Into The Arrowverse: Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford bid farewell
By Ariba Bhuvad
Pictured (L-R): Rachel Skarsten as Alice and Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane — Photo: Shane Harvey/The CW
Batwoman Episode 115: “Off with Her Head”
Alright, Batwoman, I see you. Despite the series definitely having some slow, boring episodes in its first season, plenty have pushed its story along. This week’s episode, “Off with Her Head,” is one of those.
The episode kicks off with a knocked-out Cartwright left next to the Bat-signal. The strangest part of this is the note he has with him. “Ask about Mommy dearest.”
Say what?
With few options, Kate has to rely on Father dearest to figure out what’s going on. She has to tell Jacob that evil Alice is alive and well, and she’s the one who left Cartwright for them.
This storyline is executed quite brilliantly, because it ties up a lot of loose ends. I’ve always wondered about Alice’s upbringing as a kidnapped child. We’ve only had glimpses of it, but nothing in detail.
When Cartwright finally wakes up from his slumber, he reveals that Alice is with Mouse, and is in danger of having Scarecrow’s fear toxin used on her. Throwback to Cillian Murphy’s time as the character; scary.
And just as Cartwright expected, Alice is soon under the influence of the fear toxin, which manifests in the form of Cartwright’s horrible mother, Mabel. I was disturbed to learn that Mabel was the worst of them all, and treated Alice horrendously. In fact, we can blame her for how Alice eventually turned out.
Mabel would do frightening things like try and burn Alice’s hands when her tea wasn’t just right. No wonder Alice sees her in the hallucination!
Before Alice completely loses her mind and quite possibly her life from the toxin, Kate decides to barter with Cartwright. She’ll let him go if he tells them where Alice and Mouse are. And just as in most Arrowverse shows, Kate and Jacob show up just in time to save Alice’s life. Sort of weird to see them trying to save Alice, but she is family, after all.
Once Alice comes to, the Mabel story thickens as Alice explains what the “Mommy dearest” note meant. It wasn’t about Mabel; it was about her and Kate’s mother, Gabi. What does Gabi have to do with all of this?
Well…it turns out a young teenage Alice was snooping around the Cartwright property and found her mother’s head inside of a freezer. What the what?!
Mabel, apparently, was obsessed with Gabi, which led to some strange desire to keep her body parts in a freezer. Let’s just say Alice didn’t let Mabel off so easily and used her oxygen tank to blow her to smithereens.
This was a tough episode for Kate because it marked the first time she actually killed someone. Thanks to some investigation by Luke and Mary (I totally stan them!), Kate came to learn that Cartwright killed the nice Beth. Her emotions got the best of her and before she knew it, Cartwright was dead.
Sorry to tell you Kate, but you and evil Alice finally have something in common.