Line #40 Recap/Batwoman2019S1E8AMadTeaParty


1	Alice enacts her "tea party" at a gala held in honor of Catherine.
2	----
3	!!Tropes in this episode include:
4
5	* AmbiguousSituation:
6	** Whether or not the claim that Catherine's company supplied arms to Gotham's criminals is true is left unrevealed; while Catherine was certainly [[AmbiguouslyEvil shady and secretive]], there's no solid evidence to suggest that she went that far and Alice certainly holds enough of a grudge to coerce an outright lie to ruin Catherine's reputation.
7	** Whether Mary's poisoning was truly an accident is unclear; Mouse did nothing to prevent Mary from drinking the poisoned champagne, Alice shows no regret or remorse for the "accident", and the SadisticChoice that resulted from the situation is perfectly in-character for Alice to have arranged. Then again Mouse isn't a compliant minion and isn't above going against Alice when he feels slighted, so he may have done that of his own free will.
8	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In an angry, grief-fueled rant at Kate over Catherine's death, Mary asks her whether saving Alice is still worth it. After a moment, Kate answers "No."
9	* TheBadGuyWins: Alice gets her revenge on Catherine, murdering her, framing Jacob, and leaving the Hamilton-Kane family devastated.
10	* BluffTheImposter: To confirm that Mouse is impersonating Jacob, Kate calls Jacob and tells a lie about his wedding to Catherine that Mouse doesn't even question.
11	* BreakTheCutie: Poor Mary loses her mother in the most horrific way possible and is broken by the experience, now also no longer wanting to do anything with Kate.
12	* CleanPrettyReliable: Averted. When Mary performs CPR on Catherine, it's presented fairly realistically, and is ultimately unsuccessful without Mary giving up too quickly.
13	* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: Sophie uses her ''wedding ring'' to break herself and Tyler out of Alice's restraints.
14	* DeadlyNosebleed: Catherine's nose begins bleeding shortly before she collapses from her poisoning. Mary's also does later to indicate the same, but she takes a cure in time.
15	* DeskSweepOfRage: Both Kate and Mary do this in the Batcave and the clinic, respectively, at the end of the episode.
16	* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Catherine, though Mary tries a cardiac massage in vain.
17	* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Lampshaded by Mary when her stepsister tries to explain away her comment that Alice/Beth deserves her forgiveness and not Catherine because she is family, implying that Mary isn't.
18	* DisproportionateRetribution: However immoral and illegal Catherine's evidence tampering was, most people would agree it didn't warrant death, and certainly not [[CruelAndUnusualDeath in the form of a slow, painful neurotoxin]]. Then again, it ''did'' lead to Alice being kept prisoner by a madman for eleven years and broke her mentally, so she's not exactly the most rational person out there.
19	* DownerEnding: Catherine dies, Jacob is framed for her murder, Mary wants nothing to do with Kate anymore, Tyler breaks up with Sophie, Alice gets away free and clear, and both Kate and Jacob have given up any hope of redeeming Alice.
20	* DressingAsTheEnemy: Alice has her gang disguise themselves as Crows for the gala, allowing Mouse as Jacob to set them up as security.
21	* EngineeredPublicConfession: Played with. It's closer to a form of {{blackmail}}, but Alice forces Catherine to admit to supplying arms to Gotham's criminals, then letting the Crows defend Gotham from those same criminals for a profit on both ends; it's unclear as of this episode if those claims are actually true.
22	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: When Tyler wonders why Mouse didn't kill them, Sophie realises that Alice can't kill her because Kate would never forgive Alice for killing the woman she loves... Sophie then realises she's SayingTooMuch.
23	* FacialRecognitionSoftware: Luke runs a scan on Mouse!Jacob to see if he can penetrate his LatexPerfection, then has an OhCrap when the software shows the Crow guard he's talking to as one of Alice's men.
24	* FakeShemp: Throughout the entire episode, Mouse is wearing the disguise of Jacob, and thus Sam Littlefield doesn't appear in the episode at all.
