‘Batwoman’ 1×17 Recap: Kate’s Struggle Brings Out Gotham’s Worst

After nearly a month off, Batwoman returned to action on Sunday night and highlighted Kate’s struggle to continue being the hero that Gotham deserves and needs.

In case you missed it, here’s a recap of episode 1×17, titled “A Narrow Escape”.

Kate struggles to move forward

In case you forgot, Kate killed Dr. August Cartwright in the last episode, and Sunday night saw her struggle with being a hero because of it. After nearly killing a jewel thief, Kate took the week off. As a result, The Detonator had apparently returned after a seven-year absence. He went to victim after victim, attaching an explosive vest to them and leaving them with a choice: they can either die or press a button to detonate a bomb planted somewhere in Gotham.

However, Kate still refused to put on her Batsuit and stop this dude. She would eventually find out the real The Detonator had died seven years ago, so this was the work of a copycat. One thing about copycats is that they are as never as good as the original. Luke and friends ultimately discovered that the Crows’ Agent Robles was the man behind the bombings.

With another bomb planted at Wayne Tower, Kate rushes to save Mary but starts experiencing her panic attacks. Mary confesses she knows Kate is Batwoman and urges her to keep going. That’s all it took for Kate to swing back into action and kick some ass to stop Robles.

Luke’s near mistake

Speaking of Robles, he was the one who murdered Lucias Fox all those years ago at the request of Tom Elliott. Luke overhears this through Batwoman’s comms and is fueled with rage. As Batwoman is trying to get Robles to disarm the bomb, Luke comes out with a gun and threatens to shoot him dead, not caring about the consequences that will follow.

Kate is overcome with guilt and confesses to Luke that she killed Cartwright. She pleads with Luke to not make the same mistake she did and it works as they get to safety before the bomb goes off.

Episode Notes

• The other minor plot involved Alice being locked up at Arkham. This may be the first time that I did not enjoy the Alice storyline this season. It looked as if Mouse was set to break him and Alice free but she declined to leave, saying they can run the Asylum and once Gotham forgets about them, they will make their big return. It looks like I may be bored the next few episodes. Great.
• Mary is *finally* on Team Batwoman and let’s be real, it is about freaking time. The writing was on the wall and now I’m excited to see how she will integrate herself into this new life, especially since her makeshift hospital was destroyed in the explosion.
• Anyone else think it was weird to see Alice and Kate playing video games in the opening scene? No? Just me?

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.