Recap / Batwoman 2019 S 1 E 13 Drink Me

Batwoman goes on the hunt for Nocturna, a supposed vampire.

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Tropes:

• AB Negative: Nocturna is AB+ (universal recipient), allowing her to steal blood from anyone. Alice is O- (universal donor) so when Mary (type B) needs a transfusion Alice needs to act as the donor rather than Kate (A+).
• Adaptational Wimp: In the comics Nocturna was able to make Kate Kane do her bidding through a combination of hypnotism and emotional manipulation. Here she has no special abilities and Kate firmly rejects her advances.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Or girls in this case; Batwoman being a sexy rule breaker in head-to-toe black leather certainly doesn't hurt her appeal to the gay community. Though Sophie has to point out the leather is actually bulletproof nanotech.
• Ambiguous Situation: Whether the cure-all from episode 8 was still in Mary's blood at the time Beth was being saved last episode. Here, Mary says she tested her own blood "last week" (that is, before it would have been needed) and found nothing unusual. However, Alice seemed convinced it was key to her survival and would have a better understanding of how the cure-all works, and Beth did get healthier after being injected.
• Ambiguously Bi: Nocturna seduces clubgoers of both sexes to get victims, but she never actually has sex with them before drugging them and draining their blood, leaving it unclear if she has any actual interest in them beyond sources of fresh blood.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Kate and Luke are very dismissive of the idea that Nocturna might be an actual vampire, and are proven right in the end... except they live in the Arrowverse, where Hey World revealed the existence of magical creatures to the public last year. And just a few weeks ago, Kate helped fight a giant, living plush toy created by a sorcerer.
• Artistic License – Medicine:
  • Ketamine can be effective in seconds, but only if administered intravenously. Nocturna biting Kate on the lip would be more of a subcutaneous administration and have taken at least 15 minutes to work, not seconds as shown.
  • The discussion of Kate, Alice, and Mary's blood types creates some wrinkles with the previous episode, where blood transfusion was also a plot point. If Alice is O- as stated here, and Mary has B-type blood, then Mary's blood should not have been able to be given to Alice or Beth in the last episode without risking complications that, while not necessarily fatal, would still keep the recipient very sick and in need of immediate medical attention.^note Unless, of course, the cure-all could also deal with that.
• Bad Liar: Kate and Luke are terrible at finding excuses, thus Mary is able to figure out their secret at the end of the episode.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • At first it looks like the woman that Sophie is flirting with at the club is Nocturna and Sophie's life will be put in danger. Instead Nocturna turns out to be a different person who goes after Alice instead, knowing no-one will miss a victim who is officially dead.
  • Mary appears to get lured in by Nocturna posing as a drunken clubber in need of help, only for Nocturna to attack her from the other direction.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Alice spent most of the season trying to get Kate to give up on redeeming her. Now that she finally has, Alice laments that she doesn't really want Kate to give up on her.
• Bifauxnen: The look Kate chooses for the opening of her gay club.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Sophie plants one on Batwoman at the end of the episode.
• Blatant Lies:
  • After being bitten by Nocturna, Kate has Mary do a blood test, claiming that she's got the flu from pulling all-night real estate classes. Mary doesn't believe this even before she finds Ketamine in Kate's blood, which Kate then tries to pass off as someone spiking her drink while she was partying, in direct contradiction to her earlier lie about what she was up to last night.
  • Alice tries to tell Kate that Nocturna just stopped feeding on her for no reason. On top of Alice being untrustworthy by default, Kate's suspicions are immediately triggered by the drastic change from Nocturna's M.O.
  • While justifying her actions to Kate, Alice tries to claim that "it was Mary's life or mine"; Mary's life wasn't in danger at all until Alice sold her out to save her own neck.
• Chekhov's Gun: The blacklight pack Luke uses to check for DNA on Batwoman's suit later proves key to Batwoman getting the upper hand on Nocturna (by burning her with it).
• Cliffhanger Copout:
  • The previous episode ended with Alice knocking Kate unconscious, but this episode reveals that she didn't actually do anything to her afterward.
  • The mid-season cliffhanger of Jacob being framed appears to have been dropped, with a single affidavit being enough to get him released.
• Companion Cube: With Mouse missing, Alice substitutes for him by placing one of his skin masks on a mannequin and talks to it as if it's him.
