Alice commits a series of corpse mutilations across Gotham, leading Kate to capture her to figure out what she's really up to. Alice agrees to tell Kate her past only if Kate will take her to the site where it happened. Meanwhile, Mary learns the truth behind Beth's skull fragments from Catherine.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Mr. Cartwright, as soon as his son doesn't follow his orders.
- Badass in Distress: Turns out that the diner Alice suggested she and Kate talk in was a setup, with Alice's ally Mouse posing as a waiter. He drugs Kate's drink, and the two chain her up in Mouse's old house while she's unconscious.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mr. Cartwright is initially warm and friendly to Beth. He shows his true colors as soon as she tries to leave.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Mary loses all respect for her mother after hearing Catherine admit to faking Beth's death.
- Dodgson joined the Crows to help Gotham, but became jaded when the organization, at least in his view, became little more than bodyguards for the wealthy under Jacob's watch. Jacob seems to be slightly affected by his words too.
- Continuity Nod:
- The breakout from Arkham during Elseworlds is referenced, placing this episode two weeks after the crossover. Mouse escaped during it.
- The tracker Kate planted in Dodgson last episode allows her to find Alice's new hideout. Its presence also formed the catalyst for Alice's scheme to capture Kate.
- Kate's lockpicking skills, established in the pilot, come in to play again.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Batwoman easily overwhelms Alice and her goons in the beginning.
- Darker and Edgier: Mary's scenes with Luke notwithstanding, this episode is almost unrelenting darkness as it delves into Alice's grim backstory and the horror-infused flashbacks and climax at the Cartwright house.
- Deadly Hug: Played with; she doesn't actually hug her father, but Alice does the same trick of luring someone close and then stabbing them.
- Doomed by Canon: We already know Beth becomes Alice, making the flashbacks of her brief escape an example of this.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After Mary learns about her mother faking Beth's death, she gets drunk and shows up at Wayne Enterprises to vent. Since Kate's off with Alice, Luke is forced to host her until he finally gets tired and calls a car to pick her up.
- Dude Where Is My Respect: Mary drunkenly rants about Kate never acknowledging her, despite her being her good sister.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Mr. Cartwright held Beth hostage and performed horrifying experiments so that his son could live a semblance of a normal life. Downplayed, as he also had no problem forcing his son to lie about Beth being in the house.
- Unlike her lack of regard for Dodgson, Alice has genuine affection for Mouse, even calling him "brother".
- Facial Horror: Sophie strikes Mouse in the face and is horrified and bewildered when his face seems to come loose.
- Finger Muzzle: Kate does this to Sophie to hush her when they run into each other on the farm. Given that Batwoman did the same, this clearly fuels Sophie's suspicions.
- Flashback: The episode is full of it, showing Beth's ordeal at the hands of Mr. Cartwright.
- Genuine Human Hide: Mr. Cartwright made face masks out of human flesh to hide his son's disfigurement.
- Hairpin Lock Pick:
- Beth uses a nail torn out of the wall of the room she's captive in to pick the door's lock and briefly escape.
- Kate tries the same approach in the present but can't reach any nails in the wall. She ends up prying a hobnail from her boot to pick her handcuffs.
- Hollywood Darkness: Batwoman's raid on Alice's new hideout. There are big beams of light shining through the windows, making things rather visible to the audience, but the room is supposed to be far darker going by Batwoman's night vision and the fact that she seems to be essentially invisible to Alice and her gang.
- Hope Spot: Jacob seems to get through to Beth for a moment, but just as he gets close enough to touch her face, she stabs him in the stomach.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Mouse's reason for not releasing Beth, aside from being afraid of his father, is this.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Kate initially refuses to accept a beer Alice orders for her. She accepts after hearing the details of Beth's first night with the Cartwrights. Unfortunately for Kate, it was drugged.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Alice's goons can't manage to hit Jacob or Sophie from about 15-20 feet. They apparently can't even hit the pickup they hide behind.
