Back in March, we discovered that Kate Kane was returning to Batwoman, but with a new face. Ruby Rose exited the role at the end of season 1, and now her replacement – former Krypton star Wallis Day – has finally made her debut as the original Crimson Crusader. But Day’s first appearance wasn’t the triumphant return for Kate that we were expecting, as the heroine isn’t exactly herself right now.
You see, previous episodes have shown a badly disfigured Kate being experimented on by Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask. And in Sunday’s outing, we saw the results of Sionis hiring Enigma to mess with her head. At the beginning of the episode, he places a replica mask of his dead daughter on Kate’s face, with the brainwashed heroine believing herself to be Circe Sionis.
“Circe” is then sent to the Gotham docks, dressed in a white overcoat and armed with two blades, to stop Ryan Wilder’s Batwoman and Alice from interfering with Black Mask’s plans. The trio get into an epic hand-to-hand battle, with “Circe” almost succeeding in killing Alice. At the end of the episode, the former big bad is held hostage by Roman and the deluded Kate. It’s the sisterly reunion fans have been waiting for, but not exactly as they imagined it.
Anyone hoping that Day’s Kate Kane would swoop into the scene fully formed and enter into an instant partnership with Ryan will be disappointed, then. Instead, the writers are clearly looking to mine as much as drama and turmoil from this development as they can.
Fans will just have to keep watching to see how long it takes before Kate realizes who she really is and gets to team up with the Bat Family again. Day’s already proven that she brings a great physicality to the part, but we’ve yet to find out how she’ll properly play the character of Kate.
Batwoman season 2 airs new episodes Sundays on The CW.