• Continuity Nod:
  • An implied one. Alice was established as capable of lockpicking in an earlier episode, which explains how she left the clinic between last episode and this one despite being handcuffed to a bed.
  • Alice initially assumes that Mouse has disappeared because Kate is holding him prisoner, given that she has done this before.
• Dating Catwoman:
  • Ironically Sophie finds herself in this position; there's obvious UST in the scene where she releases Batwoman and they end up kissing on a rooftop by the end of the episode. As a member of a legitimate security company however her situation is a lot more perilous than it is when a vigilante is attracted to a criminal, and she ends up being suspended.
  • Averted with Nocturna; Batwoman makes it clear she does not find a murderous villain sexy. Given that the usual dramatic tension of this trope is being played out with her own mad sister, that's hardly surprising.
• Dirty Coward: Alice, without hesitation, sells out Mary to save her own neck. She later has the gall to suggest that she made the right choice and tries to guilt-trip Kate about it.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Jacob pays his last respects to his estranged daughter, unaware that Beth isn't really Alice (although she is a version of her).
  • Alice is worried about Kate getting "inside her head" and manipulating her.
  • Sophie finds herself in the same position with Jacob that she was with her husband Tyler; he discovers that she's involved with Kate/Batwoman and breaks off their relationship until Sophie can decide where her loyalties lie. On discovering this, Kate again breaks off the relationship to protect Sophie, only for them to make it obvious they're still attracted to each other.
  • Sophie kisses Batwoman, unaware that she's Kate, with whom she had to break up, afraid of being outed. At least with Batwoman, she can accept her sexuality.
• Due to the Dead: Jacob takes the time to plant a kiss on the dead Beth's forehead to say goodbye to the daughter he believes her to be.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Luke is very impressed with Sophie's club look.
• Everybody Knew Already: Kate's secret identity isn't iron-clad, especially around those closest to her; one too many coincidences leads to Mary figuring out that Kate is Batwoman.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • When Alice reads that Dr. Campbell changed his specialty to working with child burn victims, she realises that "Campbell" is actually August Cartwright.
  • After hearing that Nocturna drugged her victims with ketamine, the same drug Kate had been dosed with earlier in the episode, Mary starts putting two and two together.
    Mary: Kate... you are totally Batwoman.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: An odd case where a hero's lack of mercy confounds a villain; Alice is thoroughly confused and angry that Kate would choose to let her die in favor of saving an innocent life.
• Evil vs. Evil: Nocturna targets Alice and Alice later helps Kate fight her.
• Faking the Dead: Alice is using Beth's death to cover up her own survival; the only people who know she's still alive are her gang, Kate, Luke, and Mary.
• Facial Recognition Software: A camera is installed in the nightclub to scan the clubbers for possible suspects.
• Fanservice: There are fetishes all over this episode—bondage, rope play, hemoerotica...
• Green-Eyed Monster: Kate is not happy about watching Sophie in a cleavage-revealing dress flirting with a suspect in her gay bar, and is reluctant to go down there to investigate feeling she'll look like a jealous ex trying to break them up.
• Honey Trap: The reason Kate and Luke have the party at the club is drawing Nocturna out.
• Hourglass Plot: At the start of the season, Alice was the one screwing with Kate's head and verbally undermining her. Now, Alice is the one trying (and unlike Kate, failing) to disregard Kate's impact on her and can't muster solid replies to Kate's condemnations of her.
• Ignored Epiphany: Kate points out that as everyone thinks Alice is dead she has a second chance at life, and Alt-Beth represents another path she could take. Alice rejects this because the good version of her was unable to survive.
• Impairment Shot: After Nocturna bites Batwoman.
  Nocturna: Seeing double? Losing sensation in your limbs? (whispers) Don't fight it...
• Improbable Age: Lampshaded
  Sophie: I mean I'm not even 30, and I'm second in command of one of the biggest security firms in the country.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Jacob finds out about Sophie helping Batwoman and suspends her from the Crows for it.
  • Alice deduces that Dr. Cartwright is still alive and that he's holding Mouse.
  • Mary figures out that Kate is Batwoman.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Nocturna is so obviously turned on by fighting Batwoman that she informs her You're Not My Type. In their final fight Batwoman makes a point of letting her know that she doesn't find her killing people sexy.