25	* FauxAffablyEvil: Combined with BaitTheDog.
26	** When Jacob explains himself to her and apologizes, Alice seems genuinely touched... only to coldly thank him for turning her into what she is today.
27	** The same when Catherine tries to explain herself. Alice tells her that she earns a sip of the cure... just before revealing that Mary is ''also'' poisoned.
28	* {{Frameup}}: Jacob is framed for Catherine's murder.
29	* HeroicSacrifice: Catherine doesn't hesitate for a moment to give Mary the antidote at the cost of her own life.
30	* HoistByHerOwnPetard: Alice poisons Catherine with a neurotoxin developed by Hamilton Dynamics. One which they never developed an antidote for.
31	* IllKillYou:
32	** Mary screams that she'll kill Alice if Catherine dies, though Alice isn't intimidated.
33	** At the end of the episode, Jacob promises to kill Alice for her actions. Kate, having finally given up on her sister, says she won't get in his way.
34	* IgnoredEpiphany: Alice is genuinely moved by Jacob and Catherine's heartfelt apologies. She still destroys both of their lives with a smile not long afterwards.
35	* InternalReveal: The heroes learn about Mouse posing as Jacob.
36	* {{Irony}}: Tyler notes it, using the engagement ring he got for Sophie to escape her ex-girlfriend's lunatic sister, who didn't kill them because she knows more about Sophie's past relationships than Tyler does.
37	* ItsAllAboutMe: Alice didn't expose Catherine's shady dealings or murder her out of any kind of moral objection to her actions; she just wants payback for Catherine's crimes against ''her''.
38	* KickTheDog: Alice hits a new low in this episode, murdering Catherine with a slow and painful neurotoxin, showing no remorse when Mary is poisoned as well, framing Jacob for the deed, and taunting Kate about all of it.
39	* MoralMyopia: Mary points out how much Kate vilifies Catherine, but is still willing to forgive Alice, despite the latter's crimes being ''far'' more severe.
40	* MotiveRant: Alice screams to Batwoman that she spent years of her life alone, planning revenge on Jacob for abandoning her and Catherine for seeping into their family. So she wants to make them both suffer like she did.
41	* MythologyGag: The "cure-all" that Alice offers Catherine is from Coryana, and made from a "desert rose". In ''ComicBook/BatwomanRebirth'', the Desert Rose was a bar located on the island of Coryana.
42	* NeverMyFault: Alice tells Batwoman that Catherine got ''herself'' poisoned for coming into their lives.
43	* NotNowKiddo: Played with; Kate tries to warn Sophie that Jacob is actually Mouse, but Sophie hangs up as she's about to meet with Jacob (and she really doesn't want to talk to Kate with her suspicious husband listening). However, Kate sends a text message spelling things out. Sophie texts back that she's on it right before she's tranquilized, causing Kate to assume that Alice's plan has been thwarted at an early stage.
44	* OffingTheOffspring: By the end of the episode, Jacob is perfectly willing to kill Alice after everything she's done.
45	* TheOner: One occurs as Batwoman fights her way up a staircase.
46	* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Kate accidentally hurts Mary's feelings again when discussing Alice in the beginning of the episode.
47	* OutOfCharacterAlert: Kate realizes that Jacob is being uncharacteristically conciliatory toward Catherine, and tests this by casually mentioning the snowstorm at their wedding. Since Catherine and Jacob actually married "on the hottest day of the year" and Jacob didn't correct Kate, she realizes that Jacob is actually being impersonated by Mouse.
48	* PoisonAndCureGambit: Alice offers Catherine a "cure-all" to reverse her poisoning if she will sincerely apologize for the harm she's caused her (that is, faking Beth's skull fragments and thus preventing her from being rescued).
49	* ProperlyParanoid: It's implied that Mouse suspects that Kate has figured out his deception after the phone call, and appropriately responds by taking Sophie and Tyler into Jacob's office and tranquilizing them, so Kate can't get Sophie's help. In the end, he and Alice come out victorious, ultimately rending moot that Kate is able to correctly guess his identity.
