Batwoman season 1 episode 18 review: Save the journal, save the world

This week’s episode of Batwoman sees Kate and the gang going after the journal Lucius Fox died protecting — and Mary getting them out of a serious dilemma.

Last week’s episode of Batwoman finally revealed the truth about Lucius Fox’s murder, and this week’s episode sees the gang following up on that by going after the journal Lucius died protecting. This requires them to go undercover at a high-end club called The Lookout, where a mobster is holding all of Bruce Wayne’s technological secrets.

As Kate, Luke, and Julia plan this mission, Mary pushes to play a larger role on Team Batwoman, all while Kate insists that her stepsister stay away from the dangerous antics the rest of the group gets involved in. It’s hard not to feel for Mary during these scenes — as much as the team cares for her, they truly seem to underestimate her, and we hope it’s building up to her becoming a badass vigilante at some point in the series.

When Kate arrives at The Lookout, there are a few romantic tensions before the action truly begins. Not only does she notice that Julia and Sophie have been growing closer, but she runs into Reagan, her bartender fling from earlier in the season. There’s not much time to explore any of these relationships in too much depth during “If You Believe in Me, I’ll Believe in You,” but, with any luck, the next installment in the series will elaborate further (though Kate’s fling with Reagan proves pretty shortlived, but more on that later).

Once Julia and Kate begin looking for the journal, things quickly go awry. It turns out that Sabatino — the mobster with the journal — has laid a trap for Julia and Kate, both of whom are quickly captured by the villain. Unsure what to do next, Luke calls Mary, who opts to go after them, insisting she’s the only one with the connections to get into the club and track down Sabatino.

And Mary does successfully maneuver her way into the auction the mobster is holding to kill Batwoman. Cleverly, she offers $10 million on behalf of Hamilton Enterprises to claim the Bat — but unfortunately for her, Sabatino sees through her lie, revealing her briefcase isn’t big enough to hold that amount of cash. He agrees to give her the suit, but only after the person wearing it is dead.

Things look bad at this point, but a combination of quick thinking and luck helps Luke distract the villains bidding for Kate’s head, enabling Mary to free her stepsister and escape with her. It’s a moment that proves Mary’s worth in the series, and Kate admits as much once they’re outside.

The best moment from this episode is Kate’s confession that she keeps Mary “at arm’s length” because she’s afraid of losing another sister. It’s an emotional and heartfelt scene, and one that ends with Mary finally getting to join Team Batwoman. Now, that is worthy of champagne and a celebration!

The Arkham Plot

Alongside Team Batwoman’s efforts to obtain Lucius’ journal, this episode also sees Alice and Mouse seeking out the very same item. As Kate and the others are dealing with Sabatino, the pair — who have more or less taken over Arkham Asylum using their face-swapping skills — frees Magpie, who sneaks into The Lookout and successfully nabs the journal everyone is looking for.

Unfortunately, Magpie’s luck is shortlived. Kate makes it to the roof to stop her from getting away with the object, and the two have a quick altercation that ends in Kate’s favor. It’s a pretty epic moment for Batwoman, but one does have to wonder why the show went through the trouble of showing Magpie’s theft if it was just going to have the villains obtain the journal through another means. And speaking of…

Betrayals

While Mary proves her loyalty and dedication to Team Batwoman throughout this episode, the same can’t be said for other characters. Following the successful acquisition of Lucius’ journal, Reagan catches up to Kate and the two have a fling — one that results in pretty disastrous consequences.

When Kate wakes up alone the next morning, she gets out of bed to discover that the journal she and the others worked so hard to track down is gone. Later, it’s revealed that Magpie is holding something over Reagan and her sister — something important enough that Reagan stole the journal to bring it to her.

As far as plot twists goes, it’s one of the most unexpected ones we’ve seen from the series so far. Batwoman has turned a character who seemed to have little significance when it comes to the plot into someone who  could become a major player — and her romance with Kate only makes things even more interesting.

And Reagan’s not the only person whose allegiance comes into question at the end of “If You Believe in Me, I’ll Believe in You.” Julia receives a phone call toward the tail end of the episode, during which she apologizes to whoever’s on the other end, promising them that she’ll find the journal. It seems she’s after the object for her own reasons — and they may not be as noble as she’s been pretending.

The Catch

Everyone in Gotham is looking for Lucius’ journal, but Alice and Mouse are the ones who lay claim to it in the end. Of course, there’s a catch. When Mouse goes to read about how to “kill the bat,” he’s faced with a bit of a predicament: The entire journal is written in code.

This will prove an interesting development going forward, as Alice and Mouse will now be looking for someone to break Lucius’ code. Luke is the most obvious choice, considering he knew his father and Bruce — and that means Kate’s righthand man might be in trouble as the series continues.

Batwoman keeps adding layers to make the series more compelling, and it seems to finally be finding its footing as it does. With Team Batwoman and the villains slowly coming together, the stakes are getting higher as the world gets bigger. Let’s hope the series continues down this path — because, if it does, it could become one of the Arrowverse’s most engaging ones yet.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Batwoman?