• I Work Alone: When Nocturna suggests they team up, Batwoman tells her she works alone, only for Luke (listening in on her earpiece) to take offense.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Jacob suspends Sophie for working with Batwoman, but Batwoman is after all a criminal while Sophie is the Number Two of a major private security firm, and Batwoman is actually hurting their market by being an alternate recourse for Gotham citizens, so there's a clear conflict of interest.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Jacob suspends Sophie for assisting Batwoman.
  • Alice sells out Mary to save her own skin from Nocturna.
• Kill and Replace: The real Dr. Ethan Campbell "went on sabbatical", then came home a changed man. As Alice deduces, Campbell was actually murdered by August Cartwright, who stole his identity to live the life of prestige he thinks he deserves.
• Kiss of the Vampire: Kate plays up this trope to troll Luke.
  Luke: The temporary paralysis was the result of Nocturna injecting you with an animal tranquilizer. That's got to be her M.O.
  Kate: It wasn't really an injection. It was more like a bite...nibble...lip thing...
  Luke: Do you mind?
  Kate: I'm just saying she had actual fangs that delivered the Ketamine. You know, like...(whispers in his ear) Just when she bit... down on my lip...
  Luke: Understood and moving on!
• Married to the Job: Sophie feels she's lost all direction now she's been suspended from Crow Security.
• Moral Myopia:
  • Alice describes Beth as "a total stranger" and is angry that Kate would choose to save her over Alice. She also sells out Mary to save her own neck, then describes helping her out of a situation that was Alice's fault to begin with as "sav[ing] Mary's life".
  • Nocturna is fine with murdering innocent people to keep herself alive; when Batwoman calls her on it, saying that Nocturna's victims didn't deserve to die, Nocturna just snaps back "and I do?".
• Never My Fault:
  • Jacob blames Batwoman for the Crows' loss of business instead of the bad publicity surrounding his own arrest, as well as ignoring the fact that there's corruption and abuse of power within.
  • Alice blames Kate for choosing not to save her life in the previous episode, ignoring her own long list of crimes and the fact that Beth (who was legitimately innocent) was also in mortal danger. She also tries to pass off sending Nocturna after Mary as "it was Mary's life or mine", when Nocturna wasn't even aware of Mary until Alice sold her out to save her own neck. She even has the gall to try and guilt-trip Kate about it, saying "someone had to choose me for once".
• No Sympathy: Kate has lost all sympathy for Alice, and tells her so to her face despite Alice's attempt at guilt-tripping her.
• Not Me This Time: Alice assumes that Kate is holding Mouse (not unreasonable, given Kate's treatment of Dodgson earlier in the season), but, as Alice figures out in the end, it's actually Dr. Cartwright who abducted him.
• Obligatory Earpiece Touch: Luke does this in the club while talking to Mary, who finds it confusing as to why a real estate assistant needs a constant line to Kate when he's off duty in a club on a Saturday night.
• Obligatory Joke: Naturally Alice has to make the "I've been a little tied up" joke after being captured by Nocturna.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Played with in a weird way; while Beth wasn't technically Jacob's daughter (and, unknown to Jacob, they never actually met), he believes that she is, and seeing her dead guts him emotionally, leaving Jacob feeling "hollow".
• Pet the Dog:
  • Downplayed. Alice helps to save Mary from Nocturna, but her motive wasn't altruistic (she just wanted to make a point to Kate), and it was Alice's fault that Mary was in danger to begin with.
  • While it isn't shown on-screen, and it may be for other reasons (e.g. to spite Alice and Mouse) the fact that Jacob is out of prison implies that Cartwright-As-Campbell really did end up signing the affidavit that Jacob was framed (this is confirmed in the next episode).
• Pseudo-Crisis: In the mid-season cliffhanger, Jacob Kane was subject to an elaborate frame-up by the Wonderland gang. Now just an affidavit from a plastic surgeon is enough to clear him of all charges.
• Pull the Thread: Mary tests Kate's blood and finds Ketamine. Sophie lets her know that Batwoman was drugged by Nocturna. Mary hears on the radio that Nocturna used Ketamine on her victims. She puts this together with Luke wearing a radio earpiece in the nightclub and the magazine article about Batwoman being a lesbian.