50	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Angry at Alice for poisoning Catherine, Batwoman tries to strangle her to death, but she just couldn't go through with it. Alice tells Kate it's because she ''still'' believes Beth is somewhere inside when there isn't anymore.
51	* RecycledPlot: This isn't [[Recap/ArrowS2E20SeeingRed the first time]] in the Arrowverse in which a villain creates a SadisticChoice involving a mother and a daughter, only for the mother to willingly sacrifice herself so that her daughter can live.
52	* ReplacementGoldfish: Alice sees Catherine and Mary as a replacement family for Jacob, angrily claiming that her father replaced both her [[PsychologicalProjection and Kate]].
53	* {{Revenge}}: Alice's whole plan in this episode is to get back at Catherine (and, to a lesser extent, Jacob) for Catherine's faking of her death. She not only publicly thrashes Catherine and Jacob's reputations, she murders Catherine with a dose of neurotoxin and frames Jacob for it.
54	* SadisticChoice: Happens accidentally. Mary drank some of the poisoned champagne that was only intended for Catherine. Since Alice only anticipated needing a single dose of antidote, Catherine now has to choose between herself and her daughter.
55	* SecretSecretKeeper: Catherine reveals she always knew Mary was running a secret clinic, but never said anything because she didn't want Mary to give it up.
56	* SecretIdentityChangeTrick: Mary used to change her clothes in the elevator so her mother wouldn't find out about the clinic work. [[ActuallyPrettyFunny They both have a laugh]] when Catherine tells her there were cameras in the elevator.
57	* ShownTheirWork: In addition to averting CleanPrettyReliable, Mary performs CPR on Catherine positioned appropriately in the center of her chest, with her arms straight and not bent, and at a reasonable pace.
58	* SkewedPriorities: While Tyler ''is'' right to be angry, trying to discuss his and Sophie's relationship while they are tied up probably wasn't the best timing.
59	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Kate figures out that Mouse has been impersonating Jacob. When the real Jacob calls her, she asks him what he gave her for her sixth birthday. His answer satisfies her.
60	* SoProudOfYou: Catherine tells Mary that raising her was the best thing she ever did.
61	* TheStinger: [[Series/TheFlash2014 Nash Wells]] opening the Monitor's hidden chamber and being sucked into it.
62	* ThisIsUnforgivable: Jacob and Kate give up on any possible redemption for Alice in this episode after she murders Catherine.
63	* TonightSomeoneDies: Alice tells Jacob at the very beginning that she will kill somebody, and she keeps her promise by poisoning Catherine.
64	* VillainHasAPoint: Downplayed. Alice makes a valid point about Jacob taking evidence provided by Catherine, someone he had only known for a few months at the time, at face value and not looking into it further to confirm the truth. Doubly so since Kate had personally checked the area the evidence had been found and turned up nothing, which she had told Jacob about. Jacob responds that he had no reason to think Catherine was lying or mistaken, though he doesn't deny that Alice is right about his failings and admits he took the easy way out by not further investigating Catherine's discovery because he didn't want to confront the fact that he hadn't been able to find Beth.
65	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Alice sends Kate on a wild goose chase to rescue Jacob, as Alice wanted to ensure Batwoman wouldn't be there to thwart the first stages of her plan. Jacob has actually been drugged and left in his SUV to take the fall for Catherine's murder.
66	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Mary doesn't want Kate's sympathy at the end of the episode, both being sick of the way she treated her and because of her stepsister's indirect role in her mother's death.
67	* WhamEpisode: Alice kills Catherine, frames Jacob for her murder, and Tyler and Sophie separate.
68	* WhatTheHellHero: Mary gives Kate hell for believing that Alice was redeemable, as her refusal to take Alice down has now cost Catherine's life.

Context Recap / Batwoman2019S1E8AMadTeaParty