Batwoman 1×9 Review: ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part 2’

After everything that went down in the eighth episode of Batwoman, I’m glad that ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part 2’ interrupts the season here. We really needed a break. Plus, Kate gets a little personal development that should change where she was headed (once she gets back from questing with the Arrowverse’s Greatest Heroes, that is).

‘Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part 2’ gives us the next part of the Crossover puzzle. There are 7 paragons who are key to saving the multiverse. Kara is the Paragon of Hope and Sara is the Paragon of Destiny. Aside from that we get hints for two of the remaining seven. The Paragon of Truth is a hopeless Kryptonian who’s lost everything, and the Paragon of Courage is the “Bat of the future”.

Felicity Smoak apparently named these people for the Monitor, so we can blame her for the melodramatic yet vague descriptions.

We can also blame everyone for not seeing what I think the whole audience saw immediately. “Bat of the future” isn’t “a Batman from the future”, it’s literally the next gen Batfamily member, AKA Kate. I can cut the characters a little slack because a) the Monitor didn’t name her and b) the sheer awesomeness of Batman is blinding. Of course they’d look for a Batman first…. but still. Kate is standing right there. 

Although I wasn’t super invested before, after this episode I’m all about the friendship between Kate and Kara. It gave me a kick when Kate threatens Lex for the sole reason that Kara doesn’t like him. She knows nothing else about the dude, but he made her friend leave the room in angry tears so of course she’s going to flex on him. I’m not saying I’ll like this friendship as much as the Cinnamon Roll Friendship of Kara and Barry, but it’s going to be up there. 

As you’d expect, there’s a lot of meta jokes and nods to other DC properties in ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part 2’. A few of my favorites:

• Sara, on being asked to lend a Waverider to the effort: “I kind of promised my crew they’d never have to do another crossover.”
• Kevin Conroy. All of the yes. We knew he was going to be in the Crossover, and seeing him as Darkest Timeline Bruce was just as good as I hoped. It’s so, so cool to hear THE BATVOICE in a live action show.  Also, WOW is it so on brand for Batman to have Kryptonite ON HIS PERSON when as far as he knew he’d killed the only Superman on the planet.
• Everyone’s favorite bisexual magician, John Constantine, drops by to help bring Oliver Queen back from the dead. See, you know they wouldn’t let him die for good in the first episode! Of course, that goes not according to plan but THEY TRIED!
• Tom Welling as Brawny Paper Towel Clark has found a way to forsake his Kryptonian heritage, meaning no super strength but also no allergy to Kryptonite. Not where I remember Smallville ending but it was a fun surprise. 
• Mick reading smut novels to get Superbaby Jonathan to sleep. 
• Jonah Hex pops in to get a scar off Sara, then stumbles off. I’m aware it’s just fan service, but really, isn’t that what Crossovers are in general?

Aside from the overall crossover arc, ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part 2’ comes at the perfect point in Kate’s own story. The Monitor said Kate had to meet Darkest Timeline Bruce to become the Paragon of Courage. That sounds like something she won’t just shake off after the Crisis.

Kate could use that kind of boost. She’s in a fragile place back in the Batwoman storyline. Given what she was doing in the first part of the crossover, it looked like she was beating her way through the Rabbits with murderous intent. Maybe seeing Bruce and the way he slid down the dark path one kill at a time will solidify her Bat Code of Ethics, and she’ll detain Alice instead of killing her. 

Much as I, personally wouldn’t mind that second outcome. (I get one dig at Alice every review, people.)

The Crisis On Infinite Earths continues with The Flash, which you can stream… but be careful. The rest is scheduled after the holidays, so you can expect a dramatic cliffhanger.

Author: Khai

Khai is a writer, anthropologist, and games enthusiast. She is co-editor (alongside Alex DeCampi) of and contributor to “True War Stories”, a comic anthology published by Z2 Comics. When she’s not writing or creating games, Khai likes to run more tabletop RPGs than one person should reasonably juggle.

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