  Mary: Kate...you are totally Batwoman!
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kate, having finally lost her last shreds of sympathy for Alice, coldly points out that she is a horrible person and that Kate neither feels guilty nor should feel guilty for choosing Beth to survive over her.
  Alice: It was Mary's life or mine, and someone had to choose me for once.
  Kate: If you want me to feel guilty, I don't. I never will. Not after everything you've done.
  Alice: See, I don't believe you. I think somewhere deep down, there's a tiny part of you that's relieved I lived. That you hadn't quite failed at saving me.
  Kate: And they call Nocturna a vampire, when all you do is feed off my guilt like the parasite you are.
  Alice: So you're saying you do feel guilty.
  Kate: What's your endgame? Why'd you save Mary?
  Alice: To prove how stupid you were for letting me die.
  Kate: Stupid? Stupid was thinking that my sister was redeemable. Stupid was convincing the Crows not to kill you. Stupid was rescuing you from the Gotham River, convincing Dad that I could get Beth back... Stupid was thinking that you could ever, ever possibly be worth it.
• Red Herring: Kate and Luke initially suspect a woman named Elle of being Nocturna, and Elle getting cozy with Sophie doesn't help that impression, but it turns out not to be her; Elle even gets woozy at the sight of blood.
• The Resenter:
  • Alice spends the episode guilt-tripping Kate over choosing to save Beth's life over hers, feeling that she deserved to live more than "a total stranger".
  • Nocturna steals blood from others because she hates the fact that healthy people ruin their bodies with booze and drugs, while she suffers from terrible health problems.
• Rousing Speech: Jacob gives one to the Crows after he returns.
• Save the Villain: Despite everything that's transpired between them, Kate goes to save Alice after seeing her abducted by Nocturna, although she's just as interested, if not more, in catching Nocturna than she is in rescuing Alice.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Ketamine and its effects are depicted fairly accurately. It does cause paralysis, numbness, and double vision, and does see use as an animal tranquilizer.
  • Fraternal twins can indeed have different blood types, as Kate and Alice are stated to have, and Alice's O- blood type is correctly mentioned as being the "universal donor." It is also possible for one sibling to have O- blood type while the other has A+ blood type.
• Tempting Fate: When freeing Batwoman, Sophie says this will get her fired. That's exactly what happens.
• Tragic Keepsake: Beth apparently had a garnet necklace just like Kate and Alice, which Luke takes when she is shot and gives to Kate at the beginning of the episode.
• The Triple
  Luke: I'm reading your stats. She injected you with a paralytic.
  Kate: I got that.
  Luke: And you have six Crows incoming.
  Kate: I got that, too.
  Luke: Gonna hit you with an adrenaline shot. Takes about 30 seconds to kick in.
  Kate: (hearing Sophie coming up behind her) I don't got that.
• Villainous Rescue: Alice comes to Kate's help against Nocturna.
• Visual Pun: Batwoman's final battle with Nocturna in the bell tower of Gotham Cathedral, leading to a case of "bats in the belfry".
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Alice thinks that showing up to save Mary from a situation that Alice herself put her in in the first place should be enough to completely change Kate's opinion of her. Kate is, if anything, more disgusted with her sister for it.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • Alice rants at a mannequin (a substitute for Mouse) that she shouldn't let Kate "in [her] head" and that she shouldn't care if Kate doesn't care about or love her anymore. She's clearly kidding herself on both fronts.
  • One of Jacob's men brings him taped evidence that Sophie let Batwoman escape, and makes it clear that no-one else knows about it. Jacob however decides to suspend Sophie rather than suppress the evidence.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Luke is impressed by how hot Sophie looks and asks, "She broke off with you, right?" Kate quickly changes the subject.
• With Us or Against Us: Jacob forces Sophie to choose between the Crows and Batwoman.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
  • Kate nicks her finger in front of Elle, a woman suspected of being Nocturna, to see how she reacts to blood; Elle ends up being grossed out.
  • Played with when Mary goes to help a drunken woman outside the club; because we can't see her face it looks like Nocturna luring Mary into a trap, but Nocturna then attacks Mary from a completely different direction.
• You Should Have Died Instead: Kate thinks so of Alice, and says as much to her face.
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Nocturna preys on The Beautiful Elite who seem determined to poison themselves with drink and drugs.