Batwoman:
The Third and Final Season
review by Bobby Blakey
DC Comics and The CW had crafted a pretty impressive universe originally referred to as the Arrowverse, but since both Arrow and Black Lightning ended leaving The Flash to lead the charge alongside Superman & Lois, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. Sadly it was announced that Batwoman has now ended as well with the third season being its last. Could this final season end it on a high note or will it fail to live up to the legend of the bat?
Batwoman followed Kate Kane, armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, who soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city's criminal resurgence. At the end of the first season, Crows Commander Kane has declared war on Batwoman, forcing everyone around them to choose sides.
Season two was transformational for the Bat Team and the entire city of Gotham City with the arrival of Ryan Wilder as Batwoman. In season three, Ryan must now lead the Bat Team in stopping the next wave of villains created by the weapons lost in the Gotham River during the suspenseful season two finale. On top of everything, Ryan will have to battle these villains with Alice by her side! As a new generation of
Rogues torments Gotham, Batwoman and Alice must work together to stop them, which is a predicament that threatens to upend the team’s existing dynamics for good.
I love all things comics so always give these shows a chance. While I am a fan of the first season it struggle to really keep me invested mostly due to the Alice story that I just can’t stand. When Javicia Leslie stepping into the lead to replace Ruby Rose as the new character Ryan Wilder the new Batwoman I fully expected the show to tank, but was happy to see that it actually worked a lot better with their new direction. Leslie does a great job in the role making the character her own and offered up a chance to do some new things. Sadly they never really did anything overly original and added in a story featuring her brother who essentially becomes a new Joker and not a very good one.
With the end of the second season leaving all the various villain souvenirs being released into the world it opened up a great story option to introduce new takes on the classic villains. This actually worked well for the most part making some clever new directions for the story that I enjoyed more often than not. They even brought in some of the actual classic villains and handled most of it good. They also brought in a cool version of Batwing that actually looked and worked well. This is one of the biggest bummers for me about the show ending never getting to see that character to develop further.
Most of the cast were fine with the continuing use of the Alice character still the weakest element to the show. The guy taking on the role of the new Joker does a decent enough job it just doesn’t work and comes off more silly and annoying than actually interesting. The action continued to improve from last season, but never fully found its way out of the usual CW formula that they obviously stay with. While it was still never really as good as it could have been it is a bummer to not get to see them further dive into the Bat-verse more. These CW shows still bring these characters back from time to time so I am sure this isn’t the last we have seen of them in some form.
This release not only offers up all 13 episodes of the season, but bonus content including a gag reel, deleted scenes, and featurettes on bringing this final season to life. Join the fight to defend Gotham one last time with Batwoman: The Third and Final Season when it hits Blu-ray and DVD on July 12th from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.