The latest episode of Batwoman saw a major change for the eponymous heroine, having her reveal her being gay to the world at large. The moment was also quite poignant for star Ruby Rose though, herself an out lesbian. So much so that she broke down crying while reading the script.
Most of the story of “How Queer Everything Is Today!” follows a standard case of the week plot where young tech genius Parker holds the city’s dirty secrets to ransom, along with Mary’s tenacious investigation into Jacob’s innocence and Alice’s interminable and tedious wittering. However, a significant subplot sees Kate feel compelled to address the general public’s assumption of Batwoman’s heterosexuality after she ends up caught in an impromptu photo op with a hunky police officer.
According to showrunner Caroline Dries, the script moved Rose to tears, with the episode’s theme of accepting all of who you are meaning a great deal to her. The star also suggested a tweak to the dialogue, which originally saw Kate agreeing with Parker when the teenage hacker declared “it doesn’t get better” of the misery and self-loathing that her own sexuality had caused her. Rose pointed out that the negativity might be unhelpful, and so the reciprocal sentiment was reworked into something more positive to give hope to any young viewers who might feel the same, starting by loving themselves.
“She said she cried while she was reading it,” Dries said. “I know it meant a lot to her. Interestingly, there was a line [in the script] where Parker says, ‘It doesnt’ get better,’ and Kate says, ‘You know, you’re right Parker, it doesn’t get better.’ Ruby wrote to me and said, ‘You know, a lot of people look up to this character and watch this show and they don’t want to hear the lead character say, You’re right, it doens’t get better.’ So, we found a way to tweak it, so it could be like, it’s still hard out there, but you will get better if you start to love yourself more and embrace yourself. It was personal to both of us, so we wanted to make sure we got it right.”
Like many of the literary references in Batwoman, the episode title is a repurposed line from Alice In Wonderland, in this case utilizing the modern connotation of ‘queer.’ However, in the book the thought also goes on to have Alice ponder how an alteration to her sense of identity can leave her fundamentally unsure of who she is, which is something felt by many young people upon realizing they’re gay, and hopefully that Batwoman, in addressing the issue head on, can in some small way help them overcome.