TV Review: BATWOMAN: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot [The CW, NYCC 2019]

NYCC 2019 Batwoman Pilot Review

Batwoman pilot episode TV show review from the 2019 New York Comic Con, a show created by Caroline Dries and starring Ruby Rose, Meagan Tandy, Rachel Skarsten, Camrus Johnson, Elizabeth Anweis, Dougray Scott, Sam Littlefield, Nicole Kang, and Brendon Zub.

Superhero history shows that our favorite characters evolve through time to be what audiences need them to be in each era. 2019 didn’t know it, but we needed an out lesbian Batwoman. The newest iteration of Batwoman (or Kate Kane), played by Ruby Rose, has a big heart and an independent streak which combine to make her a total badass and a character that the audience roots for immediately.

Kate’s sexual orientation is an important part of the plot, and in this episode we see her actions driven largely by some unfinished business in her love life, which was thrown off-course by oppressive homophobia. This piece of her story is told through flashbacks to her time in military school, which introduce a relationship between Kate and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) that was cut short. Since Kate’s time at military academy she’s been undergoing survival training with masters all over the world for 15 years so that she can eventually join the ranks of her father’s elite security team, which has protected Gotham’s people since Batman’s unexplained disappearance three years ago. In the mean time, Sophie has gotten a job as part of the team and is a favorite of Kate’s father. The tension between Kate and Sophie is both personal and professional, and though they have few scenes together in the present in the pilot, their chemistry is palpable and will surely be a driving force as the story continues to unfold.

The pilot weaves together several stories to lay the groundwork for understanding Kate’s relationships, which seem to have in common a pattern of ending poorly. In her childhood Kate was close with her cousin Bruce Wayne, who (like Batman…) hasn’t been heard of for three years. Kate also continues to grieve the loss of her mother and her sister, Beth, who died in a car accident when she was a child. Kate’s father has remarried and her relationship with him is highly strained. The introduction of each one of these tragic relationships plants a seed that will certainly grow throughout the series, and in the pilot, they all coalesce to form Kate’s self image as a lone wolf.

A city trying to cope with the disappearance of its trusted hero could use a bit of hope, and Kate could use a an occupation that puts her loneliness and her killer combat skills to good use. Indeed, Kate’s entire back story makes her the perfect fit for the role of Batwoman, an idea that’s not explored until after the audience understands exactly why. In fact, much of the pilot’s story could stand without the franchise name. This pilot is quite impressive in how seamlessly it introduces quite a large cast of characters, each with their own motivations, back stories, and interconnections. This episode alone has enough material to launch multiple seasons’ worth of story, and it doesn’t shy away from moving quickly through that story; whereas pilots often stop at revealing an initial conflict, Batwoman reveals numerous conflicts, solves a few, and even has more than one surprising reveal before the episode is over. This show is going to be a superhero show, but it isn’t letting that get in the way of telling stories of family dynamics, personal identity development, and the relation between a city and the people who protect it.

Batwoman is already incredibly rich with timely, complicated story potential of all kinds. It was an impressive entrance, and this show is sure to be another success in the realm of live action superhero television.

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