- Internal Reveal: Catherine tells Mary about how she faked Beth's death, and Jacob tells Sophie about the same.
- Irrational Hatred: Alice's grudge against Kate and Jacob was born from them not realizing she was in a house that Mr. Cartwright did everything he could to hide her presence in; she's particularly furious that Kate didn't manage to sense that she was there, even though Beth didn't call out because Mr. Cartwright warned her that he'd kill them if she did. She also keeps blaming Jacob for "forgetting" about her when her father had every reason to believe that she really was dead. The "irrational" part is justified; Alice is very clearly not in her right mind.
- Kick the Dog: Mr. Cartwright spends the entirety of the flashbacks abusing Beth for not doing what he wants. Special mention goes to him promising to kill anyone who comes to rescue her, and using his son's Voice Changeling talent to convince Jacob that Beth's phone call was nothing but a prank.
- The Mad Hatter: Lampshaded when Mouse quotes the Trope Namer at the end of the episode.Mouse: Are we mad? I'm afraid so.Alice gives Evil Laugh
- Missed Him by That Much: Young Kate and Beth were only separated by a wall, but Beth remained silent because she feared her captor would murder Kate and their father.
- Mood-Swinger: Alice goes from threatening Dodgson to showing concern over his wounds between seconds.
- Mythology Gag: Kate has white eyes on her cowl when she uses its night vision function, making her look similar to her animated counterpart from Batman: Bad Blood (and most animated depictions of the Batfamily in general).
- Nausea Dissonance: While researching other cases of flayed corpses in Gotham, Mary asks Luke if it's weird that the gory photos are making her hungry for pizza. He confirms that it is, though they get pizza anyway.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Jacob gives Dodgson one after he pushes his buttons. Sophie stops him before it gets too severe.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kate is suspicious of Alice's mutilations, knowing that isn't her style. She's right; Alice used them both to get new skin for Mouse, and also to draw Kate out so Alice could capture her.
- Patricide: Narrowly averted; Alice stabs Jacob in the stomach and only backs off of shooting him in the head when Kate and Sophie have her in a Mexican standoff.
- The Plot Reaper: Dodgson is taken out of the picture once the existence of Mouse is revealed to the audience, making him The Dragon of the Wonderland gang instead.
- Pun: Alice's mutilations are dubbed by Gotham newspapers as being the work of the "Skin Pirate," because skin was "carved off the booty" of each corpse.note
- The Resenter: Alice has a brief meltdown over Jacob's concern for Kate, believing that Jacob favors Kate over her since he gave up looking for her.
- Shoot the Fuel Tank: Jacob blows up a propane tank this way to take out a group of Alice's goons in a shootout.
- Shout-Out: Mouse quotes lines from The Goonies and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to amuse Beth.
- Shown Their Work: During the shootout, Sophie uses a truck for cover (along with Jacob) and deliberately moves to hide behind the engine; this is almost always the safest part of a vehicle to hide behind during a shooting.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Mary and Luke, throughout the episode.
- Stepford Smiler: As Alice tells Kate her story, she always starts as her usual eccentric self, but every time she tells a bit of the story, the mask slips and she shows the trauma and anger that exists beneath her theatrics.
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Or in Alice's case, slit her own wrist.
- Tap on the Head: Kate knocks Alice out with her staff during her raid.
- Trick-and-Follow Ploy: Kate releases Dodgson but implants him with a Tracking Chip so she can follow him to Alice's hideout. Unfortunately, it turns out Alice found the chip and used it to lure Kate into her own trap.
- Twin Telepathy: Alice's chief grievance against Kate is that this didn't inform the latter to her presence in the Cartwright house.
- Two-Faced: Mouse's left half of his face is horrifically burned.
- Voice Changeling: Mouse can mimic any voice he hears.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't learn what ultimately happened to Mr. Cartwright, as he isn't seen or even mentioned in the present day.
- Wham Line: Jacob calling Alice "Beth", signifying that he accepts the truth that Alice is his daughter.
