BATWOMAN (S1E1) “Pilot”: Ruby Rose’s Caped Crusader Lands With A Thud

The Arrowverse is gracing our television screens for another slew of superhero-fueled adventures at last! Kicking things off, we have the series premiere of Batwoman, the latest edition to the CW’s lineup of superhero fare. Unfortunately, this pilot doesn’t leave the viewer with much to be excited about moving forward.

Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) returns to Gotham City and reunites with her family three years after the disappearance of her cousin, Bruce Wayne/Batman. She returns to rescue an old flame and save the city from an emerging terrorist named Alice (Rachel Skarsten).

What Works

The visual aesthetic of the series is certainly reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy with it’s blue and white color palette and its use of Chicago as its backdrop for Gotham City. This helps the series gain a more cinematic feel and build an immersive environment for our heroine to don her cape and cowl within.

A hero needs a worthwhile villain to combat and luckily this pilot episode gives us an adversary that is brimming with potential and charisma to boot. Alice (Rachel Skarsten) dresses like Atomic Blonde and talks like Harley Quinn, culminating in a character that is as fun to watch as she is unpredictable. Skarsten is clearly having a blast embodying this foe, chewing up scenery and unleashing her infectious smile as she toys with her enemies and our heroine. Her personal connection to Kate, which is revealed during the episode’s final moments, adds a nice layer to her character and has me excited to see the two of them inevitably reunite and spar with one another this season.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a pilot that looks and feels clumsily put together. This episode is in such a rush to get Kate in the cape and cowl that we barely get to know her or see her hone her fighting skills, let alone like her as our main character. We get brief glimpses of her childhood trauma and romantic/family history, the latter being more pertinent to the episode’s storyline, but all of them fail to connect emotionally. They’re rushed, cheesy, poorly acted, and edited so heavily that it was difficult to latch onto anything or anyone. As a result, her reunion with her ex-lover Sophie (Meagan Tandy), lacks any emotional bite. Rose and Tandy have little to no chemistry so I found it difficult to become invested in their reunion or their past.

The narration is also something this episode should’ve used more sparingly. It’s common for a show in the Arrowverse to have narration from our main hero, Arrow and The Flash being prime examples, but the combo of the cliche writing and bland voiceover work from Rose makes this creative choice stick out like a sore thumb in the worst sense. We’re often told story beats that we can clearly see taking place or can piece together for ourselves, causing the narration to ultimately feel redundant.

As a fan of the action set pieces in the myriad of Arrowverse shows, I was looking forward to what this show had in store for this premiere. Unfortunately, the action sequences left much to be desired. The fight choreography is quite poor and sluggish, not aided in any way by the excessive editing and quick cuts. I even caught a punch or two that I could easily see never connected with its intended target. Rose is no stranger to action sequences, having starred in films like XXX: The Return of Xander Cage and John Wick: Chapter Two, but she struggles to sell these action beats. She appears stiff and uncomfortable, perhaps not yet accustomed to the suit, and it shows.

However, the most glaring flaw this pilot suffers from is Rose’s performance as Kate. She’s proven to be a warm, charismatic actress in her work on Orange is the New Black and in Pitch Perfect, but here she’s not only saddled with cringe-worthy dialogue, but she’s delivering a wooden, one-note performance. She’s unable to sell the emotional beats in her flashbacks and doesn’t look like she’s having much fun in the suit or outside of it. There are glimmers of her charisma scattered throughout this pilot, but they are few and far between. We’re left with a protagonist that isn’t very likable or emotionally appealing, hindering this pilot from accomplishing its most significant task.

Final Thoughts

Batwoman is a show with an immersive setting and a main character that has the potential to be a great addition to the Arrowverse, but this premiere fails to garner any excitement for its freshman season. The rushed storytelling, lackluster performances, poor action sequences, and lousy dialogue result in a premiere that falls flat. The potential is there for this series to soar, but it’s going to need some serious re-working before it can get its feet firmly off the ground and into the skies of Gotham City.

What did you think of the premiere? What did you love? What did you hate? Are you excited for the rest of the season? Let us know in the comment section below!

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