victim herself. She and her companion, Mouse, had to have escaped from the latter's father, Augustus Cartwright, an abusive dirtbag who resurfaced in the February 16 episode. Flashbacks are likely coming to explain how Alice & Mouse escaped Cartwright's clutches.

Some lesser Bat-villains have appeared here, as the producers did the same thing they did with Arrow, drafting some of Batman's foes to fill out the TV rogues' gallery. One such villain, Nocturna, has appeared in Batwoman, and made her TV debut last night. 

Fans have had issues with Berlanti's writing staff across the board. This is no different, and it is the indifference, coupled with the writers' insistence on shoehorning characters and plots into places where they don't belong, that might force Batwoman into an early grave after Season 2 ends next year.

Revised rating: C+.