In season two of “Batwoman,” when Ryan Wilder first discovers Kate Kane’s Batsuit, she has no idea how drastically her life is about to change. A sassy, smart lesbian with a difficult past, Ryan sees the suit as her chance to finally be powerful and no longer a victim as she survives in the tough streets of the city.
After Ruby Rose hung up her pink-wigged cowl, actor Jevicia Leslie stepped in to play Ryan Wilder, a homeless queer woman of color wrongfully convicted of a crime she did not commit. Ryan took the rap for a friend and ended up serving 18 months in prison. Her foster mother was murdered and the case remains unsolved. One night, while living out of her van, Ryan watches a plane falling out of the night sky. The plane crashes near her van, and upon exploring the wreckage, Ryan finds the Batsuit. This leads to a funny scene – trying to figure out the Batsuit she puts it on and gets quite a kick out of the things she can do. After realizing the Batsuit can help her serve justice, she starts roaming Gotham’s streets.
The Batsuit has a tracer that leads Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson) and Mary (Nicole Kang) to locate Ryan. She’s brought to the Batcave, where she learns about Kate Kane (Ruby Rose), who likely died in the plane crash. After donning the suit, she ends up mortally wounded by a kryptonite bullet fired by a villain impersonating Bruce Wayne.
The teleplay and dialogue must have been written by an algorithm. Every line is predictable and full of identity politics being shoved down the audience’s throats. Representation matters but the pivot to making every character representative is forced.
The fight scenes are sped up, nearly blurring the characters who look like they are flailing wildly. Some notable villains like Victor Zsasz – a creepy villain who carved tally marks into his skin to note each victim killed – arrive but it is too little to help the sinking ship.
Each episode ends with a slow cover that used to be in every film trailer or local Starbucks in the mid-aughts. Hollywood should focus more on original ideas and less lazy cashing in on familiar franchises.
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